Being home to the UCI, Irvine, CA continues to churn out of lots of famous and influential people. Richard Ford, the Pulitzer Prize-winner and the genius whose book influenced the summer blockbuster "Independence Day," earned his master's degree at the university. Jon Lovitz got his dry sense of humor while majoring in theater at UCI, and Alice Sebold got her education here before publishing a bestselling novel that would also become an adaptation for a Mark Wahlberg movie.
But Irvine 'doesn't just educate the famous and influential. It is also the home city to some pretty big names and famous faces. Here are a few native Irvinians who made and continue to make the headlines for all the right reasons.
The lead singer of Rage Against The Machine, a wildly popular rap-metal band, is an Irvine native. His mother moved to Irvine when Zach de la Rocha was a year old to pursue a Ph.D. in anthropology at UCI. Well before he got his patented dreadlocks, de la Rocha was founded a band in junior high school with his buddy, Tim Commerford. He later joined the straight edge band, Hard Stance, in high school, and later, the defunct Inside Out Band before joining Rage Against the Machine.
Most folks believe that members of the pop-punk band No Doubt are natives of Orange County. Not all of them. Tom Dumont, the 'band's guitarist, was raised in Irvine. The musician and producer would take a hiatus from No Doubt to found the group that only released a single album. He also produced Matt 'Costa's Songs We Sing.
The former Saturday Night Live comedian is a native of Irvine. Now pursuing a career in acting, Ferrell went to Turtle Rock Elementary and Rancho San Joaquin Middle School before graduating from University High School. You can almost say that he got his funny side from his socialization in Irvine.
Irvine has no shortage of talented artists and the guitarist of the popular 80s glam metal band, Warrant, grew up in Irvine. He was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1964 but moved to Irvine where his mother worked at the Irvine Unified School District.
The Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer is a native Irvinian. Apart from swimming circles around her opponents in seven Olympics competitions, Beard also held a world record in the 200-meter breaststroke. 'She's one of the many Olympians from Irvine like Kim Oden, Jason Lezak, Julie Ertel, Aaron Peirsol, Natash Watley, and Dotsie Bausch.