50 Fun Facts About Famous People Named Andrew

Pop artist Andy Warhol, born Andrew Warhola, painted 32 canvases in 1962 showing which brand's soup cans?

Campbell's soup appears in a different variety on each canvas, and the whole set was later acquired by the Museum of Modern Art.

Andrew Johnson, the US president impeached by the House in 1868, was apprenticed as a boy to which trade?

Tailor was the trade Johnson practised in several frontier towns before he settled in Greeneville, Tennessee, where he became an alderman and then mayor.

In Toy Story 3, college-bound Andy hands his cowboy doll and the rest of his toys to which little girl?

Bonnie nearly missed out on the cowboy, because Andy had meant to bring him to college until he saw how much she adored the toy.

Andrew Lloyd Webber set a book of light verse by poet T. S. Eliot to music for which hit musical?

Cats ran in London for 21 years, and Eliot had first written its poems in the 1930s to amuse his godchildren.

Andrew Garfield, who played Eduardo Saverin in The Social Network, went on to play which superhero?

Spider-Man was a role Garfield came back to in 2021 for the Marvel film No Way Home, seven years after his own two-film series ended.

Andy Murray, born Andrew Barron Murray, ended a 77-year wait for a British men's singles champion at which tournament?

Wimbledon had not seen a home winner of the men's singles since Fred Perry in 1936 until Murray beat Novak Djokovic in the 2013 final.

The San Andreas Fault, first identified in 1895 by geologist Andrew Lawson, runs through which US state?

California felt the fault's power in 1906, when nearly 300 miles of it ruptured in the San Francisco earthquake.

Julie Andrews won the Best Actress Oscar for her 1964 film debut, playing the title role in which Disney musical?

Mary Poppins came her way after the studio filming My Fair Lady passed her over for Audrey Hepburn, judging Andrews too little known.

Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 storm that struck in August 1992, did its worst damage in which US state?

Florida took the landfall near Homestead, and Andrew stayed the costliest hurricane in US history until Katrina in 2005.

Andrew Jackson, the US president nicknamed Old Hickory, became a hero by beating the British in 1815 at which city?

New Orleans was defended 15 days after a peace treaty was signed to end the War of 1812, because news of it had not yet crossed the Atlantic.

Saint Andrew the Apostle, a fisherman by trade before he followed Jesus, was the brother of which fellow apostle?

Peter met Jesus through Andrew in the Gospel of John, which is why Eastern Orthodox Christians give Andrew the title First-Called.

The Saltire, a white diagonal cross on blue also known as St Andrew's Cross, is the national flag of which country?

Scotland's use of the flag is said by legend to date from the eve of the Battle of Athelstaneford in 832.

The Old Course at St Andrews in Fife, played since the early 15th century, is known as the home of which sport?

Golf grew so popular that King James II banned it in 1457, complaining that young men were neglecting their archery practice.

Steel magnate Andrew Carnegie spent his fortune paying for more than 2,500 of which public buildings around the world?

Libraries came with a condition: a town had to commit to running and maintaining the building before Carnegie would pay for it.

Andrew Lincoln, later Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead, confesses his feelings on cue cards in which Christmas film?

Love Actually cast Lincoln as Mark, the best friend who films a wedding video that turns out to dwell almost entirely on the bride.

Guitarist Andrew Ridgeley and his school friend George Michael formed which chart-topping pop duo in 1981?

Wham! became the first Western pop group to visit China, playing there during a ten-day trip in 1985.

Which actor played Andy Dufresne, the banker who tunnels out of prison over 19 years, in The Shawshank Redemption?

Tim Robbins played Dufresne in a film that did poorly at the box office, a result blamed partly on the unpopularity of prison movies.

In the US version of The Office, a cappella-obsessed salesman Andy Bernard is a proud graduate of which university?

Cornell later asked Ed Helms, the actor who played Bernard, to give the convocation speech at its real graduation in 2014.

Andy Serkis, born Andrew Clement Serkis, used motion capture to play which creature in The Lord of the Rings films?

Gollum made Serkis the leading performer of digital characters, and he went on to play King Kong and the ape leader Caesar the same way.

Red-haired teenager Archie Andrews, a comic book hero since 1941, lives in which fictional small town?

Riverdale is where Archie is torn between rich newcomer Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper, the girl next door.

Shipbuilder Thomas Andrews, head of drafting at Belfast's Harland and Wolff, died in 1912 aboard which liner?

The Titanic's shortage of lifeboat space was plain to Andrews, who spent the sinking urging passengers into the boats that were there.

Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, named for General Frank Andrews, is the home base of which presidential aircraft?

Air Force One has been based there since 1962, when John F. Kennedy's official plane was moved from Washington National Airport.

Pixar's Andrew Stanton won Oscars for Finding Nemo and which other film, whose early scenes have almost no dialogue?

WALL-E grew from Stanton's belief that films had leaned too heavily on dialogue to explain themselves ever since sound arrived.

New Zealand director Andrew Adamson made which 2001 film, the first winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Feature?

Shrek took its story from a children's picture book by William Steig, which upended fairy-tale custom by making an ogre the hero.

Irish singer Andrew Hozier-Byrne, who performs as Hozier, recorded which 2013 debut single in his parents' attic?

Take Me to Church began as a rough demo with a programmed backing track, yet it climbed to number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Naveen Andrews played Sayid Jarrah, a former Iraqi soldier stranded among plane-crash survivors, in which TV series?

Lost earned Andrews an Emmy nomination, some years after his film role as Kip Singh in The English Patient.

Sportscaster Erin Andrews finished third on which TV competition in 2010 and returned as its co-host four years later?

Dancing with the Stars paired her with Maksim Chmerkovskiy as a contestant before she replaced Brooke Burke-Charvet as co-host.

The name Andrew, borne by one of the twelve apostles, comes from a word meaning manly in which ancient language?

Greek supplied the name as Andreas, built on its word for a man, and it reached English by way of Latin and Old French.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew, flew Royal Navy helicopters on active duty during which conflict?

The Falklands War saw him fly Sea King missions from the carrier Invincible, including acting as a decoy for Exocet missiles.

Brat Pack actor Andrew McCarthy played rich kid Blane, who falls for Molly Ringwald's Andie, in which teen romance?

Pretty in Pink first ended with Andie choosing her friend Duckie, but test audiences booed, so a new ending with Blane was written and shot.

Which actor played Andrew Clark, the wrestler serving Saturday detention, in the 1985 film The Breakfast Club?

Emilio Estevez was first cast as the rebel John Bender, and switched parts only when no one could be found to play the athlete.

Irish actor Andrew Scott, the villain Moriarty in Sherlock, played a priest the heroine falls for in which comedy?

Fleabag used Scott only in its second series, but the role still won him a Critics' Choice Television Award.

Quarterback Andrew Luck, the first pick of the 2012 NFL draft, played all seven of his seasons for which team?

The Indianapolis Colts saw Luck retire at just 29, two weeks before the 2019 season began, because of the injuries he had suffered.

Basketball forward Andrew Wiggins, the first pick of the 2014 NBA draft, was born in which country?

Canada supplied the top pick two years running, as Anthony Bennett had gone first to the same Cleveland team in 2013.

Miles Teller played Andrew Neiman, a young jazz drummer pushed to his limit by an abusive instructor, in which film?

Whiplash was first made as an 18-minute short, and its reception at the Sundance Film Festival attracted the investors for the full film.

Singer Andrew Gold's 1978 single Thank You for Being a Friend later became the theme song of which sitcom?

The Golden Girls used a version sung by Cindy Fee, not Gold's own recording, which had peaked at number 25 on the US chart.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang ran for US president in 2020 promising Americans $1,000 a month, a policy known as what?

Universal basic income was Yang's answer to automation, which he warned was displacing workers from their jobs.

British mathematician Andrew Wiles worked in near-total secrecy for over six years to prove which famous problem?

Fermat's Last Theorem nearly beat him: a flaw turned up in his 1993 proof, and he was close to giving up when the fix came to him in 1994.

Andrew Wiggin, a gifted child sent to an orbiting Battle School to train as a commander, is the hero of which novel?

Ender's Game makes its hero a Third, a rare extra child allowed under Earth's two-child policy because his siblings showed such promise.

Which actor played comedian Andy Kaufman, born Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman, in the 1999 biopic Man on the Moon?

Jim Carrey stayed in character as Kaufman on and off the set for the whole shoot, a feat later chronicled in a documentary.

England cricketer Andrew Flintoff, Man of the Series in the 2005 Ashes, has had which nickname since his school days?

Freddie came from classmates who thought the surname Flintoff sounded like that of the cartoon caveman Fred Flintstone.

Outfielder Andrew McCutchen was named the National League's Most Valuable Player in 2013 while playing for which team?

The Pittsburgh Pirates drafted McCutchen 11th overall in 2005, tempting him away from a commitment to play college baseball.

Banker Andrew Mellon, US Treasury Secretary through the 1920s, gave his art collection to found which Washington museum?

The National Gallery of Art was modeled on its London namesake, and Congress approved it even while Mellon was fighting a federal tax case.

Civil rights leader Andrew Young, a close confidant of Martin Luther King Jr., later served as mayor of which city?

Atlanta elected Young after he had served as US ambassador to the United Nations, a post President Jimmy Carter gave him in 1977.

Andrew Wyeth's 1948 painting Christina's World shows a woman in a field looking toward a farmhouse in which US state?

Maine was where Wyeth kept a summer home near Christina Olson, though it was his wife Betsy who posed for the figure's torso.

Explorer Roy Chapman Andrews led the 1920s expeditions that found the first known dinosaur eggs in which desert?

The Gobi eggs were credited to Protoceratops for some seventy years, until a fossil embryo found in the 1990s showed they were laid by oviraptorid dinosaurs.

The Andrews Sisters' wartime hit Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy returned to the US top ten in a 1972 recording by which singer?

Bette Midler's version started out as a B-side, and its success revived the careers of the sisters Maxene and Patty.

Andrew Marvell, a 17th-century poet and member of Parliament, wrote which poem urging his beloved to seize the day?

To His Coy Mistress never saw print in Marvell's lifetime and was published only in 1681, after his death.

Andrew Loog Oldham, a publicist still in his teens, became manager and producer of which British band in 1963?

The Rolling Stones parted with Oldham in late 1967, when he was forced to resign, and a year later he sold his rights to their music to Allen Klein.

Berlin-born actor Andrew Sachs found fame as Manuel, the comical Spanish waiter, in which 1970s British sitcom?

Fawlty Towers left Sachs with second-degree burns, when chemicals used to make his jacket smoke in a kitchen-fire scene soaked through his clothing.