The list of people from Overland Park, Kansas includes those who were born in or have lived in the city.
Arts and entertainment
Beauty and fashion
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Deborah Bryant,
Miss America 1966
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Lisa Forbes (1981– ),
Miss Kansas USA
The Miss Kansas USA pageant is a competition that selects the representative for the state of Kansas in the Miss USA pageant. The pageant is directed by Vanbros and Associates, headquartered in Lenexa, Kansas. In 1992, the state joined the Va ...
2004
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Tara Dawn Holland
Tara Dawn Holland (born October 2, 1972) is an American beauty pageant contestant, who was Miss America 1997.
Education
Holland attended Florida State University and was selected for membership in Omicron Delta Kappa in 1993. In December 2002 ...
(1972– ),
Miss America 1997
Film, television, and theater
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Michael Almereyda
Michael Almereyda (born April 7, 1960) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer.
Early work
Almereyda studied art history at Harvard but dropped out after three years to pursue filmmaking. He acquired a Hollywood agent on ...
(1960– ), film director, screenwriter
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Darren Lynn Bousman
Darren Lynn Bousman (; born January 11, 1979) is an American film director and screenwriter, best known for his work in horror films. He has directed four of the '' Saw'' films: '' Saw II'', ''Saw III'', ''Saw IV'', and ''Spiral''. He also direc ...
(1979– ), film director, screenwriter
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David Dastmalchian
David Dastmalchian (; born July 21, 1975) is an American film and stage actor. He has had supporting roles in a number of superhero franchises; he portrayed Thomas Schiff in ''The Dark Knight'', Kurt in the first two Marvel Cinematic Universe ...
(1984– ), actor
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Tom Kane
Thomas Kane Roberts (born April 15, 1962) is a retired American voice actor. He is best known for his work in animation and video games, most notably in the '' Star Wars'' franchise.
Career
Kane began his voice-over career in 1977, at fifteen ye ...
(1962– ), voice actor
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Sarah Lancaster
Sarah Lancaster (born February 12, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for her long-running roles as Rachel Meyers in the NBC series '' Saved by the Bell: The New Class'' and Ellie Bartowski in the NBC comedy-spy series '' Chuck'', a ...
(1980– ), actress
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John Lehr
John Lehr (born November 25, 1965) is an American film and television actor and comedian.
Personal life
Lehr was born on November 25, 1965, in Overland Park, Kansas. He went to high school at Shawnee Mission West High. He graduated from Northw ...
(1967– ), actor
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Rob Riggle (1970– ), actor, comedian
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Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame i ...
(1969– ), actor, screenwriter, director.
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Jason Sudeikis
Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. In 20 ...
(1975– ), actor, comedian
Music
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Phillip Sandifer
Phillip Sandifer (born 10 May, 1959) is an American writer, musician, recording artist and music producer. His music is primarily known within the Americana and Inspirational music field.
Personal life
Phillip Sandifer was born in Baltimore, Ma ...
(1959– ), songwriter, recording artist
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Lajon Witherspoon
Lajon Witherspoon (born October 3, 1972) is an American singer and songwriter who is the lead vocalist of Atlanta-based rock band Sevendust.
Members from bands such as Staind, Seether, Alter Bridge, and Diecast have listed Witherspoon and Sevend ...
(1972– ), lead singer of
Sevendust
Sevendust is an American rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 1994 by bassist Vince Hornsby, drummer Morgan Rose and rhythm guitarist John Connolly. After their first demo, lead vocalist Lajon Witherspoon and lead guitarist Clint Lo ...
Other visual arts
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Elmo Gideon (1924–2010), painter, sculptor
Business
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William B. Strang Jr. (1857–1921), railroad magnate, city founder
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Arash Ferdowsi
Arash Ferdowsi ( fa, آرش فردوسی, born October 7, 1985) is an Iranian-American billionaire entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Dropbox.
Early life and education
Ferdowsi was born in Overland Park, Kansas, United States on 7 October 19 ...
(1985–), entrepreneur, co-founder of
Dropbox
Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007 ...
Politics
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Jeff Colyer
Jeffrey William Colyer (born June 3, 1960) is an American surgeon and politician who served as the 47th governor of Kansas from January 31, 2018, to January 14, 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of Kansa ...
(1960– ),
Governor of Kansas (2018–2019 ), 49th
Lieutenant Governor of Kansas
The lieutenant governor of Kansas is the second-ranking member of the executive branch of Kansas state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. The lieutenant governor succeeds to the off ...
(2011–2018)
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Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgi ...
,
United States Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
from
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, former
Governor of Virginia
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.
Oath of office
On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...
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Jason Kander
Jason David Kander (born May 4, 1981) is an American attorney, author, veteran, and politician. A Democrat, he served as the 39th secretary of state of Missouri, from 2013 to 2017. He had previously served as a member of the Missouri House of R ...
,
Missouri Secretary of State
The people below have served as the Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Missouri.
List
Gallery
File:Warren E. Hearnes.jpg, Warren E. Hearnes
File:James C. Kirkpatrick.jpg, James C. Kirkpatrick
File:Rep Roy Blunt.jpg, Roy Blunt
File:Mattb ...
(2013–2017)
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Kris Kobach (1966– ),
Kansas Secretary of State
The secretary of state of Kansas is one of the constitutional officers of the U.S. state of Kansas. The current secretary of state is the former speaker ''pro tempore'' of the Kansas House of Representatives, Scott Schwab, who was sworn in on Ja ...
(2011–2019)
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Jan Meyers (1928–2019),
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from Kansas (1985–1997)
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Bradley Schlozman
Bradley Joseph Schlozman (born February 6, 1971) is an American attorney who served as acting head of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. A member of the Republican Part ...
(1971– ),
U.S. Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...
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Kevin Yoder
Kevin Wayne Yoder (born January 8, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Yoder was the Kansas State Representative for the 20th distr ...
(1976– ),
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
from Kansas (2011–2019)
Religion
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James D. Conley (1955– ),
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
prelate
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Jerry Johnston (1959– ),
Southern Baptist Convention evangelist; pastor from 1996 to 2011 of the former
First Family Church in Overland Park; reared in Overland Park
Sports
American football
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Andrew Gachkar (1988– ), linebacker
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Rudy Niswanger
Rudolph Nelson Niswanger ( ; born November 9, 1982) is a former American football center. He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2006. He played college football at Louisiana State.
Early years
He is a native of ...
(1982– ), center
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Will Shields
Will Herthie Shields (born September 15, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons. He played college football for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, earnin ...
(1971– ), guard
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Lawrence Tynes
Lawrence James Henry Tynes (born May 3, 1978) is a Scottish-born former American football placekicker. After playing soccer for Milton High School a coach suggested he try out for the football team as a kicker. He played college football at Troy ...
(1978– ), placekicker
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Jeff Wolfert (1985– ), placekicker
Baseball
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Jason Adam (1991– ), pitcher
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Jason Grimsley
Jason Alan Grimsley (born August 7, 1967) is a former Major League Baseball relief pitcher who played for seven teams during a 15-year career. He was a member of both the 1999 and 2000 World Series champion New York Yankees.
Major League career
J ...
(1967– ), pitcher
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Colton Murray (1990– ), pitcher
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Ryne Stanek (1991– ), pitcher
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Tom Burgmeier (1943– ), pitcher
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Mike Boddicker
Michael James Boddicker (born August 23, 1957) is an American right-handed former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles (1980–1988), Boston Red Sox (1988–1990), Kansas City Royals (1991–1992), and Milwaukee Brewers (1993 ...
(1957– ), pitcher
Soccer
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Matt Besler
Matthew Scott "Matt" Besler (; born February 11, 1987) is an American former professional soccer player. A left-sided central defender with the ability to play left-back. Besler spent the majority of his career in MLS with Sporting Kansas City ...
(1987– ), defender
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Andy Gruenebaum
Andy Gruenebaum (; born December 30, 1982) is a retired American professional soccer goalkeeper. He was selected by the Columbus Crew with the third overall pick in the 2006 MLS Supplemental Draft. He made his MLS debut in 2006.
Career
Amateu ...
(1982– ), goalkeeper
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Will John (1985– ), forward, midfielder
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Peter Vermes
Peter Joseph Vermes (; born November 21, 1966) is an American professional soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of Sporting Kansas City in Major League Soccer. As of 2022, Vermes is currently the longest-tenured head c ...
(1966– ), head coach for Sporting Kansas City, former Wizards player
Other sports
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Christie Ambrosi (1976– ),
2000 Olympic U.S. softball player
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Anna Glennon (1996– ), World Champion Jet Ski racer
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Tyler Kalinoski (1992– ), basketball player
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Tonya Knight
Tonya Knight (born March 24, 1966) is an American professional female bodybuilder.
Early life
Tonya Knight was born in 1966 in Peculiar, Missouri.
Bodybuilding career
Professional
After IFBB officials presented strong evidence against Tonya ...
(1966– ), IFBB professional bodybuilder
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Semi Ojeleye
Jesusemilore Talodabijesu "Semi" Ojeleye ( ; born December 5, 1994) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for Virtus Bologna of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and the EuroLeague. He played college basketball for both Duke ...
(1994– ), basketball player
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Jack Sock
Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
(1992– ), professional tennis player
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Johnathan Wendel
Johnathan Wendel (born February 26, 1981), more commonly known by his online alias Fatal1ty (pronounced "Fatality"), is an entrepreneur and former professional esports player of the first-person shooter titles '' Quake'' and ''Painkiller.'' He ...
(1981– ), former professional ''
Quake'' and ''
Painkiller
An analgesic drug, also called simply an analgesic (American English), analgaesic (British English), pain reliever, or painkiller, is any member of the group of drugs used to achieve relief from pain (that is, analgesia or pain management). It i ...
'' player
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Leanne Wong (2003– ), artistic gymnast
See also
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Lists of people from Kansas
This is a list of lists of people from Kansas. Inclusion in this list should be reserved for existing Wikipedia lists about people from the American state of Kansas.
List of people from Kansas
The primary list contains notable people who were ei ...
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List of people from Johnson County, Kansas
References
{{reflist, 30em
Overland Park, Kansas
Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As ...
Overland Park
Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. ...
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