Alumni

Kate and Laura Mulleavy (History of Art and English '01)

Katherine "Kate" Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy are American fashion designers and filmmakers who founded the fashion label Rodarte in 2005. In addition to their work in fashion, the sisters have also ventured into film, writing and directing their first feature, Woodshock (2017), as well as co-designing costumes in the 2010 horror film Black Swan.

In 2001, the sisters graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and returned to their family home in Pasadena, California, where they began to work on establishing their own clothing line, waitressing and selling personal items to...

Tamara Keith (Philosophy '99)

Tamara Keith has been a White House correspondent for NPR since 2014 and co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast, the top political news podcast in America. In that time, she has chronicled the final years of the Obama administration, covered Hillary Clinton's failed bid for president from start to finish and threw herself into documenting the Trump administration, from policy made by tweet to the president's COVID diagnosis and January 6th. In the final year of the Trump administration and the first year of the Biden administration, she focused her reporting on the White House response to the...

Sanaa Lathan (English '92)

Sanna Lathan's career began after she appeared in the shows In the House, Family Matters, NYPD Blue, and Moesha. Lathan later garnered further prominence after starring in the 1998 superhero film Blade, which followed with film roles in The Best Man (1999), Love & Basketball (2000), Disappearing Acts (2000), and Brown Sugar (2002).

In 2004, Lathan's performance in the Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun, earned her a nomination at the Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Following this, she played the role of Alexa "Lex" Woods in the film Alien vs....

Daniel James Brown (English '74)

Daniel James Brown grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended Diablo Valley College, the University of California at Berkeley, and UCLA. In 2024, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Washington.

He taught writing at San Jose State University and Stanford before becoming a technical writer and editor. He now writes narrative nonfiction books full time. His primary interest as a writer is in bringing compelling historical events to life as vividly and accurately as he can.

He lives in the country outside of Seattle, Washington with his wife, a dog...

Elizabeth Cantillon (Film '78)

Elizabeth Cantillon is a producer and principal of Bisous Pictures In 2022, she completed a film adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion starring Dakota Johnson. You can stream it on Netflix.

A Los Angeles native, Elizabeth has extensive experience working as a studio executive and a producer. She also had a brief stint at UCLA where she taught screenplay development for producers.

Cantillon previously served as EVP of Production at Columbia Pictures. During her tenure there, she oversaw Academy Award winners The Social Network, The Girl with the Dragon...

Jenny Dearborn (English '92)

Recognized as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Tech for five consecutive years, Jenny is a thought leader in HR, HCM, the Future of Work, and data analytics. Currently the Chief People Strategy Officer at BTS, Jenny supports internal People Operations and works with clients globally on a range of talent development and leadership projects.

Her first book, Data Driven, published by Wiley, debuted at #1 on Amazon’s New Business Releases and was selected as one of the...

John Cho (English '96)

John Yohan Cho was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to Los Angeles, California as a child. His father was a Christian minister. Cho was educated at Herbert Hoover High School at Glendale, before moving on to the University of California at Berkeley, where he studied English literature. Upon graduation, he moved back to Los Angeles, working for a while as a teacher at Pacific Hills School where he taught 7th grade English. He also began acting with the famed Asian American theatre company East West Players.

A screen acting career began with small roles in projects such as...

Samin Nosrat (English '01)

As an undergraduate studying English at UC Berkeley, Samin took a detour into the kitchen at Chez Panisse restaurant that has happily determined the course of her life and career. Since 2000, she has pursued her twin passions of food and words with equal vigor, aiming to create work that inspires, creates community, and raises cultural, social and environmental awareness.

She learned to cook at Chez Panisse, in Italy alongside Benedetta Vitali and Dario Cecchini, and at (the no longer extant) Eccolo in Berkeley. She studied poetry with Bob Hass, Shakespeare with Stephen Booth, and...

Carl Franklin (Theater Arts '71)

Actor, screenwriter, producer, and director who has won numerous awards for his directing talents, and has been nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (House of Cards)After graduating from UC Berkeley in 1971 with a degree in dramatic arts, Franklin tried his hand at acting for a few years, landing small roles on television. He decided to further his education at the American Film Institute where he received his M.F.A. in directing in 1986. On changing his career from acting to directing, Franklin said, “The problem with being a black actor in Hollywood,...

Amy Merrill (English and Music '05)

Amy Merrill is an artist and activist working at the intersection of creative communications, technology and social change.

Her design studio Eyes Open leads digital communications for purpose-driven individuals and organizations, and in 2015, she co-founded Plan C to transform access to abortion pills by mail in the US. Under her co-leadership Plan C has grown to an annual audience of 2M+ website visitors, nationwide partnerships in research,...