Elizabeth Warren.

Donald Jones Herring, a janitor at Montgomery Ward, and Pauline Louise Reed raised Elizabeth Ann Herring in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Born on June 22, 1949, she attended Northwest Classen High School, graduating in 1967. She earned a B.S. from the University of Houston in 1970 and a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 1976. Her father’s modest job and her own academic drive shaped her early path toward law and public service.

Warren made her acting debut in the documentary Maxed Out 2006, followed by a role in Capitalism: A Love Story 2009 and the political comedy Alpha House 2013. Her primary career is in law and politics. As the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, she taught contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law. After the 2008–2009 financial crisis, she chaired the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Assets Relief Program TARP. Warren entered electoral politics by defeating incumbent Scott Brown in 2012 to become the first female US Senator from Massachusetts. She announced an exploratory committee for the 2020 presidential election on December 31, 2018, and formally launched her campaign in Lawrence, Massachusetts on February 9, 2019.

Warren married James Robert Warren on November 3, 1968; they divorced on January 17, 1980. She then married Bruce Hartllng Mann, a legal historian and Harvard law professor, on July 12, 1980. She has two children: Alexander Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi. Warren has a long-standing New Year’s Eve tradition of watching Casablanca 1942 with her husband. She has claimed 1/32 Cherokee ancestry, which has been disputed by genealogical research documenting English, Swiss-German, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Scots-Irish, Swedish, and Cornish roots.

Time Magazine named Elizabeth Warren one of its 100 Most Influential People in 2009, with an homage penned by Kamala Harris. Her advocacy for strong financial regulation and consumer protection, including her role overseeing TARP, helped shape post-crisis banking reforms. Warren’s 2012 Senate victory broke a gender barrier in Massachusetts, and her 2020 presidential campaign brought progressive economic ideas to the national stage. She is most remembered for her focus on economic inequality and detailed policy proposals aimed at reining in Wall Street and helping working families.