- Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, Emmy-winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies before achieving notable success as a dramatic actor in "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump". Hanks is the second highest-grossing film star of all time. He is also only one of two actors to have seven consecutive US$100 million blockbusters, …
- Ion Ţiriac
Ion Ţiriac is a Romanian former tennis player and businessman. He is now one of the wealthiest men in Romania according to the 2005 issue of "Capital Top 300 wealthiest men in Romania" where he occupies the top spot.
- John Fredriksen
John Fredriksen, (born 1944) is an oil tanker and shipping tycoon, owner of the world's largest oil tanker fleet, and was Norway's richest man until he chose to abandon his Norwegian citizenship and take up a Cypriot passport. Norwegian magazine "Kapital" lists Fredriksen with a net worth of NOK 33.3 billion (USD 5.4 billion, GBP 2.89 billion in 2005). Through his investment companies Hemen Holdings and Meisha, …
- Ionel Ganea
Ionel Viorel Ganea, often shortened to Vio Ganea is a Romanian football striker with FCU Politehnica Timişoara. He was born in Făgăraş and debuted in Liga 1 (Divizia A at that time) with FC Braşov in 1994. Ganea made his debut for the Romanian national team in 1999 against Estonia, scoring 2 goals. He represented his country at Euro 2000 and scored a goal against England that qualified Romania to the quarter finals.
- Heidi Fleiss
Heidi Lynne Fleiss (born December 30 1965), known as the "Hollywood Madam", is a former American madam. She was convicted in connection with her prostitution ring with charges including pandering and tax evasion. Her ring had numerous famous and wealthy clients. She was sentenced to 37 months in prison for tax evasion, (pandering charges were dropped) but served just 21. Her father, Doctor Paul M. Fleiss is a famous Intactivist (one who opposes circumcision).
- Saad Hariri
Saadeddine Rafiq al Hariri, (born April 18th 1970 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) He is the second son of Rafik Hariri, the assassinated former prime minister of Lebanon. Saad Hariri studied business administration at Georgetown University, and got a Bachelor Degree in International Business (1992). At the time of his father's death, he was running Saudi Oger, a USD $3.15 billion (sales) construction conglomerate purchased from a French company and run by his father, …
- Carlos Boozer
Carlos Austin Boozer, Jr. (born November 20 1981, in Aschaffenburg, West Germany (present Germany)) is an American professional basketball player currently with the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association. Boozer was a two-time Parade All-American in high school, leading the Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears to back-to-back state titles. He then played collegiately for Duke University, helping the team win the 2001 NCAA basketball tournament.
- Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer AC (17 December 1937 - 26 December 2005), son of Sir Frank Packer, was an Australian publishing, media and gaming tycoon who owned the Nine Network. He was famous for his outspoken nature, wealth, expansive business empire and clashes with the Australian Taxation Office and the Costigan Commission. At the time of his death, Packer was the richest and one of the most influential men in Australia.
- Lasse Åberg
Lars Gunnar Åberg is a Swedish actor, musician, film director and artist. He was born in the small town Hofors, but grew up in Stockholm. Åberg has produced some of the most successful films in Sweden, depicting "typical" Swedish life and customs in a usually humorous way. Åbergs character can be described as an inept outsider with a large heart, constantly pushed aside without noticing. One may say he resembles the typical Chevy Chase or Mr. Bean character, …
- Alan Miller
Alan Miller is a pioneering and influential figure in the video game industry. He was an early game designer and programmer for Atari 2600 games who went on to found two large video game developers and publishers. Miller joined Atari in February 1977 and was one of the first four Atari 2600 game designers. His 2600 titles include "Surround", "Hunt & Score", "Hangman" and "Basketball".
- John W. Thompson
John W. Thompson (born April 24, 1949) is a former vice-president at IBM and the current CEO of Symantec. Born in Fort Dix, New Jersey, Thompson received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Florida A&M in 1971 and a Master's degree in Management (M.B.A.) from the Sloan Fellows program of the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1983. In April 2006, Forbes published a list of the most highly compensated CEOs.
- Paul Byrd
Paul Gregory Byrd (born December 3, 1970 in Louisville, Kentucky) is a Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher who plays for the Cleveland Indians. Byrd graduated from St. Xavier and attended Louisiana State University where he pitched as part of the Tigers baseball team that won the 1991 College World Series. He was originally drafted in the fourth round of the 1991 amateur draft by the Cleveland Indians.
- Mike McCarthy
Michael R. McCarthy was born August 27, 1951 in Hancock, IA. He is the chairman and co-founder of an investment firm based in Omaha, NE, McCarthy Group, LLC, which manages nearly $1 billion USD in assets.
- Jostein Gaarder
Jostein Gaarder (born August 8 1952 in Oslo) is a Norwegian intellectual and author of several novels, short stories and children's books. Gaarder often writes from the perspective of children, exploring their sense of wonder about the world. He often uses metafiction in his works, writing stories within stories. Gaarder was born into a pedagogical family. His best known work is the novel "Sophie's World", …
- Trip Hawkins
William M. 'Trip' Hawkins III (born 1953) is a Silicon Valley American entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company and Digital Chocolate. Hawkins was the Director of Strategy and Marketing at Apple Computer in 1982 when he left to found Electronic Arts (EA), a video game publisher. Electronic Arts had a successful run for many years under Hawkins' leadership. It is now the world's largest video game publisher.
- Hale Irwin
Hale S. Irwin (born June 3, 1945) is an American golfer. He is the uncle of Heath Irwin. Irwin was born in Joplin, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 1967, where he was a two-time All-Big Eight defensive back, as well as an academic All-American in football. He won the individual NCAA Division I Championship in golf in 1967 and turned professional the following year.
- Shuji Nakamura
Dr. Shuji Nakamura, who developed the world's first gallium nitride (GaN) LED, led the UCSB team, which focused on resonant cavity light-emitting structures. The LRC team, led by Director of Research Dr. N. Narendran, focused on challenges in packaging, testing and evaluation of nitride-based solid-state lighting. The LRC's work included:
- Lydia Hearst
Lydia Hearst (born 19 September 1984) is the daughter of kidnapping victim Patty Hearst and her husband and former bodyguard, Bernard Shaw. Lydia is an heir to William Randolph Hearst's media empire, which reports USD$5 billion a year in annual revenue. Lydia began her career as a member of Ford Models and is now currently represented by Scott Lipps, owner and founder of ONE Model Management.
- Yang Huiyan
Yang Huiyan (Simplified Chinese:杨惠妍, Traditional Chinese:楊惠妍, born c.1982) is the majority shareholder of Country Garden Holdings and is currently considered the wealthiest person in Mainland China, with a net worth of about $9 billion USD as of April 2007. She is the daughter of Yang Guoqiang, who transferred 70% of Country Garden's shares to her before its IPO.
- Fabio Fognini
"' (born May 24, 1987 in Sanremo) is a professional tennis player from Italy. Fognini is 2-9 and 0-1 on non-Challenger ATP tour matches, however has made the finals of three singles and one doubles tournament on the ATP Challenger tour. As of and on June 25, 2007, Fognini has reached World Number 147"', his highest singles ranking. Fognini weighs 163 pounds and is 5 feet 10 inches tall. He currently resides in Arma di Taggia, Italy.
- Ferit Şahenk
Ferit Şahenk is Chairman of Turkey's Doğuş Holding conglomerate and one of the country's wealthiest individuals, with a personal fortune estimated at USD$ 1.5 billion.
- Ken Jennings
Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) holds the record for the longest winning streak on the U.S. syndicated game show "Jeopardy!" Jennings won 74 games before he was defeated by challenger Nancy Zerg on his 75th appearance. His total earnings on "Jeopardy!" are US$3,022,700 ($2,520,700 in winnings, a $2,000 consolation prize on his 75th appearance, and $500,000 in the "Jeopardy!" Ultimate Tournament of Champions).
- Ronald Perelman
Ronald Owen Perelman (born January 1, 1943) is an American billionaire investor that made his fortune buying beleaguered corporations and re-selling them later for enormous profits. Once the richest man in America, he is now tied for 40th place with an estimated wealth of USD$7 billion. He has invested in the grocery, cigar, licorice, makeup, car, photography, television, camping, security, lottery, jewelry, banks, and comic book industries.
- Lim Goh Tong
Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong is a prominent wealthy Malaysian Chinese businessman. He is renowned for his vision and courage in transforming Genting Highlands from an unexplored hilltop to one of the world's most successful casino resorts. He is one of the richest men in Malaysia with a net worth estimated to be 4.2 billion USD, making him the 204th richest person in the billionaire list compiled by Forbes.
- Andrew Grove
Dr. Andrew Stephen Grove (born 1936-09-02) is a Hungarian-American businessman. He participated in the founding of Intel and was key to the company's success.
- Jonathan Knight
Jonathan Rashleigh Knight (born November 29 1968, in Worcester, Massachusetts) is an American singer. Along with his brother Jordan Knight, Donnie Wahlberg, Joe McIntyre, and Danny Wood, they comprised the musical group New Kids on the Block (NKOTB), popular in the mid 1980s to early 1990s. Knight had a relationship with singer Tiffany while his group toured with her. As Knight continued his success along with NKOTB, …
- Mark Kingdon
Mark E. Kingdon is a hedge fund manager and President of the 5 billion USD "Kingdon Capital Management", an investment management company which he founded in 1983. He previously worked for eight years at another investment firm, "Century Capital Associates". Mark began his career with AT&T as a pension fund administrator. Mark also serves on the Columbia University Board of Visitors.
- Mafiaboy
MafiaBoy (Mike Calce) was the Internet alias of a high school student from the upscale area of The West Island in Montreal, Canada who launched a series of highly publicized denial-of-service attacks in February 2000 against large commercial websites including Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Dell, Inc., E*TRADE, eBay, and CNN. Canada's Youth Criminal Justice Act forbids Canadian news outlets from publication of MafiaBoy's real name in connection with this incident.
- Gabrielle Reece
Gabrielle Reece (born January 6, 1970) is an American professional volleyball player, sports presenter and former fashion model. Reece stands at 6 ft 3 inch (190.5 cm). Her measurments are 36-24-35, according to "Celebrity Sleuth" magazine and according to her book "Big Girl in the Middle" wears a size 11 shoes. Her stature is genetic - her mother is 6 ft 2 inches. In 1989 she was named by Elle magazine as one of the five most beautiful Women in the world.
- Roberto Hernández Ramírez
Roberto Hernández Ramírez (b. 1942 in Tuxpan, Veracruz) is a Mexican businessman. He is a former CEO of "Banco Nacional de México (Banamex)", Mexico's second largest bank, just after BBVA Bancomer, from Spain. Hernández Ramirez received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Ibero-American University (1964), co-founded "Acciones y Valores de México (Accival)" in 1971 and twenty years later bought Banamex, Mexico's largest bank.
- Hal Sutton
Hal Evan Sutton (born April 28, 1958) is an American golfer and captain of the 2004 American Ryder Cup team. Sutton was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. He was a promising golfer at the Centenary College of Louisiana, named <i>GOLF magazine</i>'s 1980 College Player of the Year. He established himself as one of the PGA Tour's top young stars in the early 1980s, winning the PGA Championship in 1983. However, he then entered into a long drought, …
- Anton Rupert
Dr. Anthony Edward Rupert was an Afrikaner-South African billionaire entrepreneur, businessman and conservationist. He was born and raised in the small town of Graaff-Reinet in the Eastern Cape. He studied in Pretoria and ultimately moved to Stellenbosch, where the Rembrandt Group was formed and still has its headquarters. He died in his sleep at his home in Thibault Street, Stellenbosch at the age of 89, and is survived by a son Johann, …
- Akiane Kramarik
Akiane Kramarik (born July 9, 1994) is an American artistic prodigy and poet. Akiane Kramarik was born in Mount Morris, Illinois to a Lithuanian mother and an American father. According to her website, she is homeschooled. Primarily a self-taught painter, Akiane Kramarik started drawing at age four, painting at six, and writing poetry at seven. Her first completed self-portrait sold for ten thousand US dollars.
- Alexander Abramov
Alexander Abramov (Alexander Grigoryevich Abramov) (born 1959) is a former scientist who became an industrial magnate as head of EvrazHolding, Russia's largest steel producer. Beginning in 1998, he has amassed the largest steel and iron empire in Russia, which employs 125,000 people, controls about 22 percent of the country's total steel output and has an annual turnover of USD$2 billion.
- Corey Clark
Corey Delaney Clark (born July 13 1980 in San Bernardino, California) is an American singer who was a disqualified finalist in the second season of "American Idol" in 2003.
- Jorge Paulo Lemann
Jorge Paulo Lemann (born in 1939) is the second wealthiest individual in Brazil (ranked number 200 in the world) with an estimated self made fortune of USD$ 3.4 billion in 2006. Jorge Paulo Lemann was born in Brazil during 1939 to Swiss immigrants. He received his Bachelors degree from Harvard University in 1961 (he would later receive his MBA from Harvard Business School) and in 1971 he and three partners founded the Brazilian investment banking firm Banco Garantia.
- Holly McPeak
Holly McPeak (born May 15, 1969 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California) is an American beach volleyball player. As of 2005, McPeak has 72 career beach volleyball titles and $1.3 million USD in career earnings, both of which are the most of any woman in the history of professional beach volleyball. She also won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics with partner Elaine Youngs. McPeak, at 5 feet 7 inches, is considered very short for beach volleyball, …
- José Luis Machinea
José Luis Machinea is an Argentine economist. He is currently the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, since 10 December 2003. Machinea was the head of the Central Bank of Argentina between 1986 and 1989, under the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín. In the 1990s he worked in the private sector, as a consultant and in economic research organizations.
- Randy Lerner
Randolph D. Lerner (born 1962) is an American entrepreneur and sports owner. Lerner has been the owner of the American football team, the Cleveland Browns, of the National Football League (NFL) since October 2002, and the Chairman of Aston Villa Football Club (Soccer) since 2006. His personal fortune is estimated at USD 1.6 billion Lerner graduated from Columbia University in 1984, spending 1983 at Clare College in Cambridge, England.
- Robert D. Walter
Robert D. Walter is an American businessman. In 1971 he purchased Cardinal Foods, a small Ohio food wholesaler, in a leveraged buyout. Cardinal Health is now an $81 billion USD Fortune 100 company and one of the largest distributors of pharmaceuticals, health & beauty products, and hospital supplies in the United States. Walter graduated from St. Charles Preparatory School, has an MBA from Harvard University and a BA from Ohio University.