Famous Montessorians

Montessori has graduated an extraordinary number of successful, creative thinkers in all sorts of disciplines. Among them are actors George Clooney, Cami Cotler, John and Joan Cusack, Dakota Fanning, Melissa and Sarah Gilbert, Helen Hunt, and Lea Salonga; artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser; management guru Peter Drucker; Google founders Larry Paige and Sergey Brin; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales; Sims designer Will Wright; Washington Post owner and former editor Katharine Graham; former First Lady and literary editor Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez; chef/author Julia Child; media mogul Sean Combs; musician Joshua Bell; Chelsea Clinton; and Princes William and Harry of Wales.

“I do not believe there is a method better than Montessori for making children sensitive to the beauties of the world and awakening their curiosity regarding the secrets of life.”
— Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Author

“Montessori taught me the joy of discovery... It showed you can become interested in pretty complex theories, like Pythagorean theory, say, by playing with blocks. It’s all about learning on your terms, rather than a teacher explaining stuff to you. SimCity comes right out of Montessori — if you give people this model for building cities, they will abstract from it principles of urban design.”
— Will Wright, Computer Game Designer and Original Designer of The Sims

“[When asked by Barbara Walters what he credits his success to] We both went to Montessori schools and I think it was all part of that training... being self-motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world and doing things a little bit differently.”
— Larry Page, Google co-founder

“Structure is an absolutely important part of the creative life, and Emily [Ma] got this from her Montessori experience.”
— Yo Yo Ma, World-Renowned Cellist and Montessori parent