Media & entertainment

Journalists, comedians, and creators.

People in Media & entertainment

98 profiles

Publisher

Joseph Pulitzer

Building influential newspapers and endowing the Pulitzer Prizes.

Comedian

Conan O’Brien

Hosting late-night television with absurd sketches and self-deprecating humour.

Dancer

Fred Astaire

Making dance central to Hollywood musicals, especially with Ginger Rogers.

Performer

Josephine Baker

Becoming a Paris stage star and serving the French Resistance.

Activist

Simon Dixon

Speaking out against Zionism and supporting Palestinian rights, alongside a career in Bitcoin investing and banking reform.

Comedian

Lee Camp

Hosting Redacted Tonight and using comedy to criticise war, corporate power and Israeli policy.

Comedian

Jimmy Dore

Hosting The Jimmy Dore Show and combining stand-up comedy with political commentary.

Comedian

Ricky Gervais

Co-creating The Office and playing David Brent, the boss desperate to be liked.

Comedian

Trevor Noah

Hosting The Daily Show and writing Born a Crime.

Comedian

Dave Chappelle

Creating Chappelle’s Show and building a career in observational stand-up comedy.

Dancer

Rukmini Devi Arundale

Founding Kalakshetra and helping reshape the modern presentation of Bharatanatyam.

Comedian

Khaby Lame

Making silent videos that expose overcomplicated everyday life hacks.

Comedian

Lenny Henry

Building a career in British comedy and co-founding Comic Relief.

Journalist

Maria Ressa

Co-founding Rappler and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize for defending press freedom.

Journalist

Christiane Amanpour

Reporting from major conflicts and conducting prominent international interviews.

Comedian

Eddie Murphy

Transforming Saturday Night Live and starring in Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America.

Dancer

Birju Maharaj

Bringing Kathak’s rhythm and expressive storytelling to audiences across the world.

Journalist

Anna Politkovskaya

Reporting on the Chechen war and abuses of power in Russia.

Journalist

Shireen Abu Akleh

Reporting Palestinian life and conflict for Al Jazeera over 25 years.

Comedian

Richard Pryor

Changing stand-up through candid storytelling about race, fear and his own life.

Dancer

Uday Shankar

Developing a modern Indian dance language for international stages.

Digital creator

PewDiePie

Turning gaming commentary into one of YouTube’s largest individual channels.

Journalist

Jamal Khashoggi

Writing about Saudi politics and becoming a symbol of threats to press freedom after his murder.

Comedian

Kevin Hart

Turning autobiographical stand-up into arena tours and major comedy films.

Digital creator

KSI

Building an online audience through gaming, comedy, music and crossover boxing.

Comedian

Chris Rock

Delivering sharply argued stand-up about race, class and relationships.

Dancer

Anna Pavlova

Making The Dying Swan an enduring image of ballet.

Comedian

Jim Carrey

Combining elastic physical comedy with acclaimed dramatic performances.

Choreographer

Katherine Dunham

Bringing Caribbean dance research into modern choreography and the Dunham Technique.

Choreographer

Alvin Ailey

Creating Revelations and founding a major American dance company.

Choreographer

Judith Jamison

Making Cry a signature performance and leading Alvin Ailey’s company.

Comedian

Wanda Sykes

Sharp observational stand-up and roles in The New Adventures of Old Christine and The Upshaws.

Comedian

Romesh Ranganathan

Deadpan stand-up, The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan and The Weakest Link.

Comedian

Kumail Nanjiani

Silicon Valley and The Big Sick, which he co-wrote from his own relationship.

Comedian

Bassem Youssef

Creating Al Bernameg, the Egyptian political satire programme that grew from an online show.

Comedian

Tiffany Haddish

Her breakout performance in Girls Trip and the Grammy-winning comedy special Black Mitzvah.

Comedian

Guz Khan

Creating and starring in Man Like Mobeen, a comedy set in Birmingham.

Comedian

Adel Karam

The Lebanese comedian and presenter who also starred in the Oscar-nominated drama The Insult.

Comedian

Tina Fey

The creator and star of 30 Rock, and the writer of Mean Girls.

Comedian

Meera Syal

The writer and performer behind Goodness Gracious Me, Anita and Me and the grandmother in The Kumars at No. 42.

Comedian

Gad Elmaleh

Creating French-language stand-up shows and films including Chouchou and Priceless.

Comedian

Amy Poehler

Playing Leslie Knope in Parks and Recreation and performing on Saturday Night Live.

Comedian

Sanjeev Bhaskar

Creating memorable British-Asian comedy in Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42.

Comedian

Dawn French

The comedian behind French and Saunders and the title role in The Vicar of Dibley.

Comedian

Sarah Silverman

Provocative stand-up comedy and The Sarah Silverman Program.

Comedian

Jennifer Saunders

Creating Absolutely Fabulous and the sketch comedy of French and Saunders.

Comedian

Ali Wong

Turning frank stand-up storytelling into major comedy specials and starring in Beef.

Comedian

Billy Connolly

Turning rambling Glasgow stories into a distinctive and influential style of stand-up comedy.

Comedian

Joan Rivers

Breaking into late-night television with sharp, self-deprecating stand-up.

Comedian

Dylan Moran

Creating and playing the irritable bookseller Bernard Black in Black Books.

Actor

Lucille Ball

Creating the comic character Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy.

Comedian

Dara Ó Briain

Combining fast crowd work with hosting Mock the Week and science programmes.

Comedian

Carol Burnett

Leading The Carol Burnett Show, a landmark of American television sketch comedy.

Comedian

Aisling Bea

Creating and starring in This Way Up, alongside her stand-up and panel-show comedy.

Actor

Betty White

Playing Rose in The Golden Girls and Sue Ann in The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Comedian

Sarah Millican

Turning everyday embarrassment into warmly candid stand-up comedy.

Comedian

Bob Newhart

Turning deadpan monologues into hit comedy albums and enduring television sitcoms.

Comedian

Jo Brand

Deadpan stand-up comedy and co-creating the hospital sitcom Getting On.

Comedian

George Carlin

Turning language, social conventions and political criticism into influential stand-up comedy.

Digital creator

David Lu

Creating short-form explainers about history and geopolitics.

Filmmaker

Lorne Michaels

Creating Saturday Night Live.

Comedian

Billy Crystal

Starring in When Harry Met Sally and hosting the Academy Awards.

Journalist

Mochtar Lubis

Editing Indonesia Raya and writing Twilight in Jakarta.

Comedian

Laureano Márquez

Using political satire in Venezuelan media.

Comedian

Ellen DeGeneres

Hosting The Ellen DeGeneres Show and voicing Dory.

Comedian

Jay Leno

Hosting NBC’s The Tonight Show for two extended runs.

Journalist

Geoffrey Nyarota

Exposing Willowgate and founding Zimbabwe’s Daily News.

Comedian

Steve Martin

Combining absurdist comedy, film acting, writing and banjo music.

Journalist

Ricardo Uceda

Investigating state violence and corruption in Peru.

Journalist

Gwen Lister

Founding The Namibian and defending independent journalism.

Journalist

Raul Locsin

Founding the Philippine business newspapers Business Day and BusinessWorld.

Choreographer

Lin Hwai-min

Founding Taiwan’s Cloud Gate Dance Theater.

Journalist

Jason Szep

Investigating the persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya with Reuters.

Comedian

Lily Tomlin

Creating comic characters from Ernestine to The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe.

Comedian

Jonathan Winters

Creating improvisational characters and comic voices.

Journalist

Alison Killing

Using architectural analysis and satellite images in Pulitzer-winning reporting.

Dancer

Francisca Reyes-Aquino

Documenting and teaching Philippine folk dances.

Journalist

Pius Njawé

Founding Le Messager and defending press freedom in Cameroon.

Journalist

Wa Lone

Reporting on the Inn Din massacre for Reuters.

Journalist

Kyaw Soe Oo

Investigating the Inn Din massacre with Wa Lone.

Comedian

Jon Stewart

Turning The Daily Show into an influential political satire programme.

Journalist

Andrew Mwenda

Founding Uganda’s Independent newsmagazine.

Comedian

Carl Reiner

Creating The Dick Van Dyke Show.

Comedian

David Letterman

Hosting Late Night and Late Show for more than three decades.

Journalist

Peter Arnett

Reporting from Vietnam and Baghdad during wartime.

Journalist

Aboubakr Jamaï

Co-founding Morocco’s Le Journal Hebdomadaire.

Journalist

Loren Jenkins

Pulitzer-winning reporting on the 1982 invasion of Lebanon

Journalist

Fred M'membe

Building Zambia’s independent newspaper The Post

Journalist

Max Frankel

Foreign reporting and editorial leadership at The New York Times.

Journalist

Harrison Salisbury

Reporting from the Soviet Union, North Vietnam and China.

Journalist

Aung Zaw

Founding and editing The Irrawaddy.

Journalist

Mark Mazzetti

Investigative reporting on intelligence and national security.

Broadcaster

Chick Hearn

The distinctive play-by-play voice of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Journalist

Chang Chun-ha

Publishing Sasanggye and campaigning for Korean democracy.

Journalist

Carlotta Gall

Reporting on Afghanistan, Pakistan and conflicts across the former Soviet Union.

Journalist

Jo Becker

Investigating political power and writing Forcing the Spring.

Journalist

Declan Walsh

Reporting from Pakistan and Africa and writing The Nine Lives of Pakistan.

Journalist

Lucía Pineda Ubau

Reporting independently in Nicaragua despite political imprisonment.