Television producers from Illinois

John Paul Cusack (born June 28, 1966) is an American actor, producer, screenwriter, and political activist. He began acting in films during the 1980s and has since starred in more than 85 films, including Sixteen Candles (1984), Tapeheads (1988), Say Anything... (1989), Bullets over Broadway (1994), Grosse Pointe Blank (1997), Being John Malkovich (1999), High Fidelity (2000), Runaway Jury (2003), Igor (2008), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), The Frozen Ground (2013) and Maps to the Stars (2014). He is the son of filmmaker Dick Cusack, and his older sisters are actresses Joan and Ann Cusack.

Gillian Leigh Anderson OBE ( JIL-ee-ən; born August 9, 1968) is an American actress based in the United Kingdom. Her credits include the roles of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully in the series The X-Files, ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in Terence Davies's film The House of Mirth (2000), DSU Stella Gibson in the BBC/RTÉ crime drama television series The Fall, sex therapist Jean Milburn in the Netflix comedy drama Sex Education, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the fourth season of Netflix drama series The Crown. Among other honors, she has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Jesse Wesley Williams (born August 5, 1981) is an American actor, director, producer and activist. He is best known for his role as Dr. Jackson Avery on the ABC series Grey's Anatomy (2009–present). He has appeared in the films The Cabin in the Woods (2012), The Butler (2013) and Band Aid (2017). He provided voice acting and motion capture for Markus in Detroit: Become Human (2018).

Donna Mills (born Donna Jean Miller; December 11, 1940) is an American actress. She began her television career in 1966 with a recurring role on The Secret Storm, and in the same year appeared on Broadway in the Woody Allen comedy Don't Drink the Water. She made her film debut the following year in The Incident. She then starred for three years in the soap opera Love is a Many Splendored Thing (1967–70), before starring as Tobie Williams, the girlfriend of Clint Eastwood's character in the 1971 cult film Play Misty for Me.

Mary Lucy Denise Henner is an American actress. She began her career appearing in the original production of the musical Grease in 1971, before making her screen debut in the 1977 comedy-drama film Between the Lines.

Oprah Gail Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ran in national syndication for 25 years from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African American of the 20th century and North America's first black multi-billionaire, and she has been ranked the greatest black philanthropist in American history. By 2007, she was sometimes ranked as the most influential woman in the world.

Terrence Dashon Howard (born March 11, 1969) is an American actor, rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films Dead Presidents and Mr. Holland's Opus, Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles between 2004 and 2006. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Hustle & Flow.

Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director and narrator. He has appeared in a range of film genres portraying character roles and is particularly known for his distinctive deep voice. Freeman is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Jeremy Samuel Piven (born July 26, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He is known for his role as Ari Gold in the comedy series Entourage, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and three consecutive Emmy Awards. He also starred in the British period drama Mr Selfridge, which tells the story of the man who created the luxury English department store chain Selfridges, and portrayed Spence Kovak on Ellen DeGeneres's sitcom Ellen.

Jennifer Eve Garth (born April 3, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise (1990–2000) and Val Tyler on the sitcom What I Like About You (2002–06). In 2012, she starred in her own reality show, Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country on CMT.