# List of New York University alumni

This list of New York University alumni includes notable graduates and non-graduate former students of New York University.

## Legend

The following abbreviations and notes are used to represent NYU schools and colleges:
| Abbr. | Meaning |
| * | Did not graduate |
| CAS | College of Arts and Science |
| DENT | College of Dentistry |
| NURSING | Rory Meyers College of Nursing |
| GAL | Gallatin School of Individualized Study |
| GSAS | Graduate School of Arts and Science |
| IFA | Institute of Fine Arts |
| SPS | School of Professional Studies |
| ENG | School of Engineering (discontinued/merged; now Tandon) |
| LAW | School of Law |
| MED | School of Medicine |
| POLY | Tandon School of Engineering |
| SSW | New York University Silver School of Social Work |
| STEINHARDT | Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development |
| STERN | Stern School of Business |
| TSOA | Tisch School of the Arts |
| ARTS | University College of Arts and Sciences (discontinued/merged; now CAS) |
| WAG | Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service |
| SHA | New York University Shanghai |
| WSC | Washington Square College (discontinued/merged; now CAS) |
In 1973, the New York University School of Engineering and Science merged into Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, which in turn merged into NYU to form New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering in 2014. In 2015, the school changed its name to NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

## Academia and research
### Educators

| Name | Year | School | Degree | Notability |
| John S. Allen | 1936 | GSAS | Ph.D. | First president of the University of South Florida in Tampa; interim president of the University of Florida in Gainesville |
| Charles E. Anderson | | POLY | | Dean at University of Wisconsin, Madison |
| Miriam Basilio | 2002 | IFA | Ph.D. | Educator, author and curator at The Museum of Modern Art, NY |
| Jack Baskin | | ENG | | Founder of the Jack Baskin School of Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz |
| Samuel Baskin | 1974 | GSAS | Ph.D. | First president of the Union Institute & University in Cincinnati |
| Eleanor K. Baum | | POLY | | Cooper Union Engineering School Dean; served as Dean at Pratt Institute; the first female dean of an engineering school in the United States |
| Haim Ben-Shahar | | | | Israeli economist and President of Tel Aviv University |
| Arthur Bienenstock | | POLY | | Vice Provost and Dean of Research at Stanford University; former director of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource |
| Edward J. Bloustein | 1948 | WSC | B.A. | Seventeenth president of Rutgers University; professor at NYU Law |
| Bruno A. Boley | | POLY | | Dean of Engineering at Northwestern University; National Academy of Engineering member |
| William Boylan | | | Master of Pedagogy | First president of Brooklyn College |
| Joyce F. Brown | 1971, 1980 | GSAS | M.S., Ph.D. | President of the Fashion Institute of Technology |
| Truesdel Peck Calkins | | | | Founder and first president of Hofstra University |
| Herbert Carlin | | POLY | | Director of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University; professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and École Normale Supérieure, Paris |
| Rustica Carpio | 1956 | STEINHARDT | M.A. | Chairperson and first dean of the College of Communication of Polytechnic University of the Philippines; Dean of the College of Mass Communication at Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila; Fulbright Scholar |
| Serena Chen | 1997 | | Ph.D | Chair of the Psychology Department at U.C. Berkeley |
| Frank A. Cipriani | | GSAS | M.A., Ph.D. | Fifth President of SUNY Farmingdale |
| K. Mani Chandy | | POLY | | Chair of engineering and applied sciences at the California Institute of Technology; National Academy of Engineering member |
| Kenneth Connor | | POLY | | Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering Department Head from 2001 to 2008 at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; IEEE Fellow |
| Jessica Garretson Finch | | Law | J.D. | Founding president of Finch College |
| Edgar Fiedler | | | | Economist |
| Jeffrey P. Freidberg | 1961, 1962, 1964 | POLY | B.S., M.S., Ph.D. | Professor emeritus and former head of the Nuclear Science and Engineering Department at MIT (1997–2003); former associate director of MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center |
| John Anderson Fry | 1986 | Stern | M.B.A. | President, Drexel University |
| Elmer L. Gaden | | POLY | | Former chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry at Columbia University; Russ Prize winner; National Academy of Engineering member |
| Michael J. Garanzini | 1978 | STEINHARDT | M.A. | President and Chancellor, Loyola University Chicago |
| Jerome Gavis | | POLY | | Chairman of the chemical engineering department at Johns Hopkins University; National Academy of Science member; helped develop methods of separating solid waste components |
| Alfred Gessow | | ENG | | Chair of the Department of Aerospace Engineering and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park; professor at University of Virginia; awarded NASA Exceptional Service Medal |
| Dorit Geva | 2006 | | Ph.D. | Founding Dean of undergraduate studies at Central European University |
| Harold S. Goldberg | | POLY | | Dean of the Tufts University School of Engineering; Gordon Prize winner; National Academy of Engineering member |
| Urban Gonnoud | 1958 | Stern | M.B.A. | 15th President of St. Francis College |
| Martin H. Graham | 1952 | POLY | Ph.D. | Chair of the Computer Science Department at University of California, Berkeley; professor at Rice University; designer of the Rice Institute Computer; served as Secretary of the Academic Senate, University of California from 1978 to 1980 |
| Martha Greenblatt | | POLY | | Chair of the Chemistry Department at Rutgers University |
| Charles Waldo Haskins | | POLY | | Founder and first dean of New York University Stern School of Business |
| Gabriel Hawawini | 1977 | GSAS | Ph.D. | Dean, INSEAD, 2000–2006 |
| Russell K. Hotzler | | POLY | | President of New York City College of Technology |
| Michael Hudson | | | | Economics professor |
| Richard Joel | 1972, 1975 | Law | B.A., J.D. | Fourth president of Yeshiva University, 2003–2017 |
| Peter G. Jordan | | POLY | | Vice Chancellor of CUNY; President of Tarrant County College; dean at New York Institute of Technology; dean at Adelphi University; overseer for Colby College |
| Francis Kilcoyne | | | | President of Brooklyn College |
| Kim Won-yong | 1959 | | Ph.D. | 'Father of Korean Archaeology', Prof. Seoul National University |
| John Sterling Kingsley | | POLY | | Chair of Biology at Tufts University |
| William B. Kouwenhoven | | POLY | | Inventor of closed-chest cardiac defibrillator; recipient of Edison Medal; professor at Johns Hopkins University |
| Jerome Krase | 1973 | SOC | Ph.D. | Professor Emeritus and Archivist at Brooklyn College |
| Paul Kurtz | 1948 | WSC | B.A. | The "Pope of the unbelievers" |
| Norman Lamm | | POLY | | President and chancellor of Yeshiva University |
| Eugene M. Lang | | POLY | | Chair emeritus of the Board of Swarthmore College |
| Howard Lesnick | | | | Jefferson B. Fordham Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School |
| Yehuda (Leo) Levi | | POLY | | Rector at the Jerusalem College of Technology |
| Samuel Levy | | Law | B.A., J.D. | Chairman of the Yeshiva University Board of Trustees |
| Katharine Culbert Lyall | 1969 | Stern | M.B.A. | President, University of Wisconsin–Madison; President of the University of Wisconsin System |
| Gerald W. Lynch | | | | President of John Jay College |
| Amy Malek | 2005 | | M.A. | Assistant professor, scholar, and sociocultural anthropologist; endowed Chair and Director in Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies (IPGS) at Oklahoma State University, Stillwater |
| Newt Margulies | | POLY | | Dean and Professor of Management in the College of Business Administration at California State University, San Marcos; former Dean of the School of Business, University of California, Irvine |
| James Milliken | 1983 | Law | J.D. | President of the University of Nebraska; Chancellor of the City University of New York |
| Cathy Minehan | | STERN | MBA | Dean of the School of Management at Simmons College |
| Donald Moon | 1958 | ENG | M.S. | President of Shimer College |
| A. Michael Noll | | POLY | | Dean at University of Southern California |
| Leonard Peikoff | 1964 | GSAS | Ph.D. | Intellectual heir of Ayn Rand; leading figure of Objectivism |
| Fortunato de la Peña | | POLY | | Chairman of the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at University of the Philippines College of Engineering |
| Shirley D. Peterson | | Law | J.D. | President of Hood College; sat on the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College from 1994 to 2007; currently a Trustee Emerita of Bryn Mawr College |
| Nicanor Reyes, Sr. | 1917 | Stern | B.A. | Founder and first president of the Far Eastern University in Manila, Philippines |
| Fazlollah Reza | | POLY | | Head of Sharif University of Technology and University of Tehran; professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and McGill University; Fellow of the IEEE |
| Virginia P. Ruesterholz | | POLY | | Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Stevens Institute of Technology |
| Wallace S. Sayre | | GSAS | Ph.D. | Professor of Columbia University; namesake of Sayre's law |
| John P. Schaefer | | POLY | | President of University of Arizona |
| Alexander Schure | | ENG | | President of New York Institute of Technology |
| W. J. Seeley | | POLY | | Dean of Duke University's Edmund T. Pratt Jr. School of Engineering; served as chairman of the Electrical Engineering Department at Duke University; professor at University of Pennsylvania; director of the Naval Ordnance Laboratory |
| Josef Singer | | POLY | | President of Technion – Israel Institute of Technology |
| Lawrence G. Smith | | | M.D. | Founding dean of Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine |
| Richard E. Sorensen | | POLY | | Dean of Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech |
| Richard S. Stein | | POLY | | Founder and Professor of the Polymer Science and Engineering Department at University of Massachusetts Amherst; Member of National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering; Fulbright Visiting Professor at Kyoto University; National Research Council Fellow at Cambridge University; Research Associate at Princeton University |
| Marian Stoltz-Loike | 1984 | GSAS | Ph.D. | Dean of Lander College for Women and Vice President of Touro College |
| Paul Tagliabue | | Law | J.D. | Chairman of Board of Directors of Georgetown University |
| Jeremy Travis | | Law | J.D. | President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice |
| Hermann Viets | | POLY | | President of Milwaukee School of Engineering |
| Iris Weinshall | | WAG | | Vice chancellor at the City University of New York |
| Herbert George Welch | | POLY | | President of Ohio Wesleyan University |
| Samuel Merrill Woodbridge | 1838 | | B.A. | Led New Brunswick seminary as Dean and President of the Faculty from 1883 to 1901 |
| Howard Zinn | 1951 | CAS | B.A. | Author of A People's History of the United States |

### Professors, researchers and scientists

| Name | Year | School | Degree | Notability |
| Gerard A. Alphonse | | POLY | | 2005 president of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) |
| Geetha Angara | 1984 | GSAS | Ph.D. | Victim of unsolved 2005 homicide at New Jersey water treatment plant |
| Boris Aronov | 1986, 1989 | Courant | M.S., Ph.D. | Computer scientist; professor at New York University Tandon School of Engineering; Sloan Research Fellow |
| Sylvan Barnet | 1948 | CAS | B.A. | Shakespearean scholar |
| Tito Boeri | 1990 | | Ph.D. | Professor at Bocconi University, Milan; director of Fondazione RDB |
| Daniel Draper (meteorologist) | 1880 | Med | Ph.D | Meteorologist and medical doctor |
| E. Lloyd Du Brul | 1937 | DENT | D.D.S. | Author of Sicher and Du Brul's Oral Anatomy |
| Avery Fisher | 1929 | ARTS | B.S. | Inventor of the first stereo radio-phonograph |
| Neil Garg | 2000 | CAS | B.S. | UCLA Professor & Kenneth N. Trueblood Endowed Chair |
| Caroline D. Gentile | 1949 | | M.A. | Associate professor emeritus of education; physical education instructor; longest-serving faculty member of the University of Maine at Presque Isle |
| Corwin Hansch | | GSAS | Ph.D. | Inventor of the Hansch equation |
| Martin Hellman | 1966 | ENG | B.S. | Invented public key cryptography; inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame; Turing Award winner |
| John Harvey Kellogg | 1875 | Med | | Co-inventor of Kellogg's cereals |
| Barbara Keyfitz | 1970 | Courant | Ph.D. | Director of the Fields Institute |
| David Korn | 1969 | Courant | Ph.D. | Creator of the Korn shell |
| Leonard Linkow | 1952 | DENT | DDS | Pioneer in oral implantology; nominated for Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1969 |
| Erwin Lutwak | | POLY | | mathematician, inaugural fellow of the American Mathematical Society |
| George W. Melville | | POLY | | Engineer-in-chief of the United States Navy; Congressional Gold Medal winner |
| Donald J. Metz | | POLY | | Nuclear engineer at Brookhaven National Laboratory |
| Ami Miron | | POLY | | Received two Technology and Engineering Emmy Awards |
| Lee Morin | 1978–1982 | Med | M.Sc., M.D., Ph.D. | Astronaut |
| Robert Qiu | 1955 | | Ph.D. | CEO of Wiscom Technologies; professor of electrical engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University |
| John Wellborn Root | 1969 | ARTS | B.S. | Inventor of the floating raft system |
| Gerald Soffen | | | Postdoc | Chief scientist of the Viking missions to Mars in 1976 |
| Salvatore Stolfo | 1979 | Courant | Ph.D. | Professor at Columbia University |
| Dennis Tito | 1962 | CAS | B.A. | First commercial space flight customer |
| Alfred Vail | 1836 | | B.A. | Inventor |
| Barbara Wertheimer | 1960 | | M.A | Co-founder and director, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations |
| Robert M. White | 1951 | ENG | B.S. | Air Force test pilot |
| Minoru Yamasaki | 1951 | GSAS | M.A. | Works include the World Trade Center |
| Ben Zinn | 1961 | ENG | B.S. | International soccer player and academic at the Georgia Institute of Technology; Member of the National Academy of Engineering |
| Jay Kappraff | | POLY | | Professor at Cooper Union; NASA aerospace engineer |
| Torunn Atteraas Garin | | POLY | | Oversaw the development of the artificial sweetener aspartame and was a national spokesperson for it. Developed nontoxic processes to create food colorings and remove caffeine from coffee |
| Pat Villani | | POLY | | Author of DOS-C, the FreeDOS kernel |
| Peter Hänggi | | POLY | | Theoretical physicist best known for his original works on Brownian motion and ratchets, stochastic resonance and dissipative systems (classical and quantum) |
| Alexander Johnston | | POLY | | Professor at Princeton University |
| Ernest Bernbaum | | POLY | | Professor at Harvard University |
| Ines Mandl | | POLY | | Professor at Columbia University; American Academy of Arts and Sciences member; awarded the Garvan-Olin Medal in 1983 for her work on the enzyme collagenase |
| Frances Hugle | | POLY | | Microscopic and integrated circuitry pioneer; inventor of tape-automated bonding |
| James Wood | | POLY | | Fabricated the steel cables for the Brooklyn Bridge, making cable-lift elevators possible; contributed to the inventions of lockmaking, submarine, design of the modern refrigerator, A/C generator, electric motors, and transformer; held 240 patents |
| Alan Schriesheim | | POLY | | Director Emeritus and the retired CEO of Argonne National Laboratory; professor at University of Chicago; National Academy of Engineering member |
| Jay Greene | | POLY | | Chief Engineer of NASA Johnson Space Center |
| Bern Dibner | | POLY | | Discovered how to connect electrical conductors still used today. Assembled one of the world's most important history of science libraries, now housed at MIT and the National Museum of American History |
| Norman Gaylord | | POLY | | Played a prominent role in the development of permeable contact lenses |
| Charles Camarda | | POLY | | Astronaut; NASA scientist and mission specialist on the Return to Flight voyage of the shuttle Discovery |
| Paolo A. Nespoli | | POLY | | Italian astronaut, mission specialist at STS-120 Space Shuttle mission |
| Thomas J. Kelly | | POLY | | Scientist; "father" of the Apollo Lunar Module |
| Jack Ruina | | POLY | | DARPA director; MIT professor emeritus |
| Robert O'Handley | | POLY | MS, PhD | MIT professor and research scientist |
| Michael Strano | 1997 | POLY | B.S. | Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Howard A. Chinn | | POLY | | Pioneered techniques of analog audio recording, and radio and television broadcasting; was chief audio engineer at CBS, and a researcher at MIT and Harvard. |
| Fredric J. Harris | | POLY | | Co-inventor of the Blackman-Harris Filter |
| Hugh John Casey | | POLY | | Designer of the Pentagon |
| Samuel Ruben | | POLY | | Inventor who made lasting contributions to electrochemistry and solid-state technology, including the founding of Duracell; held more than 300 patents |
| Ephraim Katzir | | POLY | | Fourth President of Israel; chief scientist of the Israel Defense Department |
| Bill Friend | | POLY | | Chairman of the University of California's President's Council on the National Laboratories; National Academy of Engineering member |
| Albert Macovski | | POLY | | Professor (Emeritus) at Stanford University; National Academy of Engineering member |
| Christos V. Massalas | | POLY | | Professor at Trinity College, Dublin; Fulbright scholar |
| Irwin Kra | | POLY | | Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Hamilton Castner | | POLY | | Industrial chemist; invented methods to produce sodium metal and sodium hydroxide from soda ash and salt respectively; awarded Elliott Cresson Medal |
| George Glauberman | | POLY | | Professor at University of Chicago; Fellow of the American Mathematical Society; proved the ZJ theorem and the Z* theorem |
| Jules Bellisio | | POLY | | Chief Scientist at Telcordia Technologies |
| Lew Tucker | | POLY | | Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Cisco Systems |
| Charles D. Strang | | POLY | | Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| David J. Thomson | | POLY | | Professor at Princeton University, Stanford University, MIT, and University of Cambridge. Invented the Multitaper |
| Ronald R. Yager | | POLY | | Professor at University of California, Berkeley; invented Ordered weighted averaging aggregation operator |
| Peter Pershan | | POLY | | Professor at Harvard University |
| Judea Pearl | | POLY | | Professor at UCLA; awarded Turing Award in 2011; Member of the National Academy of Engineering; Member of the National Academy of Sciences |
| Mischa Schwartz | | POLY | | Professor at Columbia University; National Academy of Engineering member |
| Erol Gelenbe | | POLY | | Professor at Imperial College London and Duke University; invented G-networks and random neural network |
| Steven L. Goldman | | POLY | | Professor at Lehigh University |
| Buddy Ratner | | POLY | | Professor at University of Washington; National Academy of Engineering member |
| Ronald Silverman | | POLY | | Professor of Ophthalmology at Weill Cornell Medical College; Professor of Ophthalmic Science at Columbia University Medical Center |
| Don Torrieri | | POLY | | Professor at Johns Hopkins University; research engineer and fellow of the US Army Research Laboratory |
| Edward A. Frieman | | POLY | | Professor at Princeton University; Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography; Guggenheim Fellow |
| Grigori Perelman | | COURANT | | Fields Medal winner; proved the soul conjecture and Thurston's geometrization conjecture |
| Leopold B. Felsen | | POLY | | Professor at Boston University; National Academy of Engineering member; Guggenheim Fellow |
| Erich E. Kunhardt | | POLY | | Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology |
| Bishnu S. Atal | | POLY | | Professor at University of Washington; Member of the National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences |
| Robert H. Lieberman | | POLY | | Professor at Cornell University; Fulbright scholar |
| Hugh Seidman | | POLY | | Professor at University of Wisconsin, Yale University, Columbia University, the College of William and Mary, and The New School |
| Clayton Hamilton | | POLY | | Professor at Columbia University |
| Linda Weiser Friedman | | POLY | | Professor of Statistics and Computer Information Systems at Baruch College and the CUNY Graduate Center |
| George Preti | | POLY | | Professor at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine |
| Gerald J. Popek | | ENG | | Professor at UCLA |
| Hung-Chang Lin | | POLY | | Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland; invented the quasi-complementary (transistor) amplifier circuit, the lateral transistor, and the wireless microphone; held 61 patents |
| Murray S. Klamkin | | POLY | | Professor at University of Minnesota and SUNY Buffalo |
| Anthony M. Johnson | | POLY | | Professor at University of Maryland |
| Steve Wallach | | POLY | | Professor at Rice University; holds 33 patents; member of the National Academy of Engineering |
| Peter Staecker | | POLY | | President of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; researcher at MIT Lincoln Laboratory |
| Andrew Herrmann | | POLY | | President of the American Society of Civil Engineers |
| Joel B. Snyder | | POLY | | President of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| Eli M. Pearce | | POLY | | President of the American Chemical Society; designed fire-resistant polymers. |
| Morris Janowitz | | WSC | | Made major contributions to sociological theory |
| Martin Pope | | POLY | | Professor emeritus at New York University |
| Walter Brenner | | POLY | | Professor at New York University |
| Bancroft Gherardi, Jr. | | POLY | | IEEE Edison Medal winner; President of American Institute of Electrical Engineers; National Academy of Sciences member |
| Mario Cardullo | | POLY | | Invented Radio-frequency identification (RFID) |
| Robert G. Brown | | POLY | | Invented the first telephone handset |
| Joseph Owades | | POLY | | Inventor of Lite beer |
| Len Shustek | | POLY | | Professor at Carnegie-Mellon University and Stanford University |
| Eugene Fasullo | | POLY | | Chief Engineer of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey |
| Martin Schechter | | POLY | | Professor and founding director of the School of Population and Public Health in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia |
| Rossiter W. Raymond | | POLY | | Professor at Columbia University |
| Henry L. Bachman | 1951, 1954 | POLY | BSEE, MSEE | IEEE president in 1987; served as Vice President of BAE Systems; Fellow of the IEEE |
| John Gilbert | | POLY | | Inventor of non-stick coating as an application of Teflon; invented devices ranging from a multiple-head pasta extruder for the Ronzoni Company to miniaturized registers for the U.S. Army Signal Corps; Chief Scientist at DuPont |
| Henry C. Goldmark | | POLY | | Designed and installed the Panama Canal locks |
| Mario Tchou | | POLY | | Created Olivetti Elea, Italy's first computer |
| Leopold Just | | POLY | | Designed virtually every major bridge and tunnel in New York City, as well as Washington Metro, Ohio Turnpike and Connecticut Turnpike |
| Jasper H. Kane | | POLY | | Developed the practical, deep-tank fermentation method for production of large quantities of pharmaceutical-grade penicillin |
| Nathan Marcuvitz | | POLY | | Head of the experimental group of the Radiation Laboratory (MIT); Member of the National Academy of Engineering |
| Jacob Bekenstein | | POLY | | Wolf Prize in Physics winner; best known for his part in the discovery of what is now called Bekenstein-Hawking radiation |
| Jerome H. Lemelson | | ENG | | Holder of 605 patents; established the Lemelson Foundation; one of the most prolific inventors in American history; several of his inventions and works in the fields in which he patented have made possible, either wholly or in part, innovations like automated warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, videocassette recorders, camcorders, and the magnetic tape drive used in tape players |
| Ali Akansu | 1983, 1987 | POLY | M.S., Ph.D. | Professor at New Jersey Institute of Technology best known for his contributions to subband and wavelet transforms |
| Jack M. Sipress | | POLY | | Contributed to the development of submarine communications facilities; Member of the National Academy of Engineering |
| Benjamin Adler | | POLY | | Helped develop commercial television |
| Robert Zwanzig | | POLY | | Professor at Johns Hopkins University; Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences |
| Barouh Berkovits | | POLY | | Invented the cardiac defibrillator and artificial cardiac pacemaker |
| John B. MacChesney | | ENG | | Winner of Charles Stark Draper Prize |
| Gerard J. Foschini | | ENG | | professor at Princeton University |
| Lawrence J. Fogel | | ENG | | Inventor of active noise cancellation |
| Leonard Greene | | ENG | | Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame |
| Michael I. Yarymovych | | ENG | | Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force (1973–1975); Guggenheim Fellow |
| Alexander H. Flax | | ENG | | Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force (1959–1961) |
| Robert S. Swarz | | ENG | | Co-director of the Systems Engineering Practice Office of MITRE Corporation |
| George Doundoulakis | | POLY | | Designed what was until very recently the largest radio telescope in the world |
| Helias Doundoulakis | | POLY | | Patented the suspension system for the largest radio telescope in the world |
| Ahmed Cemal Eringen | | POLY | | Turkish-American engineering scientist; professor at Princeton University; namesake of the Eringen Medal |
| Henrik Ager-Hanssen | | ENG | | Norwegian nuclear physicist and businessperson; Member of the National Academy of Engineering |
| Bede Liu | 1956, 1960 | POLY | M.E.E., D.E.E. | Pioneer in digital signal processing. Professor at Princeton University; member of the National Academy of Engineering; Life Fellow of IEEE |
| Subrata K. Sen | | POLY | | Joseph F. Cullman III professor and researcher at Yale University |
| Roy LoPresti | | ENG | | Worked on the Apollo Moon Program; served as advisor to the US Congress; designed LoPresti Fury; designed the Grumman American AA-5; Chief Engineer and Vice President of Engineering at Mooney Aviation Company, where he designed the Mooney 201 |
| Robert Sobel | | | | Professor of history at Hofstra University; well-known and prolific writer of business histories |
| Elliott Skinner | | | | Anthropologist; Guggenheim Fellow |
| James Ax | | POLY | | Mathematics professor at Stanford University and Cornell University; won Frank Nelson Cole Prize in Number Theory; proved Ax–Grothendieck theorem and Ax–Kochen theorem; Guggenheim Fellow |
| Russell A. Kirsch | | ENG | | Developed the first digital image scanner |
| E. Gail de Planque | 1983 | GSAS | Ph.D. | Nuclear physicist; first woman to become a Commissioner at the US government's Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); National Academy of Engineering member |
| Jacob Wolfowitz | 1942 | Courant | Ph.D. | Statistician and Shannon Award-winning information theorist; professor at Cornell University, Columbia University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; proved Wald–Wolfowitz runs test and Dvoretzky–Kiefer–Wolfowitz inequality |
| Solomon Berson | 1939, 1945 | MED | M.S., MD | Developed radioimmunoassay with Rosalyn Yalow, who received a Nobel Prize for their joint work after Berson's death. |
| Gabriel P. Weisberg | 1963 | WSC | B.A. | Art historian, Professor of Art History Emeritus, University of Minnesota |
| Cortney Lollar | 2002 | LAW | J.D. | Distinguished professor of Law at University of Kentucky |

#### Abel Prize recipients

| Name | Year | School | Degree | Notability |
| Louis Nirenberg | 1949 | Courant | Ph.D. | Abel Prize (2015) and 1995 National Medal of Science recipient |
| S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan | 1966 | Courant | postdoc | Abel Prize (2007) |
| Peter Lax | 1947, 1949 | Courant | B.A., Ph.D. | Abel Prize (2005) and 1986 National Medal of Science recipient |

#### MacArthur Fellows

| Name | Year | School | Degree | Notability |
| Milton Babbitt | 1935 | ARTS | B.A. | 1986 MacArthur Fellow |
| George Perle | 1956 | GSAS | Ph.D. | 1974 MacArthur Fellow |
| Charles Simic | 1966 | ARTS | B.A. | 1983 MacArthur Fellow |
| Michelle Dorrance | 2001 | Gallatin | B.A. | 2015 MacArthur Fellow |
| Mimi Lien | 2003 | TSOA | M.F.A. | 2015 MacArthur Fellow |
| Basil Twist | 2015 | TSOA | | 2015 MacArthur Fellow |
| Majora Carter | 1997 | TSOA | M.F.A | 2005 MacArthur Fellow |
| Branden Jacobs-Jenkins | 2007 | TSOA | M.A. | 2016 MacArthur Fellow |
| Sylvia A. Law | 1968 | Law | J.D. | 1983 MacArthur Fellow |
| Annie Baker | 2003 | TSOA | B.F.A. | 2017 MacArthur Fellow |
| Gabriel Victora | 2011 | GSAS | Ph.D. | 2017 MacArthur Fellow |

#### National Medals for Science, Technology and Innovation, Arts and Humanities recipients

| Name | Year | School | Degree | Notability |
| Joseph B. Keller | 1943–1948 | GSAS | B.A., M.A., Ph.D. | 1988 National Medal of Science recipient |
| Peter Lax | 1947, 1949 | Courant | B.A., Ph.D. | 1986 National Medal of Science recipient and Abel Prize (2005) |
| Alexandre Chorin | | Courant | | 2014 National Medal of Science recipient |
| Martin David Kruskal | | Courant | | 1993 National Medal of Science recipient |
| Cathleen Synge Morawetz | 1951 | GSAS | Ph.D. | 1998 National Medal of Science recipient (first woman recipient) |
| Frederick Reines | 1944 | GSAS | Ph.D. | 1985 National Medal of Science recipient and 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics |
| Albert Sabin | 1931 | Med | M.D. | 1988 National Medal of Science recipient |
| John Archibald Wheeler | 1934 | GSAS | postdoc | 1970 National Medal of Science recipient |
| John G. Trump | 1929 | POLY | B.S. | 1983 National Medal of Science recipient |
| Joel S. Engel | 1964 | POLY | Ph.D. | 1994 National Medal of Technology recipient |
| Richard J. Gambino | 1976 | POLY | M.S. | 1995 National Medal of Technology recipient |
| Jerome Swartz | | POLY | Ph.D. | 1999 National Medal of Technology recipient |
| Tony Kushner | 1984 | TSOA | MFA | 2012 National Medal of Arts recipient |
| Moisés Kaufman | 1989 | TSOA | BFA | 2016 National Medal of Arts recipient; Guggenheim Fellow |
| Louis Nirenberg | 1949 | Courant | Ph.D. | 1995 National Medal of Science recipient and Abel Prize (2015) |
| S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan | 1966 | Courant | postdoc | 2010 National Medal of Science recipient |
| B. Gerald Cantor | | Law | | 1995 National Medal of Arts recipient |
| Bernard Brodie (biochemist) | 1935 | GSAS | Ph.D. | 1968 National Medal of Science recipient |

#### Nobel laureates

| Name | Year | School | Degree | Notability |
| Robert Aumann | | | | 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics |
| Julius Axelrod | 1941 | Med | M.Sc. | 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Saul Bellow | | | | 1976 Nobel Prize in Literature |
| Baruj Benacerraf | | | | 1980 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Joseph Brodsky | | | | 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature |
| Francis Crick | 1953 | POLY | Postdoc | 1962 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine |
| Mohamed ElBaradei | 1967 | Law | LL.M. | 2005 Nobel Peace Prize |
| Gertrude B. Elion | | *POLY | PhD | 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Robert Engle | | | | 2003 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences |
| Rudolf Eucken | | | | 1908 Nobel Prize for Literature |
| Friedrich Hayek | 1924 | GSAS | | 1974 Bank of Sweden Prize in Economics |
| James Heckman | | | | 2000 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences |
| Avram Hershko | | | | 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry |
| Eric R. Kandel | 1955 | Med | M.D. | 2000 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; Associate Professor 1965–74 |
| Tjalling Koopmans | | | | 1975 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences |
| Arthur Kornberg | 1947 | Med | | 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Wassily Leontief | | | | 1973 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences |
| Otto Loewi | | | | 1936 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Rudolph Marcus | | POLY | | 1992 Nobel Prize in Chemistry; won Wolf Prize in Chemistry |
| Robert Mulliken | | | | 1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry |
| Gunnar Myrdal | | | | 1974 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences |
| Severo Ochoa | | | | 1959 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine |
| George E. Palade | | | Postgraduate work at biology laboratory of Robert Chambers | 1974 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Shimon Peres | | | | Nobel Peace Prize |
| Martin Perl | 1948 | POLY | B.S. | 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics |
| Edward Prescott | | | | 2004 Nobel Prize in Economics |
| Frederick Reines | 1944 | GSAS | Ph.D. | 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics and 1985 National Medal of Science recipient |
| Elihu Root | 1867 | Law | LL.B. | 1912 Nobel Peace Prize |
| Irwin Rose | | | Postgraduate work under Severo Ochoa | 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry |
| Thomas Sargent | | | | 2011 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences |
| Clifford Shull | 1941 | GSAS | Ph.D. | 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics |
| Wole Soyinka | | | | 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature |
| George Wald | 1927 | WSC | B.S. | 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Rosalyn Yalow | | | coursework* | 1977 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |

### Academic administrators

* Joe Gow (born 1960) (attended West Chester University before transferring to New York University, later transferring to Penn State University, from where he graduated) — American academic, musician, pornographic actor, and university administrator, noted for being fired as Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse in December 2023 after being outed for filming and starring in consensual pornographic videos with his wife, which they posted to public adult websites (without ever mentioning their names, careers, or university affiliations)

## Business

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Kobi Alexander | Stern, M.B.A., 1980 | Founder and former CEO of Comverse Technology |
| Leslie Alexander | CAS B.A. | Attorney and businessman; former owner of the Houston Rockets NBA team |
| Nicolas Berggruen | Stern, B.S., 1981 | Billionaire, founder of Berggruen Institute |
| Alexander Soros | CAS B.A. | Non-profit executive, heir and philanthropist; son of George Soros |
| Philip Jaffe | POLY, 1913–14 | Co-founder of Amerasia' involved in the 1945 Amerasia espionage affair |
| Ursula Burns | POLY, B.S., 1980 | Chairman and CEO of Xerox |
| Charles Ranlett Flint | POLY, B.S., 1868 | Founder of IBM |
| Harvey R. Blau | A.B.; LLM | Chairman and former CEO of Griffon Corporation |
| Ronald Kramer | Stern, MBA | CEO of Griffon Corporation; former president and director of Wynn Resorts |
| Alex Klokus | Stern | Co-founder of Futurism, executive producer |
| James B. Rosenwald | Stern, MBA | Co-founder and managing partner of Dalton Investments LLC |
| James M. Henderson | Graduate studies | Founder of Henderson Advertising Agency in Greenville, South Carolina; Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina in 1970 |
| Arthur C. Martinez | POLY, B.S., 1960 | Former chairman and CEO of Sears |
| Robert J. Stevens | POLY, M.S., 1985 | Chairman, President and CEO of Lockheed Martin |
| Thor Bjorgolfsson | Stern, B.S., 1991 | Icelandic businessman and entrepreneur; known as "Iceland's first billionaire" |
| David Boies | Law L.L.M., 1967 | Founder and Chairman, Boies, Schiller & Flexner |
| Jake Burton Carpenter | economics degree 1977 WSUC | Designer of modern snowboard and founder of Burton Snowboards |
| Ben Cohen | Art Therapy * | Founder of Ben & Jerry's |
| Robert B. Cohen | 1947 | Founded Hudson News in 1987 |
| Jane Gordon | CAS B.A. | Jewelry designer |
| John J. Creedon | Stern 1955, B.S. Law 1957, J.D. | Former CEO and chairman, MetLife |
| Marvin Davis | ENG, B.S. | CEO of Paramount Pictures |
| Robert Dow | ENG | Managing partner and chairman of the board of Lord Abbett |
| Thomas E. Dooley | Stern, M.B.A. 1984 | Senior Executive Vice President, Chief Administrative Officer, CEO and CFO of Viacom |
| Israel Englander | Stern, B.S. 1972 | Hedge fund manager |
| James Ferragamo | Stern | Businessman |
| Richard S. Fuld | Stern 1973, M.B.A. | CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. |
| Tom Freston | Stern, M.B.A. | MTV Networks |
| Abraham George | Stern, 1973, 1975, M.B.A, Ph.D. | Founder of The George Foundation and Multinational Computer Models |
| Kayalakakam M. George | Stern 1948, M.B.A | CEO of Palai Central Bank (1956–60) |
| Harvey Golub | Stern 1961, B.S. | Chairman and CEO of American Express (1994–2001); Chairman of the American International Group (AIG) |
| Alan Greenspan | Stern 1948 1950 1977, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. | Former chairman of the Federal Reserve |
| Robert Greifeld | Stern 1977, M.B.A. | CEO of NASDAQ |
| Scott Harrison | CAS 1998, B.A. | Founder of Charity: Water |
| Carl Icahn | MED* | Investor and activist shareholder |
| Henry Kaufman | Stern 1948, B.A., Stern 1958, Ph.D. | Wall Street financial consultant |
| Paul Kangas | Stern, M.B.A. | Host of Nightly Business Report |
| Herb Kelleher | Law 1955, LL.B. | Founder and CEO of Southwest Airlines |
| Eugene Kleiner | POLY | Founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor |
| Nina Freeman | POLY | Video game designer, co-founder of The Code Liberation Foundation |
| Alan Levin | Stern 1976, M.B.A. | CFO of Pfizer |
| Paul Levitz | Stern* | President of DC Comics |
| Martin Lipton | Law 1955, J.D. | Co-founder of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz |
| John C. Malone | ENG, M.S. | CEO of Tele-Communications Inc.; CEO of Liberty Media; now chairman of Liberty Media, Liberty Global, and Liberty Interactive, all of which he is the majority owner; owns 49% of Starz Inc. and 29% of Discovery Communications |
| Michael I. Yarymovych | ENG | Vice President of Boeing Company |
| George Feldstein | ENG, B.S., M.S. | Founder of Crestron Electronics |
| Cathy Minehan | Stern 1977, M.B.A. | President of Federal Reserve Bank, Boston |
| Joseph Nacchio | ENG, B.S., Stern, M.B.A. | Chairman and CEO of Qwest |
| Roy Neuberger | coursework* | Founder of Neuberger & Berman |
| Marc Rich | CAS, B.A. | Commodities trader and hedge fund manager; indicted for tax evasion |
| Leonard Riggio | Stern 1964, M.B.A. | CEO and owner of Barnes & Noble |
| Edouard de Rothschild | Stern 1985, M.B.A. | Rothschild Banque |
| Jay Schulberg | 1961 | Advertising executive at Ogilvy & Mather and Bozell Worldwide; creator of the "Got Milk?" advertising campaign |
| W. R. Berkley | Stern | Founder, chairman and CEO of W. R. Berkley Corporation |
| William T. Schwendler | ENG, B.S., 1924 | Co-founder, chairman and CEO of Grumman |
| Michael Birck | ENG | Co-founder and current chairman of Tellabs |
| John Catsimatidis | ENG | Businessman invested in real estate, aviation, and groceries; radio talk show host; owner, president, chairman, and CEO of Gristedes |
| Frederick Gluck | ENG | Chief executive at McKinsey & Company; Director at Amgen; serves on the Harvard Business School Board of Directors of the Associates, the Management Education Council of the Wharton School, the U.S. and Hong Kong Economic Cooperation Committee, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the Board of the International Executive Service Corps |
| Walter V. Shipley | Stern 1956, B.S. | Chairman and CEO of Chase Manhattan Bank |
| Larry Silverstein | CAS B.A., 1952 | Owner of World Trade Center site |
| Mark Spitznagel | Courant, M.S. | Investor, hedge fund manager |
| Stanley Stahl | B.A. | Real estate investor |
| Leonard N. Stern | Stern 1957, B.S., 1959, M.B.A. | Namesake of NYU's Stern School of Business; CEO of The Hartz Group |
| Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs | Stern, M.B.A. | Member of International Olympic Committee |
| Sy Syms | CAS B.A., 1946 | Founder of Syms Clothing |
| Henry Taub | Stern 1947, B.S. | Founder of Automatic Data Processing, philanthropist |
| Maurice Tempelsman | Stern* | Chairman of Lazare Kaplan International Inc.; former companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis |
| Laurence Alan Tisch | Stern 1942, B.Sc. | Media mogul; president and chief executive officer, CBS |
| Christy Turlington | Gallatin 1999, B.A. | Supermodel |
| Agnes Varis | Stern 1979, M.B.A. | Founder of Aegis Pharmaceuticals |
| Peggy Yu | Stern, M.B.A. | Founder of dangdang.com, the largest online Chinese language retailer |
| Jack Dorsey | | Creator of Twitter; founder and CEO of Block, Inc. |
| George W. Melville | POLY | Chief of the Bureau of Steam Engineering |
| Spencer Trask | POLY | Invested and supported entrepreneurs, including Thomas Edison's invention of the electric light bulb and his electricity network; majority shareholder and chairman of The New York Times |
| Hugh John Casey | POLY | Chairman of the New York City Transit Authority |
| Michael Horodniceanu | POLY | President of the MTA Capital Construction |
| Alfred Amoroso | POLY | Former chairman of Yahoo! |
| John Dionisio | POLY | Chairman and CEO of AECOM |
| Charles D. Strang | POLY | Chairman, president and CEO of Outboard Marine Corporation |
| Herbert L. Henkel | POLY | Chairman of Ingersoll Rand |
| Israel Borovich | POLY | Chairman and CEO of EL AL |
| Jason Hsuan | POLY | Chairman and CEO of TPV Technology |
| John Trani | POLY | Former chairman and CEO of Stanley Black & Decker |
| John Elmer McKeen | POLY | Former chairman and CEO of Pfizer; Member of the National Academy of Engineering |
| Alfred P. Sloan | POLY | Former chairman and CEO of General Motors |
| Mark Ronald | POLY | Former chairman and CEO of BAE Systems Inc. |
| Joseph J. Jacobs | POLY | Former chairman and founder of Jacobs Engineering Group |
| Paul Ferri | POLY | Founder and General Partner of Matrix Partners |
| Bern Dibner | POLY | Former chairman, founder and CEO of Burndy |
| Sunil Godhwani | POLY | Chairman and CEO of Religare |
| Jerome Swartz | POLY | Co-founded Symbol Technologies with POLY graduate Shelley A. Harrison |
| Samuel Ruben | POLY | Co-founded Duracell |
| Richard Santulli | POLY, B.S., M.S. | Former chairman, founder and CEO of NetJets; current chairman and founder of Milestone Aviation Group. |
| Paul Soros | POLY | Founder and former CEO of Soros Associates; brother of George Soros |
| Michael H. Kappaz | POLY | Chairman and CEO of KM Group |
| Vincent A. Calarco | POLY | CEO and President of Chemtura |
| Charles Hinkaty | POLY | Vice president at Citibank |
| David Sobin | POLY | CEO of BAMnet; founded a DSL company, which was subsequently sold for approximately $50M |
| Edward P. Gilligan | Stern | Vice Chairman, President of American Express |
| Glenford Myers | POLY | Founder of RadiSys and IP Fabrics |
| Ami Miron | POLY | Vice president of General Instrument; senior advisor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University |
| Stav Prodromou | POLY | Founder and former CEO of Poqet Computer Corporation; former CEO of Alien Technology and Peregrine Semiconductor; Executive Vice President of Fairchild Semiconductor |
| Craig G. Matthews | POLY | President, CFO and Chief Operating Officer of KeySpan |
| Ira Drukier | POLY | Hotelier and philanthropist |
| Fadi Chehadé | POLY | Founder of RosettaNet; Chief Executive Officer of ICANN |
| Nils Lahr | POLY | Co-founder of IBEAM Broadcasting Corporation and Synergy Sports Technology |
| William C. W. Mow | POLY | Chairman and CEO of Bugle Boy |
| Charles Waldo Haskins | POLY | Co-founder of Haskins and Sells |
| Zalman Bernstein | CAS | Businessman and economist |
| John Paulson | Stern | Hedge fund manager |
| Kenneth Langone | Stern | Co-founder of The Home Depot |
| Charles Kushner | CAS | Owner of Kushner Properties |
| Jared Kushner | Law | President and CEO of Kushner Properties; owner of The New York Observer |
| Vincent Tchenguiz | Stern | Investment adviser |
| Rachelle Friedman | POLY | Founder of J&R |
| Bill Friend | POLY | Former president of Bechtel |
| Alan Schriesheim | POLY | Board member of Rohm and Haas |
| Stephen M. Ross | Law | Real-estate developer; owner of Miami Dolphins NFL team |
| Robin Wilson | SPS 2004, M.S | Founder and CEO of bedding and interior design company Robin Wilson Home |
| B. Gerald Cantor | | Founder and chairman of securities firm Cantor Fitzgerald |
| Charles Zegar | | Computer scientists; one of the four co-founders of Bloomberg L.P. |
| Richard C. Perry | Stern | Hedge fund manager, owns controlling interest in Barneys New York |
| Ira Rennert | Stern | Private investor in mining, metals, and heavy industry |
| Lawrence Babbio, Jr. | Stern | Former vice chairman and president of Verizon |
| Mark Wilf | Law | President and co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings |
| Daniel E. Straus | Law | Vice Chairman of the Memphis Grizzlies |
| Dan Schulman | Stern, M.B.A. | President and CEO of PayPal and chairman of Symantec; co-founder and former CEO of Virgin Mobile USA |
| George S. Barrett | Stern, M.B.A. | Chairman and chief executive officer of Cardinal Health, Inc. |
| Robert W. Cremin | POLY, B.S. | Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Esterline; Chairman of Dover Corporation |
| Lorenzo Fertitta | Stern, M.B.A. | Co-founder of Station Casinos |
| Larry Zimmerman | Stern | CFO of Xerox |
| Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. | Stern | Chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company |
| Barry Salzberg | Law | CEO of Deloitte |
| Evan Chesler | Law | Partner and former chairman of Cravath, Swaine & Moore |
| John Carrig | Law | Chief operating officer and president for ConocoPhillips |
| Robert I. Lipp | Law | Vice Chairman of Citigroup |
| Robert A. Kindler | Law | Vice Chairman of Morgan Stanley |
| John Turitzin | Law | Vice President of Marvel Entertainment |
| Herb Kelleher | Law | Founder, Chairman Emeritus and former CEO of Southwest Airlines |
| Nick Ivanoff | POLY | President and CEO of Ammann & Whitney; elected 2014-2015 chairman of American Road and Transportation Builders Association |
| Peter Guber | Law | Hollywood producer; former chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment |
| Steven Florio | Stern | CEO and President of both Conde Nast Publications and The New Yorker, as well as publisher of GQ |
| Barry Zyskind | Stern, M.B.A | Chairman, CEO and President of AmTrust Financial Services |
| Sashi Reddi | Courant | CEO and founder of App Labs |
| Link Lauren | Music Business, B.S. | Online content creator, former senior campaign advisor to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. |

## Entertainment

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Lucy Alibar | TSOA | Beasts of the Southern Wild |
| Paul Thomas Anderson | TSOA 1993*, dropped out after two days | Magnolia, Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood |
| Aziz Ansari | Stern 2004, B.S | Actor, Parks and Recreation, Master of None, Human Giant, Scrubs; stand-up comedian |
| Ashley Argota | NURSING, current student | True Jackson, VP, Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures |
| Jeff Baena | TSOA | Film writer and director |
| Sean Baker | TSOA | Director best known for Tangerine, The Florida Project and Anora |
| Alec Baldwin | TSOA 1993, B.F.A. | Actor, The Hunt for Red October, Pearl Harbor, The Aviator, 30 Rock |
| Kristen Bell | TSOA 1998–2001* | Veronica Mars, Pulse, Heroes, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Gossip Girl |
| Julie Benz | TSOA 1994, B.F.A. | Jawbreaker, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer |
| Laura Berman | SSW | Sex educator and sex therapist; host of In the Bedroom with Dr. Laura Berman on the Oprah Winfrey Network |
| Justin Blanchard | TSOA 2001, B.F.A. | Journey's End (Broadway), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit |
| Alexis Bledel | TSOA* | Gilmore Girls, Sin City, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Tuck Everlasting |
| Rachel Bloom | TSOA | Crazy Ex-Girlfriend |
| Barry Bostwick | TSOA | Original Broadway Cast of Grease, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Spin City |
| Martin Brest | TSOA 1973, B.F.A. | Beverly Hills Cop, Meet Joe Black, Gigli |
| Lisa Bruce | TSOA | The Theory of Everything |
| Rustica Carpio | Steinhardt 1956, M.A. | Actress and writer; former dean of the College of Communication and Graduate School of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines; appointed to Philippine government positions |
| Susan Cartsonis | TSOA | President of Wind Dance Films |
| Vinnette Justine Carroll | ARTS 1946, M.A. | First African American woman to direct on Broadway |
| Lenora Champagne | ARTS 1975, M.A., 1980 PhD. | Playwright, performance artist and director |
| Jennifer Charles | TSOA 1990, B.F.A. | Musician, writer, and actress |
| Rachel Chavkin | TSOA | Tony Award nominated director of the Broadway musical Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 |
| Chris Columbus | TSOA | Both Home Alone films, Mrs. Doubtfire, Stepmom, first two Harry Potter films, Rent |
| Bud Cort | TSOA 1967–1969* | Harold and Maude, MASH, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou |
| Allen Covert | | Grandma's Boy, The Wedding Singer |
| Billy Crudup | TSOA 1994, M.F.A. | Sleepers, Big Fish, Watchmen, Public Enemies |
| Billy Crystal | TSOA 1970, B.F.A. | Analyze This, Analyze That, City Slickers 1 & 2, When Harry Met Sally |
| John Cusack | TSOA* | High Fidelity, Con Air |
| Emira D'Spain | STEINHARDT, STERN | Model, social media influencer |
| Drea de Matteo | TSOA | The Sopranos, Joey |
| Julie Delpy | TSOA | Homo Faber, Three Colors: White, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset |
| Amanda Detmer | TSOA, M.F.A. | Actress |
| Tony DiSanto | TSOA | Producer |
| Michael Dougherty | TSOA, M.F.A. | X2, Superman Returns |
| Lisa Edelstein | TSOA 1988, B.F.A. | House |
| Kathryn Erbe | TSOA* | What About Bob?, Law and Order: Criminal Intent |
| Burcu Esmersoy | SPS* | Turkish anchorwoman, beauty pageant titleholder, journalist, model, and occasional actress |
| Raul Esparza | TSOA 1992, B.F.A. | Actor |
| Dakota Fanning | GAL, current student | Actress, I Am Sam, Charlotte's Web, Coraline, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn |
| Mitch Fatel | TSOA 1988* | The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Comedy Central Presents: Mitch Fatel, Super Retardo CD |
| Wayne Federman | TSOA 1981* | Curb Your Enthusiasm, Legally Blonde, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Silicon Valley |
| Malindi Fickle | B.F.A., 2002 | Jacklight, Suck it Up Buttercup |
| Bridget Fonda | TSOA 1987, B.F.A. | Doc Hollywood, Jackie Brown |
| Marc Forster | TSOA 1990–1993* | Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland |
| Bethenny Frankel | WSC 1992 | The Real Housewives of New York City, Bethenny Ever After, Bethenny; creator/owner of Skinnygirl |
| Griffin Frazen | GAL 2009, B.A. | Grounded For Life |
| Lady Gaga | TSOA | Singer |
| Melissa Gallo | TSOA 2003, B.F.A. | One Life to Live, Brooklyn Nine-Nine |
| Edi Gathegi | TSOA | Gone Baby Gone, House M.D., CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Twilight, The Twilight Saga: New Moon |
| Jordan Gelber | TSOA | Avenue Q, The Sopranos, Law & Order: SVU |
| Gina Gershon | TSOA 1983, B.F.A. | The Insider, Showgirls, Bound |
| Tavi Gevinson | GAL* | Editor, writer, actress |
| Donald Glover | TSOA 2006, B.F.A | Actor, rapper under the stage name Childish Gambino |
| Mark Gordon | TSOA | Television and film producer; former president of the Producers Guild of America |
| Lou Gossett | CAS, 1959, B.A. | Roots, An Officer and a Gentleman |
| Bryan Greenberg | TSOA* | Prime |
| Rachel Griffin-Accurso, better known as Ms. Rachel | STEINHARDT | YouTuber, social media personality, songwriter, and educator |
| Peter Guber | Stern, M.B.A. | Mandalay Pictures |
| Matthew Gray Gubler | TSOA 2002, M.F.A. | Criminal Minds, (500) Days of Summer, 68 Kill, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou |
| Michael C. Hall | TSOA 1996, M.F.A. | Six Feet Under, Dexter |
| Regina Hall | GSAS 1997, M.A. | Scary Movie |
| Walter Hampden | POLY | Actor |
| Wood Harris | TSOA 1983, M.F.A. | Above the Rim |
| Anne Hathaway | Gallatin, TSOA* | The Princess Diaries, The Devil Wears Prada, Ella Enchanted, Rachel Gets Married, Alice in Wonderland |
| Ethan Hawke | CAS* | Training Day, Dead Poets Society, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset |
| Amy Heckerling | TSOA, B.F.A. | Look Who's Talking, Loser, Clueless |
| Antony Hegarty | TSOA, (E.T.W.) 1992 B.F.A. | Antony and the Johnsons: Swanlights, The Crying Light, I Am a Bird Now (UK Mercury Prize 2005) |
| Israel Hicks | M.F.A. | Stage director who presented August Wilson's entire 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | TSOA 1989, B.F.A. | Capote, Boogie Nights, Happiness, Magnolia, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Almost Famous |
| Todd Holoubek | TSOA 2002, B.F.A. | MTV: The State |
| Wendy Hoopes | TSOA 2002, B.F.A. | Spinster, Killing Cinderella, Daria |
| Edward Everett Horton | POLY | Character actor |
| Bryce Dallas Howard | TSOA | The Village, Lady in the Water, Terminator Salvation, Twilight: Eclipse |
| Shawn Michael Howard | TSOA, B.F.A. | Boycott, Above the Rim, 3000 Miles to Graceland |
| Neal Huff | TSOA, M.F.A. | Take Me Out, The Little Dog Laughed |
| Felicity Huffman | TSOA | Transamerica, Desperate Housewives |
| Mark Indelicato | GAL, current student | Actor |
| Jim Jarmusch | TSOA* | Stranger than Paradise, Down By Law, Broken Flowers |
| Tamara Jenkins | TSOA | Slums of Beverly Hills |
| Alexa Ray Joel | TSOA* | Singer-songwriter, pianist |
| Kristen Johnston | TSOA, B.F.A. | 3rd Rock from the Sun |
| Hansol Jung | One-year exchange program | Playwright: Wolf Play, Wild Goose Dreams, No More Sad Things |
| Jeffrey Katzenberg | TSOA* | Shrek; co-founder of DreamWorks |
| Daniel Dae Kim | TSOA 1996, M.F.A. | ABC series Lost, CBS Series Hawaii Five-0 |
| Karlie Kloss | GAL, current student | Fashion model |
| Stanley Kramer | TSOA 1993, B.F.A. | High Noon, Cyrano de Bergerac |
| Peter Krause | TSOA 1990, M.F.A. | Six Feet Under, Parenthood, 9-1-1 |
| Martin Kunert | TSOA | Voices of Iraq, MTV's Fear |
| Tony Kushner | TSOA 1984, M.F.A. | Tony Award |
| Eriq La Salle | TSOA, B.F.A. | ER |
| Ang Lee | TSOA, M.F.A. | Life of Pi, Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Sense and Sensibility |
| Spike Lee | TSOA 1982, M.F.A. | Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, Bamboozled, Jungle Fever |
| Thomas Lennon | | MTV: The State, Reno 911!, Taxi (screenwriter) |
| Ken Leung | CAS, B.A. | Lost, X-Men: The Last Stand, Shanghai Kiss |
| Janet Lilly | TSOA 1982, B.A. | Principal dancer for Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company |
| Bai Ling | TSOA 1991–?? | Anna and the King |
| Zoe Lister-Jones | TSOA B.A. | The Little Dog Laughed |
| Victoria Loke | GAL | Actress |
| Julia Loktev | M.F.A | The Loneliest Planet, Day Night Day Night, Moment of Impact |
| Billie Lourd | GAL | Actress |
| Brigette Lundy-Paine | 2015 | Actor, Atypical, Bill & Ted Face the Music, I Saw the TV Glow |
| Bruce Mailman | M.F.A. | Theatre founder of the nightclub The Saint |
| Charlotte Manson | | radio actress |
| Rooney Mara | GAL* | The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Trash, Her |
| Demetri Martin | Law | Comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer, and humorist |
| Jesse L. Martin | TSOA 1989, M.F.A. | Ed Green in Law and Order; Rent |
| Mary Stuart Masterson | TSOA* | Fried Green Tomatoes, The Postman |
| Melina Matsoukas | TSOA* | Director of "We Found Love" by Rihanna, "Diva" by Beyoncé |
| Dwayne McDuffie | TSOA | Television, film, and comic book writer, producer, and editor |
| John C. McGinley | TSOA | Intensity, Scrubs, Point Break |
| Camila Mendes | TSOA 2016 | Veronica Lodge on Riverdale |
| Idina Menzel | TSOA* | Wicked, Rent, Enchanted, Rescue Me, Frozen |
| Ismail Merchant | Stern, M.B.A. | Co-founded Merchant Ivory Productions |
| Debra Messing | TSOA 1987, M.F.A. | Will and Grace, NBC's Smash |
| Leah Meyerhoff | TSOA 2007, M.F.A. | Twitch |
| Matthew Morrison | TSOA 1993, B.F.A. | Glee, The Hunt for Red October, Pearl Harbor, The Aviator, 30 Rock |
| Rachel Morrison | TSOA | Fruitvale Station, Cake, Sound of My Voice |
| Kate Mulgrew | TSOA 1976, A.A. | Star Trek: Voyager, Orange is the New Black |
| Javier Muñoz | TSOA | Actor who played Usnavi in the Broadway musical In the Heights; currently playing the titular role in the Hamilton musical |
| Jeff Nimoy | CAS, B.A. | Naruto, Digimon, Trigun |
| Jerry O'Connell | TSOA 1997, B.F.A. | Crossing Jordan, Mission to Mars |
| Charlie O'Connell | TSOA 1995, B.F.A. | Sliders, The Bachelor |
| Vivek Oberoi | TSOA | Indian actor |
| Ryan Scott Oliver | TSOA 2007, M.F.A | Musical theatre composer, Mrs. Sharp, Darling, 35MM |
| Ashley Olsen | GAL* | Full House, It Takes Two, Two of a Kind, New York Minute |
| Elizabeth Olsen | TSOA 2013 | Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Godzilla, In Secret |
| Mary Kate Olsen | GAL | Full House, It Takes Two, Two of a Kind, New York Minute |
| Haley Joel Osment | TSOA 2010, B.F.A. | The Sixth Sense, Pay It Forward, AI, Secondhand Lions |
| Pedro Pascal | TSOA B.F.A. | Game of Thrones, Narcos, The Mandalorian, Wonder Woman 1984 |
| Jeremy Piven | TSOA | Actor and producer; best known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series Entourage, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards |
| Joya Powell | STEINHARDT 2005, M.A. | Bessie Awards winning choreographer and educator |
| Keith Powell | TSOA | Television actor, 30 Rock |
| Jorge Pupo | TSOA 1981, B.F.A. | Actor, narrator |
| Ted Raimi | B.A. | seaQuest DSV, Xena: Warrior Princess |
| Anthony Rapp | TSOA 1989* | Rent, Six Degrees of Separation, Dazed and Confused |
| Brett Ratner | TSOA | Tower Heist, New York, I Love You, Rush Hour |
| AnnaSophia Robb | GAL, current student | Actress |
| Matt Rogers | CAS | Las Culturistas, I Love That For You, Fire Island |
| Meg Ryan | CAS, B.A. | When Harry Met Sally..., Sleepless in Seattle, City of Angels, You've Got Mail |
| Joshua Safran | TSOA | Executive producer and writer of Gossip Girl; executive producer and showrunner for the second season of Smash; creator, executive producer and showrunner of Quantico |
| Adam Sandler | TSOA 1991, B.F.A. | Mr. Deeds, Big Daddy, Punchdrunk Love, Funny People, Hotel Transylvania, Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, Saturday Night Live, GrownUps |
| Andy Samberg | TSOA 2000, B.F.A. | The Lonely Island, Saturday Night Live, Hot Rod, Brooklyn 99, Hotel Transylvania, Popstar, Celeste & Jessie Forever, Storks, The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience |
| Taylor Schilling | TSOA | Actress; Screen Actors Guild Awards winner |
| Lenny Schultz | B.S. | Comedian and gym teacher |
| Martin Scorsese | CAS 1964, B.A Steinhardt 1966, M.A. | The Aviator, Casino, Goodfellas, The Last Temptation of Christ, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Gangs of New York |
| Joshua Seth | CAS, 1991, B.A. | Digimon, Wolf's Rain, Trigun |
| John Patrick Shanley | Steinhardt 1977, M.A. | Moonstruck; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama |
| Alan Shapiro | TSOA 1981, B.F.A. | The Crush, Flipper, Tiger Town, The Outsiders (series) |
| Sheetal Sheth | TSOA 1997, B.A. | ABCD; Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World |
| M. Night Shyamalan | TSOA | The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, The Last Airbender, Lady in the Water |
| Neil Simon | ARTS 1944–1945* | The Odd Couple; winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama |
| Barry Sonnenfeld | TSOA* | Oz, Men in Black |
| Eulalie Spence | B.S. 1937 | Her, Fool's Errand (opened on Broadway in 1927) |
| Cole Sprouse | GAL 2015 | Friends, Big Daddy, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, The Suite Life on Deck, Narrator and Jughead Jones on Riverdale (2017 TV series) |
| Dylan Sprouse | GAL 2015 | The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Big Daddy, The Suite Life on Deck |
| Morgan Spurlock | TSOA, B.F.A. | Supersize Me |
| Peter Steinfeld | B.A. | Drowning Mona, Be Cool, 21 |
| Peter Sullivan | TSOA | Director, producer, and screenwriter, Secret Obsession |
| Maura Tierney | TSOA* | ER, Newsradio, Primary Colors |
| Shenaz Treasury | Took writing course | MTV's Most Wanted, Ishq Vishk, One Life to Live, Luv Ka The End |
| Colin Trevorrow | TSOA | Home Base, Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic World, The Book of Henry |
| Skeet Ulrich | NYU | Scream, F.P. Jones on Riverdale (2017 TV series) |
| Sunny Wang | Stern, Tisch, B.A., 2005 | Taiwanese actor and model |
| Casey Wilson | TSOA, 2002 | Happy Endings, Saturday Night Live |
| Chandra Wilson | TSOA 1991, B.F.A. | Grey's Anatomy |
| Mara Wilson | TSOA, 2009, B.F.A. | Matilda, Mrs. Doubtfire, Miracle on 34th Street |
| Rainn Wilson | TSOA, M.F.A. | The Office |
| Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo | TSOA 2003, B.F.A. | After.Life |
| Doug Wright | TSOA 1987 | Quills; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama |
| Bowen Yang | CAS B.A. | Saturday Night Live |
| Edward Lee | CAS B.A. | Celebrity Chef |

### Music

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Milton Babbitt | B.A., 1935 | 1986 MacArthur Fellow, 1982 Pulitzer Prize special citation |
| Arthur Berger | B.A., 1932 | Composer |
| Cy Coleman | Steinhardt | Tony Award for City of Angels 1990, On the Twentieth Century 1978 |
| Betty Comden | Steinhardt | Partner of Adolph Green, recipient of several Tony Awards |
| Clive Davis | CAS 1953, B.A. | Founder of Arista Records |
| Neil Diamond | CAS 2003, Hon. Ph.D. | Singer/songwriter |
| Carlos Dengler | CAS | Interpol's first bassist/keyboardist |
| Dave Douglas | Steinhardt, B.A. | Jazz trumpeter |
| Greg Drudy | Previous student | Interpol's first drummer |
| Hayden Dunham | GAL | Musician, performance artist, designer |
| Fred Ebb | B.A., 1939 | 1967 Tony Award, 1967 Grammy Award for Cabaret |
| Colleen Fitzpatrick | B.A., 1991 | a.k.a. Vitamin C |
| Bernard Garfield | B.A., 1948 | Bassoonist and composer |
| Stefani Germanotta | TSOA* | a.k.a. Lady Gaga |
| Midori Goto | GAL 2000, B.A.; NYU 2005, M.A. | Violinist |
| DJ Cuppy | Steinhardt | Nigerian music producer; daughter of Nigerian billionaire Femi Otedola |
| Albert Hammond, Jr. | TSOA | The Strokes' guitarist |
| Antony Hegarty | TSOA | Mercury prize-winning lead singer of Antony and the Johnsons |
| Izza (singer) | LSS | singer and rapper |
| Daniel Kessler | GAL | Interpol's guitarist/backing vocalist |
| Paul Banks | GAL | Interpol's guitarist/lead vocalist |
| Talib Kweli | previous student | member of rap duo Black Star |
| Elodie Lauten | Steinhardt 1986, M.A. | Composer |
| Tania León | Steinhardt | famous conductor, composer of "Scourge of Hyacinths", |
| Enoch Light | Steinhardt | pioneer of music recording |
| Melissa Manchester | independent studies, 1970–1971 | 1982 Grammy Award |
| Jackie McCullough | M.A. Philosophy | Gospel musician and pastor |
| David Portner | former student | Founding member of experimental band Animal Collective |
| Maggie Rogers | B.F.A., 2016 | Musician |
| Jerry Ross | studied under Rudolph Schramm | Composer |
| Rick Rubin | former student, lived on campus | Co-founder of Def Jam while at NYU |
| Carole Bayer Sager | B.A., 1979 | 1987 Grammy Award |
| Sajeeb Saha | GAL | a.k.a. Jai Wolf |
| Blake Schwarzenbach | B.A., 1991 | Lead singer for bands Jawbreaker and Jets to Brazil |
| Patti Scialfa | Gallatin; received music degree after transferring from the University Of Miami | Singer and guitarist with Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band |
| Wayne Shorter | Steinhardt 1956, B.M.E. | Influential hard-bop and modal jazz saxophonist |
| Russell Simmons | former student | Co-founder of Def Jam while at NYU |
| William Oscar Smith | B.A., 1942 | Jazz double bassist, known for 1939 Coleman Hawkins recording of Body and Soul |
| Eileen Southern | Steinhardt 1961, Ph.D. | First African American woman appointed a tenured full professor at Harvard |
| Louise Talma | B.A., 1927 | Composer |
| Mary Wilson | Gallatin | The Supremes |
| Austin Wintory | Steinhardt, B.M., 2005 | Grammy-nominated composer for video games and film |
| Arca | TSOA | Grammy-nominated musician, record producer, and DJ |
| Elle Varner | TSOA | Singer, songwriter, producer |
| Dot da Genius | POLY | Singer, record producer and mixing engineer |
| Dasychira (musician) | TSOA, 2019 | Performer, songwriter, producer |
| A Great Big World | Steinhardt | Singers and songwriters, known for the Grammy Award winning song Say Something |
| Taylor Swift | TSOA Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree | Singer and songwriter, 11 wins for Grammy Award until 2023 |

### Academy Award winners

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability | Reference |
| Mahershala Ali | TSOA 2000, M.F.A. | Academy Award 2017, Moonlight; 2019, Green Book | |
| Woody Allen | TSOA 1953* | Academy Award 1977, Annie Hall; 1986, Hannah and her Sisters | |
| Michael Arndt | TSOA 1987 | Academy Award 2007, Little Miss Sunshine | |
| Elmer Bernstein | ARTS 1942, B.A. | Academy Award 1968, Thoroughly Modern Millie | |
| Mark Bridges | ARTS 1987, M.F.A. | Academy Award 2012, The Artist | |
| James L. Brooks | TSOA* | Academy Award 1984, Terms of Endearment | |
| John Canemaker | TSOA | Academy Award 2006, The Moon and the Son | |
| Joel Coen | TSOA, 1978, B.F.A. | Academy Award 1996, Fargo; 2008, No Country For Old Men | |
| Geoff Fletcher | TSOA 1999, M.F.A. | Academy Award 2010, Precious | |
| Whoopi Goldberg | GSAS | Academy Award 1991, Ghost | |
| Steve Golin | TSOA | Academy Award 2016, Spotlight | |
| Louis Gossett Jr. | ARTS coursework* | Academy Award 1982, An Officer and a Gentleman | |
| Marcia Gay Harden | TSOA 1981, M.F.A. | Academy Award 2000, Pollock | |
| Anne Hathaway | GAL, TSOA | Academy Award 2012, Les Misérables | |
| Bernard Herrmann | WSC student under Percy Grainger | Academy Award 1941, The Devil and Daniel Webster | |
| Lora Hirschberg | TSOA 1985, B.F.A. | Academy Award 2011, Inception | |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | TSOA 1989, B.F.A. | Academy Award 2005, Capote | |
| Angelina Jolie | TSOA 1993, B.F.A. | Academy Award 2000, Girl, Interrupted | |
| Charles Kaufman | TSOA 1980 | Academy Award 2004, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind | |
| Burt Lancaster | TSOA coursework* | Academy Award 1960, Elmer Gantry | |
| Ang Lee | TSOA, M.F.A. | Academy Award 2005, Brokeback Mountain; 2012, Life of Pi | |
| Spike Lee | TSOA, M.F.A. | Academy Award 2019, BlackKklansman | - |
| Luke Matheny | TSOA, M.F.A. | Academy Award 2011, God of Love | |
| Alan Menken | ARTS, B.A. | Academy Award 1995, Pocahontas; 1992, Aladdin; 1991, Beauty and the Beast; 1989, The Little Mermaid | |
| László Nemes | TSOA | Academy Award 2016, Son of Saul | |
| Ken Perlin | GSAS 1986, Ph.D. | Academy Award 1997, for the development of Perlin noise | |
| Carole Bayer Sager | CAS 1979, B.A. | Academy Award 1981, Arthur's Theme | |
| Thelma Schoonmaker | TSOA | Academy Award 2005, The Aviator | |
| John Patrick Shanley | Steinhardt 1977, M.A. | Academy Award 1987, Moonstruck | |
| Oliver Stone | TSOA 1970, M.F.A. | Academy Award 1978, Midnight Express; 1986, Platoon; 1989, Born on the Fourth of July | |
| Jim Taylor | TSOA 1996 | Academy Award 2004, Sideways | |
| Marisa Tomei | TSOA 1983, B.F.A. | Academy Award 1992, My Cousin Vinny | |
| Fred Waller | POLY | Academy Award winner; inventor of Cinerama; inventor of the Waller Gunnery Trainer; first to patent the water ski; made 200 short films for Paramount Pictures | |
| Paul Francis Webster | ARTS 1928–1930 * | Academy Award 1953, "Secret Love" | |
| Victor J. Zolfo | TSOA 1985 | Academy Award 2009, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button | |

### Emmy Award winners

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Woody Allen | TSOA 1953* | Emmy Award 1957 |
| Aziz Ansari | STERN | Emmy Award 2016 for Master of None |
| Rachel Brosnahan | TSOA 2012, B.F.A. | Emmy Award 2017 for "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" |
| Sterling K. Brown | TSOA | Emmy Award 2016 for The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story |
| Vinnette Justine Carroll | GSAS 1946, M.A. | Emmy Award 1964 for "Beyond the Blues" |
| Cy Coleman | Steinhardt | Emmy Award |
| Ayo Edebiri | TSOA 2017 | Emmy Award 2024 for The Bear |
| Wayne Federman | TSOA | Emmy Award 2022 Producer George Carlin's American Dream |
| Vince Gilligan | TSOA | Emmy Award, a writer and producer for The X-Files |
| Emily Harper | TSOA | Emmy Award 2016 for Key & Peele |
| Tony Kushner | TSOA 1984, M.F.A. | Emmy Award |
| Harvey Leonard | ENG, M.S. | He received two New England Emmy Awards for outstanding achievement in television weathercasting |
| Camryn Manheim | TSOA 1987, M.F.A. | Emmy Award for The Practice |
| Jonathan Meath | TSOA 1979, B.A. | Emmy nominations TV production |
| Debra Messing | TSOA 1993, M.F.A. | Emmy Award 2003 for Will and Grace |
| David Milhous | TSOA 1991, B.F.A. | Emmy Award 2017 for Crime Watch Daily |
| Ami Miron | POLY, M.S. | He received two Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards |
| Olivia Smith (journalist) | Steinhardt 2011, B.S. | Emmy Award 2016 for "Dead Horse Bay: New York's Hidden Treasure Trove of Trash" |
| Jonathan Stern | TSOA | Emmy Award 2016 for Childrens Hospital |
| Paul Tazewell | TSOA | Emmy Award 2016 for The Wiz Live! |
| David Wain | TSOA | Emmy Award 2016 for Childrens Hospital |
| Jeffrey Wright | TSOA* | Emmy Award 2003 |

### Grammy Award winners

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Ian Axel | Steinhardt | Grammy Award 2015 for Say Something |
| Cy Coleman | Steinhardt | 1992 Grammy Award for The Will Rogers Follies |
| Todd Coolman | Steinhardt | 1999 Grammy Award for Best Album Notes |
| Fred Ebb | ARTS 1955, B.A. | Grammy Award 1967 for Cabaret |
| Lady Gaga | TSOA* 2003–2005 | Grammy Awards 2010, 2011, and 2015 recipient in several categories |
| Chad King | Steinhardt | Grammy Award 2015 for Say Something |
| Evelyn Lear | | Grammy Award 1966 for her performance of the opera Wozzeck by Alban Berg |
| Melissa Manchester | TSOA 1970–1971 | Grammy Award 1982 for "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" |
| Mark Ronson | TSOA* | Grammy Award 2007 for producer on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black |
| Rick Rubin | CAS* | Grammy Award 2012 for producer on Adele's 21, among others |
| Carole Bayer Sager | CAS 1979, B.A. | Grammy Award 1987 for "That's What Friends Are For" |
| Wayne Shorter | Steinhardt 1956, B.M.E. | Grammy Award 2004 for the album Alegria |
| Mary Wilson | GAL | Grammy Award 1999 and 2001 with The Supremes |

### Tony Award winners

| Name | Relation to NYU | Tony Awards won |
| Nina Arianda | TSOA 2009, M.F.A. | "Best Actress in a Play" for Venus in Fur (2012) |
| Marc Bell | SPS 1989, M.S.R.E. | Producer; "Best Musical" for Jersey Boys (2006), "Best Play" for August: Osage County (2008), "Best Play" Stereophonic (2024) |
| Trazana Beverley | TSOA, M.F.A. | "Best Featured Actress in a Play" For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1977) |
| Barry Bostwick | TSOA, 1968 M.F.A. | "Best Actor in a Musical" for The Robber Bridegroom |
| Cy Coleman | Steinhardt | Composer, five Tony Awards from 1978 – 1991 |
| Betty Comden | Steinhardt | Librettist, twelve Tony Awards from 1953 – 1991 |
| Fred Ebb | ARTS 1955, B.A. | Lyricist, three Tony Awards: Cabaret (1967), Woman of the Year 1981, Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993) |
| Marcia Gay Harden | TSOA, 1988 M.F.A. | "Best Actress in a Play" for God of Carnage (2009) |
| Nikki M. James | TSOA 2003, B.F.A. | "Best Featured Actress in a Musical" for The Book of Mormon (2011) |
| Steve Kazee | TSOA 2005, M.F.A. | "Best Actor in a Musical" for Once (2011) |
| Bradley King | TSOA, M.F.A. | "Best Lighting Design in a Musical" for Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 (2017) |
| Tony Kushner | TSOA 1984, M.F.A. | Playwright. "Best Play" Angels in America (part 1 in 1993, part 2 in 1994) |
| Mimi Lien | TSOA 2003, M.F.A. | "Best Scenic Design in a Musical" for Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812 (2017) |
| Idina Menzel | TSOA 1993, B.F.A. | "Best Actress in a Musical" for Wicked (2004) |
| Donna Murphy | TSOA 1980, B.F.A. | "Best Actress in a Musical" for Passion (1994) and The King and I (1996) |
| Clint Ramos | TSOA 1997, M.F.A | "Best Costume Design in a Play" for Eclipsed (2016) |
| John Patrick Shanley | Steinhardt 1977, M.A. | Playwright. "Best Play" for Doubt: A Parable (2005) |
| Stephen Spinella | TSOA, 1982 M.F.A. | "Best Featured Actor in a Play" for Angels in America (part 1, 1993), "Best Actor in a Play" for Angels in America (part 2, 1994) |
| Paul Tazewell | TSOA 1989, M.F.A | "Best Costume Design in a Musical" for Hamilton (2016) |
| Barbara Whitman | GAL 1988 | Producer, four Tony Awards: Red (2010), Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2014), Fun Home (2015), The Humans (2016) |
| Jeff Whitty | TSOA, 1997 M.F.A. | "Best Book" for Avenue Q (2003) |
| George C. Wolfe | TSOA, M.F.A. | "Best Direction of a Play" for Angels in America (1993), "Best Direction of a Musical" for Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk (1996) |
| Frank Wood | TSOA, 1987 M.F.A. | "Best Featured Actor in a Play" for Side Man (1999) |
| David Zinn | TSOA 1991, B.F.A | "Best Scenic Design in a Play" for The Humans (2016) |

## Medicine

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Julius Axelrod | Med 1941, M.Sc. | 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine |
| Arthur Agatston | Med 1973, M.D. | Author of The South Beach Diet |
| Peter B. Berger | Med 1983, M.D. | Interventional cardiologist and Director of Clinical Research at Geisinger Clinic |
| Barouh Berkovits | POLY | Invented the cardiac defibrillator and artificial cardiac pacemaker |
| Fred Chasan | B.A., 1949 | Owner of The Chasan Villa |
| Frederick Cook | Med 1890, M.D. | Explorer |
| Fred Epstein | WSC 1959, B.A. | Pediatric neurosurgeon |
| Albert Warren Ferris | Med 1878, A.B.; 1885, A.M. | President of the New York State Commission in Lunacy and Director of Saratoga Springs State Reservation. |
| William Alexander Hammond | Med 1848, M.D. | Surgeon General, pioneer in neurology |
| Robert Jarvik | ENG | Co-Inventor, Jarvik-7 artificial heart |
| Jasper H. Kane | POLY | Developed the practical, deep-tank fermentation method for production of large quantities of pharmaceutical-grade penicillin |
| William B. Kouwenhoven | POLY | Inventor of closed-chest cardiac defibrillator |
| Joe Landolina | POLY | Invented Vetigel while an undergrad student |
| Henry Lee | Med 1974–1975, M.S., Ph.D. | Forensic scientist |
| Maclyn McCarty | Med 1940–1941, Research Fellow | Demonstrated that DNA transmits genetic traits |
| Walter Reed | Med | Discovered the mosquito transmission of yellow fever |
| Albert Sabin | Med 1931, M.D. | Developer of the oral vaccine for polio; President of the Weizmann Institute of Science |
| Arthur M. Sackler | Med, M.D. | Founder of Creedmore Institute of Psychobiological Studies |
| Jonas Salk | Med 1938, M.D. | Discoverer of the Salk vaccine (the first polio vaccine) |
| Stephen Smith | Med, M.D. | Founder of the American Public Health Association |
| John G. Trump | POLY | Helped design X-ray machines that provided additional years of life to cancer patients |

## Politics, law and government
### Members of the United States House of Representatives

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Jerome Anthony Ambro | B.A., 1955 | United States House of Representatives |
| Michael McMahon | B.A., 1979 | United States House of Representatives |
| Martha Roby | B.M., 1998 | United States House of Representatives R-AL (2011-2021) |
| Lawrence J. Smith | | United States House of Representatives |
| William Bernard Barry | Law LL.B., 1925 | United States House of Representatives D-NY 1935–1946 |
| Charles Robin Britt | Law LL.M., 1976 | United States House of Representatives D-NC 1983–1985 |
| Peter Angelo Cavicchia | Law LL.B., 1908 | United States House of Representatives R-NJ 1931–1937 |
| Earl Thomas Coleman | Wagner 1963, M.P.A. | United States House of Representatives D-MO 1976–1993 |
| Maurice Connolly | Law LL.B., 1898 | United States House of Representatives D-IA 1921-1921 |
| Irwin Delmore Davidson | B.S., 1927, Law LL.B., 1928 | United States House of Representatives |
| Lawrence Joseph DeNardis | M.A., 1960; Ph.D., 1989 | United States House of Representatives |
| Diana DeGette | Law J.D., 1982 | United States House of Representatives (1997–) |
| Steven Boghos Derounian | B.A., 1938 | United States House of Representatives |
| Isidore Dollinger | B.C.S., 1925 | United States House of Representatives (1949–1959) |
| Fred J. Eckert | Law postgraduate work | United States House of Representatives, U.S. Ambassador |
| Francis Edwin Dorn | Wagner, 1936* | United States House of Representatives |
| Smith Ely | Law LL.B., 1846 | United States House of Representatives |
| Leonard Farbstein | Law LL.B. 1924 | United States House of Representatives (1957–1971) |
| Hamilton Fish IV | Law LL.B. 1957 | United States House of Representatives (1969–1995) |
| Cornelius Edward Gallagher | Law postgraduate 1948 | United States House of Representatives (1959–1973) |
| Jacob A. Geissenhainer | Law LL.B., 1862 | United States House of Representatives |
| Benjamin A. Gilman | Law LL.B., 1950 | United States House of Representatives (1983–2003) |
| Anthony Jerome Griffin | Law LL.B., 1892 | United States House of Representatives (1918–1935) |
| Frank Joseph Guarini | Law, J.D., 1950, LL.M., 1955 | United States House of Representatives (1979–1993) |
| Cecil Landau Heftel | Graduate Work | United States House of Representatives (1977–1986) |
| Rush D. Holt, Jr. | GSAS, M.S. 1974, Ph.D. 1981 | United States House of Representatives (1999–) |
| Stanley Nelson Lundine | Law 1964, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives (1976–1987) |
| Mitchell Jenkins | Law 1926, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Edward Aloysius Kenney | Law LL.B. 1908 | United States House of Representatives (1933–1938) |
| Franklin Bartlett | Poly 1865 | United States House of Representatives (1893 – 1897) |
| Eugene James Keogh | Stern, B.S. | United States House of Representatives (1937–1967) |
| Arthur George Klein | Law 1926, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives (1946–1956) |
| Fiorello La Guardia | Law 1908, LL.B., | United States House of Representatives (1916–1934) |
| Jefferson Monroe Levy | Law 1873, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives (1911–1915) |
| John MacCrate | Law 1906, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Vito Marcantonio | Law, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Raymond Joseph McGrath | M.A., 1968 | United States House of Representatives (1981–1993) |
| Allan Langdon McDermott | Law 1877, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives (1900–1907) |
| Thomas Joseph Meskill | Law 1955, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives, Governor of Connecticut |
| Denis O'Leary | Law 1890, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Nathan David Perlman | Law LL.B. 1907 | United States House of Representatives (1920–1927) |
| Anning Smith Prall | Law 1908, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives (1923–1935) |
| Benjamin Rabin | Law 1917, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Leo Frederick Rayfiel | Law 1908, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Charles B. Rangel | Law 1957, B.S. | United States House of Representatives |
| B. Caroll Reece | Law 1916, M.A. | United States House of Representatives (1921–1961) |
| Matthew John Rinaldo | Wagner 1979, M.P.A. | United States House of Representatives (1973–1993) |
| Benjamin Stanley Rosenthal | Law 1952, LL.M. | United States House of Representatives (1962–1983) |
| Chris Shays | Stern 1974, M.B.A. Wagner 1978, M.P.A | United States House of Representatives |
| Isaac Siegel | Law 1901, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Daniel Edgar Sickles | Law 1846, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Andrew Lawrence Somers | coursework* | United States House of Representatives |
| James Tallmadge, Jr. | 1st President of NYU | United States House of Representatives (1817–1819) |
| Ludwig Teller | Law 1935, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives (1957–1961) |
| Herbert Tenzer | Law 1927, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Nydia Velázquez | M.A., 1976 | United States House of Representatives (1992–) |
| Elijah Ward | Law 1843, LL.B. | United States House of Representatives |
| Arthur Vivian Watkins | 1909–1910 | United States House of Representatives |
| Leo C. Zeferetti | 1963* | United States House of Representatives |

### Members of the United States Senate

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Lamar Alexander | Law 1965, J.D. | United States Senate |
| Rudy Boschwitz | Stern M.B.A., 1950, Law J.D., 1953 | United States Senate |
| Edward Irving Edwards | Law, LL.B. | United States Senate (1923–1929), Governor of New Jersey |
| Henry Drury Hatfield | Med M.D., 1904 | United States Senate (1929–1935), Governor of West Virginia |
| Jacob Javits | CAS 1923, B.A., Law 1926, LL.B. | United States Senate |
| Morgan Lewis | one of the founders of NYU | Governor of New York (1804–1807) |
| James Edward Murray | Law 1900, J.D. | United States Senate (1934–1961) |
| Tasker Lowndes Oddie | Law 1895, LL.B. | United States Senate (1921–1933) |
| James Aloysius O'Gorman | Law 1887, J.D. | United States Senate (1911–1917) |
| Bob Packwood | Law 1957, J.D. | United States Senate (1969–1995) |
| Abraham Alexander Ribicoff | B.A., 1929 | United States Senate (1963–1981) |
| Elihu Root | Law 1867, LL.B. | United States Senate |
| Arthur Walsh | Stern 1915 | United States Senate |

### United States Governors

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Edward Irving Edwards | Law, LL.B. | Governor of New Jersey |
| Henry Drury Hatfield | Med M.D., 1904 | Governor of West Virginia |
| Samuel J. Tilden | Law 1838-1841 | Governor of New York |
| Abraham A. Ribicoff | | Governor of Connecticut |
| Thomas P. Salmon | | Governor of Vermont |
| Chris Sununu | TSOA* | Governor of New Hampshire |

### Ambassadors

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Clay Constantinou | Law LL.M., 1986 | United States Ambassador to Luxembourg |
| Roberto de Oliveira Campos | Postgraduate study | Brazilian politician and legislator; ambassador to the U.S. and UK |
| David M. Friedman | Law | United States Ambassador to Israel |
| John S.R. Shad | Law | United States Ambassador to the Netherlands; Chairman of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission between 1981 and 1987 |
| David Pressman | Law | United States Ambassador to the United Nations |
| Robert Patrick John Finn | M.A. | United States Ambassador to Afghanistan |
| Patricia McMahon Hawkins | CAS | United States Ambassador to Togo |
| Fred J. Eckert | CAS | United States Ambassador to Fiji |
| Heather M. Hodges | M.A. | United States Ambassador to Moldova |
| Clifford Sobel | Stern B.S., 1972 | United States Ambassador to the Netherlands, United States Ambassador to Brazil |
| Herbert Wolcott Bowen | POLY | United States Ambassador to Venezuela |
| George W. Landau | | United States Ambassador to Venezuela |
| Ekwow Spio-Garbrah | Stern graduate studies | Ambassador to the U.S. of the Republic of Ghana; Minister of communication |
| Mary Carlin Yates | M.A., Ph.D. | United States Ambassador to Ghana |
| Kenneth L. Brown | M.A. | United States Ambassador to Ghana |
| Charles L. English | | United States Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina |
| Max Kampelman | B.A., LL.B. | United States Ambassador to the CSCE |
| Elliott Skinner | B.A. | United States Ambassador to Burkina Faso |
| William Henry Draper Jr. | | United States Ambassador to NATO |
| Charles A. Heimbold, Jr. | | United States Ambassador to Sweden |
| Yu Tsune-chi | Sc.M. and Sc.D. | former Ambassador of the Republic of China to Italy and Spain |

### Judges

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Shirley Abrahamson | CAS | Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court |
| G. Steven Agee | Law | Federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit; former Justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia |
| Julio M. Fuentes | GSAS M.A. | United States Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit |
| John Greaney | Law | Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Court |
| Cynthia H. Hall | Law | Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit |
| William C. Hill | Arts & Science, B.A, 1939 Law, J.D., 1941 | Associate Justice, Vermont Supreme Court |
| Dennis G. Jacobs | Law | Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit |
| Judith S. Kaye | Law, LL.B., 1958 | Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals |
| M. Blane Michael | Law | Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit |
| Pauline Newman | Law | Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit |
| William C. Brennan | Law | Justice, New York Supreme Court |
| Marian P. Opala | Law LL.M. | Justice, Oklahoma Supreme Court |
| Thomas Buergenthal | Law J.D., 1960 | Judge, International Court of Justice (2000 -) |
| Doris Ling-Cohan | Law J.D., 1979 | Judge, New York State Supreme Court |
| William A. Wachenfeld | POLY | Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1946 to 1959 |
| Nabil Elaraby | Law LL.M., 1969; J.S.D., 1971 | Judge, International Court of Justice |
| Gonzalo Parra Aranguren | Law LL.M., 1952 | Judge, International Court of Justice |
| Burton B. Roberts | B.A., 1943; Law 1949 | Bronx New York Supreme Court judge known for his no-nonsense imperious handling of cases in his courtroom became the model for the character of Myron Kovitsky in the book The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe |
| Richard V. Thomas | NYU Master of Laws | Chief Justice of the Wyoming high court; Member of the Wyoming Supreme Court, 1974–2001 |
| Theodore Trautwein | Law | Judge who sentenced a reporter from The New York Times to 40 days in jail in the "Dr. X" trial of Mario Jascalevich |
| James Lopez Watson | B.A., 1947 | Judge, United States Court of International Trade |
| Louis Freeh | Law LL.M., 1984 | Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York; Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (1993–2001) |

### Attorneys

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Gloria Allred | GSAS M.A., 1971 | Feminist lawyer, talk show host |
| David Boies | Law LL.M., 1967 | United States v. Microsoft, Bush v. Gore |
| Amal Clooney | Law | Barrister at Doughty Street Chambers; married to George Clooney |
| Zachary W. Carter | Law | United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York |
| Martin Garbus | Law | Attorney; Fulbright Scholar |
| Nancy Grace | Law LL.M. | Court TV host |
| Martin Lipton | Law | Lawyer; a founding partner of the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; inventor of the "poison pill"; M&A Master |
| Anne Milgram | Law | 57th Attorney General of New Jersey |
| Shirley D. Peterson | Law | Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice |
| Irving Picard | Law | Oversaw Madoff recoupment |
| Charles P. Rettig | Law (LL.M.) | Lawyer |
| Glenn Greenwald | Law | Lawyer and blogger |
| Ann Althouse | Law | Lawyer and blogger |
| Neil Barofsky | Law | Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2000 to 2008. |
| Marc Platt (producer) | Law | Entertainment attorney; film, television, and theatre producer |
| Bob Ferguson (politician) | Law | American attorney and politician who is the 18th and current Attorney General of Washington |

### United States Cabinet members, foreign government, royalty, and other

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Alessandra Biaggi | Steinhardt B.A., 2008 | New York State Senator |
| Cristina Federica de Borbon | GSAS M.A., 1991 | Princess of Spain |
| Elmer Ellsworth Brown | | United States Commissioner of Education, fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. |
| Richard Campagna | M.A. | Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate |
| Sripati Chandrasekhar | GSAS Ph.D., 1944 | Indian Minister of Health and Family Planning under Indira Gandhi |
| Dae-whan Chang | GSAS Ph.D., 1987, M.A., 1985 | Prime Minister, South Korea |
| Humayun Chaudhry | | Physician; CEO of the Federation of State Medical Boards |
| Li-an Chen | GSAS Ph.D. | Secretary of Defence, Taiwan (1990–1993), President of the Control Yuan |
| Demos Chiang | Stern B.S. | Great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek |
| Eugene Chien | GSAS Ph.D., 1973 | Foreign Minister of Taiwan |
| Chelsea Clinton | Wagner Ph.D. student, 2010– | Former First Daughter; child of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton; wife of Marc Mezvinsky |
| George Cromwell | POLY | New York state senator |
| Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr. | Law | White House Counsel, 1987–89 |
| Stavros Dimas | GSAS M.A., 1969 | European Commissioner for the Environment |
| William Henry Draper, Jr. | GSAS M.A., 1917 | Under Secretary of War and the Army |
| Juan Carlos Echeverry | GSAS Ph.D., 1996 | Finance Minister of Colombia |
| Mark Everson | GSAS M.S., 1977 | U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue |
| Anthony Foxx | Law | United States Secretary of Transportation; served as the mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, 2009–2013. |
| Jason Greenblatt | Law | United States Special Representative for International Negotiations |
| Carmen Fariña | | Former New York City Schools Chancellor, the head of the New York City Department of Education. |
| Vanita Gupta | Law | Head of the Civil Rights Division at the United States Department of Justice |
| Ephraim Katzir | POLY | Fourth President of Israel; chief scientist of the Israel Defense Department |
| Henry Lee (forensic scientist) | GSAS | Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Safety |
| Shlomo-Yisrael Ben-Meir | | Israeli politician; served as a member of the Knesset, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Deputy Speaker and Deputy Minister of Health |
| Carl Gatto | POLY | Member of the Alaska House of Representatives |
| Fortunato de la Peña | POLY | Secretary of Science and Technology at the Philippine Department of Science and Technology; former chairman of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development |
| Chung Sye-kyun | Wagner M.A., 1983 | Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea |
| Frank Padavan | POLY | New York state senator |
| George T. Burling | POLY | New York state senator |
| Ivan Itkin | POLY | Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives |
| Vincent O'Rourke | POLY | Commanding officer of a number of aviation units as well as the USS Rainier (AE-5) and USS Tripoli (LPH-10); two-time recipient of the Navy Cross, the Navy's second highest award for valor |
| Ed Koch | Law | Mayor of New York City |
| Bill de Blasio | | Mayor of New York City |
| Maya Soetoro-Ng | | Sister of US President Barack Obama; professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa |
| Shimon Peres | | President of Israel from 2007 to 2014. Peres also served twice as the Prime Minister of Israel. |
| Teresa Patterson Hughes | Steinhardt | California State Senator |
| Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika | Steinhardt | Ambassador of the Republic of Zambia to the United States. |
| Lamar Alexander | Law 1965, J.D. | U.S. Secretary of Education, U.S. Senator from Tennessee |
| Ruth Balser | Ph.D. | Member of the Mass. House of Representatives (1998–present) |
| Bill Bell (mayor) | | Mayor of Durham, North Carolina. |
| Michael Benjamin | B.A., 1992 | U.S. Senate Candidate |
| Chi Mui | POLY | First Asian-American Mayor of San Gabriel, California |
| Ahmed Zaki Yamani | Law | Saudi Arabian politician; Minister of Oil (Petroleum) and Mineral Resources from 1962 to 1986; a minister in OPEC for 25 years |
| Shamma Al Mazrui | | UAE Minister of State for Youth |
| Ali Khatami | POLY | Chief of staff of Iran; brother of former Iranian president, Mohammed Khatami |
| Phil Amicone | ENG | 41st Mayor of Yonkers, New York |
| Rafael Piñeiro | Wagner MPA | First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) |
| Sal Albanese | Steinhardt | New York City Council member |
| Mohamed ElBaradei | Law LL.M., 1967 | Vice President of Egypt; Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (1997–) |
| Neil Barofsky | Law | SIGTARP, the Special United States Treasury Department Inspector General overseeing the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), from late 2008 until his resignation at the end of March 2011 |
| Isaac Herzog | | Israeli politician; chairman of the Labor Party; was the opposition leader in the 19th Knesset |
| Maria Olympia | | Princess of Greece and Denmark |
| Guillermo Endara Galimany | Postgraduate work, NYU Law | President of Panama (1989–1994) |
| John William Gilbert | GSAS | Secretary of State for Transport, Secretary of State for Defence |
| Rudy Giuliani | Law J.D., 1968 | Mayor of New York City (1994–2001) |
| Camillo Gonsalves | BsC in Global Affairs | Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations (2007– ) |
| John Grenier | Taxation, L.LM, 1955 | United States Senate candidate, 1966; Alabama Republican Party chairman; Birmingham lawyer |
| Seth Harris | Law, J.D., 1990 | U.S. Department of Labor, Deputy Secretary of Labor, 2009–; U.S. Department of Labor, Counselor to the Secretary, 1993–2000 |
| Muhammad Hassanein | GSAS M.A., 1966 | Minister of Finance, Arab Republic of Egypt |
| Lazarus Joseph | LAW 1912 | N.Y. State Senator (21st District 1934–44, 24th District 1945) and Comptroller of the City of New York (1946–1954) |
| Meir Kahane | GSAS M.A., 1957 | Leader of the Kach political party in the Israeli Knesset |
| Raymond W. Kelly | Law LL.M. | Police Commissioner of New York, Under Secretary of the Treasury |
| John F. Kennedy, Jr. | Law J.D., 1989 | Son of President John F. Kennedy |
| Fiorello La Guardia | Law 1908, LL.B. | Mayor of New York City (1934–1945) |
| Samuel Levy | University of the City of New York 1894, B.S. | Manhattan Borough President (1931–1937) |
| Ying-jeou Ma | Law LL.M., 1976 | President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) |
| Marie-Chantal Miller | IFA | Princess of Greece |
| Robert Mueller | GSAS M.A. 1967 | Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation under George W. Bush |
| Callistus Ndlovu | M.A., 1969 | Zimbabwean member of parliament and cabinet minister |
| Giorgos Papakonstantinou | Stern | Minister of Economy & Finance, Greece |
| Samuel Pierce | Law LL.M., 1952 | US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development |
| Louis Romano | Ed.D. | Member of the New Jersey General Assembly |
| Vaughn Stewart | Law J.D., 2014 | Member of the Maryland House of Delegates |
| Queen Sylvia of Buganda | Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree 1985 | Queen consort of Buganda, the traditional kingdom in central Uganda |
| Abraham Alexander Ribicoff | B.A., 1929 | United States Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare |
| Leonard M. Pomata | POLY B.S. | 5th Secretary of Technology of Virginia |
| Elihu Root | Law 1867, LL.B. | Secretary of War (1899–1903), Secretary of State (1905–1909) |
| Jessica Rosenworcel | Law 1997, J.D. | Chairwoman of the Federal Communications Commission (2021–) |
| Rodney Vandergert | NYU Master of Laws | Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka |
| Ernst Joseph Walch | Law M.C.J., 1981 | Minister of Foreign Affairs for Liechtenstein |
| John White | Master's degree in public administration | Louisiana State Superintendent of Education since 2012 |
| Barbara Wright | M.A., Nursing Education | Member of the New Jersey General Assembly |
| Hun Manet | MA | Prime Minister of Cambodia |

### Activists and advocates

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Carol Bellamy | Law J.D., 1968 | Executive Director of UNICEF |
| Abraham Foxman | Law J.D. | President of the Anti-Defamation League |
| Dorothy Height | ARTS B.A., GSAS M.A., 1930 | Civil and women's rights activist |
| T. J. Jemison | Postgraduate study | President of the National Baptist Convention from 1982 to 1994 |
| Ivan Lozowy | Law 1986, J.D. | Founder of the Institute for Statehood and Democracy of Ukraine |
| Anne Firth Murray | GSAS Economics | Founder of Global Fund for Women |
| Harry Sisson | Student | Social media influencer |
| Park Yong Sung | Stern M.B.A. | Chairman, International Chamber of Commerce |
| Adam Shapiro | GSAS M.A | Co-Founder of International Solidarity Movement |
| Martha J Somerman | D.D.S. (NYU College of Dentistry, 1975), Ph.D. | Director of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research |
| Vanessa Wruble | M.P.S. Interactive Telecommunications | Activist, co-founder of The Women's March on Washington |
| Jan Zaprudnik | | Leader of the Belarusian community in the U.S. |

## Religion

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| J. David Bleich | | Rabbi and authority on Jewish law and ethics |
| William Donohue | GSAS Ph.D., 1980 | President, Catholic League |
| D. James Kennedy | GSAS | Pastor, evangelist, and Christian broadcaster; founded the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Evangelism Explosion International, Westminster Academy, and Knox Theological Seminary |
| Alexander Lyons | Ph.D., 1909 | Rabbi |
| Sang Whang | POLY | Church leader and community advocate in Florida |

## Press, literature, and arts

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Kathy Acker | | Author of Blood and Guts in High School |
| James Truslow Adams | POLY, 1898 | Writer and historian; coined the term "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America |
| Warren Adler | B.A., 1949 | Author of War of the Roses and Random Hearts |
| Kenny Albert | CAS 1990, B.A. | Play-by-play broadcaster, New York Rangers and Fox Sports |
| David Antin | GSAS 1966, M.A. | Recipient of the PEN Los Angeles Award for Poetry |
| Kelli Arena | TSOA 1985 B.F.A. | CNN reporter and anchor 1985-2009 |
| Ann Shoket | 1994, B.A. | Editor in Chief of Seventeen Magazine |
| Jacob M. Appel | GSAS 2000, M.F.A. | Author of Arborophilia, Creve Coeur; idiosyncratic bioethicist |
| Ted Baehr | Law, J.D. | Chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission |
| Maria Bartiromo | CAS, 1987 B.A. | News anchor on CNBC; author |
| Venia Bechrakis | M.F.A | Artist |
| Katherine Behar | 2006, M.A | Artist |
| Leigh Behnke | 1976, M.F.A | Artist |
| Ib Benoh | Steinhardt 1993, D.A. | Artist |
| Barbara Bloemink | M.F.A. Fine and decorative arts | Author, art historian |
| Judy Blume | 1961 B.S., Education | Writer of children's literature and young adult fiction |
| Stacey Bradford | M.A., Journalism | Financial journalist, author, and commentator |
| Rita Mae Brown | Law 1964, M.A. | Rubyfruit Jungle |
| Eileen Rose Busby | earned B.A. at age 62 | Author |
| Candace Bushnell | CAS, B.A. | Her New York Observer column became the basis for Sex and the City |
| Elaine Cameron-Weir | 2010, MFA | Artist |
| Bliss Carman | visiting scholar | Canadian poet |
| Corrine Grad Coleman | M.A. | Women's liberation activist, co-founder of Redstockings |
| Suzanne Collins | TSOA 1989, M.F.A. | Television writer and novelist, author of the series The Underland Chronicles and The Hunger Games trilogy. |
| Howard Cosell | CAS, B.A. | Sports journalist |
| Countee Cullen | CAS, 1925, B.A. | Author of Ballad of the Brown Girl, Color, Color |
| Noon Meem Danish | Former teaching staff | Urdu poet |
| Miriam Davenport | IFA* | Painter and sculptor |
| Midge Decter | ARTS* | Journalist |
| Nieves Zuberbühler | | Journalist |
| Erica De Mane | CAS | Author of The Flavors of Southern Italy |
| Heather Dewey-Hagborg | Master of Professional Studies in Interactive Telecommunications | Information artist |
| Crystal Eastman | Law 1907, LL.B. | Leader in early 20th-century feminist and civil liberties activism |
| Stephen Edlich | Fine Arts 1967 | Artist, known for collage, sculpture, prints |
| Ralph Ellison | Faculty 1970–1980 | American Academy of Arts & Letters |
| Warren Farrell | PhD in political science 1974 | Educator, gender equality activist and author of seven books including The Myth of Male Power |
| Wayne Federman | TSOA* | Author of Maravich; comedian, The Tonight Show |
| Tom Ford | TSOA* | Design Director for Gucci |
| William Gaines | CAS 1948, B.A. | Founder of MAD magazine |
| Michael Gartner | Law 1972, J.D. | 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing |
| Elizabeth Gilbert | CAS B.A., 1991 | Author of Eat, Pray, Love |
| Jorie Graham | TSOA 1973, B.F.A. | Known for complex metaphors and philosophical content |
| Adolph Green | WSC 1938* | Met Betty Comden at NYU |
| Saskia Hamilton | M.A. in English and creative writing, 1991 | Poet and scholar of Robert Lowell |
| Raymond P. Hammond | GAL 2000, MA | Editor-in-Chief of New York Quarterly |
| Sean Hannity | coursework* | Co-host of Hannity and Colmes on Fox News Channel |
| Joseph Heller | WSC 1948 | Author of Catch-22 |
| Perez Hilton | B.A., 2000 | Blogger, columnist and television personality. |
| Safiya Henderson-Holmes | B.A. | Poet, recipient of the William Carlos Williams Award |
| Don Hewitt | coursework* | Creator of 60 Minutes |
| Idil Ibrahim | | Director and producer; founder of Zeila Films |
| Andrew Jacobs | studied architecture and urban design | New York Times journalist; documentary film director and producer |
| Jamie Johnson | GAL 2003, B.A. | Filmmaker |
| David Kaufman | GSAS, M.A. | Contributor to the Financial Times, The New York Times, Details, and the Fox Business Network |
| Swati Khurana | GAL 2001, M.A. | Artist and writer |
| Alen Pol Kobryn | CAS* | Poet |
| Sally Kohn | Law | Contributor for the Fox News Channel |
| William Lashner | Law, J.D. | Author of legal thrillers |
| Ira Levin | ARTS 1950, B.A. | Known for the broadway musical Deathtrap |
| Paul Levinson | WSC 1974 B.A.; Steinhardt 1979 Ph.D. | Author of The Plot To Save Socrates |
| Charles Battell Loomis | POLY | Author |
| Leonard Maltin | WSC, B.A. (journalism) | Film critic on Entertainment Tonight |
| Demetri Martin | Law* | Comedian, The Daily Show |
| Carson McCullers | GSAS* | Author of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter |
| Frank McCourt | WSC 1953, B.A. | 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography or autobiographical Writing |
| Leonard Michaels | WSC 1953, B.A. | Essayist known for his compelling urban tales of whimsy and tragedy |
| Janet Mock | Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, M.A. | Author and journalist known for her 2014 memoir Redefining Realness |
| Davi Napoleon | TSOA 1989 Ph.D. | Arts journalist and reviewer; author of Chelsea on the Edge: The Adventures of an American Theater |
| Daniel Nayeri | Studied writing | Author of Everything Sad Is Untrue |
| William Phillips | GSAS 1930, M.A. | Co-founder of Partisan Review |
| James Amos Porter | GSAS, M.A. | Painter and art historian |
| Dorothy Rabinowitz | GSAS 1960, Ph.D. | 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary |
| Carole Radziwill | Stern | Journalist, author, and television personality |
| Herman Raucher | WSC, B.A. | author and screenwriter, Summer of '42, Ode to Billy Joe |
| Charles Reznikoff | Law 1916, LL.B. | Objectivist poet |
| Charlie Rose | Stern 1968, coursework* | Emmy award-winning journalist, television producer, host of PBS's Charlie Rose Show, and correspondent for CBS's 60 Minutes |
| J. D. Salinger | coursework* | Author of Catcher in the Rye. |
| Gerald Schoenfeld | Law, J.D. | Chairman of the Shubert Organization (1972–2008) |
| Ben Shahn | | Artist |
| John Patrick Shanley | Steinhardt 1977, M.A. | Recipient of Pulitzer Prize, Academy Award, Tony Award |
| Arleen Schloss | Education 1965, B.S. | Sound poet, performance and video artist, curator, early childhood educator |
| Sara Shepard | ARTS* | Author of Pretty Little Liars series and The Lying Game series |
| George Segal | ENG 1950, B.S. | Sculptor of monochromatic, cast plaster figures |
| Robert Sobel | CAS 1957, Ph.D. | Business historian; author of For Want of a Nail |
| Danielle Steel | TSOA 1963–1967* | Romance novel author |
| Darin Strauss | ENG 1996, M.F.A. | Guggenheim-winning novelist; Chang and Eng, The Real McCoy |
| Harold C. Schonberg | GSAS 1939, M.A. | 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism |
| Beth Ames Swartz | 1959, M.A. | Artist |
| John Paul Thomas | GSAS 1954, M.A. | Artist and educator; studied with William Baziotes |
| Amy Vanderbilt | B.A. 1929 | Authority on manners, mores |
| Brian K. Vaughan | | Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Pride of Baghdad |
| Joel Wachs | | (born 1939) — Los Angeles City Council member (1970–2001), president of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York City |
| Gene Weingarten | CAS 1972 | 2008 and 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing |
| Saul Williams | GSAS 1995, M.A. | Author of The Seventh Octave and Said the Shotgun to the Head |
| Robert Anton Wilson | 1957–1958 | Author of The Illuminatus! Trilogy |
| James N. Wood | | Former Director and President of the Art Institute of Chicago (1980–2004); President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust |
| Gary Schwartz | WSC 1961, B.A. | Art historian |
| Stephanie Stebich | IFA M.A. | Art historian |
| Edgar Peters Bowron | IFA 1969, M.A., 1979, Ph.D. | Art historian |
| Alix Strauss | | Author |

### Pulitizer Prize winners

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| James Truslow Adams | POLY | 1921 Pulitzer Prize for History |
| Milton Babbitt | ARTS 1935, B.A. | 1982 Pulitzer Prize, Special Citation, "for his life's work as a distinguished and seminal American composer" |
| Jorie Graham | undergraduate/Film | 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry |
| Michael Gartner | Law 1972, J.D. | 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing |
| Morton Gould | CAS, studied under Abby Whiteside | 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Stringmusic |
| Galway Kinnell | professor | 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry |
| Frank McCourt | CAS 1953, B.A. | 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Autobiography or Autobiographical Writing |
| George Perle | GSAS 1956, Ph.D. | 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Woodwind Quintet No. 4 |
| Dorothy Rabinowitz | GSAS 1960, Ph.D. | 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary |
| James Ford Rhodes | CAS, 1865– * | 1916 Pulitzer Prize for History of the Civil War |
| Harold C. Schonberg | GSAS 1939, M.A., | 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism |
| William Schuman | Stern* | 1943 Pulitzer Prize for A Free Song |
| John Patrick Shanley | Steinhardt 1977, M.A. | 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Drama |
| Charles Simic | CAS 1966, B.A. | 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (The World Doesn't End) |
| Neil Simon | CAS 1944–1945* | 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (Lost in Yonkers) |
| Moneta Sleet Jr. | Master's in journalism | 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography (Photo of grieving widow Coretta Scott King) |
| Irwin Unger | professor | 1965 Pulitzer Prize for History (The Greenback Era) |
| Gene Weingarten | CAS 1968–1972 | 2008, 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing |
| Doug Wright | TSOA 1987 | 2004 Pulitzer Prize for Drama |
| Lawrence Wright | fellow, Center for Law and Security | 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction |
* Alex Pareene, editor-in-chief of Gawker
* Joel Shatzky (1943-2020), writer and literary professor

## Sports

As of 2013, NYU has been associated with at least 74 men and 10 women who have participated as athletes, coaches, or managers at Olympic Games, for a total of at least 28 Olympic medals.
| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Chuck Blazer | Stern, B.S. | FIFA Executive Committee member from 1996 to 2013; CONCACAF General Secretary from 1990 until 2011; Executive Vice President of the U.S. Soccer Federation |
| Nada Al-Bedwawi | | Swimmer; competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics |
| Bob Arum | CAS, B.A. | Founder and CEO of Top Rank, one of the most successful professional boxing promotion companies in boxing history |
| Anjelina Belakovskaia | GSAS 2001, M.S. | U.S. Women's Chess Champion 1995, 1996, 1999 |
| Moe Berg | ARTS 1918–1919* | Major League baseball player, spy, quiz show host |
| Gary Bettman | Law 1977, J.D. | NHL Commissioner |
| Georgina Bloomberg | | Professional equestrian; daughter of former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg |
| Ralph Branca | Steinhardt | Professional baseball pitcher who played 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (1944-1956); played for the Brooklyn Dodgers (1944–53, 1956), Detroit Tigers (1953–54), and New York Yankees (1954); three-time All-Star; in 1951, he allowed a walk-off home run to Bobby Thomson, known as the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" |
| Howard Cann | ENG | Olympic shot putter |
| Tedford H. Cann | Stern | Champion swimmer and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor; world record holder in swimming; Olympian |
| Ben Carnevale | | NYU basketball player 1934–1938; Navy Basketball coach 1947–1967 |
| Colin Cassady | CAS | Professional wrestler signed to AEW, where he performs under the ring name "Big Bill." Was formerly signed to Impact Wrestling and WWE. |
| Herbert Cohen (fencer) | 1962 | Olympic fencer |
| Rudy D'Amico | | NBA basketball scout, and former college and professional basketball coach |
| Phil Edwards (runner) | | Won three bronze Olympic medals |
| Eugene Glazer | 1962 | Olympic fencer |
| Hank Greenberg | coursework* | Major League baseball player; five-time All-Star; two-time American League MVP; elected to the Hall of Fame |
| Gary Gubner | | World record-holding shotputter and Olympic weightlifter |
| Happy Hairston | | NBA player, 1971 champion with the Los Angeles Lakers |
| Carol Heiss | CAS | Gold medal winner, Olympic Winter Games 1960 |
| Nat Holman | | Hall of Fame basketball player and coach |
| Samuel Jones | | Olympic gold medalist, high jump, 1904 |
| Julia Jones-Pugliese | | National champion fencer and fencing coach |
| Barry Kramer | | Pro basketball player and jurist |
| Martin Lang (fencer) | 1972 | Olympic fencer |
| Norman Lewis (fencer) | | Olympic fencer |
| William H. Maddren | POLY, B.S. | Head coach of the Johns Hopkins University lacrosse team |
| Edith Master | | Olympic bronze medalist equestrian |
| Shep Messing | | Olympic soccer player and broadcaster |
| Marvin Miller | CAS, B.S. | Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982 |
| Irv Mondschein | | Olympic decathlete and three-time U.S. champion, NCAA high-jump champion, and All-East football player |
| William Morrissey | Stern, B.S. | Professional wrestler known as Big Cass in WWE and W. Morrissey in Impact Wrestling |
| Boris Nachamkin | | NBA basketball player |
| Reggie Pearman | Steinhardt | Middle-distance runner; competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics |
| April Jeanette Mendez | TSOA* | Professional wrestler under the name "AJ Lee"; three-time WWE Divas Champion |
| Colette Nelson | PhD 1998, M.S. | IFBB professional bodybuilder |
| Satch Sanders | | NBA player, 1961–1966; champion with the Boston Celtics, 1968–1969 |
| Mika'il Sankofa | CAS, 1988 | Olympic gold medalist, fencing, 1988, 1992 |
| Ollie Satenstein | | NFL player |
| Dolph Schayes | | NBA player, 3-time FT% leader, 1-time rebound leader, 12-time All-Star, Hall of Fame, and coach |
| Babe Scheuer | | NFL player |
| Robert Shmalo | CAS | International ice dancing competitor |
| Ed Smith | 1934 | NFL Boston Redskins, Green Bay Packers 1936–1937, Model for Heisman Trophy |
| Moe Spahn | | American Basketball League (MVP) |
| Ken Strong | All-American, 1928 | NFL Staten Island Stapletons, New York Giants 1929–1947, Pro Football Hall of Fame 1967 |
| Paul Tagliabue | Law 1965, J.D. | NFL Commissioner |
| Bill Tanguay | | NFL player |
| Sidney Tannenbaum | | Two-time All-American basketball guard; left as NYU all-time scorer; pro player |
| Mary Washburn | CAS | Competed for the United States in the 1928 Summer Olympics held in Amsterdam, Netherlands in the 4 x 100 metres, where she won the silver medal |
| Peter Westbrook | Stern | Former sabre fencing champion and Olympic medalist |
| John Woodruff | GSAS 1941, M.A. | Olympic gold medalist, 800 m, 1936 |
| Cy Block | | MLB player Chicago Cubs 1942-1946 |
| Eddie Yost | | MLB player for Washington Senators, Detroit Tigers, LA Angels 1944–1962; All Star Team 1952; Coachof Washington Senators, NY Mets, Boston Red Sox 1962–1985 |
| Peter Zaremba (athlete) | ENG | Competed for the United States in the 1932 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, United States in the hammer throw, where he won the bronze medal |
* Martin Jay Davis (1937–2022), astrologer, author, and Olympic fencer
* Spencer Freedman (born 1998), college basketball player for the Harvard Crimson and NYU Violets
* Jay Horwitz (born 1945), New York Mets executive
* Ruth White (born 1951), Olympic fencer
* Hans Wieselgren (born 1952), Olympic fencer

## Other

| Name | Relation to NYU | Notability |
| Sir Harold Acton | major benefactor | donated the Villa LaPietra Campus to NYU |
| Elmer Holmes Bobst | major benefactor | namesake of NYU's Elmer Holmes Bobst Library |
| Charles Butler | president of council | |
| Adela Cojab | NYU alum, sued NYU | author and activist against antisemitism for Zionist causes |
| Albert Gallatin | founder of NYU | Secretary of the Treasury under Thomas Jefferson |
| Martin Kimmel | major benefactor | namesake of NYU's Kimmel Center for Student Life |
| Ruth Madoff | NYU alum | Widow of Bernie Madoff |
| Miles Redd | NYU alum | Interior designer |
| Howard Spira | NYU alum | Gambler and felon |
| Michael Steinhardt | major benefactor | namesake of NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development |
| Leonard N. Stern | major benefactor | namesake of NYU's Stern School of Business |
| Preston Tisch | major benefactor | namesake of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts |
| Donald Wallance | CAS 1930, B.A. | Industrial designer |
| Oscar Lawton Wilkerson | NYU alum | Tuskegee Airman |

### Fictional

The following are characters in film, television, literature, and other media that have a connection to the university:
| Name | Portrayal | Notability |
| Blair Waldorf | played by Leighton Meester | in Gossip Girl |
| Dan Humphrey | played by Penn Badgley | in Gossip Girl |
| Vanessa Abrams | played by Jessica Szohr | in Gossip Girl |
| Georgina Sparks | played by Michelle Trachtenberg | in Gossip Girl |
| Ross Geller, Professor of paleontology | played by David Schwimmer | in the TV show Friends |
| Fritz the Cat | voiced by Skip Hinnant | in the film directed by Ralph Bakshi |
| Will Truman | played by Eric McCormack | in Will and Grace |
| Grace Adler | played by Debra Messing | in Will and Grace |