Famous People with Asperger’s Syndrome [150+ Actors, Entrepreneurs, Athletes, Musicians & More!]
We came across many famous people with Asperger’s Syndrome while researching for our recent blogs on autism and neurodiversity. We found 150+ Asperger’s famous people…and even with a bit of overlap, there are lots of new faces too! These famous Aspies include comedians, actors, athletes, scientists, musicians, writers, leaders, and artists.
Disclaimers: This list of famous people with Asperger’s who have been diagnosed and those who have been reported or rumored to have Asperger’s. I do my best to list resources for any questionable ones and welcome feedback, additions, and edits! I am not an expert on Asperger’s Syndrome. READ MORE.
Those of us who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s are different. But we are different “good”, Here’s a list of famous people with a confirmed diagnosis.
- Sir Anthony Hopkins – Actor
- Dan Aykroyd – Comedic actor
- Susan Boyle – Singer
- Tim Burton – Movie director
- Alexis Wineman – First Miss America with ASD and model
- Daryl Hannah – Actress & environmental activist
- Stephen Fry – Actor
- Chris Packham – Naturalist, TV presenter
- Elon Musk – Entrepreneur and business magnate
- Dr. Michael Burry – Physician, investor and hedge fund manager. The movie “The Big Short” is based on him.
- Liane Holliday Willey – Author of “Pretending to be Normal, Asperger Syndrome in the Family”
- Travis Meeks – lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for acoustic rock band Days of the New
- Satoshi Tajiri – Creator of Nintendo’s Pokémon
- Dr. Vernon Smith – Nobel Prize Winner, Professor of Economics, Chapman University, essentially invented the field of experimental economics — an achievement for which he won the Nobel Prize in 2002.
- Donna Williams – Autism advocate, author and speaker
- Alix Generous – Professional speaker, neuroscientist, author, artist, comedian, and media producer
- Carly Fulgham – Technology project lead for National Bank and is President of Autism Society of America
- Paddy Considine – Actor
- Clay Marzo – Professional surfer
- Bill Gross – Successful investment manager
- Barry Humphries – Actor
- Dan Harmon – Writer and creator of the hit show Community
- Heather Kuzmich – Model
- Courtney Love – Actor, musician and was the wife of Kurt Cobain
- Temple Grandin – Animal scientist
- Greta Thunberg – Environmental activist
The Following Individuals are VERY LIKELY to have or had Asperger’s:
- Albert Einstein – Scientist & Mathematician
- Charles Darwin – Naturalist, Geologist, and Biologist
- Bobby Fischer – Chess Grandmaster
- Bill Gates – Co-founder of the Microsoft Corporation
- Thomas Jefferson – Early American politician
- Nikola Tesla – Inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist
- Andy Warhol – Artist, film director, and producer
- Steve Jobs – Founder and former CEO of Apple
- Sir Isaac Newton – Mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author
- Michelangelo – Sculptor, painter, architect, poet
- Henry Ford – Founder of Ford Motor Company
- Marie-Curie – Scientist who pioneered research on radioactivity
- James Joyce – Novelist, short story writer, poet, teacher, and literary critic
- Alfred Kinsey – Sexologist & Biologist
- Mark Zuckerberg – Co-founder of Face Book, media magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist
- Stanley Kubrick – Film director
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Classical composer
- Hans Christian Andersen – Children’s author
- Benjamin Banneker – African American Almanac author, surveyor, naturalist, and agrarian
- Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) – writer of children’s fiction, notably Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass
- Henry Cavendish – Natural philosopher, scientist, and an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist
- Emily Dickinson – Poet
- Paul Dirac – Theoretical physicist who is regarded as one of the most significant physicists of the 20th century
- Dawn Prince-Hughes – PhD, primate anthropologist, ethologist, and author of Songs for the Gorilla Nation
- Jerry Newport – American author and mathematical savant, basis of the film Mozart and the Whale
- John Elder Robison – author of Look Me in the Eye
- Judy Singer – Australian disability rights activist, sociologist who coined term “Neurodiversity”
- Alan Turing – Father of modern computing, mathematician and logician, code breaker in WW2
- Barbara McClintock – Scientist and cytogeneticist who was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- Francis Galton – Statistician, sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist, proto-geneticist, psychometrician
- Daniel Tammet – Essayist, novelist, poet, translator, and savant.
- Gary Numan – Musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and record producer
- Ludwig Wittgenstein – Philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language.
- William Butler Yeats – Poet, dramatist, prose writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature
- James Durbin – Musician
- Lizzy Clark – Actress and activist
- Jerry Seinfeld – Comedian
- Adam Young – Singer and songwriter behind Owl City
Here’s proof that being diagnosed with autism doesn’t mean you can’t accomplish amazing things. Take a look at the list. (A few may surprise you.)
Article by:
Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that 1 in 59 children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), for kids diagnosed with ASD the world can still feel lonely. ASD affects all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, but it remains largely misunderstood. Given the unique constellation of symptoms for each child, treatment and goals vary widely. While some children with ASD will exhibit difficulty with socializing and communicating with others, others might have behavioral symptoms.
Though learning to manage symptoms and work toward specific goals takes time and practice, on thing is for certain: Kids with ASD can achieve success in their fields of interest. Check out these ASD success stories. Read More
11 Celebrities and Famous People with Autism or Asperger’s
Introduction:
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects an individual’s social and communication functioning. Often the symptoms appear before three years old. See some of the early signs of autism here. However, the symptoms of autism vary a lot between people. A common phrase heard in the autism community is that “Once you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism”. This quote just highlights the diversity of ways that autism can present.
Although autism can create difficulty in learning, many people with autism can not only perform their jobs effectively but succeed at the very highest levels. Prior to the last few years, individuals who had social impairments but no communication difficulties were considered to have Asperger’s Disorder or High Function Autism (HFA). However, since the release of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5th edition (the guide for psychiatric diagnoses), the diagnosis of Asperger’s Disorder has been removed. Now, we talk about individuals as falling “on the spectrum” of autism.
Click Read more to see few of the famous people with autism throughout history. Read More.
