Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Hanks & More to Receive Presidential Medal of Freedom - Full List!

President Obama has announced the recipients of his 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the list includes famous faces like Ellen DeGeneres and Tom Hanks.

Overall, 21 celebrities, musicians, athletes, scientists, and more will receive this year’s honor. The honorees were chosen because they “have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant or private endeavors.”

Click inside for the full list of recipients…

Robert De Niro
Cicely Tyson
Robert Redford
Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels
Diana Ross
Bruce Springsteen
athlete Michael Jordan
athlete Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
athlete Vin Scully
physicist Richard Garwin
activist Elouise Cobell (posthumous)
philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates
scientist Margaret H. Hamilton
scientist Grace Hopper (posthumous)
artist Maya Lin; attorney Newt Minow
Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padrón