American male non-fiction writers

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president. Obama previously served as a U.S. senator representing Illinois from 2005 to 2008 and as an Illinois state senator from 1997 to 2004.

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum theory. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2, which arises from special relativity, has been called "the world's most famous equation". He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for "his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect".

Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. A member of the Republican Party, he became an important figure in the American conservative movement. The period encompassing his presidency is known as the Reagan era.

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Delaware in the United States Senate from 1973 to 2009 and also served as the 47th vice president under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.

American author and humorist (1835–1910)

Martin Luther King Jr. was an American civil rights activist and Baptist minister who was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination, which most commonly affected African Americans.

president of the United States from 1801 to 1809 (1743–1826)

American polymath and statesman (1706–1790)

James Earl Carter Jr. was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, Carter served from 1971 to 1975 as the 76th governor of Georgia and from 1963 to 1967 in the Georgia State Senate. He lived longer than any other president in US history, reaching age 100.

George Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st president of the United States, serving from 1989 to 1993. Bush was Ronald Reagan's vice president from 1981 to 1989. He was the father of George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States.

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was the 26th president of the United States from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt was vice president for six months under William McKinley and became president after McKinley's assassination in 1901. He was 42 years old upon his first inauguration, making him the youngest person to hold the office.

American architect (1867-1959)

Pope Leo XIV is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City since May 2025. He is the first pope to have been born in the United States, the first to hold either U.S. or Peruvian citizenship, the first from the Order of Saint Augustine, and the second from the Americas.

Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong and American martial artist, actor, and filmmaker. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy, which was formed from his experiences in unarmed fighting and self-defense—as well as eclectic, Zen Buddhist, and Taoist philosophies—as a new school of martial arts thought. With a career spanning Hong Kong and the United States, Lee is regarded as the first global Chinese film star and one of the most influential martial artists in the history of cinema. Known for his roles in five feature-length martial arts films, he is credited with helping to popularize martial arts films in the 1970s and promoting Hong Kong action cinema.

president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 (1874–1964)

Heywood "Woody" Allen is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and comedian. In a career spanning eight decades, he has written for film, television, and theater. Allen has received many accolades, including the most wins and nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He has won four Academy Awards, ten BAFTA Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as nominations for an Emmy Award and a Tony Award. Allen has also received numerous honors, including an Honorary Golden Lion in 1995, the BAFTA Fellowship in 1997, an Honorary Palme d'Or in 2002, and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2014. Two of his films have been inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

American philosopher (1803–1882)

Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, politician, and former professional bodybuilder who served as the 38th governor of California from 2003 to 2011.

Russian-American novelist, lepidopterist, professor (1899–1977)

American writer (1902–1968)

American politician and diplomat (1923–2023)

American author, journalist and social activist (1876–1916)

American astrophysicist, cosmologist and author (1934–1996)

United States Senator from Vermont

Malcolm X was an African American revolutionary and Black nationalist leader who rose from a background of poverty, family disruption, and criminal activity to a prominent figure during the civil rights movement until his assassination in 1965. He discovered the religious organization the Nation of Islam while in prison and served as its spokesperson from 1952 until 1964. He was also a vocal advocate for Black empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the African American community. A controversial figure accused of preaching violence, Malcolm X is also a celebrated figure with Black people and Muslims worldwide for his pursuit of racial justice.

American Founding Father, philosopher, and political activist (1737–1809)

American economist and statistician (1912–2006)

American politician (1936–2018)

Tupac Amaru Shakur was an American rapper and actor. He was one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century, and a prominent political activist for Black America. He is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Some of Shakur's music addressed social injustice, political issues, and the marginalization of African Americans, but he was also synonymous with gangsta rap and violent lyrics.

Vice President of the United States from 2017 to 2021

American writer and playwright (1885–1951)

American chess player (1943–2008)

Buzz Aldrin is an American former astronaut, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. He was the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission. Following the deaths of Armstrong in 2012 and pilot Michael Collins in 2021, he is the last surviving Apollo 11 crew member. Following Jim Lovell's death in 2025, Aldrin became the oldest living astronaut.

Polish-American writer (1904–1991)

Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, filmmaker, racecar driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He has been described as "one of the last of the great 20th-century movie stars". He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, seven Golden Globe Awards, an Actor Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Silver Bear for Best Actor, a Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, and nominations for two Grammy Awards and a Tony Award. Along with his Best Actor Academy Award win, Newman also received the Academy Honorary Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

James Dewey Watson was an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he and Francis Crick co-authored an academic paper in Nature proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule, building on research by Rosalind Franklin and Raymond Gosling. In 1962, Watson, Crick, and Maurice Wilkins were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material".

Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris was an American martial artist, actor, screenwriter, and author. He held black belts in karate, taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, he won numerous martial arts championships and later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. Norris began working in the American film industry as a martial arts instructor for celebrities before making his screen debut with a minor role in The Wrecking Crew (1968). Friend and fellow martial artist Bruce Lee invited him to play one of the main villains in The Way of the Dragon (1972). While Norris continued acting, friend and student Steve McQueen suggested he take it seriously. Norris took the starring role in the action film Breaker! Breaker! (1977), which turned a profit. His second lead, Good Guys Wear Black (1978), became a hit, and he soon became a popular action film star.

founder of the Latter Day Saint movement and prophet (1805–1844)

Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor (1928-2016)

American politician and businessman (born 1947)

American author (1924-1984)

American actor (1916–2020)

American author and aeronautical engineer (1907–1988)

American writer (1922–1969)

Bahamian and American actor and diplomat (1927–2022)

American film critic and author (1942–2013)

American musician (born 1969)

American economist (1915–2009)

American actor (1923–2008)

American psychologist (1908–1970)

American comedy musician and actor (born 1959)

English chemist, theologian, educator, and political theorist (1733–1804)

American writer (1789–1851)

American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist (1902–1974)

American writer (1920–1986)

Palestinian-American professor (1935–2003)

American politician and diplomat (1932–2021)

American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor and futurist (1895–1983)

Michael Andrew Fox, known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian and American actor and activist. Beginning his career as a child actor in the 1970s, he rose to prominence portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1982–1989) and Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–1990). Fox went on to star in films such as Teen Wolf (1985), The Secret of My Success (1987), Casualties of War (1989), Doc Hollywood (1991) and The Frighteners (1996). He returned to television on the ABC sitcom Spin City in the lead role of Mike Flaherty (1996–2000).

American actor and comedian