The following are notable people who were born in, raised in, or have lived for a significant period of time in the U.S. state of Nebraska.

Native Americans

Crazy Horse (1838–1877), great warrior of the Oglala Lakota Sioux pre-statehood Chief Waukon Decorah (c. 1780–1868) He Dog (c. 1840–1936) Hononegah (c. 1814–1847) (Ho-Chunk) Francis La Flesche (1857–1932), first Native American anthropologist, author (Omaha people) Susan La Flesche Picotte (1865–1915), first Native American woman to earn a medical degree Susette LaFlesche Tibbles (1854–1903), writer and translator Little Hawk (1836–1900) Red Bird (c. 1788–1828), Ho-Chunk leader Red Cloud (1822–1909), chief of the Oglala Sioux Chief Standing Bear (c. 1829–1908), civil rights leader and at the fore of the petition to stay on traditional homelands post-removal as documented in the trial of Standing Bear; in this trial the state was led to recognize that Native Americans are human beings John Trudell (1946–2015), civil rights activist, community activist, speaker, poet, performer, musician, actor; Santee Raymond Yellow Thunder (1921–1972), ranch hand killed in a notable hate crime in 1972 in Gordon (Oglala Lakota)

Public office

Frank Aloysius Barrett (1892–1962), congressman, Wyoming, 1943–1950; governor of Wyoming, 1951–1953; Senator of Wyoming, 1953–1959 Herbert Brownell Jr. (1904–1996), United States attorney general in President Eisenhower's cabinet, 1952–1957 William Jennings Bryan (1860–1925), United States secretary of state; U.S. representative; Democratic Party nominee for president in 1896, 1900, and 1908; prosecuting attorney in Scopes Trial Hugh A. Butler (1878–1954), U.S. senator James Vincenzo Capone (1892–1952), federal Prohibition agent; oldest brother of gangster Al Capone; changed name to Richard James Hart Ernie Chambers (born 1937 in Omaha), Nebraska state senator; Nebraska State Legislature; civil rights activist Dick Cheney (1941–2025), former U.S. secretary of defense under George H.W. Bush, and 46th vice president of the United States under George W. Bush George E. Cryer (1875–1961), 32nd mayor of Los Angeles, 1921–1929 Glenn Cunningham (1912–2003), U.S. representative and mayor of Omaha Carl Curtis (1905–2000), U.S. representative and U.S. senator Samuel Gordon Daily (1823–1866), U.S. representative for three terms Robert Vernon Denney (1916–1981), U.S. representative and United States district court judge Jane English (born 1940), Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate J. James Exon (1921–2005), governor of Nebraska and U.S. senator Gerald Ford (1913–2006), 38th president of the United States (born in Omaha, raised in Michigan) Dwight Griswold (1893–1954), governor of Nebraska and U.S. senator Chuck Hagel (born 1946), U.S. senator and 24th U.S. secretary of defense Robert Dinsmore Harrison (1897–1977), U.S. representative Edgar Howard (1858–1951), private secretary to William Jennings Bryan; lieutenant governor of Nebraska; U.S. Representative Megan Hunt (born 1986), Nebraska state legislator and first openly LGBT person elected to state legislature Bob Kerrey (born 1943), governor of Nebraska and U.S. senator Julius Sterling Morton (1832–1902), United States secretary of agriculture; founder of Arbor Day Kay A. Orr (born 1939), first Republican female governor (Nebraska) in U.S. history (1987–1991) Pete Peterson (born 1935), U.S. representative for Florida, U.S. ambassador to Vietnam Peter George Peterson (1926–2018), U.S. secretary of commerce under Richard Nixon; chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; chair of the Council on Foreign Relations Donald Pike (1925–2008), Los Angeles County Superior Court commissioner Leo Ryan (1925–1978), U.S. representative (Democrat–California; born in Lincoln) Ted Sorensen (1928–2010), speechwriter and special counsel to President John F. Kennedy Charles Thone (1924–2018), governor of Nebraska and U.S. representative Kenneth S. Wherry (1892–1951), U.S. senator

Military

Buffalo Bill Cody (1845–1917), iconic western figure; lived in Nebraska (born in Iowa Territory) while working as a scout for the 5th Cavalry; on July 17, 1876, at War Bonnet Creek, while dressed in his Wild West stage clothing, he killed and scalped Chief Yellow Hair (Cheyenne), claiming it a revenge for Custer; took up residence in Scout's Rest Ranch in 1886 Alfred Gruenther (1899–1983), youngest four-star general in United States history; Supreme Allied Commander Europe William Hayward (1877–1944), commanding officer of the Harlem Hellfighters in World War I; later served as United States attorney for the Southern District of New York Galen B. Jackman (born 1951), United States Army major general (retired); Nancy Reagan's escort throughout the death and state funeral of Ronald Reagan; first commanding general of the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region Bob Kerrey (born 1943), United States Navy, LT(JG); commanded a Navy SEAL team in Vietnam; Medal of Honor recipient Francis P. Matthews (1887–1952), 49th United States secretary of the Navy during the administration of President Harry Truman Butler B. Miltonberger (1897–1977), commanded the 134th Infantry Regiment, 35th Division during World War II Jarvis Offutt (1894–1918), World War I aviator, namesake of Offutt Air Force Base Forrest S. Petersen (1922–1990), Navy and NASA test pilot, head of Naval Air Systems Command James G. Roudebush (born c. 1949), United States Air Force lieutenant general and doctor of medicine, current Surgeon General of the United States Air Force Albert Coady Wedemeyer (1897–1989), military planner and strategist

Entertainment Film and theater A–M

Wesley Addy (1913–1996), actor, Network, The Verdict Adele Astaire (1897–1981), dancer and entertainer Fred Astaire (1899–1987), dancer and actor, The Band Wagon, Funny Face, The Towering Inferno, That's Entertainment! Pamela Austin (born 1941), actress, Kissin' Cousins Ray Baker (born 1948), actor, Silverado, Total Recall Andrew Rannells (born 1978), actor, The Book of Mormon John Beasley (born 1943), actor, Everwood Michael Biehn (born 1956), actor, The Terminator, Tombstone Moon Bloodgood (born 1975), actress, Terminator Salvation, Falling Skies Ward Bond (1903–1960), actor, The Searchers, The Quiet Man, Rio Bravo Marlon Brando (1924–2004), Academy Award-winning actor, The Godfather, On the Waterfront, Last Tango in Paris, Apocalypse Now Montgomery Clift (1920–1966), 4-time Oscar-nominated actor, From Here to Eternity, The Misfits, Red River, Judgment at Nuremberg James Coburn (1928–2002), Academy Award-winning actor, Our Man Flint, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Affliction James M. Connor (born 1960), actor Sandy Dennis (1937–1992), Academy Award-winning actress, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Sweet November, The Out-of-Towners Adam Devine (born 1983), actor and comedian David Doyle (1929–1997), actor, Charlie's Angels Mary Doyle (1931–1995), actress Leslie Easterbrook (born 1949), actress, Police Academy films Henry Fonda (1905–1982), Academy Award-winning actor, Mister Roberts, 12 Angry Men, The Grapes of Wrath, On Golden Pond Hoot Gibson (1892–1962), actor and rodeo cowboy Coleen Gray (1922–2015), actress, Kiss of Death, Red River Leland Hayward (1902–1971), Hollywood and Broadway agent and producer Jean Heather (1921–1995), actress, Double Indemnity Hallee Hirsh (born 1987), actress, Flight 29 Down, JAG, ER Virginia Huston (1925–1981), actress, Out of the Past Bill Lee, overdub singer whose voice was used instead of Christopher Plummer's in the film version of The Sound of MusicLee's birthplace is at "Bill Lee", Behind the Voice Actors, retrieved 2014-12-22. His work in The Sound of Music is described at "The Unsung Overdub Star in Sound of Music", NPR, 2012-11-24, retrieved 2014-12-22. Harold Lloyd (1893–1971), silent film actor and comedian Danny Lockin (1943–1970), actor and dancer, Hello, Dolly! Pierce Lyden (1908–1998), actor Gordon MacRae (1921–1986), actor and singer, Oklahoma!, Carousel Dorothy McGuire (1916–2001), Oscar-nominated actress, Gentleman's Agreement, Friendly Persuasion, Old Yeller

N–Z

Fred Niblo (1874–1948), actor, director, and producer Nick Nolte (born 1941), Oscar-nominated actor and producer, 48 Hrs., The Prince of Tides, Cape Fear Alexander Payne (born 1961), Oscar-nominated director and screenwriter, Nebraska, The Descendants, Sideways Lenka Peterson (1925–2021), actress Anne Ramsey (1929–1988), Oscar-nominated actress Thurl Ravenscroft (1914–2005), voice actor and singer Hilary Swank (born 1974), two-time Academy Award-winning actress, Boys Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby (born in Lincoln) Inga Swenson (born 1932), actress, Benson, Advise and Consent Robert Taylor (1911–1969), actor, Ivanhoe, Quo Vadis, Camille John Trudell (1946–2015), actor and documentary subject Gabrielle Union (born 1973), actress, Bring It On, Bad Boys II (born in Omaha) Red Wing (1884–1974), actress Irene Worth (1916–2002), Tony Award-winning actress, Nicholas and Alexandra, Lost in Yonkers, Deathtrap Darryl F. Zanuck (1902–1979), Hollywood studio mogul, producer and director

Comedians and humorists

James Adomian (born 1980), actor and stand-up comedian Johnny Carson (1925–2005), comedian Ryan Cownie, stand-up comedian Adam DeVine (born 1983), actor, comedian, writer, Workaholics Godfrey (born 1969), comedian and actor Larry the Cable Guy (born 1963), comedian Skip Stephenson (1940–1992), comedian and actor Roger Welsch (born 1936), author, humorist, and folklorist Bob Wiltfong (born 1969), comedian and actor, The Daily Show

Television and radio

Justin Bruening (born 1979), actor, All My Children, Knight Rider Dick Cavett (born 1936), television talk show host Abbie Cobb, actress, Suburgatory Christopher B. Duncan (born 1964), actor, The Jamie Foxx Show, The District, Aliens in America Jim Fitzpatrick (born 1959), actor, All My Children Bryan Greenberg (born 1978), actor, musician, One Tree Hill, October Road, How to Make It in America Randy J. Goodwin (born 1967), actor and director, The Vampire Diaries, Girlfriends, Grey's Anatomy Marg Helgenberger (born 1958), actress, CSI Brad William Henke (born 1971), actor, October Road, Nikki, Lost Vivi Janiss (1911–1988), theatre, film, and television actress David Janssen (1931–1980), actor, The Fugitive Floyd Kalber (1924–2004), television journalist and anchorman Jay Karnes (born 1963), actor, Det. "Dutch" Wagenbach on The Shield Emily Kinney (born 1985), actress, singer, The Walking Dead Swoosie Kurtz (born 1944), actress, Sisters, Mike & Molly Irish McCalla (1928–2002), actress, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle Holt McCallany (born 1964), actor, Lights Out, Freedom, CSI: Miami Scott Porter (born 1979), actor, Friday Night Lights, The Good Wife Lindsey Shaw (born 1989), child actor for Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide (born in Lincoln) Julie Sommars (born 1942), actress, Matlock Rebecca Staab (born 1961), actress, former beauty queen, Live Shot Janine Turner (born 1962), actress and author, Northern Exposure (born in Lincoln, raised in Texas) Lucky Vanous (born 1961), model, actor, Pacific Palisades Kim Winona (1930–1978), actress, Brave Eagle David Yost (born 1969), actor and producer, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Paula Zahn (born 1956), television journalist

Music

Kianna Alarid (born 1978), lead singer for band Tilly and the Wall Roni Benise, flamenco guitarist Chip Davis (born 1947), singer-songwriter, founder of Mannheim Steamroller, and president and CEO of American Gramaphone Ruth Etting (1896–1976), singer Rick Evans, member of rock duo Zager and Evans, made famous by song "In the Year 2525" in 1969 Todd Fink (born 1974), member of the band The Faint Jack Gilinsky (born 1996), musician, rap artist, part of rap duo Jack & Jack Howard Hanson (1896–1981), composer and conductor Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris (1915–1969), rhythm and blues singer Neal Hefti (1922–2008), jazz trumpeter and composer