List of Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) people

The following is a list of individuals associated with Berkeley High School (California) through attending as a student, or serving as a member of the faculty or staff.



Activists

 * Bob Avakian, 1960, head of Revolutionary Communist Party
 * David Brower, 1928, president of Sierra Club; founder of Friends of the Earth
 * John Froines, 1957, Chicago Seven defendant, state track title team member, UCLA professor
 * Bobby Seale, 1954, co-founder of Black Panther Party

Actors

 * Raymond Burr, 1935, actor
 * Rafael Casal, actor, writer, producer
 * Justin Chu Cary, 2000, actor
 * Robert Culp, 1947, actor
 * Daveed Diggs, 2000, actor, producer, rapper (Hamilton)
 * Richard Gant, 1961, television and film actor
 * Nina Hartley, 1977, adult film actress
 * Timothy Hutton, 1978, film and television actor
 * Eli Marienthal, 2004, actor
 * Paul Mooney, 1959, actor, comedian
 * Rebecca Romijn, 1990, model, actress
 * Andy Samberg, 1996, actor, former cast member of Saturday Night Live
 * Akiva Schaffer, 1995, comedy writer and director, Saturday Night Live writer and director
 * Jorma Taccone, 1995, comedy writer-actor, Saturday Night Live writer
 * Adivi Sesh, Tollywood actor

Artists and photographers

 * Michael Heizer, 1962, specializes in large-scale sculptures and earth art (or land art)
 * Galen Rowell, 1958, wilderness photographer; did much work for the Sierra Club
 * Bruce Ryan, 1971, production designer
 * Ariel Schrag, 1998, cartoonist/graphic novelist
 * Reuben Heyday Margolin, 1988, artist/kinetic sculptor

Athletes

 * Chidi Ahanotu, 1988, football defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL
 * Shooty Babitt, 1977, Major League Baseball player, Oakland A's
 * Don Barksdale, 1941, All-American basketball player at UCLA; first African-American on US Olympic basketball team (1948); first African-American to play in NBA All-Star game (1953)
 * Rich Barry, Major League Baseball outfielder for Philadelphia Phillies
 * Brittany Boyd, 2011, basketball player
 * Glenn Burke (1970 Athlete of the Year), Major League Baseball player
 * Phil Chenier, basketball player for the Washington Bullets in the 1970s
 * Merv Connors, former MLB player (Chicago White Sox)
 * Je'Rod Cherry, football player; won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots
 * Bill Durkee, 1939, National Basketball League player for the Minneapolis Lakers
 * Jack Faszholz, former MLB player (St.Louis Cardinals)
 * Augie Galan, former MLB outfielder
 * Hal Gilson, former MLB pitcher
 * Jacob Grandison, 2016, College Basketball player for Holy Cross and Illinois
 * Chick Hafey, 1921, Major League Baseball player; won two World Series with St. Louis Cardinals; had first hit in All-Star Game history
 * Kamani Hill, 2004, soccer player; forward for Colorado Rapids
 * Helen Jacobs (1908–1997), tennis player ranked world #1
 * Ruppert Jones (1973 Athlete of the Year), Major League Baseball player; 2-time All-Star
 * Jack LaLanne, 1935, fitness educator
 * Ray Lamanno, former MLB catcher
 * John Lambert, basketball player at University of Southern California and in NBA
 * Billy Martin, 1946, Major League Baseball player; second baseman for five New York Yankees World Series teams in the 1950s, and manager of four playoff teams (Twins, Yankees, Detroit, A's), including one championship
 * Lawrence McGrew, 1975, football player, linebacker for New England Patriots, New York Giants 1980–1991
 * Walter Murray, gridiron football player
 * Hannibal Navies, 1995, football player
 * Steve Odom, football player, wide receiver for Green Bay Packers 1974–1977
 * Gene Ransom, basketball player for University of California, Berkeley
 * Jeff Ransom, former MLB catcher
 * Earl Robinson, former MLB player
 * Claudell Washington, Major League Baseball outfielder
 * Jason Young, former MLB pitcher

Authors, journalists, and poets

 * Shannon Wheeler, c. 1984, cartoonist, author of Too Much Coffee Man among others; published in The Onion, The New Yorker, and Mad Magazine.
 * Miguel Almaguer, c. 1995, correspondent, NBC News
 * Peter J. Aschenbrenner, 1963, author
 * Anastasia M. Ashman, 1982, author
 * Alexandra Berzon, 1997, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist for Wall Street Journal
 * Belva Davis, 1951, journalist
 * Philip K. Dick, 1947, author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, on which the movie Blade Runner was based, and many other books
 * Aaron Cometbus Elliott, 1986, writer/publisher of Cometbus zine, musician
 * David Gordon, 1961, editor of Harvard Crimson, economist, syndicated columnist
 * Sandra Gulland, 1962, novelist
 * Shelley Jackson, author of Patchwork Girl
 * Ursula K. Le Guin, 1947, science fiction author of the Earthsea series, The Left Hand of Darkness, and many other books
 * Thomas Levenson, 1958, science writer, author of Newton and the Counterfeiter, Einstein in Berlin and other books
 * Leza Lowitz, 1980, author, poet, editor, journalist
 * Ariel Schrag, 1998, autobiographical graphic novelist
 * Joel Selvin, 1967, rock music critic and author
 * Frank Somerville, 1976, television news anchor, KTVU Oakland
 * Ricardo Sternberg, 1967, poet
 * Tess Taylor, 1995, poet and CNN contributor
 * Elizabeth Treadwell, 1985, poet
 * Charlotte Wilder, c. 1915, poet, sister of Thornton Wilder
 * Thornton Wilder, c. 1915, novelist and playwright
 * Mark London Williams, 1977, author
 * Catherine Yronwode, 1965, author, editor, publisher, graphic designer

Educators

 * Shirley A. R. Lewis, c. 1956, former president of Paine College

Entrepreneurs

 * Ben Horowitz, c. 1984, businessman, investor, blogger, and author
 * Paul Budnitz, 1985, founder of Kidrobot and Ello

Filmmakers

 * Amir Bar-Lev, 1990, documentary director/producer
 * Gregory Hoblit, 1962, television and film director
 * Ian Inaba, 1989, music video/film director
 * Leah Meyerhoff, 1997, Student Academy Award-nominated filmmaker
 * Dave Meyers, 1990, music video/film director
 * Michael Ritchie, 1956, film director
 * Colin Tilley, 2006, music video/film director (including music videos for Chris Brown and Justin Bieber)

Mathematicians, scientists and inventors

 * Richard Bolt, 1928, physics professor at MIT with an interest in acoustics; created BBN ("modem" and "e-mail")
 * John Brillhart, 1948, mathematician, author of books on large-number factorization
 * Andrew Gleason (graduated elsewhere), mathematician
 * Albert Gjedde 1965, neuroscientist, co-inventor of Gjedde-Patlak plot; McGill University Montreal Canada, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
 * Sam Ruben, 1931?, co-discoverer of C14, a radioactive isotope of carbon, in 1940; the isotope led to many advances in the fields of biochemistry and medicine as well as its use in carbon dating for archeology
 * Pei-Yuan Wei, 1986, (魏培源, pinyin: Wèi Péiyuán), created ViolaWWW, one of the first graphical web browsers
 * Bill Woodcock, 1989, developed anycast DNS, and built more than 100 Internet exchange points around the world

Media

 * Megan Greenwell, journalist and editor-in-chief of Deadspin and Wired.com
 * Sam "Kobe" Hartman-Kenzler, 2004, esports commentator
 * Dawn Monique Williams, 1996, theatre director

Musicians

 * Evanora Unlimited, 2018, record producer, multimedia artist
 * Ambrose Akinmusire, 2000, jazz trumpet player
 * Peter Apfelbaum, 1978, multi-instrumentalist/composer of Hieroglyphics Ensemble
 * Steven Bernstein, 1979, jazz trumpeter, slide trumpeter, arranger/composer and bandleader
 * Will Bernard, 1977, guitarist
 * Kevin Cadogan, 1988, rock guitarist, formerly of Third Eye Blind
 * The Cataracs, indie-pop duo


 * Aaron Cometbus, drummer in punk bands Crimpshrine and Pinhead Gunpowder, author of Cometbus fanzine
 * DJ Fuze, hip hop DJ and record producer
 * Gabriela Lena Frank, 1990, classical composer and pianist
 * G-Eazy, 2007, rapper, songwriter
 * Benny Green, 1980, jazz pianist
 * Charlie Hunter, 1985, jazz guitarist
 * David Immerglück, 1979, multi-instrumentalist/guitarist for Counting Crows, Camper Van Beethoven and the Monks of Doom
 * Joe and Eddie (Joe Gilbert and Eddie Brown), folk singers
 * Greg 'Curly' Keranen, 1973, bassist, The Rubinoos, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers
 * Stephen Bishop, 1958, classical pianist known as Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich and Stephen Kovacevich
 * Stephen "Doc" Kupka, 1964, founding member/baritone saxophone of Tower of Power
 * KSHMR, 2006, electronic musician, record producer
 * Phil Lesh, 1957, Grateful Dead bass player
 * Jesse Michaels, singer of the East Bay punk band Operation Ivy, Common Rider; son of writer Leonard Michaels
 * Johnny Otis (1921–2012), musician, record producer, disc jockey
 * Jeff Ott, 1988, vocalist/guitarist of Crimpshrine and Fifteen
 * The Pack, some members attended Berkeley High School
 * Lenny Pickett, Saturday Night Live saxophone player
 * Julian Waterfall Pollack, 2006, jazz pianist
 * Thomas Pridgen, drummer for The Mars Volta
 * Joshua Redman, 1986, jazz musician
 * Timex Social Club, contemporary R&B group
 * Geoff Tyson, guitarist and record producer
 * The Uptones, ska band
 * Kyle Vincent, contemporary pop recording artist/singer-songwriter, producer
 * Donald Weilerstein, 1958, classical violinist, founder of Cleveland String Quartet, faculty member at Juilliard School
 * Kate Wolf, nee Allen, 1960, folk singer/songwriter

Politicians

 * Audie Bock, 1963, California politician and film scholar
 * Shirley Dean, 1950, Berkeley City Council member 1975–1982 and 1986–1994, and mayor 1994–2002
 * Matthew Denn, 1984, Lieutenant Governor of Delaware 2009–2014, Attorney General of Delaware 2015—
 * Elihu Harris, 1965, Mayor of Oakland, California, 1991–99
 * George Livingston, first elected African American Mayor of Richmond 1985–1993
 * Aaron Peskin, 1982, former president, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
 * Nick Sinai, former Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States and gov-tech pioneer

Notable faculty

 * Pumpsie Green, first black player for the Boston Red Sox; coached baseball at Berkeley High for many years
 * Edgar Manske, member of the College Football Hall of Fame, former assistant football coach at Cal under Pappy Waldorf; taught biology at Berkeley High for 20 years (1955–1975)