Saugerties High School in Ulster County, New York, where television host Jimmy Fallon graduated. Photo: Daniel Case / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
From the neighborhoods of Buffalo to the villages of the Finger Lakes, the Mohawk Valley, and the Hudson Valley, Upstate New York’s high schools have educated students whose names eventually became familiar far beyond the communities where they grew up. Before the awards, television appearances, championship games, and national headlines, these men and women had classes to attend, teachers to impress, friends to make, and decisions to face about what might come after graduation.
The schools themselves are an important part of these stories. A small high school in the Finger Lakes, a Catholic academy in Buffalo, and a public school in a Rochester suburb did not produce the same experience. Yet each offered young people an education that became part of a much larger personal history. Some future celebrities were already performing or competing while enrolled. Others did not discover the work that made them famous until college or adulthood.
This list has one firm requirement: the individual must actually have graduated from an Upstate New York high school. Being born in the region, living there briefly, or attending a local school without earning a diploma does not count. Graduation years are given when supported by available records; when an exact year is less certain, the article does not invent one. This approach is particularly important because a number of familiar celebrities have Upstate childhood ties but completed their schooling elsewhere.
Several of these figures later returned to help their schools, speak with students, or celebrate their hometowns. Others carried memories of Upstate New York into the arts, national broadcasting, athletics, fashion, and academic research. Taken together, their lives reveal a remarkable range of possibilities that followed graduation from schools across New York State.
1. Philip Seymour Hoffman
High school: Fairport High School (Fairport, Monroe County) | Graduation: 1985
Philip Seymour Hoffman grew up in Fairport, east of Rochester, and graduated from Fairport High School in 1985. The village and its schools were more than a passing stop in his childhood. He was drawn toward theater while still a teenager, and his development included a place in the New York State Summer School of the Arts, which helped bring serious acting training within reach of promising young performers from across the state. By the time he left Fairport, he had begun to see acting as a possible future rather than simply a school activity.
After studying at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Hoffman developed a reputation for making even small screen roles feel fully realized. His performances in Boogie Nights, Almost Famous, Doubt, and The Master demonstrated an extraordinary range. His portrayal of Truman Capote in Capote earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hoffman also worked extensively in theater, including with the LAByrinth Theater Company. Following his death in 2014, Fairport school officials remembered an alumnus who had returned to share his experience and remained connected to the place where he first discovered the stage.
2. Rod Serling
High school: Binghamton Central High School (Binghamton, Broome County) | Graduation: January 1943
Rod Serling was born in Syracuse, but Binghamton was the city he regarded as home. His family settled on the city’s West Side, and his experiences there helped shape his lifelong fascination with childhood, community, conformity, and the darker sides of human behavior. He graduated from Binghamton Central High School on January 15, 1943. School newspapers and surviving yearbooks show a young man already interested in public speaking and strong opinions. The school’s newspaper, The Panorama, gave him one of his earliest opportunities to express them.
The next day, Serling enlisted in the Army, eventually serving as a paratrooper during World War II. Those experiences added a much harsher dimension to the questions that appeared in his television writing. He later created The Twilight Zone, using fantasy and science fiction to explore prejudice, fear, war, and moral responsibility. His episode “Walking Distance” is particularly meaningful to Upstate readers because it draws on memories of Binghamton and its parks. The city continues to honor Serling, and the local high school’s arts program bears his name.
3. Wolf Blitzer
High school: Kenmore West High School (Kenmore, Erie County)
Wolf Blitzer was born in postwar Germany to Holocaust survivors and grew up in the Buffalo area. He attended Kenmore West High School, an experience that connects one of America’s most recognizable television journalists to Western New York’s suburban school system. His early life involved a family rebuilding after the devastation of World War II. He subsequently studied history at the University at Buffalo, before pursuing graduate work in international relations at Johns Hopkins University.
Blitzer began his professional career in international journalism, working for Reuters and The Jerusalem Post before joining CNN in 1990. His reporting on the Persian Gulf War and later political coverage made him a familiar presence on national television. He became CNN’s senior White House correspondent and the anchor of The Situation Room. The Buffalo Broadcasters Association recognizes him among its honorees and identifies Kenmore West as his high school. His career provides a useful reminder that nationally known journalists often began far from Washington’s newsrooms.
4. Tim Russert
High school: Canisius High School (Buffalo, Erie County)
Tim Russert was born in Buffalo in 1950 and grew up in a working-class family that placed enormous value on education and family loyalty. He graduated from Canisius High School, where a Jesuit education prepared him for further study at John Carroll University. Buffalo remained a central part of his identity long after his career took him to Washington. His father worked demanding jobs, and the family history later became the subject of Russert’s book Big Russ & Me.
Russert worked in politics before becoming a leading NBC News executive and, in 1991, moderator of Meet the Press. He built a reputation for preparing closely for interviews and pressing guests to account for their own public statements. His sudden death in 2008 brought tributes from across the political spectrum and from his hometown. Congressional tributes specifically identified him as a Canisius High School graduate. His biography offers a strong example of a student whose professional life unfolded nationally while his public identity remained closely tied to Buffalo.
5. Kirk Douglas
High school: Amsterdam High School (Wilbur H. Lynch High School) (Amsterdam, Montgomery County) | Graduation: 1934
Kirk Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch in Amsterdam in 1916, one of seven children in a family of Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. He grew up in poverty and knew the difficult work his father performed collecting and selling discarded materials. At Amsterdam High School, also associated with the Wilbur H. Lynch name, he found opportunities in speech, athletics, and stage performance. He graduated in 1934, a detail preserved in his hometown’s historical accounts and in photographs from his actual high school yearbook.
Douglas worked his way through St. Lawrence University and later trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He became a major Hollywood star, with performances in Champion, Lust for Life, Paths of Glory, and Spartacus. His role in producing Spartacus also entered Hollywood history because of the film’s credit for blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Douglas eventually became one of the best-known actors of his generation, but he repeatedly returned in interviews and writing to the hardships and ambitions of his Amsterdam childhood.
6. Taye Diggs
High school: School of the Arts (Rochester, Monroe County)
Taye Diggs was born in New Jersey but grew up in Rochester, where his mother encouraged his interest in performance. He attended Allendale Columbia School before transferring to Rochester’s School of the Arts, a public school that placed theater and the other arts at the center of its curriculum. Diggs has recalled that the atmosphere gave him confidence because students were valued for their creative abilities. The Rochester school community identifies him as a graduate, although published sources have supplied conflicting class-year information; the graduation year is therefore not stated here.
Diggs continued his studies at Syracuse University and became a Broadway performer. He originated the role of Benny in Rent and appeared in productions including Carousel, Chicago, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Film audiences know him from How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Best Man, and Chicago, while his television work has included Private Practice and All American. In 2021, he helped secure classroom support for his Rochester alma mater, giving this entry a meaningful connection to the school long after his graduation.
7. Richard Gere
High school: North Syracuse High School (North Syracuse, Onondaga County) | Graduation: 1967
Richard Gere spent his school years in the Syracuse area and graduated from North Syracuse High School in 1967. His abilities were not limited to acting: he participated in gymnastics and music, including the trumpet, at a time when he had not yet become the screen performer audiences later recognized. The North Syracuse Central School District lists Gere among its distinguished alumni, confirming the exact institution and year rather than relying on a general claim that he grew up near Syracuse.
Gere attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst on a gymnastics scholarship but eventually left college to pursue performance. His career moved through stage work into major films including Days of Heaven, American Gigolo, An Officer and a Gentleman, Pretty Woman, and Chicago. He also became active in humanitarian causes. Whatever viewers associate with his Hollywood years, his record includes an Upstate public high school diploma and an early combination of athletics, music, and theatrical ambition.
8. David Muir
High school: Onondaga Central High School (Nedrow, Onondaga County) | Graduation: 1991
David Muir grew up in Central New York and graduated from Onondaga Central High School in 1991. Unlike many teenagers who only begin thinking about careers after graduation, Muir was fascinated by television news while still in school. He spent time observing the work of the Syracuse television station WTVH, gaining an early appreciation for reporting, deadlines, and the decisions made inside a newsroom. This Central New York connection is especially direct because the newsroom that interested him as a student became one of his first places of professional employment.
After graduating from Ithaca College, Muir reported and anchored at WTVH, then moved to WCVB in Boston and ultimately to ABC News. He became the anchor and managing editor of ABC World News Tonight, one of America’s major evening broadcasts. International reporting and high-profile interviews broadened his career well beyond his high school years. Still, the path from Onondaga Central to local Syracuse television and then to a national network offers a clear example of how a student’s early professional interests can develop close to home.
9. Ronnie James Dio
High school: Cortland High School (Cortland, Cortland County) | Graduation: 1960
Ronnie James Dio was born Ronald James Padavona in New Hampshire, but grew up in Cortland. Music was part of his life well before anyone knew him as a heavy metal singer. He learned trumpet as a child, played in school ensembles, and became involved in local rock-and-roll groups. He graduated from Cortland High School in 1960, a fact also recognized by the City of Cortland in an official proclamation. The early musicians who worked with him later remembered a young performer who took both technique and live performance seriously.
Dio’s career developed through groups including Elf and Rainbow before he replaced Ozzy Osbourne as Black Sabbath’s vocalist. He later led the band Dio and recorded songs such as “Holy Diver” and “Rainbow in the Dark.” His distinctive voice and stage presence made him one of the most influential singers in heavy metal. Cortland remained proud of its former student, marking his connection with a street named Dio Way. His story stretches from Central New York school dances to international arenas, but the musical training began much earlier.
10. Megyn Kelly
High school: Bethlehem Central High School (Delmar, Albany County) | Graduation: 1988
Megyn Kelly was born in Syracuse and grew up partly in the Albany suburbs. She graduated from Bethlehem Central High School in Delmar in 1988, according to contemporary reporting on her induction into the school’s hall of fame. She continued her education at Syracuse University and Albany Law School and initially worked as an attorney. The route from Bethlehem to national news was therefore not a straight line from a school broadcasting club to a network newsroom; law and courtroom work came first.
Kelly later became a prominent television interviewer and commentator, working at Fox News and NBC before developing an independent media presence. Her interviews and public arguments have drawn both supporters and critics, reflecting the polarized environment in which much modern television commentary operates. For this article the important qualifying fact is neither agreement nor disagreement with her views: she is a documented Bethlehem Central graduate whose subsequent professional career brought her national prominence.
11. Eva Marie Saint
High school: Bethlehem Central High School (Delmar, Albany County) | Graduation: 1942
Eva Marie Saint was born in New Jersey but spent part of her childhood in the Albany area and graduated from Bethlehem Central High School in 1942. Her connections with the school survived her later fame. She continued to recall her Delmar years and the school community even after spending most of her professional life in the entertainment industry. Following high school, she attended Bowling Green State University and developed her acting skills through theater, radio, and television.
Saint’s film debut opposite Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront earned her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She subsequently starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest and appeared in films such as Exodus. Her career extended into television and later films, and she received additional honors across decades of work. Saint died on October 6, 2026, at the age of 102. Her life connected a 1942 Albany County high school graduating class with the history of American film.
12. Pat Riley
High school: Linton High School (Schenectady, Schenectady County) | Graduation: 1963
Pat Riley grew up in Schenectady and graduated from Linton High School in 1963. He was a talented basketball and football player, but one particular game occupies a special place in the city’s sporting memory. In 1961, Linton defeated New York City’s Power Memorial, whose roster included the young Lew Alcindor, later known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The victory brought national attention to a Schenectady school team, years before Riley and Abdul-Jabbar would become associated with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Riley played college basketball at Kentucky, then entered the NBA. He won a championship as a player with the Lakers and later coached the franchise during its celebrated “Showtime” era. He coached the New York Knicks in the 1990s and eventually led the Miami Heat, building one of the longest executive and coaching careers in professional basketball. Importantly, his Knicks tenure did not include an NBA championship, so his titles should not be attributed to every team he coached. Linton’s gym was renamed to recognize him, preserving the connection between local school athletics and a nationally influential basketball career.
13. William Fichtner
High school: Maryvale High School (Cheektowaga, Erie County) | Graduation: 1974
William Fichtner grew up in Cheektowaga and graduated from Maryvale High School in 1974. His acting career was not a predetermined path from the moment he left school. He first studied criminal justice and discovered a deeper interest in performance during his college years. That shift from one professional direction to another is part of the appeal of his story: the graduate of a Buffalo-area high school found his calling through education and experimentation rather than through an early promise of stardom.
Fichtner became one of the most recognizable character actors in American film and television. His credits include Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, The Dark Knight, Prison Break, and Mom. He has also returned to his former school to speak with students about acting and the realities of creative work. A Maryvale school publication identifies him explicitly as a member of the Class of 1974, supplying stronger evidence than the unsourced graduation year commonly repeated online.
14. Christine Baranski
High school: Villa Maria Academy (Buffalo, Erie County) | Graduation: 1970
Christine Baranski was raised in the Buffalo area in a Polish-American family with artistic connections. She attended Villa Maria Academy, a Catholic girls’ school, and distinguished herself academically and as a student leader. Her family background and the school environment helped prepare her for a career in which vocal precision, intelligence, and comic timing became trademarks. By 1970, she had completed high school and was ready to begin professional dramatic training at the Juilliard School in New York City.
Baranski went on to win Tony Awards for theater and an Emmy for her role in Cybill. She became especially familiar to television audiences through The Good Wife and The Good Fight, with film appearances including Mamma Mia! and Into the Woods. Her work spans classical theater, comedy, musicals, and legal drama. Villa Maria Academy remains a key element of her early biography, making her a properly documented Western New York high school graduate rather than simply a performer born in Buffalo.
15. Jimmy Fallon
High school: Saugerties High School (Saugerties, Ulster County) | Graduation: 1992
Jimmy Fallon grew up in Saugerties, where he developed his interest in impressions, music, and making people laugh. He graduated from Saugerties High School in 1992. His years there included school productions and repeated attempts to entertain classmates with celebrity imitations. For many young performers, the distance between a Hudson Valley high school auditorium and a major network studio seems enormous, but Fallon’s later career made that connection easy to recognize.
Fallon joined Saturday Night Live before moving to late-night television and eventually becoming host of The Tonight Show. He has repeatedly acknowledged his Hudson Valley background and turned it into part of his public identity. In 2017, he donated $100,000 toward arts education at Saugerties High School, including support for a television studio. That gift makes his profile especially appropriate for a story about actual graduates: his bond with the institution did not end at commencement.
16. Tommy Hilfiger
High school: Elmira Free Academy (Elmira, Chemung County) | Graduation: 1969
Tommy Hilfiger was born and raised in Elmira, one of nine children in a large family. His interest in business and clothing emerged while he was still attending Elmira Free Academy. In 1969, his senior year, he began obtaining fashionable bell-bottom jeans from New York City and selling them to local teenagers who could not readily find the same styles in their hometown. He graduated that year, already experimenting with the combination of clothing, music, and personal style that later defined his career.
Hilfiger helped establish the Elmira boutique People’s Place before moving toward a larger fashion business. He launched his namesake clothing brand in 1985, and its red-white-and-blue identity later became internationally known. His story is especially striking because the first steps in his business career unfolded before he left high school. Decades later, he returned to Elmira to speak with students about the community and the possibilities open to them. The hometown connection is documented through both his company biography and local reporting.
17. William Devane
High school: Philip Schuyler High School (Albany, Albany County) | Graduation: 1957
William Devane was born in Albany in 1939 and attended Philip Schuyler High School, graduating in 1957. His childhood included an unusual connection with New York political history: his father had worked as a driver for Franklin D. Roosevelt during Roosevelt’s years as governor. Devane’s education took place in the state capital, but the career that followed carried him into theater, film, and television. He later studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, earning his diploma there in 1962.
Devane built a reputation for portraying assertive, complicated men in films and television. His credits range from Marathon Man and Rolling Thunder to his long-running role on Knots Landing, and later appearances in 24. He has maintained personal memories of Albany and his former classmates. The Albany City School District’s hall of fame identifies him as a Philip Schuyler High School Class of 1957 graduate, a particularly useful institutional confirmation of the date.
18. Mary McDonnell
High school: Ithaca High School (Ithaca, Tompkins County) | Graduation: 1970
Mary McDonnell spent formative years in Ithaca and graduated from Ithaca High School in 1970. The college town offered a culturally active environment, but her eventual stage and screen career required years of additional experience after high school. She continued her education at SUNY Fredonia, then worked in regional theater. Her path demonstrates how a graduate of a Finger Lakes public school could become a professional performer through sustained training and repertory work rather than through a single sudden discovery.
McDonnell became widely known for her Academy Award-nominated performances in Dances with Wolves and Passion Fish. Later, she played President Laura Roslin in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, bringing emotional depth to a character facing political and ethical decisions under extraordinary circumstances. She also appeared on The Closer and Major Crimes. Her Ithaca High School graduating class is documented in local alumni records, providing the precise school connection needed for this article.
19. Rachael Ray
High school: Lake George High School (Lake George, Warren County) | Graduation: 1986
Rachael Ray grew up in the Lake George area, where food and restaurant work were part of her family background. She graduated from Lake George High School in 1986. Before she became a national television personality, she gained experience in retail food operations and later worked in markets and restaurants. Her practical approach to cooking grew out of familiarity with ordinary kitchens and the needs of people who wanted to prepare approachable meals at home.
Ray became a prominent host of Food Network programs and a successful television personality, magazine editor, and cookbook author. Her “30 Minute Meals” concept made her widely recognizable to audiences who wanted straightforward, economical cooking advice. She has also supported animal welfare and nutrition-related causes. The Lake George Alumni Association identifies her as a member of the Class of 1986 and records her continuing support for the school. She is therefore a strong example of a nationally famous personality with a well-documented Upstate high school diploma.
20. Hacksaw Jim Duggan
High school: Glens Falls High School (Glens Falls, Warren County) | Graduation: 1973
Professional wrestler “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan is closely associated with Glens Falls, where he attended and graduated from Glens Falls High School in 1973. This is an important correction to the preliminary draft, which mistakenly placed him at Plattsburgh High School. Duggan was a formidable school athlete, participating in football and wrestling and building a reputation that attracted attention from college recruiters. He won recognition in New York’s scholastic wrestling scene before moving on to college football at Southern Methodist University.
Duggan eventually moved into professional wrestling, developing the patriotic, hard-hitting persona that fans remember for the American flag, a two-by-four, and an unmistakable shout. He won the first Royal Rumble match in 1988 and later entered the WWE Hall of Fame. WWE’s account of his induction into a New York high school wrestling hall of fame explicitly connects his athletic success to Glens Falls. The correct hometown and school matter especially here because his local sports record is a substantial part of his biography.
21. Christopher McDonald
High school: Romulus Central High School (Romulus, Seneca County) | Graduation: 1972
Christopher McDonald was raised in the Finger Lakes region and graduated from Romulus Central High School. The school’s alumni records place him in the Class of 1972, rather than the 1973 date in the preliminary draft. Growing up in a relatively small Seneca County community gave him a very different beginning from the Hollywood settings in which he later became familiar. He continued his education at Hobart College in Geneva before pursuing the demanding work of building an acting career.
McDonald has appeared across a wide range of films and television series, but many viewers know him best as Shooter McGavin, the arrogant golfer in the comedy Happy Gilmore. His credits also include Thelma & Louise, Quiz Show, Requiem for a Dream, and Hacks. His career shows the breadth of parts available to a skilled character actor, from drama to broad comedy. The graduation record makes Romulus a meaningful part of the story instead of merely a place where he once lived.
22. Renée Fleming
High school: Churchville-Chili High School (Churchville, Monroe County) | Graduation: 1977
Renée Fleming grew up in Churchville, west of Rochester, in a household where music and teaching were part of everyday life. She graduated from Churchville-Chili High School in 1977. Her parents were music teachers, and her education continued to build on a strong local foundation. That grounding helped her develop the discipline and musical curiosity that would later make her an internationally admired soprano. The Village of Churchville has publicly celebrated her as a graduate of its school district, while alumni records identify her class year.
Fleming continued her musical education at the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and later the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Her career took her to the Metropolitan Opera and major opera houses and concert stages around the world. She also became known for bringing classical singing to wider audiences through recordings, television, and notable public performances. Her route from a Monroe County high school to the international stage gives the article an important musical figure and a documented connection to an Upstate school that continues to recognize her achievements.
23. James Charles
High school: Bethlehem Central High School (Delmar, Albany County) | Graduation: 2017
James Charles grew up in Bethlehem, a suburb of Albany, and graduated from Bethlehem Central High School in 2017. His experience differed greatly from that of earlier figures on this list because social media offered him a route to a national audience before he finished school. He experimented with hair and makeup and developed online tutorials and photographs while still a teenager. Contemporary local reporting documented his growing following when he was still a student, showing that his public career and school years overlapped.
In 2016, Charles became CoverGirl’s first male brand ambassador, bringing his makeup work to a much wider audience before graduation. His subsequent career as a beauty influencer has involved major commercial collaborations and recurring public controversies. The relevant historical point for this article is specific and verifiable: he completed his schooling at Bethlehem Central while his online career was already expanding. Including him alongside older graduates also shows how dramatically the routes from a New York high school to national recognition have changed.
24. Jimmer Fredette
High school: Glens Falls High School (Glens Falls, Warren County) | Graduation: 2007
Jimmer Fredette grew up in Glens Falls and graduated from Glens Falls High School in 2007. By the time he completed school, he had already become one of the area’s most talked-about basketball players. His ability to score from long range and his high school performances drew substantial attention throughout Section II. The local sports community watched him move from Glens Falls gymnasiums to a national college stage, and his school career remains a major chapter in the city’s sports history.
At Brigham Young University, Fredette became a national sensation and earned major college basketball honors in 2011. He went on to play in the NBA and overseas, including a successful period in China, before becoming prominent in three-on-three basketball. His career later included representing the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics. A verified high school athletics profile lists his graduation in 2007, and local news coverage preserves the details of his record-setting school years. His story belongs here because his achievement began in an identifiable Upstate graduating class.
25. Jeanette Epps
High school: Thomas J. Corcoran High School (Syracuse, Onondaga County) | Graduation: 1988
Jeanette Epps was born and raised in Syracuse and graduated from Thomas J. Corcoran High School in 1988. Her school years offered opportunities that she later credited as important to her development. In a NASA oral history interview, she spoke about teachers, advisers, scholarships, and the encouragement that helped her and her twin sister pursue higher education. Her mother emphasized the importance of learning, and Epps became especially interested in science and mathematics. The Syracuse City School District and NASA both document her graduation from Corcoran, making the precise high school connection exceptionally well established.
Epps studied physics at Le Moyne College, earned graduate degrees in aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland, and worked in automotive research and technical intelligence before NASA selected her as an astronaut in 2009. She traveled to the International Space Station in 2024 aboard SpaceX Crew-8, serving as a flight engineer during a months-long mission. Her career extends the reach of this list beyond entertainment and sports, linking a Syracuse public school to advanced scientific research and human spaceflight. It is difficult to imagine a clearer demonstration of how far a local high school education can lead.
For additional stories about notable New Yorkers and their education, see our articles on 25 famous people who went to college in Upstate New York, 25 famous people who graduated from SUNY schools, and 25 famous people from Syracuse, New York.
