Top 20 most important and famous people from Illinois

Writer, author of The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms

President from 1981 to 1989

First Lady from 2009 to 2017

Animator, creator of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck

Actor famous for his roles in Patch Adams and Dead Poets Society

Actor famous for his roles in Star Wars films and Indiana Jones films

Actor and comedian famous for his roles in Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters

The greatest stand-up comedian of all time according to Rolling Stone and Comedy Central

Actor famous for his roles in The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur, two times winner of Academy Award

Actor famous for his role in The Blues Brothers

Actor famous for his role as John Coffey in The Green Mile

Actor famous for his role in Better Call Saul

Actress and comedian who took part to many TV game shows as Password, Match Game, Tattletales, To Tell the Truth, The Hollywood Squares, and The $25,000 Pyramid. Named the first lady of game shows

Actress famous for her roles in Sex Education, The X-Files and The Crown

One of the most important jazz musicians and producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award nominations, 28 Grammys and a Grammy Legend Award in 1992

Rapper, key figure in the emo rap and SoundCloud rap genres which garnered mainstream attention during the mid-late 2010s, who died in 2019

Basketball player, 3 times winner of NBA with Miami Heat

Basketball player of Los Angeles Lakers, winner of NBA in 2020

Chess player who won the world title match against Boris Spassky of the USSR, in Reykjavík, Iceland

Lawman and gambler in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. He was involved in the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral