Using the resources of adoption.com, National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute I have compiled a list of famous people whose lives have been touched by adoption.
Alexander the Great was an adoptee as well as the Hebrew prophet Moses, who was adopted by the princess of Egypt. People from all walks of life have been raised by someone other than their natural parents. The following entertainers, writers, athletes, politicians, business leaders, and other influential citizens all lived for a time with adoptive parents, stepparents, relatives, family friends, or in foster familes.
Entertainers
• Halle Berry -- actress
• Shari Belafonte-Harper -- actress
• Ingrid Bergman -- actress
• Richard Burton -- actor
• Charlotte Church -- singer
• Nat King Cole -- singer
• Ella Fitzgerald -- singer
• Melissa Gilbert -- actress
• Sara Gilbert -- actress
• Deborah Harry -- singer
• Faith Hill -- singer
• Eartha Kitt -- singer
• John Lennon -- musician
• Art Linkletter -- comedian
• Ray Liotta -- actor
• Sarah McLachlan -- singer
• Marilyn Monroe -- actress
• Priscilla Presley -- actress
• Buffy Sainte-Marie -- musician
• Shania Twain -- singer

Writers
• Edward Albee
• Louisa May Alcott
• Maya Angelou
• Charles Dickens
• Langston Hughes
• James Michener
• Edgar Allen Poe
• Leo Tolstoy

Athletes
• Surya Bonaly -- figure skater
• Peter and Kitty Carruthers -- figure skaters
• Scott Hamilton -- figure skater
• Greg Louganis -- diver
• Dan O'Brien -- decathlete
• Jim Palmer -- baseball player

Political leaders
• Alexander the Great
• Senator Robert Byrd
• President William Clinton
• President Gerald Ford
• President Herbert Hoover
• Representative Jim Lightfoot
• Nelson Mandela -- former president of South Africa
• Senator Paull H. Shin
• Anthony Williams -- mayor of Washington, D.C.

First ladies
• Nancy Reagan
• Eleanor Roosevelt

Business leaders
• Larry Ellison -- chairman and CEO of Oracle Corporation
• Steve Jobs -- cofounder of Apple Computer
• Tom Monaghan -- founder and CEO of Domino's Pizza
• Dave Thomas -- founder of Wendy's International

Philosophers
• Aristotle
• Jean Jacques Rousseau

Others
• John J. Audubon -- naturalist
• Les Brown -- motivational speaker
• George Washington Carver -- inventor
• Lynnette Cole -- Miss USA 2000
• Crazy Horse -- Lakota chief
• Faith Daniels -- news anchor
• Jesse Jackson -- political activist
• Charlotte Anne Lopez -- Miss Teen USA 1993
• Malcolm X -- civil rights leader
• Moses -- Hebrew prophet
• Wilson Riles -- educator
• "Dr. Ruth" Westheimer -- sex therapist and radio personality