National Ambassadors

 

 

Actors/Actresses/Musicians

 

Kevin Bacon and Michael Bacon
Kevin Bacon, an actor, and Michael Bacon, a lifelong musician, are members of their own band, The Bacon Brothers

 

Angela Bassett
Angela Bassett is an actress, best known for her Golden Globe-winning role in What's Love Got to Do with It

  

Lili Taylor
Lili Taylor is an actress, known for her roles within the independent film industry

 

Tamara Tunie
Tamara Tunie is a television, stage and film actress, best known for her roles on “Law & Order” and “As the World Turns”

 

Mary Wilson
Mary Wilson is a singer, known as one of the original members of The Supremes

 

Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno is a singer, dancer and an Academy Award-winning actress, known for her role as Anita in West Side Story

 

Julia Stiles
Julia Stiles is an actress, known for her roles in Save the Last Dance, The Bourne Identity and Mona Lisa Smile

 

Courtney B. Vance
Courtney B. Vance is an actor, known for his role in the television series "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" as well as his roles in two Tony Award-winning productions

 

Kerry Washington
Kerry Washington is an actress, best known for her role as Della Bea Robinson in the film Ray

 

Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley
Brad Paisley is a Grammy-winning country music singer-songwriter and guitarist. His wife, Kimberly Williams Paisley, is an American actress in film and television.

 

 

Public Officials

 

Rep. Earl Blumenauer
Rep. Earl Blumenauer is a U.S. Congressman, representing Oregon’s 3rd Congressional District

 

Barbara Bush
Barbara Bush is the former First Lady of the United States

 

Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter is the former President of the United States

 

Rep. Nita Lowey
Rep. Nita Lowey is a Congresswoman, representing New York’s 18th Congressional District

 

 

Public Broadcasting System Leaders

 

Chris Boskin
Chris Boskin, a respected veteran of magazine publishing and consultant to several media companies, serves as Chair of the Board for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

 

Frank Cruz
Frank Cruz is the former Vice Chairman of the Board for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

 

Cheryl Halpern
Nominated to the boards of both national and international public broadcasting organizations by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, Cheryl Halpern is a member of the Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

 
Pat Harrison
Pat Harrison is the CEO and President of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

 

Paula Kerger
Paula Kerger is the President of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)

 

David Pryor
David Pryor, formally a state legislator, congressman, governor, and U.S. Senator from Arkansas, is a member of the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting

 

Ernie Wilson, PhD
Ernie Wilson is an active scholar, professor and is the dean of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. He is also a member of Board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

 

 

Public Broadcasting Notables

 

Lidia Bastianich
A Croatian-American chef specializing in Italian cuisine, Lidia Bastianich is the host of "Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen" and author of several cookbooks

 

Patricia Boero
Patricia Boero is the Executive Director of Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB)

Ken Burns
Ken Burns is a documentary filmmaker, known for his films The War; Jazz; Baseball; and Brooklyn Bridge, which was nominated for an Academy Award

Patrick Creadon
Patrick Creadon, director of Worldplay, began his career as one of the youngest cameramen in the history of PBS, shooting and producing cinema verite-style stories for the critically acclaimed series "The 90’s"

Henry “Skip” Louis Gates, Jr.
Literary critic, author and professor at Harvard University, Henry “Skip” Louis Gates, Jr. serves as director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research as well as host to the PBS series African American Lives

 

Gwen Ifill
Gwen Ifill is a journalist for PBS, serving as moderator and managing editor of "Washington Week" and senior correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"

 

Jim Lehrer
Jim Lehrer is the news anchor for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"

 

Ray Suarez
Ray Suarez is a Senior Correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"

 

Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff is a Senior Correspondent for "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer"

 

 

Producers/Directors

 

Jacquie Jones
Jacquie Jones is an award-winning writer, director and producer of documentary films

 

David Isay
David Isay is founder of the oral history project, StoryCorps

 

 

Other Well-Known Faces

 

Dean Kamen
Dean Kamen is an inventor and engineer, best known for inventing the Segway
 

Bill Novelli
Bill Novelli is the Executive Director and CEO of the AARP
 

Steve and Elaine Wynn
Steve Wynn is an American casino resort developer and his wife, Elaine Wynn, helped develop his famous Las Vegas resorts