Hometown Hollywood

70 Famous Dyslexics

Posted on 15. Sep, 2008 by CSS.

Dyslexia is a learning disability that can often be devastating if untreated. People who suffer from dyslexia primarily have trouble with written language, both reading and writing. Despite having this affliction, many people overcome it to lead normal and successful lives. We’ve compiled a list of 70 well known people who suffered (or were thought to suffer) from dyslexia, some of whom will definitely surprise you. On to the list:

Scott Adams
The trained hypnotist, vegetarian and creator of the comic strip “Dilbert” noticed his dyslexia when he worked as a bank teller and couldn’t get his totals to balance at the end of the day.

Muhammad Ali
The boxer barely graduated from high school and also has a daughter who is dyslexic.

Harry Anderson
He played Judge Harry Stone on “Night Court” and was able to deal with his dyslexia enough to be valedictorian on his high school class.

Tim Armstrong
Rancid’s singer/guitarist has never had a driver’s license or bank account due to his dyslexia.

Alexander Graham Bell
The inventor of the telephone reportedly overcome his dyslexia.

Billy Blanks
He created exercise craze Tae-Bo but struggled early on when he was placed in special education classes due to undiagnosed dyslexia.

Orlando Bloom
The actor once said, “Dyslexia is not due to lack of intelligence, it’s a lack of access. It’s like, if you’re dyslexic, you have all the information you need, but find it harder to process.” He now considers himself “mildly dyslexic.”

Laura Flynn Boyle
Known for her role in “The Practice” from 1997 to 2003.

Richard Branson
He dropped out of school at age 16 after doing poorly in school but later founded the very successful Virgin Records.

Erin Brockovich
She struggled in school and wasn’t diagnosed until later in life. She helped win a $333 million class action law suit that is the largest in U.S. history.

George Burns
“For me the toughest thing about dyslexia was learning to spell it.” – George Burns

George H.W. Bush
41st President of the United States

Neil Bush
George W. Bush’s younger brother was told early on that he would be unlikely to graduate and was later diagnosed with dyslexia but went on to get an economics degree and an MBA.

George W. Bush
The 43rd President was head cheerleader his senior year of high school but struggled academically, especially with reading and writing. His response to his diagnosis of dyslexia? “No, I’m not dyslexic,” Bush said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “That’s all I can tell you.”

John T. Chambers
The CEO of Cisco Systems(a computer company- routers) had to have a reading specialist during school and became determined to do whatever he set his mind to.

Cher
At age sixteen, school became too much and she dropped out.

Agatha Christie
The author has sold over a billion copies in English and another billion in 45 other languages but had to dictate her work to a typist because of her disability.

Winston Churchill
The former Prime Minister of the UK had a lot of problems in school due to what historians believe was undiagnosed dyslexia.

Anderson Cooper
As a child, I had a problem reading. I had a mild form of dyslexia where I would see some letters backward, and I had to go to a special reading instructor. – Anderson Cooper

Tom Cruise
The actor went through 15 schools in 12 years and was put in the remedial classes at school but claimed that Scientology cured him from his dyslexia after he converted.

Leonardo Da Vinci
Historians believe the artist was dyslexic based on his notes being written backwards, from right to left, in a mirror image and the many spelling errors.

Patrick Dempsey
He was diagnosed with dyslexia at age 12 and was placed in special education classes before that. He relies on memorization to overcome it these days.

Walt Disney
The film producer, animator, theme park designer, etc. was labeled slow as a child.

Thomas Edison
He invented the light bulb after being thrown out of school at age 12 because he was thought to be dumb and mentally ill.

Albert Einstein
He couldn’t talk until he was four and didn’t learn to read until age nine but went on to develop the theory of relativity and stay in most people’s mind as a genius.

Dave Foley
He is an actor/comedian best known for “The Kids In the Hall” and “NewsRadio.”

Harrison Ford

Henry Ford
He founded the Ford Motor Company.

Noel Gallagher
“What I was bad at was spelling. Still am. Anything over six letters and that’s me gone.” – Noel Gallagher

Danny Glover
His dyslexia hurtle led him to tutor and help coordinate reading centers in the inner city.

Tracey Gold
The actress from “Growing Pains” suffered from dyslexia in high school.

Whoopi Goldberg
She was called slow and dumb because she had a lot of problems reading as a child and was diagnosed in adulthood with dyslexia.

Woody Harrelson
He was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder (A.D.D.) as a child.

Salma Hayek
The actress sometimes struggles with her lines as a result of her dyslexia.

William Hewlett
Dyslexia forced the co-founder of the Hewlett-Packard Company to memorize schoolwork which developed his memory to the point of him memorizing everything.

Tommy Hilfiger
“I performed poorly at school, when I attended, that is, and was perceived as stupid because of my dyslexia. I still have trouble reading. I have to concentrate very hard at going left to right, left to right, otherwise my eye just wanders to the bottom of the page.” -Tommy Hilfiger

Anthony Hopkins
He found a love for the arts such as painting or playing the piano as an alternative to his studies.

Eddie Izzard
“I don’t read much because I take so long to read things. I’ll catch up one day. This partial dyslexia thing. I just take ages to read.” – Eddie Izzard

Thomas Jefferson
The third President of the United States.

Bruce Jenner
The Olympic track athlete got into sports because he had dyslexia.

Jewell
The singer used to love reading when she was younger and then found it more difficult as time went by and was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Magic Johnson
He is a retired Los Angeles Lakers basketball player.

John F. Kennedy
The 35th President of the United States.

Tawny Kitaen
The actress found school very challenging thanks to her dyslexia.

Christopher Knight
He learned to deal with his dyslexia while growing up and has found few problems as an adult.

Keira Knightley
She says her problems haven’t affected her ability to learn her lines and adds, “I can learn them fine. It’s just reading them in the first place that is the problem.”

David Koresh
The Branch Dividian religious cult leader dropped out of high school because of his dyslexia.

John Lennon
He was expelled from school for misbehavior but his teachers didn’t know that he suffered from dyslexia and was considered legally blind without his glasses.

Jay Leno
His struggle with dyslexia is what he credits as helping him develop drive and perseverance needed to succeed in comedy and in life.

Greg Louganis
“From the start, I had trouble reading, but it got really bad once we got past single words and simple sentences. What I couldn’t explain – what I didn’t realize – was that I was dyslexic.” – Greg Louganis

Craig McCaw
He found success in the cable and cellular phone industry after filling left out and struggling in school.

Vince McMahon
The owner of the World Wrestling Foundation is said to have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder.

Alyssa Milano
She writes down her lines to become more familiar with them.

Vince Neil
The Motley Crue lead singer was kicked out of school and later found out he is dyslexic.

Jamie Oliver
“Reading bores me to death as I’m dyslexic; I’ve honestly never read a book from cover to cover in my life.”- Jamie Oliver

Ozzy Osbourne
The singer says that he began drinking because he struggled to deal with is learning disability.

Pablo Picaso
Dyslexia made school difficult so he never gained much from his education and the difficulty plagued him for the rest of his life.

Keanu Reeves
Excelled in hockey more than academics.

Guy Ritchie
Madonna’s Ex-Husband was expelled from Stanbridge Earls School which is one of the most prominent schools specializing in dyslexia in the UK.

Babe Ruth
Legendary baseball player.

Suzanne Somers
She excelled in artistic expression but not in her other subjects.

Steven Spielberg
The highest grossing filmmaker of all time.

Ted Turner
The founder of CNN is dyslexic and bipolar.

Liv Tyler
Tyler says, “My diary is a disaster – sometimes I can’t even read it. I can’t spell at all, it’s embarrassing. Thank God for spell check on computers. I’ll spell the same word completely differently in the same sentence.”

James Van Der Beek
He was diagnosed as dyslexic in kindergarten and went on to become an honors student.

George Washington
The first President of the United States is said to have been dyslexic.

Robbie Williams
The singer is outspoken about his dyslexia and doesn’t let it hold him back.

Robin Williams
Actor/comedian.

Woodrow Wilson
The 28th President of the United States was a poor student and still couldn’t read at age ten which historians believe is because he was dyslexic.

Henry Winkler
He struggled throughout school and discovered he was dyslexic while making a documentary about dyslexia.

Updated: Leave a comment if you know anyone that I left off and would like me to add-below you will find all additional dyslexic people:

Andy Warhol
American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.

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