46 famous (and infamous) University of Washington graduates and one-time students

Named the eighth best university in the world by U.S. News and World Report, Seattle's University of Washington has done it's fair share of cranking out high-achieving students.

Some have gone on to be great researchers, astronauts and inventors, while others have found fame and fortune in Hollywood as actors or musicians. And then there's some who gained notoriety for less, shall we say, "positive" careers or endeavors.

But overall, Husky alumni are still in good company.

From local celebrities to prominent government figures and successful restaurateurs, here's a look at 45 of the most famous UW students who might have graduated in your class or your parent's class.

1. Ken Jennings

While born in Edmonds, Jennings attended UW during his freshman year before heading off to Brigham Young University.

There, he was a member of the Quiz Bowl team, which likely prepared him to become the most successful contestant ever on the game show "Jeopardy!" in 2004, when he won 74 games in a row. In all, Jennings has taken in more than $3 million in "Jeopardy!" winnings.

He briefly served as a guest host for the show following the death of Alex Trebek.

2. Rainn Wilson

Famous for playing Dwight Schrute on "The Office," Wilson was born in Seattle and attended Shorecrest High School and the University of Washington where he studied drama. He graduated in 1986.

He remains a devoted Seahawks fan and even discussed the 2020 draft with fellow Seattle native and UW alum Joel McHale.

3. Hope Solo

Former Husky star Hope Solo has gone on to be the goalkeeper for the Seattle Reign and play for the United States in the World Cup and Olympics. She attended the university from 1999 to 2002.

4. Kenny G

Known as Kenny Gorlick — to his mother, at least— this sax master might just be the Emerald City's most prolific musician. Ironically enough, he had his first jazz solo — and first kiss — on Franklin High School grounds and later earned a degree from UW in 1978.

He took the smooth-jazz world by storm with his serene saxophone stylings.

5. Frances Farmer

Born in Seattle, Farmer graduated from UW in 1935 with a degree in drama and launched into a career in theater.

While she found success in films like "Toast of New York" and "Rhythm on the Range," her career was plagued with scrutiny over her struggle with mental illness. In a memoir she alleged severe physical and sexual abuse happened to her while she was at Western State Hospital.

She's been forever immortalized in the biopic "Frances," and the Nirvana song, "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle."

6. Jay Inslee

The current three-term governor of Washington, Inslee attended Seattle's Ingraham High School and played basketball and football. While he began his studies at Stanford, he eventually moved back Washington to study economics at UW.

He graduated in 1973 and went on to serve in the state house, then U.S. House before being elected a governor in 2012.

7. Anna Faris

Faris grew up in Edmonds and graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in English literature in 1999. She gained acclaim for her role as Cindy Campbell in "Scary Movie" (and its sequels), and went on to earn awards for that and roles in many other films.

She currently stars in the CBS sitcom "Mom."

8. Kyle MacLachlan

Born in Yakima, Washington, MacLachlan is probably one of the most successful actors to have earned a degree at UW, graduating cum laude in 1982.

Before he hit it big by playing Special Agent Dale Cooper on the cult-classic "Twin Peaks", he paid homage to UW student Frank Herbert by playing Paul Atreides in the 1984 adaptation of "Dune."

He has since gone on to star in successful franchises like "Sex and the City," "Desperate Housewives" and "How I Met Your Mother," and also played the eccentric mayor of Seattle's rival in Comedy Central's "Portlandia."

9. Victor Steinbrueck

Steinbrueck was an architect and preservationist who spearheaded the movement to save Pike Place Market. He was also a faculty member at UW.

You'll know the name from Victor Steinbrueck Park, which is the small strip of green next to the market usually packed with tourists.

10. Isaiah Thomas

Tacoma-born Thomas attended UW from 2008 to 2011 and was a three-time all-conference selection in the Pac-10. The last pick in the 2011 draft, Thomas rose to become one of the NBA's most clutch players, named second-team All NBA in 2016-17 after averaging 28.9 points per game with the Boston Celtics.

He is currently a free agent and suited up for USA basketball in February, priming him for an NBA comeback after a hip injury.

11. Kim Thayil

Known for his unique guitar styles as a member of famed grunge band Soundgarden, Thayil graduated from UW with a degree in philosophy in 1985. He also worked as a DJ at KEXP.

12. Joel McHale

Seen here repping the Seahawks, the "Community" and "The Soup" star grew up on Mercer Island and also attended the University of Washington, graduating in 2000. He's known to be a huge Seahawks fan as well.

13. Bruce Lee

While commonly mistaken as a Seattleite given that he is buried here, Lee was actually born in San Francisco. He studied philosophy and kinesiology courses at UW, though he didn't earn a degree.

His fame derived not only from his roles acting in martial arts movies, but also for his development of Jeet Kune Do, a fighting style derived from Chinese Kung Fu.

14. Chris Gregoire

Graduating in the class of 1969, Gregoire was Washington's attorney general before being elected to serve as governor in 2004, where she served two terms and was the second woman to hold the office.

She was a member of the Kappa Delta sorority during her time at UW.

15. Suzanna Darcy-Henneman

Darcy-Henneman was not only the first woman to be hired as a test pilot at Boeing, but also set a world record for the longest commercial jet flight in 2005 when she flew a Boeing 777 from Hong Kong to London (12,000 miles). The previous record was 10,823 miles — also set in a Boeing 777.

She graduated from UW in 1981 with a degree in aeronautical engineering.

16. Chris DeWolfe

It might not be the hottest social media platform anymore, but Myspace does have some roots in Seattle: co-founder DeWolfe graduated from UW in 1988. He was also a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

17. Joseph Sutter

Graduating in 1943, Sutter was an aerospace engineer who headed the design team for the Boeing 747. For his role, he is known as the "father" of the 747.

18. Warren Moon

Moon led the Huskies football team to a Pac-8 title and Rose Bowl win in 1978 — the first in 17 years. During his professional career, which spanned both the NFL and Canadian Football League, he held several passing records and was the first quarterback in pro football history to throw for 5,000 yards in one season.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006 and served as a Seahawks broadcaster until 2017.

19. Jean Smart

Smart attended Ballard High School and later graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in performing arts. She was also a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority on campus.

She began her career acting at the Seattle Repertory Theater before making it big on Broadway and landing the role of Lana Gardner in the classic Emerald City sitcom "Frasier" — which is was picked up for a reboot next year — for which she would win two Emmy's.

Since then, she's appeared in "24," "Fargo" and most recently in HBO's "Watchmen."

20. Dan Evans

Evans served as a Republican governor of Washington from 1965 to 1977 —three terms — and then as a U.S. senator from the state from 1983 to 1989.

21. Ted Bundy

The notorious serial killer enrolled in UW twice, first in 1966 and again in 1969 studying psychology. After graduating in 1972, he worked on the re-election campaign for Dan Evans.

It is unknown whether he began murdering young women during his time as a student. He was said to have often frequented Dante's, a U-District bar that burnt down.

After his final capture in 1978, he later admitted to 30 killings, though inconsistent accounts by him in interviews suggest he may have killed many more. He was executed in 1989.

22. Frank Herbert

Although he didn't graduate from UW, Herbert did attend classes at the school in 1946 and later worked as an education writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

He is most famous for his "Dune" series which sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and earned a very confusing movie adaptation directed by David Lynch in 1984. It's up for another adaptation this year, with Timothée Chalamet playing Paul Atreides.

23. Dyan Cannon

While born in Tacoma, Cannon is another actress who grew up in West Seattle and attended West Seattle High School and the University of Washington, although she did not graduate from the school.

She would go onto receive three Academy Award nominations.

24. Bill Gates Sr.

Father of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the senior Gates served as the President of both the Washington and Seattle-King County Bar Association. He attended UW under the G.I. bill and graduates with a J.D. in 1950.

He died in late 2020.

25. Dale Chihuly

With colorful blown glass art all throughout the Pacific Northwest, Tacoma-born Chihuly is likely the school's most famous sculptor. He received a degree in interior design from UW in 1965.

26. Sally Jewell

After receiving her degree in mechanical engineering from UW in 1978, Jewell would go on to be the CEO of REI and later the Secretary of the Interior during the Obama administration.

She was the second woman to hold the position, and her alma mater honored her with the Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016.

27. Ivar Haglund

Haglund was the son of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants who would later go on to establish the seafood eatery that still bears his name to this day. He graduated from UW in 1928 and even did stint as port commissioner in Seattle after running as a prank.

He died with no direct heirs, and bequeathed his restaurant empire to the UW School of Business.

28. Ryan Lewis

Graduating in 2009, Lewis climbed to the top of the charts later in 2010 after he started working with Seattle rapper Macklemore.

29. Rick Steves

Growing up in Edmonds, Steves earned a degree at UW before he started teaching classes on travel. He published his first travel guide in 1980 and then went on to create a world-renowned business around travel guides and public TV specials.

He is also an advocate for marijuana legalization.

30. Amanda Knox

Knox was working on a degree at UW when she headed off to Italy for an academic year there. She gained notoriety in 2007 after Italian prosecutors accused her of involvement in the murder of her roommate, Meredith Kercher.

Knox spent four years in Italian jail before her 2011 release and was finally, definitively acquitted of the murder and other charges in 2015.

31. Dawn Wells

Known for her role as Mary Ann Summers on the classic sitcom "Gilligan's Island," Dawn Wells is a notable Husky alum who called the Emerald City home during her college years.

She graduated from the University of Washington in 1960 with a degree in theater arts and design, and was also a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority.

Wells died on Dec. 30, 2020 at the age of 82 from COVID-19 related causes.

32. Beverly Cleary

An acclaimed children's author, Cleary graduated from UW with a degree in library sciences and later went on to be a children's librarian in Yakima, Washington.

Her beloved "Ramona" series earned her a 1981 National Book Award and a National Medal of Arts in 2004.

33. Tim Lincecum

Lincecum didn't finish college, but was a pitching star for the Huskies before getting drafted in the first round to start for the San Francisco Giants in 2007. He's a three-time World Series champion, two-time Cy Young Award winner and a four-time MLB All-Star.

34. Robin DiAngelo

While she got her bachelor's degree from Seattle University, DiAngelo later went on to receive her PhD from UW. Her book "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" was propelled to the New York Times bestseller list following the police killing of George Floyd.

She is planning a follow-up book that will be released later this year.

35. Mark Arm

Arm went to UW, but seems to have done all right without the degree as he and friend Steve Turner — a UW student at one time — would form first Green River, with musicians who would later be part of Pearl Jam, then Mudhoney, a band that was the biggest grunge act until Nirvana broke big in late 1991.

36. Norm Rice

Rice served as Seattle's first and only elected Black mayor, from 1989 to 1997, serving two terms. For his career in public service, he recied UW's Alumnus Summa Laude Dignatus — the highest honor a graduate can receive.

37. William Foege

Representing the university's top-rated epidemiology and infectious disease programs, Foege is credited with helping to eradicate smallpox in the late 1970s.

38. Minori Yamasaki

Yamasaki was an architect who designed the original World Trade Center in New York. He graduated with a degree in architecture in 1934.

39. Ann Rule

Rule graduated in 1953 and earned fame for her true crime book, "The Stranger Beside Me," a biography about Ted Bundy and based on her experience working alongside him at a suicide crisis center. She would go on to write many other true-crime books.

40. David Horsey

Horsey became a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist during his long career at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which began in 1979. He left the P-I in 2011 and is now at the Seattle Times.

41. Ivan Doig

Doig is best known for his 1980 debut book, "This House of Sky," an account of his youth on a ranch in Montana that has come to be regarded as a classic Western memoir.

42. Tim Paterson

Paterson wrote the first version of MS-DOS, which became Microsoft's first operating system.

43. Howard Wright

Wright is best known for his company's involvement in building the Space Needle. But Howard S. Wright Construction also built the Columbia Tower, among other sizable projects.

44. Norm Dicks

Dicks served in the U.S. Congress for 36 years, representing Washington's 6th District as a Democrat. With a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee, he secured dollars to restore the Nisqually River estuary, tear down salmon-destroying dams on the Elwha River, and restore Puget Sound.

45. Richard Francis Gordon Jr.

Gordon Jr. achieved great heights in his career. As a NASA astronaut, he became the command module pilot for the Apollo 12 mission, the sixth manned flight to the moon and the second to land astronauts there, though Gordon stayed aboard the command module in orbit during the trip.

46. Renee Erickson

With successful cookbooks and acclaimed Seattle restaurants like The Walrus and Carpenter and The Whale Wins, Erickson is a well-known name in the Seattle food scene, even winning a James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northwest in 2016. She graduated from the UW in 1995.