The Most Famous Person from Every St. Louis High School

By Riverfront Times Staff on Fri, May 17, 2024 at 1:10 pm

For every high school in St. Louis — and lord knows there are a zillion high schools in St. Louis — there is a celebrity. That celebrity may define the image of the school or in some essential way defy it. Who knew, for example, that before tech overlord Jack Dorsey began to dabble in Buddhist techniques, he went to a Catholic high school in a decidedly unglamorous part of south city? Or that MICDS is loaded with big-name celebrity alumni — but highly ranked Cor Jesus Academy falls a bit short on star power?

Read on for our picks for the most famous people to come from each and (nearly) every St. Louis high school. Sorry, Brentwood High … We literally couldn’t even find a single one!

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Screengrab from YouTube

Clayton High School
Andy Cohen
Producer/personality
Bravo boss Andy Cohen graduated from Clayton High School way back in 1986, and we can’t wait for the coming-of-age TV show he’s working on depicting his teenage years. Cohen has said he got in a lot of trouble in high school for (what else?) talking too much — and even got kicked off the water polo team for it.

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PHOTO BY TINSELTOWN / SHUTTERSTOCK

Nerinx Hall High School
Jenna Fischer
Actor
Best known for The Office, the lovable Jenna Fischer grew up in St. Louis County and graduated from all-girls Catholic school Nerinx Hall in 1991. “I personally feel my education at Nerinx shaped my life,” she has said. “Nerinx empowered me, gave me a voice, and I loved the education I got there.

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PHOTO BY TOM HELLAUER

Bishop DuBourg High School
Jack Dorsey
Tech entrepreneur
This one might surprise you. Jack Dorsey, a coding protege who invented Twitter (now X) and co-founded Square, didn’t go to a high school known for its high tuition or tech-focused classes. Instead, he attended Bishop DuBourg High School, the co-ed Catholic school in deep south city.

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@edrost88 / Flickr

Chaminade College Preparatory School
Jayson Tatum
Athlete
Failed north St. Louis developer Paul McKee may be the most infamous Chaminade graduate, but NBA star Jayson Tatum has the fame thing down. The Boston Celtics forward was a standout even during his days at the Catholic boys’ school in St. Louis County.

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FLICKR/GAGE SKIDMORE

Saint Louis University High School
James Gunn
Director/studio executive
Before he was a prolific Hollywood director and the CEO of the DC Universe (yes, that’s an actual title), James Gunn was just a kid growing up in Manchester, Missouri, and attended St. Louis University High School, class of 1984. For further proof of his St. Louis bonafides, you need only look to the fact that Gunn used to be married to Nerinx graduate Jenna Fischer because that’s what SLU High graduates do — marry girls from Nerinx.

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COURTESY PHOTO

McCluer High School
Michael McDonald
Musician
Famously a key member of both Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, Ferguson-area native Michael McDonald got his start at McCluer High School, where he graduated in the class of 1970. He was discovered soon after while playing a club in Illinois — and the rest is music history.

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SCREENSHOT VIA YOUTUBE

Marquette High School
Michael Johnson
MMA Fighter
If the name Mike Johnson isn’t familiar to you, you need to pay more attention to mixed martial arts. Johnson was a three-sport athlete at Marquette High School before becoming the MMA standout known as the Menace.

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COURTESY OF EMILY IMO

Rosati-Kain High School
Margie Imo
Pizza entrepreneur
Is there any more instantly recognizable last name in St. Louis than “Imo”? Sure, Margie Imo’s fame doesn’t really translate outside the metro area, but she’s still arguably more famous locally than actress/singer Ellen Foley, who appeared on Night Court and (fun fact) sings the female part in “Paradise by the Dashboard Light.” Foley is notable, yes, and we’re proud to claim her, but it’s hard to beat a name seen on thousands of pizza boxes from here to Wentzville.

(That's Marge and Ed Imo in the photo with granddaughter Emily.)

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Devon Christopher Adams / Flickr

Saint Louis Priory School
Kevin Kline
Actor
Best known for A Fish Called Wanda, Kevin Kline has won an Academy Award and three Tony Awards, which makes him one of the most acclaimed actors of his era. He’s also a proud graduate of Priory, class of 1965.

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DFree / Shutterstock

MICDS
Sterling K. Brown
Actor
OK, so U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas) might be the more powerful alumnus currently — her blistering rebukes of Republican colleagues have earned her a following well beyond her district. But when it comes to pure fame, we have to go with Sterling K. Brown, a 1994 graduate who’s gone on to do huge things in TV and film (This Is Us, American Fiction) and picked up several Primetime Emmys along the way.

However, there’s more to the MICDS story...

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Paul R. Jones / Shutterstock

Mary Institute
Betty Grable
Actor
Before MICDS was MICDS, it was two separate schools: the Mary Institute (a girls’ school) and St. Louis Country Day School (a country day school). They merged in 1992, but before that, they had their own separate histories, and Mary Institute’s involved Betty Grable, class of 1934 and the most famous pinup of World War II. St. Louis Country Day School could also boast famous alumni, including Vincent Price.

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FLICKR/FRED ORTLIP

Oakville High School
Pat Maroon
Hockey star
The “Big Rig” hasn’t played for the Blues since 2018, but he’s a three-time Stanley Cup champion — and his one and only year with the Blues was the season where they went all the way. Coincidence? Surely not.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF DAN DONOVAN/EXPLORE ST. LOUIS

Kirkwood High School
Nikki Glaser
Comedian
The hilariously raunchy Nikki Glaser is arguably the biggest celebrity living in St. Louis — and she owes it all to Kirkwood High School, where she graduated in the class of 2002.

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via Cardinals Facebook

Cleveland High School
Phyllis Smith
Actor
St. Louis Public Schools closed south city’s Cleveland High School in 2006, but we’ll always have graduate Phyllis Smith, famous for playing Phyllis on The Office and voicing Sadness in Inside Out. Her background is about as south city as they come: She grew up in Lemay, the second of nine kids.

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FLICKR/VICTORIA PICKERING

Parkway Central High School
Michael Avenatti
Disgraced former attorney
Remember when Michael Avenatti wanted to bring down Donald Trump, and maybe even be president of the whole damn country? Instead, Nike brought Avenatti down — and now we find out he was ripping off clients like Stormy Daniels the whole time. Still, if Parkway Central claimed this 1989 graduate on the good days, they need to claim him on the bad ones, too.

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FLICKR/JUSSI

Soldan High School
Agnes Moorehead
Actor
A whole bunch of 20th century luminaries went to the now-shuttered Soldan High School, including writer A.E. Hotchner and Kay Thompson, who not only authored the Eloise books but also played a memorable role alongside Audrey Hepburn in Funny Face. But arguably none is better known today than Agnes Moorehead, whose five-decade career included a star turn on Bewitched.

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screengrab via YouTube

University City
Nelly
Hip-hop star
Much as older readers may want to argue with this one, we’re reasonably sure Nelly (class of 1993) is more famous than playwright Tennessee Williams (1929). And we’re not just saying that because Nelly had a whole lot more hometown pride.

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Todd Awbrey / Flickr

Lafayette High School
David Freese
Game 6 Hero
Yes, Lafayette High School graduate Ryan Howard won Rookie of the Year honors and MVP honors, too, and David Freese did neither. But this is St. Louis, and here we will never forget that not only did David Freese score 21 RBIs in the 2011 postseason, setting a new MLB record but also hit that 11th inning walk-off home run in game six of the World Series — giving us perhaps the greatest moment in Cardinals history. (Can we say that? We can say that.) And it all started in Wildwood, where Freese graduated from Lafayette High School in 2001.

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PUBLIC DOMAIN PHOTO FLICKR/TRIALS AND ERRORS

Ursuline Academy
Lillian Gish
Actor

You have to be a silent movie buff to know about Lillian Gish, but aficionados of the era will tell you Gish was one of the best, a natural actress who helped revolutionize what had been a hammy pursuit into something more realistic. Gish’s young life was peripatetic, but Ursuline Academy says that she was a boarding school student there from 1910 to 1911.

According to a biography posted on its website, “Lillian was not long in coming to love the convent and all it stood for. She reveled in the solitude, the shut-inness of the place. She became utterly devoted to the nuns, and was heard to say more than once that they were the most truly refined women she had ever met. Naturally spiritual, she was attracted by the convent routine, and more than once was heard to say that she would like to be a nun. Her teachers say she was always gracious and pleasant to her companions, but her natural reserve kept her from being ‘a good mixer.’ She once asked her favorite sister to point out any faults she might be guilty of, saying: ‘I want to eradicate any fault in me that might be an annoyance to others.’ The sister declares that, after watching Lillian carefully for weeks, she was unable to find any fault in her. She was a perfect boarder.”

The bio notes that an autographed copy of Gish’s biography is held within the school’s library, inscribed, “The story of one of your pupils, with gratitude and affection.”

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