Famous Florida State University Alumni

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Updated November 22, 2019 109.9K views82 items

List of famous alumni from Florida State University, with photos when available. Prominent graduates from Florida State University include celebrities, politicians, business people, athletes and more. This list of distinguished Florida State University alumni is loosely ordered by relevance, so the most recognizable celebrities who attended Florida State University are at the top of the list. This directory is not just composed of graduates of this school, as some of the famous people on this list didn't necessarily earn a degree from Florida State University.

 Items here include famous Seminoles from Jim Morrison to Deion Sanders and beyond.

This list answers the questions “Which famous people went to Florida State University?” and “Which celebrities are Florida State University alumni?”

Take a look at this list of notable Florida State University alumni.
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  • Jim Morrison

    Jim Morrison

    Film Score Composer, Poet, Songwriter
    • Age: Dec. at 27 (1943-1971)
    • Birthplace: Melbourne, USA, Florida
    James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, songwriter and poet, who served as the lead vocalist of the rock band the Doors. Due to his poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, wild personality, unpredictable and erratic performances, and the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock history. Since his death, his fame has endured as one of popular culture's most rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture.Together with Ray Manzarek, Morrison co-founded the Doors during the summer of 1965 in Venice, California. The band spent two years in obscurity until shooting to prominence with their number-one single in the United States, "Light My Fire," taken from their self-titled debut album. Morrison wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including "Light My Fire", "Break On Through (To the Other Side)", "The End", "Moonlight Drive", "People Are Strange", "Hello, I Love You", "Roadhouse Blues", "L.A. Woman", and "Riders on the Storm". He recorded a total of six studio albums with the Doors, all of which sold well and received critical acclaim. Though the Doors recorded two more albums after Morrison died, his death severely affected the band's fortunes, and they split up in 1973. In 1993, Morrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Doors. Morrison was also well known for improvising spoken word poetry passages while the band played live. Morrison was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time", and number 22 on Classic Rock magazine's "50 Greatest Singers in Rock". Manzarek said Morrison "embodied hippie counterculture rebellion".Morrison developed an alcohol dependency during the 1960s, which at times affected his performances on stage. He died unexpectedly at the age of 27 in Paris. As no autopsy was performed, the cause of Morrison's death remains unknown.
  • Burt Reynolds

    Burt Reynolds

    Television director, Television producer, Film Producer
    • Age: Dec. at 82 (1936-2018)
    • Birthplace: Lansing, Michigan, United States
    Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, director and producer. He first rose to prominence starring in television series such as Gunsmoke (1962–1965), Hawk (1966), and Dan August (1970–1971). Although Reynolds had leading roles in such films as Navajo Joe (1966), his breakthrough role was as Lewis Medlock in Deliverance (1972). Reynolds played the leading role in a number of subsequent box office hits, such as The Longest Yard (1974), Smokey and the Bandit (1977), Semi-Tough (1977), The End (1978), Hooper (1978), Starting Over (1979), Smokey and the Bandit II (1980), The Cannonball Run (1981), Sharky's Machine (1981), The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982), and Cannonball Run II (1984). Reynolds was voted the world's number one box office star for five consecutive years (from 1978 to 1982) in the annual Top Ten Money Making Stars Poll, a record he shares with Bing Crosby. After a number of box office failures, Reynolds returned to television, starring in the sitcom Evening Shade (1990–1994). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Boogie Nights (1997).
  • Hunter S. Thompson

    Hunter S. Thompson

    Journalist, Novelist, Author
    • Age: Dec. at 67 (1937-2005)
    • Birthplace: USA, Kentucky, Louisville
    Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author, and the founder of the gonzo journalism movement. He first rose to prominence with the publication of Hell's Angels (1967), a book for which he spent a year living and riding with the Hells Angels motorcycle gang in order to write a first-hand account of the lives and experiences of its members. In 1970, he wrote an unconventional magazine feature titled "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved" for Scanlan's Monthly which both raised his profile and established him as a writer with counterculture credibility. It also set him on a path to establishing his own sub-genre of New Journalism which he called "Gonzo," which was essentially an ongoing experiment in which the writer becomes a central figure and even a participant in the events of the narrative. Thompson remains best known for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971), a book first serialized in Rolling Stone in which he grapples with the implications of what he considered the failure of the 1960s counterculture movement. It was adapted on film twice: loosely in Where the Buffalo Roam starring Bill Murray as Thompson in 1980, and directly in 1998 by director Terry Gilliam in a film starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro. The Doonesbury cartoon character Duke – who was modeled after Thompson – pens an essay about "my shoplifting conviction" titled "Fear and Loathing at Macy's Menswear", a reference to Thompson's book. Politically minded, Thompson ran unsuccessfully for sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado in 1970 on the Freak Power ticket. He became well known for his dislike of Richard Nixon, who he claimed represented "that dark, venal, and incurably violent side of the American character". He covered Nixon's 1972 reelection campaign for Rolling Stone and later collected the stories in book form as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. Thompson's output notably declined from the mid-1970s, as he struggled with the consequences of fame, and he complained that he could no longer merely report on events as he was too easily recognized. He was also known for his lifelong use of alcohol and illegal narcotics, his love of firearms, and his iconoclastic contempt for authoritarianism. He often remarked: "I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." Thompson committed suicide at the age of 67, following a series of health problems. In accordance with his wishes, his ashes were fired out of a cannon in a ceremony funded by his friend Johnny Depp and attended by friends including then-Senator John Kerry and Jack Nicholson. Hari Kunzru wrote that "the true voice of Thompson is revealed to be that of American moralist ... one who often makes himself ugly to expose the ugliness he sees around him."
  • Deion Sanders

    Deion Sanders

    Football player
    • Age: 56
    • Birthplace: Fort Myers, Florida
    Deion Luwynn Sanders Sr. (born August 9, 1967), nicknamed "Prime Time" and "Neon Deion", is a retired American football player, baseball player and sports analyst who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. During his football career, he was a member of the Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Washington Redskins, and the Baltimore Ravens. He also had a part-time career as a baseball outfielder for nine seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), where he played professionally for the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, and the San Francisco Giants. Sanders won two Super Bowl titles and made one World Series appearance in 1992, making him the only individual to appear in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. Sanders attended Florida State University, where he was recognized as a two-time All-American in football, and also played baseball and ran track. He was drafted by the Falcons in the first round of the 1989 NFL Draft and played football primarily at cornerback, but also as a kick returner, punt returner, and occasionally wide receiver. During his career, he was named to nine Pro Bowls and made consecutive Super Bowl appearances in XXIX with the 49ers and XXX with the Cowboys, winning both. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011. Following the conclusion of his athletic career, Sanders currently works as an analyst for CBS Sports and the NFL Network. He is also the offensive coordinator at Trinity Christian-Cedar Hill high school, which his sons attend. Sanders founded the Prime Prep Academy charter school in 2012 where he coached until the school closed in 2015 due to financial insolvency. Additionally, he starred in the show Deion Family Playbook which debuted in 2014.
  • Cheryl Hines

    Cheryl Hines

    Television director, Comedian, Television producer
    • Age: 58
    • Birthplace: Miami Beach, Florida, USA
    Cheryl Ruth Hines (born September 21, 1965) is an American actress, director and comedian who played the role of Larry David's wife, Cheryl, on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, for which she was nominated for two Emmy Awards. She also starred as Dallas Royce on the ABC sitcom Suburgatory. In 2009, she made her directorial debut with Serious Moonlight. She is also a poker enthusiast with career winnings totaling $50,000. On August 2, 2014, Hines married Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a member of the Kennedy family.
  • Faye Dunaway

    Faye Dunaway

    Television producer, Film Producer, Actor
    • Age: 82
    • Birthplace: Bascom, Florida, USA
    Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress. She has won an Academy Award, three Golden Globes, a BAFTA, and an Emmy, and was the first recipient of a Leopard Club Award that honors film professionals whose work has left a mark on the collective imagination. In 2011, the government of France made her an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters. Her career began in the early 1960s on Broadway. She made her screen debut in the 1967 film The Happening, and rose to fame that same year with her portrayal of outlaw Bonnie Parker in Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination. Her most notable films include the crime caper The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), the drama The Arrangement (1969), the revisionist western Little Big Man (1970), an adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic The Three Musketeers (1973), the neo-noir mystery Chinatown (1974), for which she earned her second Oscar nomination, the action-drama disaster The Towering Inferno (1974), the political thriller Three Days of the Condor (1975), the satire Network (1976), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress, and the thriller Eyes of Laura Mars (1978). Her career evolved to more mature and character roles in subsequent years, often in independent films, beginning with her controversial portrayal of Joan Crawford in the 1981 film Mommie Dearest. Other notable films in which she has appeared include Barfly (1987), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Arizona Dream (1994), The Twilight of the Golds (1997), Gia (1998) and The Rules of Attraction (2002). Dunaway also performed on stage in several plays including A Man for All Seasons (1961–63), After the Fall (1964), Hogan's Goat (1965–67), A Streetcar Named Desire (1973) and was awarded the Sarah Siddons Award for her portrayal of opera singer Maria Callas in Master Class (1996). She is protective of her private life, rarely gives interviews, and makes very few public appearances. After romantic relationships with Jerry Schatzberg and Marcello Mastroianni, Dunaway married twice, first with singer Peter Wolf and then with photographer Terry O'Neill, with whom she had a son, Liam.