Stanford University in popular culture

Stanford University has been often mentioned in fictional works of popular culture.

Literature

• Aron Trask (aka Aaron Trask) in East of Eden (1952) by the Nobel Prize winning author John Steinbeck is enrolled at Stanford University when he runs away to join the U.S. Army during World War I.
• Chloe Steele in the Left Behind series (1995–2007) by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins attended Stanford.

Cinema

• In the 1942 film The Spirit of Stanford, Stanford's quarterback Frank Albert actually played himself.
• The 1944 film Double Indemnity is about a wife who conspires with her lover to kill her husband in Palo Alto on his way to a Stanford reunion.
• In the 1988 film Die Hard, it is mentioned that Mr. Takagi graduated from Stanford Law School in 1962.
• Hillary Whitney in the 1988 film Beaches studies at Stanford.
• Skylar in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting plans on attending medical school at Stanford.
• Milo Hoffman, protagonist in the 2001 film Antitrust, is depicted as a Stanford graduate.
• The 2002 film Orange County is about a student who applies at enroll at Stanford but is rejected after his student counselor actually sends the wrong transcript to Stanford.
• In the Jason Bourne film and novel series (2002-2016), Aaron Kalloor and Heather Lee attended Stanford.
• Gabriella in the 2008 film High School Musical 3 is admitted to and decides to attend Stanford.
• Grace Augustine in the 2009 film Avatar is seen wearing cardinal-red Stanford shirt.
• Amy in the 2010 film The Social Network is a Stanford student.
• Charlie in the 2010 film Charlie St. Cloud originally plans to attend Stanford on a sailing scholarship.
• Lara Jean and Peter in the film series To All the Boys I've Loved Before are admitted to and plan to attend Stanford.
• Nina Rosario in the film adaptation of In The Heights is a freshman at Stanford University. Her decision of whether or not to return to Stanford is a central plot point of both the film and the musical on which it was based.

Television

• The TV show Silicon Valley frequently references Stanford. Its main character, Richard Hendricks, is a Stanford drop-out; Monica Hall, Pied Piper's CFO, earned her MBA at Stanford; Nelson Bighetti, Pied Piper's "Majority Investor", becomes a guest lecturer at Stanford's Department of Computer Science during the show; and Gavin Belson, CEO of Hooli, graduated from Stanford. The Weissman Score, an efficiency metric intended to compare lossless compression applications, was specifically developed for the show by Stanford researchers Tsachy Weissman and Vinith Misra. Its most infamous comedic scene (S1E8) involving an extended phallic joke was also written by Stanford researcher Vinith Misra. Erlich (S3E1) kicks a Stanford Robotics "Bambot" after it collides with his car.
• In the TV show Hannah Montana, Miley Stewart's friend Lilly is admitted to Stanford, their dream school, but she is not, and drives to the admissions office to inquire about why she was rejected. The pair are eventually reunited when Miley is finally able to attend Stanford.
• In the TV show Designated Survivor, President Kirkman has a son named Leo Kirkman who applies to Stanford and is admitted.
• In the TV show Supernatural, the protagonist Sam Winchester attends Stanford.
• Chuck's main character, Chuck Bartowski, is presented as a Stanford dropout.
• Captain B. J. Hunnicutt in M*A*S*H graduated from Stanford.
• Kate Warner and Wayne Palmer in 24 have Stanford degrees.
• Stella (Ted's almost bride) in How I Met Your Mother attended Stanford as both an undergrad and medical school graduate.
• Detective Kate Beckett in Castle attended Stanford as a pre-law undergrad.
• Julia in Parenthood attended Stanford for law school.
• Lloyd in Entourage received his MBA from Stanford.
• The West Wing character Joey Lucas, portrayed by Marlee Matlin, graduated from Stanford.
• The West Wing character Surgeon General Millicent Griffith, portrayed by Mary Kay Place, graduated from Stanford.
• The Simpsons references Stanford on various occasions throughout the series, most notably in season 13, episode 7 and season 23, episode 5.

See also

• List of Stanford University people#Fictional Stanford alumni

References

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