The following are people who were either born/raised or have lived for a significant period of time in Nebraska.
Native Americans
Public Office
Military/War
Entertainment
Film/Theater
- Adele Astaire (1897-1981), dancer and entertainer
- Fred Astaire (1899-1987), dancer and actor
- Ward Bond (1903-1960), actor
- Marlon Brando (1924-2004), Academy Award winning actor
- Montgomery Clift (1920-1966), actor
- James Coburn (1928-2002), actor
- Sandy Dennis (1937-1992), actress
- Henry Fonda (1905-1982), Academy Award winning actor
- Hoot Gibson (1892-1962), actor, rodeo cowboy
- Leland Hayward (1902-1971), Hollywood and Broadway agent and producer
- Marg Helgenberger (1958-), actress
- David Janssen (1931-1980), actor
- Swoosie Kurtz (1944-), actress
- Harold Lloyd (1893-1971), actor, comedian
- Gordon MacRae (1921-1986), actor, singer
- Dorothy McGuire (1916-2001), actress
- Fred Niblo (1874-1948), actor, director, producer
- Nick Nolte (1941-), actor, producer
- Alexander Payne (1961-), director, screenwriter
- Thurl Ravenscroft (1914-2005), voice actor and singer
- Hilary Swank (1974-), actress
- Inga Swenson (1932-), actress
- Robert Taylor (1911-1969), actor
- Janine Turner (1962-), actress
- Gabrielle Union (1973-), actress
- Charles Weidman (1901-1975), dancer, choreographer
- Darryl F. Zanuck (1902-1979), producer, writer, actor and director
Comedians/Humorists
Televison/Radio
Music
Art/Literature/Journalism
- Kurt Andersen (1954-), co-founder of Spy Magazine
- John Gutzon Borglum (1867-1941), painter, sculptor, designer and engineer of the presidential busts on Mount Rushmore
- Solon Borglum (1869-1922), sculptor, younger brother of John Gutzon Borglum
- Willa Cather (1873-1947), author
- Robert Henri (1865-1929), painter
- Clifton Hillegass (1918-2001), publisher and founder of Cliffs Notes
- Weldon Kees (1914-1955), poet, novelist, short story writer
- John Neihardt (1881-1973), poet, dubbed the "Poet Laureate of Nebraska and the Plains" by the Nebraska State Legislature in 1921
- Rose O'Neill (1874-1944), Illustrator and writer and creator of the Kewpie doll
- Nicholas Sparks (1965-), author
Business
- Howard F. Ahmanson, Sr (1906-1968, financier, philanthropist
- Warren Buffett (1930-), "Sage of Omaha," investor; among the wealthiest people in the world
- Richard N. Cabela (1936-), entreprenuer, founder of Cabela's sporting store
- Joyce Hall (1891-1982), founder of Hallmark Cards
- Andrew Higgins (1886-1952), Industrialist and shipbuilder, owner and founder of Higgins Industries, manufacturer of "Higgins boats"
- Peter Kiewit (1900-1979), contractor, investor and philanthropist
- William Norris (1911-), pioneering CEO of Control Data Corporation
- Edwin Perkins (1889-1961), inventor of Kool-Aid, philanthropist
- Walter Scott, Jr. (1931-), civil engineer, philanthropist
Science/Medicine
- Henry Beachell (1906-), developer of hybrid-rice that has saved millions around the world from starvation
- George Wells Beadle (1903-1989, scientist in the study of genetics
- John R. Dunning (1907-1975), physicist played an instrumental role in the development of the atomic bomb
- Harold Eugene "Doc" Edgerton (1903-1990), professor at MIT, pioneer in strobe photography
- Rollins A. Emerson (1873-1947), geneticist, considered a pioneer in researching the genetics of maize
- Jay Wright Forrester (1918-), pioneer of computer engineering
- Daniel Freeman (1826-1908), a homesteader, physician and Civil War veteran. First person to file for a claim under Homestead Act of 1862.
- Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865-1915), first person to receive federal aid for education and the first American Indian woman to become a physician in the United States
- Ivan Sutherland (1938-), inventor of the Sketchpad
Athletics
Other
- Grace Abbott (1878-1939), social worker, child welfare reformer
- Frank W. Cyr (1900-1995), educator, author, "Father of the Yellow School Bus"
- Carmelita Hinton (1890-1983), progressive educator
- Julius Sterling Morton (1832-1902), founder of Arbor Day
- Roscoe Pound (1870 - 1964), Botanist, lawyer law professor, theorist
- Malcolm X (1925-1965), civil rights leader
Related topics
