With 60,000 students and counting, UCF is one of the largest universities by population in the nation. So it’s no surprise that this school has churned out some of the biggest names in Hollywood, business, sports, and more. Keep reading to learn about 15 famous alumni from the University of Central Florida!
Best known for his hit Comedy Central show, “Tosh.0,” standup comedian Daniel Tosh went to UCF and earned his bachelor’s degree in Marketing in 1996, graduating half a semester early – one of his first jobs was as a telemarketer in Central Florida Research Park. As a retrospective, he stated that it was “$15 an hour to annoy people!”
Ericka Dunlap graduated from UCF in 2005 with a degree in Advertising & Public Relations (which is also my major!). She made history as the first African-American woman to be crowned Miss Florida in 2003 and subsequently winning Miss America the following year. During her time at UCF, she was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Since winning Miss America, she has appeared on various shows such as Season 15 of The Amazing Race, where she came in third.
Plies is a rapper perhaps best known for his 2007 hit songs “Hypnotized (feat. Akon)” and “Shawty (feat. T-Pain). He transferred to UCF from the University of Miami but dropped out to pursue a career in music and founded the independent record label Big Gates Records with his stepbrother in the late 1990s. Interestingly enough, Plies didn’t actually want to make music in the beginning. But out of frustration with a label artist’s verse in a song, he recorded the verse himself. The song spread through South Florida, and Plies was immediately offered a record deal with Miami-based Slip-N-Slide Records; this was when his career would start to take off.
Cheryl Hines is a two-time Emmy-nominated actress, best known for her role as Larry David’s wife Cheryl on the smash hit HBO show “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and Dallas Royce in the ABC sitcom “Suburgatory”. Black and gold pride runs in her family – her brother, Mike, is also an alumnus, and her sister, Rebecca, is a professor at the College of Education and Human Performance (maybe you’ve had her at some point in your college career!).
Thomas Wesley Pentz, also known as Diplo, is a Grammy-nominated DJ, musical producer, and songwriter who has produced some of the biggest hits of today, such as M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” and Chris Brown’s “Look At Me Now.” He’s definitely one of the most famous alumni from the University of Central Florida. He also manages his own record label, Mad Decent Records, and is also one of the major forces behind musical projects Major Lazer (“Pon De Floor”) and Jack Ü (“Where Are Ü Now”) with Skrillex. He went to UCF in 1997 to major in film before transferring to Temple University, where he DJ’d at various parties in the Philadelphia area.
From 1988-1991, Angelo Garcia was a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo. A New York City native, he went to UCF and received a Bachelor’s degree in Communications. Once he finished, he opened a new women’s gym named Elements in Kendall, Miami, and moved back to New York City to restart his music career.
Brian Wheeler is a restaurateur who founded the popular Tex-Mex restaurant Tijuana Flats in 1995 after graduating from UCF with a B.A.B.S. in Marketing. It has since expanded to 120 locations throughout the southeastern United States as well as Indiana. In 2012, he was inducted into the College of Business Hall of Fame. Along with Tijuana Flats, he launched Cajun-style restaurant Tibby’s New Orleans Kitchen and founded the Just In Queso Foundation, which provides aid to those in need with a focus on children and the military.
Scott Porter is an actor who is best known for his role as Jason Street in the NBC drama “Friday Night Lights” and a number of other roles. He attended UCF in the late 1990s and graduated with a degree in Structural Engineering. While there, he performed percussion vocals in the acapella group 4:2:Five (now known as VoicePlay) and was a full-time babysitter for his parents.
Daunte Culpepper is a former NFL player, having played for the Minnesota Vikings for six years, then sparingly for the Dolphins, Raiders, and Lions after suffering a knee injury. When he played for UCF, he set a plethora of records, including topping the 10,000-yard passing mark and 1,000-yard rushing mark; with him being only the third in NCAA history to do so. He, along with two others, even helped create a restaurant named Culpepper’s in 2013 (unfortunately, it was closed down the following year to be sold to a franchise in Miami).
Daniel Myrick is a director, film producer, and screenwriter famous for co-directing and writing the 1999 hit horror film “The Blair Witch Project”. He graduated from UCF with a degree in Film in 1993.
Eduardo Sanchez is a director and film producer who, along with Daniel Myrick, directed and wrote “The Blair Witch Project”. After studying television production at Montgomery College for some time, he, too, went on to graduate from UCF with a B.A. in Film in 1994.
An actor who is known for playing Cliff St. Paulin the show “Ugly Betty”, David Blue was raised in both New York and Florida. He graduated from UCF with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in both Acting and Musical Theatre Performance. Most recently, he starred as Eli Wallace in the SyFy series “Stargate Universe”. Fun fact: He originally tried for the role of Leonard in “The Big Bang Theory” (which eventually was given to Johnny Galecki)!
Restauranter and businesswoman Salli Setta is the current president of Red Lobster, the world’s largest casual seafood restaurant chain, since 2013. She graduated from UCF in 1987 with a degree in Communications. She served as Executive Vice President of Marketing for the brand from 2005 to 2013.
One of the sons of legendary basketball great Michael Jordan, Marcus Jordan played basketball at UCF from 2009 to 2012. In what would have been his senior year with the team, he decided to take classes at the university instead. Just last year, he launched a new shoe store called “Trophy Room”, located at Disney World in the Disney Springs location. Fittingly, in homage to his and his father’s jersey numbers, it opened to the public on May 23rd.
Jeffrey Jordan is another son of Michael Jordan who, like his brother, also played for UCF. He first played for the University of Illinois Fighting Illini from 2007 to 2009, then transferred to UCF in 2010. He left the team in 2012 for personal reasons and currently lives in Portland, OR.
Did you know some of these guys went to UCF? Know any other famous alumni from the University of Central Florida not listed here? Let us know in the comments below!
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