9 Famous People Who Have Autism

Daryl Hannah made her screen debut in Brian de Palma’s 1978 supernatural horror film The Fury. The American actress, who was diagnosed with autism early in her career, is best known for her roles in Blade Runner, Splash, and Roxanne, among others, and for her five-year relationship with John F. Kennedy Jr.

According to Hannah, autism made it difficult for her to cope with some of the social demands made of Hollywood stars. “I never went on talk shows, never went to premieres,” Hannah said. “Going to the Academy Awards was so painful for me. I’d almost faint just walking down the red carpet. I was so socially awkward and uncomfortable that I eventually got blacklisted," she told Boston.com.

One such coping strategy: “I imagine that instead of me going to a party where I have to face a bunch of people and feel conspicuous and awkward, it’s a bunch of people who are coming to my party,” Hannah told Women’s Weekly. “They are the ones who are nervous and uncomfortable and I have to make them welcome and feel at ease. I put the situation on its head.”

“I won’t make a lot of eye contact with the cast tonight. But don’t worry, I’m pretty good at running ‘human’ in emulation mode,” he joked.

“Well, I think everyone’s experience is going to be somewhat different,” Musk said during the interview. “But I guess for me, the social cues were not intuitive. So I was just very bookish, and I didn’t understand. ... I guess others could sort of, intuitively understand ... what was meant by something. I would just tend to take things very literally, like, the words, as spoken, were exactly what they meant.”

In hindsight, Musk added, he thinks having Asperger’s syndrome may have helped him in his career. “I think there’s maybe some value also from a technology standpoint, because I found it rewarding to spend all night programming computers just by myself,” said Musk. “And I think most people, most people don’t enjoy typing strange symbols into a computer by themselves all night.”

Courtney Love’s career as a singer and actor, and her marriage to Nirvana’s lead singer, Kurt Cobain, earned her a spot among Hollywood’s elite. The singer revealed that she was diagnosed with a mild form of autism at age 9 in her biography Courtney Love: The Real Story.

The 21-year-old nonbinary actor told the magazine that there were hints before their diagnosis as an adult: for example, routinely feeling out of place at school, and being hyperaware of other people’s minute facial expressions and body language.

Ramsey said that these autism symptoms have actually helped their work: “I’ve always been watching and learning from people. Having to learn more manually how to socialize and interact with the people around me has helped me with acting.”

The 37-year-old singer (and mother of three children with billionaire Elon Musk) wrote that, had she been diagnosed earlier, her life could have turned out differently: “I feel like, had we known this when I was a child I would have worked so much less hard, been on drugs, and so many of the weird obsessions and motivations I had would have been seen as pathological and I could have written off certain things that were very hard for me, but I'm glad I overcame them.”

The Australian singer and multi-time Grammy nominee Sia is best known for smash hits like “Titanium” and “Chandelier.” She’s also been very candid over the years about her struggles with mental health, including depression, addiction, and suicidal thoughts.

“I’ve felt like, for 45 years … I’ve got to go put my human suit on, and only in the last two years have I become fully, fully myself,” she said during the podcast. What Sia described may also be a form of autism masking.

"This fall marks 1 year since I received my informal autism diagnosis,” Miller wrote in his Instagram post. “Preceded by a self-diagnosis. Followed by a formal diagnosis.”

The Golden Globe nominee described his diagnosis as “a shock. But not a surprise.”

“I don’t want to run the risk of suddenly being a loud, ill-informed voice in the room,” Miller added. “The #autistic community (this I do know) has historically been talked over. Spoken for. I don’t wish to do additional harm. Only to raise my hand, say, I am here. Have been (w/o realizing it).”

The Welsh actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, who won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs and starred in the HBO series Westworld, said he’d been diagnosed with mild Asperger’s.

“That led to years of deep insecurity and curiosity,” Hopkins continued. “I could never settle anywhere. I was troubled and caused trouble, especially in my early years. I matured a bit, so I’m at much more peace with myself. But I still have that big question mark in my brain. Am I supposed to be doing this? But I’m going to be 79, so I guess I’ve done what I’m supposed to have done.”

Susan Boyle shocked the world in her 2009 Britain’s Got Talent audition when she sang a perfect rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the Broadway show Les Misérables. The artist broke records for album sales, toured the world, and gained a following by producing music that brings listeners to tears.

Boyle, who says she has Asperger’s syndrome, didn’t realize she had the condition, though the clues — trouble with eye contact, anxiety, and sudden and emotional withdrawal in uncomfortable situations — were everywhere. It made sense to Boyle when her doctor told her she had it.