Our alumni are deep-thinkers, passionate creators and leaders in their field. They apply their SoC training to a wide variety of fields. See how our alumni are making an impact in the world.
Explore the paths of recent alumni as they begin their careers
PhD in Performance Arts Studies
Kantara is the Milwaukee Art Museum’s curator of community dialogue, a newly created position to ensure that community engagement is at the center of adult programming.
MFA in Documentary Media
Nevo Shinaar’s film Surf Nation premiered in May 2022. He is among DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40—Class of 2021 and both a nominee and shorlistee for Academy Awards (White Eye and Stay Close, respectively). He was also a competition jury member for the Chicago International Film Festival 2021 (Shorts) and the Big Sky Film Festival 2022 (Shorts), as well as serving as the IDA Awards Committee Chair (2020-Present).
MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises
Luis Antonio Perez and his Colorado Public Radio music appreciation Music Blocks won best podcast for children at the 2022 Podcast Academy Ambie Awards and was also nominated in the best knowledge category. Perez is also a producer on Back from Broken, which was a 2021 nominee for best inter- view podcast.
Major in Theatre
Selina wrote the comedy POTUS, which opened on Broadway in April 2022. Directed by Susan Stroman and starring Vanessa Williams, Rachel Dratch, and Lea Delaria, the play earned three Tony Award nominations. Fillinger is among the youngest playwrights to have a show on Broadway and a past Agnes Nixon Playwriting Festival winner. She currently writes for the third season of Apple TV’s The Morning Show and is developing a feature for Chernin/Netflix.Explore some of our remarkable alumni by their professional fields.
Tony Award-nominated and Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated actress - The Rainmaker, Enchanted April, 24, Criminal Minds, and House of Cards
Academy Award-nominated actor, Academy Award-winning producer and director - Reds
President, and CEO of The California Wellness Foundation (Cal Wellness)
Emmy-nominated TV and film writer, series creator, and producer - Everwood, Dawson’s Creek, and Political Animals
Tony Award-nominated actor - The Music Man
Founder and Producer - Gulfstream Pictures
Actor and Emmy Award-winning writer - Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, A Black Lady Sketch Show, Drunk History, Bless This Mess, and Ted Lasso
Writer, director, Actor, Grammy Award-winning producer - Scrubs and Garden State
Executive producer, writer, and director - Chicago Fire and The Pages
Emmy Award-winning and Peabody Award-winning actor, writer, reporter, and producer - The Colbert Report, CBS’s Late Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and The Daily Show
Tony Award-nominated actress and puppeteer - Sesame Street, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Avenue Q
Tony Award-nominated actor - Sweet Smell of Success and Something Rotten
Award-Winning Playwright and Professor - Stick Fly, Smart People, and The Bluest Eye
Diversity and inclusion strategist and chief diversity officer at Wintrust Financial
Emmy-nominated actor - Disney’s live-action The Lion King
Emmy Nominated Producer and Director - Fox's Rent
Writer, Comedian, and series creator - Baited with Ziwe
Theatre director, impresario, actress, and the founder and current Artistic Director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater
Tony Award-winning, Oscar-nominated director writer, actor, retired Northwestern professor, and associate director at the Goodman Theatre
Actress - Saturday Night Live and Suburgatory
As CEO and chair of Universal Music Publishing Group - first and only woman to lead a major music company
Emmy nominated actress - American Horror Story
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award-nominated Comedian and comedic writer - Late Night With Seth Meyers and The Amber Ruffin Show
Actress - WandaVision, Crossing Jordan, Bad Moms, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Step Brothers, Our Idiot Brother, We're the Millers, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
Tony Award-winning actress and Grammy Award-nominated singer - Aida, The Lion King, and Sweet Magnolias
Academy Award-winning actor - Ben Hur
Executive director for the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, JoAnn G. and Peter F. Dolle Professor Emerita in Learning Disabilities
Academy Award-winning actress - The Song of Bernadette and Since You Went Away
Actor and singer - Broadway’s Rent, The Band’s Visit, and Fiddler on the Roof
Tony-nominated actor - Broadway The Big Knife, Mad About You, Spin City, Cars, A Bug's Life, Big Mouth, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and A Serious Man
President of 20th Century Fox and Chair, CEO of Paramount Pictures, and on the Board of directors at the Scripps Research Institute
Former artistic director of Tony Award-winning Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Academy Award-winning actress - The Last Picture Show
Primetime Emmy Award-nominated executive producer - ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Actor - Matrix series, the Blacklist, The Five Heartbeats, Dollhouse, and Billions
Best-Selling Author, Writer, and Producer - When They See Us and Little Fires Everywhere
Tony Award-winning playwright and multi-Oscar-nominated scriptwriter - Red, The Last Samurai, The Aviator, and Hugo
Researcher, fellow, and past president of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association - revolutionized the treatment of swallowing disorders (dysphagia)
Most Emmy-nominated actress in history and 11-time Emmy winner, 9 Screen Actors Guild Awards, 1 Golden Globe Award, and 5 American Comedy Awards - Seinfeld, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and VEEP
Actress, producer, activist, and entrepreneur - Law & Order SVU
Duchess of Sussex, an American member of the British royal family, and former actress - Suits and Castle
Actor, Comedian, and Emmy-winning writer - SNL and NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers
Two-time Emmy-winning actress - Will & Grace
Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-winning actress - Hud and Another Part of the Forest
Lifetime Emmy Award-winning soap opera inventor, developer, and writer
Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Actress
Actor - Law and Order
Co-founder and artistic director of Story Pirates podcast and show
Author and Emmy-nominated actress - Diff’rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Endgame, and The Facts of My Life
Actor - Annie Hall, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, Amityville 3-D, and Law & Order
Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame Journalist - The NBA on TNT
Comedian, Emmy-nominated actress, and writer - BoJack Horseman, Bob’s Burgers, Flight of the Conchords, The Last Man on Earth, and Gravity Falls
Emmy-nominated actor and founding ensemble member of the Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre - Friends
1998 Miss America, President of Actors Equity, Professor, Actress - Fun Home, Legally Blonde, Cabaret. NU School of Communication’s 2019–20 Hope Abelson Artist in Residence
Longtime television journalist and NBC’s White House correspondent
Former commissioner of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
Owner and chairman of the Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks hockey team and Wirtz Corporation President