Famous English Majors

• Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)
• Alan Alda (actor, writer)
• Russell Baker (journalist)
• Dave Barry (humorist, writer, actor)
• Joy Behar (writer, comedienne, co-host of "The View")
• Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (television writer/producer "Designing Women", "Evening Shade") 
• Gwendolyn Brooks (“We Real Cool”) 
• Carol Browner (head of the Environmental Protection Agency)
• Edward Burns (actor, director, producer, writer)
• Brett Butler (actress, writer, comedienne)
• James Cameron (director, editor, producer, screenwriter of "Titanic") 
• Johnny Carson (talk show host)
• Chevy Chase (comedian, actor, writer)
• Tom Clancy (writer)
• Mario Cuomo (former governor of New York)
• Joan Cusack (actress)
• Matt Damon (actor, screenwriter)
• Vin Diesel (actor, director, producer, screenwriter)
• David Duchovny (actor, "X-Files")
• Michael Eisner (Walt Disney CEO)
• Harrison Ford (actor)
• Jodi Foster (actress, filmmaker)
• Kathryn Fuller (World Wildlife Fund CEO)
• A. Bartlett Giamatti (President, Yale University and Commissioner of Baseball)
• Allen Ginsberg ( “Howl”)
• Heather Graham (actress, model)
• Cathy Guisewite (cartoonist of "Cathy") 
• Mary Hart (co-host of "Entertainment Tonight")
• Joseph Heller (Catch 22) 
• Don Henley (singer, songwriter, musician, environmental activist)
• David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) 
• Chris Isaak (songwriter, singer)
• Famke Janssen (actress, model)
• Catherine Keener (actress)
• Stephen King (novelist)
• Kris Kristofferson (singer, songwriter, musician, actor)
• Tommy Lee Jones (actor)
• John Mahoney (actor, Marty on "Frasier")
• Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman) 
• Toni Morrison (Beloved) 
• Paul Newman (actor, food entrepreneur)
• Joyce Carol Oates (You Must Remember This )
• Conan O'Brien (talk show host, writer)
• Randy Owen (singer, songwriter, musician)
• Joe Paterno (football coach, Penn State)
• David Hyde Pierce (actor who plays Niles on "Frasier")
• Christopher Reeve (actor, writer, director)
• Sally Ride (astronaut)
• Geoffrey Rush (actor, director, playwright, musician)
• Susan Sarandon (actress)
• Fred Savage (actor from "The Wonder Years")
• Diane Sawyer (broadcast journalist)
• Martin Scorsese (director)
• Marty Shottenheimer (Former coach of Kansas City Chiefs)
• Paul Simon (songwriter, singer)
• Sting (singer, songwriter, musician, actor, environmental activist)
• Steven Spielberg (filmmaker)
• Dr. Seuss, a.k.a. Theodor Geisel (children's author)
• Amy Tan (Joy Luck Club) 
• Brandon Tartikoff (television executive)
• Clarence Thomas (U.S. Supreme Court Justice)
• Emma Thompson (actress, producer, screenwriter)
• Grant Tinker (TV Executive and Producer)
• John Updike (Witches of Eastwick, Rabbit at Rest )
• James Van Der Beek (actor from "Dawson's Creek")
• Harold Varmus (Nobel laureate in medicine, Director of National Institute of Health)
• Barbara Walters (broadcast journalist)
• Sigourney Weaver (actress)
• Eudora Welty (“A Worn Path”) 
• Pete Wilson (former governor of California)
• Reese Witherspoon (actress)
• Bob Woodward (journalist, writer of All the President’s Men) 
• Renee Zellweger (actress)

Source Note - This list was compiled in 2006 by Mark Vegter from the following sources: English Department of Mississippi State University, English Major's Hall of Fame at California State University, Bakersfield, and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.