The following is a list of notable individuals associated with Sarah Lawrence College through attendance as a student, or service as a member of the faculty or staff.
Alumni
Entertainment and media
Abiola Abrams, TV personality, writer and filmmaker
J. J. Abrams, Emmy Award-winning film and television producer, writer, actor, composer, and director Jane Alexander, actress, author, and former director of the National Endowment for the Arts Jon Avnet, film producer, director, and writer Dylan Brody, playwright, author and stand-up comedian Golden Brooks, actress Yancy Butler, actress Gabrielle Carteris, actress, best known for playing Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills, 90210 Austin Chick, filmmaker, screenwriter and producer Jill Clayburgh, Academy Award-nominated actress Brian De Palma, film director Cary Elwes, actor Beverly Emmons, dance and Broadway lighting designer Rachel Feldman, screenwriter and director Tovah Feldshuh, actor William Finley, actor Carrie Fisher, actress, writer, comedienne, mental health advocate Robin Givens, actor Adam Goldberg, actor Lesley Gore, singer of the 1963 hit song "It's My Party". Songwriter to the 1980 film Fame. Actress appeared in the ABC TV series Batman portrayal of the character Pussycat (one of Catwoman's minions). The 1965 film Girls On The Beach and Ski Party. Made an appearance on the Teenage Awards Music International. Janine Jackson, journalist and activist Reo Jones, voice actor Stacey Kent, jazz singer Sarah Kernochan, writer, producer, and director Téa Leoni, actress David Lindsay-Abaire, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Robert Lyons, playwright and director Eric Mabius, actor Consuelo Mack, business news journalist Julianna Margulies, actress Ivy Meeropol, film director Larisa Oleynik, actress Alice Pearce, actress Jordan Peele, film director, actor, comedian Holly Robinson Peete, actress Sam Robards, actor Amy Robinson, film producer and actress Elisabeth Röhm, actress Kyra Sedgwick, actress Natalie Shaw, actress Joan Micklin Silver, award-winning director Sabiha Sumar, director Aly Tadros, singer-songwriter Misti Traya, actress Guinevere Turner, actor, producer, and writer James Veitch, comedian Barbara Walters, television personality Sigourney Weaver, actress Merritt Wever, actress Jeff Williams, actor Joanne Woodward, actress /political activist
Music
Max Bemis, singer and songwriter for the band Say Anything
Win Butler, lead vocalist and songwriter for the band Arcade Fire
Alice Cohen, singer and songwriter
Margaret Fiedler, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist with Laika, Moonshake and PJ Harvey Girlyman, folk-rock trio of Nate Borofsky, Ty Greenstein and Doris Muramatsu Lesley Gore, singer and songwriter Susie Ibarra, jazz composer and avant-garde musician Diana Jones, singer-songwriter Ira Kaplan, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter of the band Yo La Tengo Zoë Keating, composer and cellist from the band Rasputina Stacey Kent, jazz vocalist Josh Mancell, freelance composer and multi-instrumentalist Rhett Miller, singer/songwriter and member of the band Old 97's David Porter, TV composer for Breaking Bad JD Samson, member of the band Le Tigre Carly Simon, singer and songwriter Joanna Simon, vocalist Stewart Lupton, poet and singer-songwriter from the bands Jonathan Fire*Eater, the Childballads, and the Beatins' Dana Williams, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet.
Politics and public service
Brooke Anderson, diplomat; Deputy Ambassador to the UN; former chief-of-staff to the White House National Security Council; VP Communications, The Nuclear Threat Initiative Lisa Anderson, scholar; President of the American University in Cairo, Egypt; former dean of Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Amanda Burden, director of the New York City Department of City Planning Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago; former White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama; former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Fifth Congressional District of Illinois Sharon Hom, director of Human Rights in China Sue Kelly, U.S. House of Representatives, 19th Congressional District of New York Clifford D. May, President of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies