The school featured prominently in
James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. A documentary depicting a year in the life in the school was screened in 2001 as part of
RTÉ's
True Lives series. The popular fictional series of ''
Ross O'Carroll Kelly has mentioned Clongowes Wood on a number of occasions in the book and Irish Times'' column. ==Notable alumni==
Arts and media •
Peter Campion — actor •
Maurice Healy (writer) — author •
Nick Hewer — public relations expert •
Aidan Higgins — writer •
James Joyce — writer •
Francis Sylvester Mahony — 19th-century humorist known by the pen name "Father Prout" •
Paul McGuinness — former business manager for the Irish rock band U2 •
David McSavage — comedian, writer and producer of
The Savage Eye •
Charles Mitchel — RTÉ's first newsreader •
Micheal O'Siadhail — Irish poet •
Kieran Prendiville — television writer and producer •
John Ryan — artist, broadcaster, publisher, critic, editor, patron and publican •
Sydney Bernard Smith — poet, author, actor, and dramatist •
Patrick James Smyth — journalist •
J. T. Walsh — film actor
Law •
Sir Donnell Deeny — judge in the
High Court of Northern Ireland, pro-Chancellor of the University of Dublin •
Nial Fennelly — judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland, former Advocate General of the European Court of Justice •
Thomas Finlay — former Irish Fine Gael politician and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland •
James FitzGerald-Kenney — Irish politician, former Minister for Justice •
Raymond Groarke — president of the Circuit Court •
Alan Mahon — judge of the Court of Appeal (Ireland) •
James Patrick Mahon — known as the O'Gorman Mahon, journalist, barrister, parliamentarian •
Niall McCarthy (judge) — Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland •
Tom O'Higgins — former Chief Justice of Ireland, former Minister for Health, judge of the European Court of Justice •
Daniel O'Keeffe — chairperson of the Standards in Public Office Commission, former judge of the
High Court •
Alexander Owens — judge in the
High Court of Ireland, judge in the
Special Criminal Court •
Christopher Palles — the most eminent Irish judge of his time •
Sir John Joseph Sheil PC — Lord Justice of Appeal in Northern Ireland •
James John Skinner — first Minister of Justice of the Republic of Zambia and former Chief Justice of Malawi
Politics and diplomacy •
Frederick Boland — first Irish ambassador to the United Kingdom and to the United Nations, chancellor of the University of Dublin •
John Bruton — former Taoiseach of Ireland •
Richard Bruton — Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation •
Kevin O'Higgins — former Irish Vice-president of the Executive Council and Minister for Justice •
Michael O'Higgins — former Fine Gael TD and leader of the Seanad •
Donogh O'Malley — former Irish Minister for Health and Minister for Education •
James O'Mara — nationalist leader and key member of the First Dáil •
The O'Rahilly — Irish Volunteer, killed in the
Easter Rising •
John M. O'Sullivan —
Cumann na nGaedheal politician, cabinet minister and academic •
Cornelius James Pelly — Irish diplomat •
John Redmond — Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918
Military •
Francis Clery — British Army General who commanded 2nd Division during the Second Boer War •
Eugene Esmonde — Second World War pilot and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross •
Aidan MacCarthy — Air Commodore RAF, doctor, author of 'A Doctor's War' •
Pat Reid — British Army officer who escaped from Colditz, noted nonfiction and historical author
Religion •
James Corboy SJ — first Roman Catholic
Bishop of Monze, Zambia (1962-1992), rector of
Milltown (1959-1962) •
Joseph Dalton — Jesuit who founded a number of schools and churches in Australia •
John Charles McQuaid — Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland between 1940 and 1972 • The
O'Conor Don — Charles O'Conor •
Patrick Finbar Ryan, O.P., (1881-1975) — Dominican priest, served as Archbishop of Port of Spain, Trinidad (1940–1966)
Science and medicine •
Francis Cruise (surgeon) — Irish surgeon and urologist best known for inventing an endoscope •
Daniel Joseph Kelly O'Connell — SJ, Jesuit, astronomer and seismologist, director of Riverview and the Vatican Observatory, president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences(1968-72), the
O'Connell effect named after him •
Oliver St John Gogarty — surgeon, writer, critic, and inspiration for Buck Mulligan in James Joyce's
Ulysses •
James Bayley Butler — academic biologist and zoologist
Business •
Aidan Heavey — CEO of
Tullow Oil •
Barry O'Callaghan — chairman and CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the chairman of Education Media & Publishing Group •
Michael O'Leary — CEO of
Ryanair •
Tony O'Reilly, Junior — Irish businessman •
Michael Smurfit — businessman, former CEO of Jefferson Smurfit Group
Sports •
Tadhg Beirne — Irish rugby union international, British & Irish Lion #838, Munster rugby player •
Brian Carney — Irish rugby league player •
Will Connors — Irish rugby union international, Leinster Rugby player and former Ireland sevens player •
Thomas Crean — Irish rugby union player, British & Irish Lion #53, British Army soldier and doctor, Awarded the V.C. •
Gordon D'Arcy — Irish rugby union international, British & Irish Lion #720, Leinster rugby player •
Ted Durcan — Champion Flat Jockey, winner of multiple global classic races •
Paddy Hopkirk — international rally driver, winner of Monte Carlo Rally •
David Kearney — Irish rugby union international, Leinster rugby player •
Rob Kearney — Irish rugby union international, British & Irish Lion #766, Leinster rugby player •
James Magee — Irish cricketer and rugby union player, British & Irish Lion #56 •
Fergus McFadden — Irish rugby union international, Leinster rugby player •
Max McFarland — Scotland rugby sevens international •
Noel Purcell — Irish rugby union player, Irish & GB water polo Olympian, the first man to have represented two countries at the Olympics •
Patrick Quinlan — Australian cricketer and lawyer •
Arthur Robinson — Irish first-class cricketer •
Dan Sheehan — Irish rugby union international, Leinster rugby player ==Partner schools==