Adoption Celebrities

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Well-Known Adopted Persons, Birth Parents & Adoptive Parents

Many of us have a fascination with the well-known in the world of adoption and foster care: actors, entertainers, athletes, politicians, and others. The list below includes names in the adoption community that may be more recognizable to Americans, but this isn't the end of it.

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Virginia Looking to adopt? Pregnant?

For years, Roger Ridley Fenton has been compiling a list of individuals and groups of people who were formally and informally adopted, fostered, and otherwise raised apart from their biological parents. Each entry has been researched and cross-checked. The list is an eye-opener, since it includes not only well-known names in the U.S. and Canada, but also names from around the world. For students of adoption and foster care history, the document includes information about groups such as Child Migrants, Kindertransport, Orphan Trains, Chinese Dynasties, and others, that trace the history of child welfare, informal adoption, and the more formal type of adoption and foster care we know today. The list even includes several who have been rumored to have been adopted... and the truth is revealed. Read on...

Adopted Persons

Andy Berlin - entrepreneur: chairman of Berlin Cameron & Partners
Anthony Williams - politician
Aristotle - philosopher
Art Linkletter - comedian
Bo Diddley - musician, performer
Buffy Sainte-Marie - musician, actress
Carl-Theodor Dreyer - Danish film director
Charlotte Anne Lopez - Miss Teen USA
Christina Crawford - author
Clarissa Pinkola Estes - author
Crazy Horse - Lakota war chief
Dan O'Brien - decathlete
Daunte Culpepper - football player
Dave Thomas - entrepreneur: founder of Wendy's
Debbie Harry - singer
D.M.C. - hip hop artist
Edgar Allan Poe - poet, writer
Edward Albee - playwright
Eleanor Roosevelt - First Lady
Eric Dickerson - athlete
Faith Daniels - news anchor
Faith Hill - country singer
Freddie Bartholomew - actor
George Washington Carver - inventor
Greg Louganis - athlete
James MacArthur - actor
James Michener - author
Jean Jacques Rousseau - philosopher
Jesse Jackson - minister
Jesus - adopted by Joseph the carpenter (Bible)
Jett Williams - country singer and author
Jim Palmer - athlete
John J. Audubon - naturalist
John Hancock - politician
John Lennon - musician
Langston Hughes - poet and writer
Larry Ellison - entrepreneur: chief executive of Oracle
Lee Majors - actor
Leo Tolstoy - writer
Les Brown - motivational speaker
Lynnette Cole - Miss USA 2000
Malcolm X - civil rights leader
Mark Acre - athlete
Matthew Laborteaux - actor
Melissa Gilbert - actress
Michael Reagan - author, talk show host
Moses - Biblical leader
Nancy Reagan - First Lady
Nat King Cole - singer
Nelson Mandela - politician
Patrick Labyorteaux - actor
Peter and Kitty Carruthers - figure skaters
President Gerald Ford - politician
President William Clinton - politician
Priscilla Presley - actress
Ray Liotta - actor
Reno - performance artist, comedian
Sarah McLachlan - singer
Scott Hamilton - figure skater
Sen. Paull H. Shin - politician
Sen. Robert Byrd - politician
Steve Jobs - entrepreneur: co-founder of Apple computer
Surya Bonaly - figure skater
Tim Green - football player/commentator
Tim McGraw - country singer
Tom Monaghan - entrepreneur
Tommy Davidson - comedian
Victoria Rowell - actress
Wilson Riles - educator

Birth Parents

Andy Kaufman - actor
Clark Gable - actor
David Crosby - singer
Faith Ireland - judge
Hank Williams, Sr. - country music legend
Kate Mulgrew - actress
Joni Mitchell - singer
Roseanne Barr - actress
Mercedes Ruehl - actress
Strom Thurmond - politician

Adoptive Parents