# 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.

## Notable alumni
### 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
* Adivi Sesh, Tollywood actor
* Jorma Taccone, 1995, comedy writer-actor, Saturday Night Live writer

### Artists and photographers

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

### 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
* Je'Rod Cherry, football player; won three Super Bowls with the New England Patriots
* Merv Connors, former MLB player (Chicago White Sox)
* Bill Durkee, 1939, National Basketball League player for the Minneapolis Lakers
* Jack Faszholz, former MLB player (St. Louis Cardinals)
* Leah Freeman, 2020, soccer player
* 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

* 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
* Shannon Wheeler, c. 1984, cartoonist, author of Too Much Coffee Man; published in The Onion, The New Yorker, and Mad magazine
* 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

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

### 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
* Albert Gjedde 1965, neuroscientist, co-inventor of Gjedde-Patlak plot; McGill University Montreal Canada, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
* Andrew Gleason (graduated elsewhere), mathematician
* 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

* Ambrose Akinmusire, 2000, jazz trumpet player
* Peter Apfelbaum, 1978, multi-instrumentalist/composer of Hieroglyphics Ensemble
* Will Bernard, 1977, guitarist
* Steven Bernstein, 1979, jazz trumpeter, slide trumpeter, arranger/composer and bandleader
* Stephen Bishop, 1958, classical pianist also known as Stephen Bishop-Kovacevich and Stephen Kovacevich
* 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
* KSHMR, 2006, electronic musician, record producer
* Stephen "Doc" Kupka, 1964, founding member/baritone saxophone of Tower of Power
* 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
* Alex Skolnick, 1987, guitarist of the thrash metal band Testament
* Timex Social Club, contemporary R&B group
* Geoff Tyson, guitarist and record producer
* Evanora Unlimited, 2018, record producer, multimedia artist
* 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)