Did you know that many successful and famous people grew up with dyslexia, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or other learning disorders? Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, actress Keira Knightly, billionaire Richard Branson, Governor Gavin Newsom, to name a few, are all inspirations. Talk with your children about some of these successful people who have LD whose interests they share or whose accomplishments they may admire. Whether it’s famous athletes who have learning disabilities or historical figures who have learning differences, this list will help your child understand that they’re not alone in their struggles and will foster hope for their future goals.
Look at this list below for the names of celebrated people with LD and/or ADHD who have become successful artists, athletes, business leaders, scientists, celebrities, and more.
Artists
Chuck Close is a photo-realist artist and one of the most celebrated artists in the world today. He is .
Andrew Dornenburg, an award-winning chef, says .
Tommy Hilfiger is a famous fashion designer. He says, “I performed poorly at school… and was . I still have trouble reading.鈥�
Robert Rauschenberg was one of the most influential and prolific artists of the twentieth century. He had a with reading, grammar, and concentration.
Mackenzie Thorpe, a world-famous painter, .
Robert Toth had dyslexia and ADHD. He . Now his paintings, sculptures, and bronzes are on display throughout the world, including at the Smithsonian.
Willard Wigan is an English sculptor who creates microscopic art that he situates on the head of a pin. When he was a child with dyslexia, his teachers “.”
Athletes who have learning disabilities
Muhammad Ali is history鈥檚 most famous boxer and a charismatic social activist. He barely graduated from high school because of his reading problems caused by dyslexia. His understanding of the pain caused by struggling in school led him to philanthropically support African American literacy.
Ann Bancroft is a polar explorer and the first woman to cross the ice to both the North and South Pole. After being diagnosed with dyslexia in seventh grade, she received constant tutoring and attended summer school each year. Through hard work, she graduated from college and was a special education teacher before she embarked on her adventuring career. She has said that her … What better way to get the work ethic than by having a learning difference?”
Billy Blanks is a world-class martial artist and an actor in action films. He has always struggled with reading, due to .
Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls as an NFL quarterback and now he hosts Fox鈥檚 NFL pregame show. In his best-selling autobiography, , he discusses his ADHD.
Cammi Granato is a two-time Olympian in women鈥檚 ice hockey and a member of the International Hockey Hall of Fame. She’s had ADHD since she was a child, and has .
Caitlyn Jenner, born Bruce Jenner, was described as the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 greatest athlete鈥� after winning the 1976 Olympic decathlon gold medal. Caitlyn, now the world鈥檚 most famous transgender woman, had trouble in school with reading and writing and was .
Magic Johnson is a world-famous basketball player turned activist, entrepreneur, broadcaster, and motivational speaker. He and had to take summer school to catch up.
Chris Kaman is an All-Star center in the NBA. He was as a child and put on Ritalin because he was “always so wild and getting into trouble.” As an adult, Chris was diagnosed with “an anxious brain,” not ADHD.
Greg Louganis won four gold medals in Olympic diving and was the first athlete ever to win perfect tens at a World Championship. He had trouble reading in elementary school and was placed in .
John E. Morgan, PGA champion, was .
Michael Phelps won 28 Olympic swimming medals and is the most decorated Olympian of all time. He talks candidly about his ADHD in his autobiography, . As a child, he had attention and focus problems at school, and one of his teachers said he would 鈥渘ever succeed at anything.鈥� His mother has been very open about telling their story.
Jim Shea Jr. won a gold medal competing in the skeleton (bobsled) event at the 2002 Winter Olympics. As a child, Jim’s dyslexia put him in special education classes; he was also .
Neil Smith was an NFL defensive end who won two Super Bowls and made the Pro Bowl six times. His autobiographical children鈥檚 book, , describes his difficulties with dyslexia as a child.
Sir Jackie Stewart is a three-time world champion race car driver and an international celebrity. As a child growing up in a small town in Scotland, he dreaded going to school, where he was due to his dyslexia.
Molly Sullivan Sliney was an Olympic fencer. She is now a motivational speaker, sharing her experience of growing up and to become a world-class athlete traveling all over the globe.
Business leaders
Sir Richard Branson is a billionaire entrepreneur from the United Kingdom. Due to dyslexia, his teachers considered him “stupid and lazy.” Today, .”
John Chambers is the former CEO of Cisco. His mother cleaned houses to pay for tutoring to help him overcome his dyslexia. He than others.
Barbara Corcoran is a real estate businesswoman, speaker, author, columnist, and television personality. As a child, she 鈥渟truggled to read and believed that she was stupid.鈥� She was diagnosed with dyslexia in second grade, and .
Ingvar Kamprad is the Swedish founder of IKEA, one of the largest furniture stores in the world. He invented the store鈥檚 creative product-naming system because it was the only way he could .
David Neeleman is the founder and CEO of four airlines, including Jet Blue. He has talked about his .
Paul Orfalea is the founder and CEO of Kinko鈥檚. He regards his dyslexia and ADHD as “blessings that allow him to see the world differently than his peers.”
Charles Schwab is the founder, chair, and CEO of the Charles Schwab Corporation, the largest brokerage firm in the U.S. He is also a slow reader, he flunked English twice, and had due to dyslexia. He started to help the parents of children diagnosed with dyslexia.
James LeVoy Sorenson was a Utah entrepreneur, inventor, and one of the richest men in the state. As a , and his “first grade teacher told his mother he was mentally retarded and would never learn to read.”
Diane Swonk ranks among the top forecasters in the U.S. and the most influential people in business. She鈥檚 an advisor to the Federal Reserve Board and she recently completed her second term on the Congressional Budget Office鈥檚 panel of economic advisors. As a dyslexic, she says she “can鈥檛 read a speech… couldn鈥檛 memorize the times tables or add a column of numbers鈥� didn鈥檛 know left from right, .”
Celebrities and entertainers
Tony Bennett is an American singer, best known for his hit I Left My Heart in San Francisco and his 19 Grammy awards. Bennett鈥檚 dyslexia has been 鈥渁n ongoing struggle鈥� that caused 鈥�.鈥�
Orlando Bloom is a popular English actor, famous for the film series Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Pirates of the Caribbean. He describes his dyslexia as … struggling with spelling and writing.鈥�
Erin Brockovich is an environmental activist. The movie, Erin Brockovich, is about her work in a legal action against PG&E. Famous for her persistence, she says her most difficult challenge was reading due to dyslexia. She 鈥�.鈥�
Cher is a pop music icon, television star, fashion trendsetter, and Academy Award-winning actress. Due to dyslexia, she 鈥溾�� and dropped out of high school in the 11th grade.
Tom Cruise is an actor and producer. He was and put in remedial classes. He could barely read in high school and described himself as a 鈥渇unctional illiterate.鈥�
Patrick Dempsey is an American actor famed for his role in the TV medical drama Grey鈥檚 Anatomy. He was placed in a class for slow and retarded children until he was 12 years old, .
Danny Glover is an African-American actor and political activist. Due to dyslexia, he was
Whoopi Goldberg is an African-American actress, comedian, and TV host who has won an Emmy, an Oscar, a Grammy, and a Tony Award. She and was often called 鈥渄umb鈥� and 鈥渟tupid.鈥�
Woody Harrelson is an award-winning American actor and activist, famous for his roles in Cheers, White Men Can鈥檛 Jump, and The Huger Games. As a child, he was .
Salma Hayek is a Mexican-born actress, producer, and humanitarian activist. She was .
Tom Holland is a young English actor who stars in the Spiderman franchise. Diagnosed with dyslexia at age 7 and frequently criticized on social media for his poor spelling and grammar mistakes, he uses preparation and perseverance to overcome the challenge.
Keira Knightley is an award-winning English actress, starring in Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean. She was diagnosed as dyslexic when she was 6 years old and needed constant tutoring to help her read. She is still a slow reader and is rather famously quoted as saying,
Jay Leno is an American comedian and TV host. He struggled in school with dyslexia, but .鈥�
Steve McQueen is the English film director of 12 Years A Slave. He鈥檚 also a producer, screenwriter, and visual artist. At 13, he was taken out of mainstream classes and . 鈥淚 was so ashamed,鈥� the Oscar winner says. 鈥淚 thought it meant I was stupid.鈥�
Jamie Oliver is a British celebrity chef, TV star, food author, and nutrition activist. He has severe dyslexia and , when he finished Catching Fire.
Edward James Olmos is an American actor, director, and activist for greater Hispanic presence in U.S. media. He .
Joe Pantoliano is an American actor best known for his roles in The Sopranos and The Matrix. He also appears in Diklecksia: The Movie. He struggled in school because .
Ty Pennington is an American artist, carpenter, and the charismatic television host of Extreme Makeover. He says he was until he was prescribed medication.
Daniel Radcliffe is an English actor best known for playing the title role in the Harry Potter film series. He had — a condition that impairs his ability to handwrite and tie shoelaces.
Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor best know for the movies Bill and Ted鈥檚 Excellent Adventure, My Own Private Idaho, Speed, Point Break, and The Matrix. He , and was expelled from high school.
Mark Ruffalo is an American actor best known for playing The Hulk. He as a child.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is a former bodybuilder, an actor perhaps best known as “The Terminator”, and former Governor of California. He opened up about having dyslexia in 2023. He confessed that he struggles with reading and he had to study his movie scripts for months to memorize his lines.
Suzanne Somers is an American actress best known for her role on Three鈥檚 Company. She’s also a best-selling author and a health spokesperson. But as a child, she was a .
Channing Tatum is an American movie star. He did and was put 鈥渋n classes with kids with autism and Down syndrome.鈥�
Vince Vaughn is an American actor, comedian, and political activist. He was put into . To succeed, he developed 鈥渁 really good work ethic, because you have to try harder.鈥�
Lindsay Wagner is an American actress who starred in the TV dramas The Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman. She had low grades in high school because she had so much .
Henry Winkler was 鈥渢he Fonz鈥� on the hit television show Happy Days. His parents called him 鈥渓azy鈥� and 鈥渟tupid鈥� and he says he was 鈥済rounded for most of high school.鈥� Winkler .
Politicians
James Carville is an American political analyst, consultant, educator, and media personality. He flunked out of college, largely .
Gavin Newsom is the 40th Governor of California and was mayor of San Francisco. Diagnosed with dyslexia at age 5, he says … my self-esteem started to collapse.鈥�
Nelson Rockefeller was Vice President during the Gerald Ford administration and Governor of New York. He struggled with reading and writing due to dyslexia. In college, he .
Doctors
Ben Carson is an American neurosurgeon, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and a 2016 presidential candidate. He claims he was 鈥渢he 鈥� due to dyslexia.
Delos Cosgrove is CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, inventor of medical devices, and a former cardiac surgeon. He struggled with dyslexia but overcame it by applying 鈥�.鈥�
Helen Taussig was a leader in pediatric cardiology and one of the most celebrated physicians of the 21st century. Due to lifelong dyslexia, reading was never easy for her, and she 鈥渨as .鈥�
Musicians
Harry Belafonte is an award-winning American singer, musician, actor, and activist. He and dropped out of school at 17. In 2013 he was a keynote speaker at the Yale symposium on dyslexia.
Stephan Jenkins is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist for the rock band Third Eye Blind. He , and his sixth grade teacher called him 鈥渁 loser.鈥�
Jewel is a singer, songwriter, actress, author, and poet. She is also .
Adam Levine is an American musician, songwriter, actor, and lead vocalist for the rock band Maroon 5. He says, 鈥淚 struggled with ADHD… It was hard for me to sit down, focus, and get the schoolwork done… .鈥�
Justin Timberlake is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He has .
Bob Weir is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and co-founder of The Grateful Dead. He had and 鈥渨as suspended or removed or expelled from school on at least eight occasions.鈥�
Scientists, engineers, and technology experts
William 鈥淏ill鈥� Hewlett was an engineer, inventor, co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company, and one of the 鈥渇ounding fathers of Silicon Valley.鈥� His undiagnosed dyslexia made him struggle with written assignments, but .鈥�
Dr. Jack Horner is a famous paleontologist and advisor on the Jurassic Park movies. As a dyslexic, he had difficulty reading and sitting for timed exams. He entered college with a 1.2 GPA and flunked out seven times. Although he never finished his bachelor鈥檚 degree, his , like the first dinosaur embryo.
John Roberts is an American software engineer, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and co-founder of X2Engine CRM and Sugar CRM. He says, 鈥淚 had a really bad case of dyslexia鈥� I literally… .鈥�
Richard Rogers is an award-winning British architect who has designed landmarks like the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Of his dyslexia, he says, 鈥淚n my youth鈥� I was called stupid. Not only could I not read, but I . I was always at the bottom of my class.鈥�
Writers and media professionals
Avi is the pen name of Edward Irving Wortis, the , including The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle and Crispin: The Cross of Lead. As a child with dyslexia, he was 鈥渃onstantly reprimanded for his poor writing and spelling skills… and tendency to reverse letters on papers and homework.鈥�
Robert Benton is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director most famous for Kramer vs. Kramer and Bonnie and Clyde. He was a 鈥渟eriously dyslexic child鈥� who was called 鈥渟low鈥� and .
Stephen J. Cannell was an Emmy Award-winning TV writer and producer (The Rockford Files, The A-Team, 21 Jump Street). He 鈥溾�� due to dyslexia.
Gareth Cook is a Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist and editor for New York Times magazine, Wired, Scientific American, Boston Globe, and other publications. Writing about his dyslexia, he says, 鈥淩eading is slow for me鈥� If I try to read aloud it is halting… I can鈥檛 spell… I was never able to learn cursive, and while someone is talking.鈥�
Anderson Cooper is an American news correspondent and TV personality. He had a mild form of dyslexia that 鈥�.鈥�
Fannie Flagg is an American actress and the author of the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Caf茅 that was adapted into a 1991 movie. She told CNN, 鈥�… (I) still can鈥檛 spell.鈥�
Richard Ford is an author who won both the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel Independence Day in 1996 鈥� a first in the literary world. He told NPR, 鈥淚鈥檓 dyslexic, and I read really slowly. And one of the .鈥�
Jackie French is an award-winning Australian writer of dozens of children鈥檚 books. ;鈥� words blur quickly when she stares at them.
Terry Goodkind is an epic fantasy writer, known for The Sword of Truth series and The Law of Nines. His , he says, and he was ridiculed and humiliated by teachers and peers.
John Irving is a novelist and Academy Award-wining screenwriter who is famous for The World According to Garp and The Cider House Rules. Growing up, he was called 鈥渓azy鈥� and 鈥渟tupid鈥� by many of his teachers. Due to dyslexia, he was placed in a .
Patricia Polacco is a children鈥檚 book author and illustrator. Her book Thank You, Mr. Falker describes her struggle with dyslexia. She .
Art Rodriguez is the Mexican-American author of East Side Dreams and The Monkey Box. Due to dyslexia, .
Atoosa Rubenstein is the , CosmoGIRL! Among her difficulties in childhood — including feeling left out, no one asking her to prom, being shunned because she was an Iranian immigrant — were troubles in grade school because of dyslexia.
Philip Schultz is the prize-winning author of numerous poetry books; he鈥檚 received a Pulitzer, a Fullbright, an NEA Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His book My Dyslexia reveals he was exiled to the 鈥渄ummy class鈥� in school because .
Steven Spielberg is the Academy Award-wining director of many films, including Jaws, ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the Raiders of the Lost Ark series, and Schindler’s List. In school, he struggled to read aloud and he was often two grades below his peers in reading. His classmates bullied him and school administrators called him lazy. His .
Victor Villase帽or is a Mexican-American author of numerous children鈥檚 books, including the national bestseller Rain of Gold. Due to , he flunked third grade. Later, he dropped out of high school in his junior year.
These historical figures with learning disabilities and ADHD are just a small sampling of the successful people with learning disabilities. And this list proves that sometimes what makes us different can be the thing that helps us succeed. Use this list not only to inspire your child, but help them see their neurodiversity as a source of strength.
