There are lots of famous people with Tourette Syndrome, and there are definitely lots of lists of famous people with TS. If you haven’t seen one of these lists, give it a google.
In this blog, we wanted to highlight some talented actors who’ve impressed us and also happen to have Tourette.
Before we begin, a quick note – we don’t have any females on our list (don’t forget TS affects more males than females)! We’d really love to add one, so please share any suggestions down below!
- Alec Wolf is a young actor who feels free from his Tourette only when he is on stage.We totally see why our friends, the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome and Associated Disorders (NJCTS) awarded Alec a 2015 Youth Scholarship. Alec’s application was his essay, “The Things that Make Me Tic (Pun Intended).” Great title Alec, you rock!
Dash Mihok is someone you might know from HBO’s drama Ray Donovan. He has also been in The Thin Red Line, Silver Linings Playbook, Romeo + Juliet (the DiCaprio version) and the Day After Tomorrow. Mihok has said TS is “the greatest itch you’ve ever had, time 5000”. He is a national ambassador for the Tourette Association of America, a truly fabulous US organization. If you haven’t checked out the TAA or seen Dash Mihok, get on it!
- Dan Aykroyd is an extremely talent person (plus he is Canadian!). The Ottawa-born actor, comedian, screenwriter, and musician is known for several amazing appearances including Driving Miss Daisy, for which he received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Fun fact about Dan – when he first worked as a writer for comedy show, Saturday Night Live, he got $278 dollars per week! We suspect his last gig got him a lot more 😉
- Seth Rogan is a popular actor who has starred in several big silver screen hits like Anchorman, This is the End, and Knocked Up, just to name a few. Like Dan Aykroyd, he is a fellow Canadian (born in Vancouver). For those of you who are unfamiliar this talented 33 year old’s level of popularity, consider that when he tweeted “Accepting I wear size 38 jeans is one of the best things that ever happened to me” a few days ago, it was re-tweeted 1.1K times! Woah! Hopefully we can get half as many hits on this blog!
- Howie Mandel is another Canadian-born actor (there is a pattern forming here!) who like Seth Rogan and Dan Aykrod is known for his comedic style. In fact, Howie Mandel has been voted one of the 100 best comedians (stand-up) of all time. We hesitated to add this extremely talented man to our list because we couldn’t find a statement from Mr. Mandel saying he has Tourette. That said, we decided that he should make this list so we could mention how open he is about his OCD. His symptoms result in Howie not shaking hands with others and even building a second “germ free” house that is separate from his family dwelling. This is Mandel’s germ-free retreat where he can go to get away from anything that might be “catching”. If you have OCD, tell us if you would want a separate germ-free zone too?
Did we miss anyone?
Let us know your favourites down below.
If you’re up for it, please visit the websites of these great organizations:
Tourette Association of America NJ Center for Tourette Syndrome
