Famous People With Dyslexia: A List for Students and Teachers

When a student is struggling to read and feels like everyone else finds it easy, sometimes the most useful thing is a list. Here are some of the most recognizable scientists, filmmakers, actors, and authors in the world. Every one of them has dyslexia.

Famous people with dyslexia span nearly every field: science, business, film, literature, art, and journalism. They don’t share a single path or a single strength. What they share is having figured out how to learn and work in a way that worked for them.

I use this list with students and families when I want to show that dyslexia does not determine what someone can accomplish. The people below are often the first ones who come to mind when someone says they have dyslexia, and for good reason.

What Is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a learning difference that affects reading, decoding, and spelling. It is not a measure of intelligence. People with dyslexia often have strong abilities in areas like visual-spatial thinking, problem-solving, and big-picture reasoning. It is lifelong, but with the right support, students with dyslexia can thrive.

Famous People With Dyslexia

1. Albert Einstein

Often described as a late talker, Einstein struggled with communication and social interactions in his early years. He loved math and science but struggled with grammar and consistently had problems spelling. 

Einstein was never diagnosed with dyslexia, but he saw the world from a unique perspective. His ability to visualize problems spatially before working through them mathematically may have been one way his mind compensated.

2. Henry Ford

Founder of the Ford Motor Company and producer of the first Model T, Ford was among the first to use assembly-line manufacturing, revolutionizing how products are made. Ford struggled with reading and schoolwork but excelled in engineering.

3. Richard Branson

Branson has spoken openly about his dyslexia, highlighting how it affected his education and helped him think creatively in business. He attributes his success to his ability to delegate tasks he finds challenging because of his dyslexia. While Branson left school at age 15, he built a successful business empire.

4. Steven Spielberg

Diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult, Spielberg struggled in school and was often bullied. He found solace in making movies, a passion that became a successful career. He has said being bullied and feeling behind gave him something to channel into his films.

5. Whoopi Goldberg

Goldberg’s dyslexia went undiagnosed during her school years, leading to significant challenges. As an adult, understanding her dyslexia helped her embrace different learning and communication methods. As an adult, she has credited understanding how she learns with helping her navigate a long career across comedy, film, and television.

6. Leonardo da Vinci

Historical records and analyses of da Vinci’s notebooks suggest he may have had dyslexia, as evidenced by his mirror writing and spelling inconsistencies. Although some say he mirrored his writing so others could not easily read it, his inventive mind and exceptional visual-spatial skills are often highlighted as traits associated with dyslexia.

Like Einstein and Picasso, da Vinci was never officially diagnosed, but the evidence from his notebooks is often cited in discussions of dyslexia.

7. Cher

Cher struggled in school and was often misunderstood before her dyslexia was diagnosed. She has spoken about her challenges in reading scripts and how she developed methods to memorize and understand her roles.

8. Orlando Bloom

Bloom was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age. He has been vocal about the challenges it presented in his education but also credits it for helping him develop a strong work ethic and creative problem-solving skills, essential to his acting career.

9. Tom Cruise

Cruise’s dyslexia made his early education difficult, and he struggled with reading and writing. He has been open about his struggles and how he learned to cope and adapt, which eventually helped him succeed in his acting career.

10. Keira Knightley

Diagnosed at a young age, Knightley faced significant challenges in school due to dyslexia. This English actress used her passion for acting to motivate herself to improve her reading and writing, using scripts as practice material.

11. Dav Pilkey

This famous American author and illustrator of children’s literature claims dyslexia is his superpower. Because of his experience with dyslexia, he has become a more effective writer and role model for kids across the globe.

12. Patricia Polacco

Polacco, another famous children’s author, didn’t learn to read until she was 14. She suffered from undiagnosed dyslexia until a teacher recognized that she learned differently and taught her how to read.

13. Anderson Cooper

The famous journalist and CNN anchor struggled with dyslexia growing up but did not let it hold him back. He has spoken about how his unique perspective and ability to think differently have helped him succeed in journalism.

14. Pablo Picasso

Though never officially diagnosed, many historians and experts believe that Picasso had dyslexia. His use of unconventional perspectives in his artwork and his tendency to think outside the box align with many traits commonly associated with dyslexia.

15. Robin Williams

The late, beloved actor and comedian struggled with dyslexia. He used comedy to cope with the challenges presented in reading and writing.

16. Jennifer Aniston

Aniston has spoken about her dyslexia diagnosis and how it went unidentified for years, affecting her performance in school. As an adult, she learned she had been struggling to read normally for most of her life.

17. Henry Winkler

Known as “The Fonz” from Happy Days, Winkler was diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult after spending years thinking he was not smart. He now writes the Hank Zipzer book series for children about a boy with learning differences — books written directly for kids who see themselves in his story.

18. Tom Holland

Holland, who plays Spider-Man in the Marvel films, has been open about his dyslexia and how it affected him in school. He found that performance and learning through doing helped him more than traditional reading and writing tasks.

19. Agatha Christie

One of the best-selling fiction writers of all time, Christie had significant difficulty with spelling and writing throughout her life. She is believed to have had dyslexia, which makes her career as a prolific author of mystery novels all the more notable.

If you are working with a student who has dyslexia, one of the most useful things you can do is show them that difficulty with reading is not a ceiling. It is a starting point.

For classroom resources on biography research and informational reading, take a look at the biography report for any person — students can use it to research any of the people on this list. The reading resources for students who struggle post also have strategies for parents and teachers supporting early readers.