A former De Anza College student was transformed into a mermaidand captured the hearts of MacGyver, Superman and James Bond. Otheracclaimed De Anza alumni include a self-proclaimed “Tetris” addictcomputer geek and a popular local civic leader.
Actress Teri Lynn Hatcher was born in Sunnyvale, grew up in theBay Area and attended De Anza during 1984 -1985 in pursuit of anundergraduate Mathematics and Engineering degree. Like many De Anzastudents, she dreamed of transferring to a four-year school, in hercase Cal Polytechnic in San Luis Obispo, when her life took aninteresting turn.
While at De Anza, Hatcher studied acting as a hobby at theAmerican Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and went to acasting call with a friend for “moral support.” She auditioned fora role as a singing/dancing mermaid in the television series “TheLove Boat,” and won the part.
A star was born, a student transformed. Early in her career,Hatcher played many small roles, including Penny Parker, the loveinterest on “MacGyver.” Hatcher got her big break when she was castas Lois Lane in the smash hit 1993 television series “Lois &Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.”
After the series ended she snagged herself another pop icon roleas a love interest for Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond film”Tomorrow Never Dies.”
Recently, Hatcher was cast as Ms. Gradenko in the children’saction-film blockbuster “Spy Kids.” She is still acting and livesnear Los Angeles.
A local political Superman, current San Jose mayor Ron Gonzalesstudied liberal arts at De Anza from 1969-1971 before transferringto UC Santa Cruz, eventually graduating from the Mayor’s LeadershipProgram at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
“De Anza taught me to use my eyes to see the importance ofhigher education in my future, to expand my mind so that I couldbetter understand the future, and to search my heart to believe Icould have an impact on the future,” said Gonzales. He isattempting to do just that, impacting the future as the Mayor ofone of the most technologically innovative cities in the world.
As the first Mexican-American Mayor of California’s thirdlargest city, Gonzales has the tough job of leading his communityinto the future by facing the problems of education, trafficcongestion, economic growth, and environmental protection.
Gonzales has had a successful political career as the two-timeMayor of San Jose and a former member of the Sunnyvale CityCouncil. Gonzales has built a reputation in politics as ahard-working, get-things-done politician.
Another former De Anza student caused a technological revolutionnot only here in the Silicon Valley, but the entire world, byhelping to create the PC age while taking a bite out of anapple.
Steve Wozniak attended De Anza in 1971. He is known anddescribed as the always-fun jokester that co-founded AppleComputers, the popular company that launched the personal computerindustry.
After attending De Anza, Wozniak transferred to UC Berkeley andwent on to secure a job at Hewlett-Packard. There he worked oncalculator chips, but, always the prankster, he used his genius tocreate the popular, highly illegal “blue box,” a pocket-sized phoneattachment that allowed users to make long-distance calls forfree.
While an employee, he offered to work on Hewlett Packard’sdevelopment projects for personal computers and management rejectedhim. This fueled Wozniak’s decision to quit his job and invest histime, energy, and money into developing the Apple I personalcomputer along with the help of Hewlett Packard colleague andfriend Steve Jobs.
Wozniak also led the development of Apple’s Lisa, the firstmouse component. Apple Computers was a huge success, but afterriding the crest of success with Apple during the 1980s, Wozniakleft the corporation to pursue his other passions. Since then,Wozniak has been learning about and developing new technologies andpassing the torch of invention onto the future as a teacher andphilanthropist in the Bay Area.
If it were not for this De Anza graduate and innovator, we mighthave lived in a very different technological age.
