Explained

Barack Obama

Self (archive footage) (4 episodes)

Estelle Caswell

Narrator (voice) (3 episodes)

Joe Biden

Self (archive footage) (3 episodes)

Richard Nixon

Self (archive footage) (2 episodes)

Maria Bello

Narrator (voice) (2 episodes)

Bill Clinton

Self (archive footage) (2 episodes)

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Self (archive footage) (2 episodes)

Nelson Mandela

Self (archive footage) (2 episodes)

George H. W. Bush

Self (archive footage) (2 episodes)

Donald Trump

Self (archive footage) (2 episodes)

Vladimir Putin

Self (archive footage) (2 episodes)

Samira Wiley

Narrator (voice) (2 episodes)

Lyndon B. Johnson

Self (archive footage) (2 episodes)

Tablo

Self (1 episode)

Park Ji-min

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Min Yoon-gi

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Kim Tae-hyung

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Kim Seok-jin

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Kim Nam-joon

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Jeon Jung-kook

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Jung Ho-seok

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Park Chung-hee

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Yang Hyun Suk

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

DJ Tukutz

Self (1 episode)

Mithra Jin

Self (1 episode)

Lee Soo-man

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Kim Dae-jung

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Psy

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Seo Taiji

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Primary

Self (1 episode)

Karlie Kloss

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

LaKeith Stanfield

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Jim Jones

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Catherine Oxenberg

Self - Mother of NXIVM Cult Member (1 episode)

Aasif Mandvi

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Andrew Carnegie

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Warren Buffett

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

John D. Rockefeller Sr.

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Cornelius Vanderbilt

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

John Maynard Keynes

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Kyle MacLachlan

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Vincent Kartheiser

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Aya Cash

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Big Boi

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Jane Fonda

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Maggie Siff

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Abigail Disney

Self (1 episode)

Michael Jordan

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Mark Cuban

Self (1 episode)

Bernie Sanders

Self (1 episode)

Grace Kelly

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Virginia Woolf

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Eleanor Roosevelt

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Kate Middleton

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

William, Prince of Wales

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Yara Shahidi

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Nick Kroll

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Joss Fong

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Neville Sanjana

Self - Biologist (1 episode)

Jennifer Doudna

Self - CRISPR Pioneer (1 episode)

John Evans

Self - Sociologist (1 episode)

Hank Greely

Self - Law Professor (1 episode)

Rebecca Cokley

Self - Disability Rights Activist (1 episode)

Emmanuelle Charpentier

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Francis Collins

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Dick Costolo

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Don Lemon

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Keith Morrison

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Reena Ninan

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

John Franklin Stephens

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Rachel McAdams

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Hillary Clinton

Self (1 episode)

Valentine Rugwabiza

Self (1 episode)

Elizabeth Warren

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Kirsten Gillibrand

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Sandra Day O'Connor

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Jerry Springer

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Anderson Cooper

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Mike Wallace

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Coleman Lowndes

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

LeVar Burton

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Christian Slater

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Kevin Smith

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Kristen Bell

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Carly Rae Jepsen

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Rachel Bloom

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Mehrsa Baradaran

Self - Author (1 episode)

Cory Booker

Self - U.S. Senator (1 episode)

Thomas Shapiro

Self - Sociologist (1 episode)

Beth Jacobson

Self - Foreclosure Specialist (1 episode)

James Baldwin

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Edward A. Bouchet

Self - First Black Ph.D Recipient (archive footage) (1 episode)

Shirley Chisholm

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Stephen Colbert

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Bessie Coleman

Self - First Black Licensed Pilot (archive footage) (1 episode)

Alan Greenspan

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Jesse Jackson

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Jay-Z

Self (voice) (1 episode)

Robert L. Johnson

Self - First Black Billionaire (archive footage) (1 episode)

Martin Luther King Jr.

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Dennis Kucinich

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Abraham Lincoln

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Alain Leroy Locke

Self - First Black Rhodes Scholar (archive footage) (1 episode)

Malcolm X

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Thurgood Marshall

Self - First Black Supreme Court Justice (archive footage) (1 episode)

Hattie McDaniel

Self - First Black Oscar Winner (archive footage) (1 episode)

Michelle Obama

Self - First Black First Lady (archive footage) (1 episode)

Jesse Owens

Self - Four-Time Olympic Gold Medalist (archive footage) (1 episode)

Colin Powell

Self - First Black Secretary of State (archive footage) (1 episode)

Joseph Rainey

Self - First Black Congressperson (archive footage) (1 episode)

Hiram Revels

Self - First Black Senator (archive footage) (1 episode)

Jackie Robinson

Self - First Black MLB Player (archive footage) (1 episode)

Rick Santelli

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

William Tecumseh Sherman

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Ruth Simmons

Self - First Black Ivy League President (archive footage) (1 episode)

Edwin M. Stanton

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

George Stephanopoulos

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Brian Williams

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Hilary Swank

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Noam Chomsky

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Natasha Lyonne

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Adolf Eichmann

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

J.K. Simmons

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Bill Gates

Self (1 episode)

John Waters

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Cleo Abram

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Kelly Rowland

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Keri Russell

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Rosario Dawson

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Connie Britton

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Fidel Castro

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

George W. Bush

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Adolf Hitler

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Ronald Reagan

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Ann Coulter

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Peter Jennings

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Dan Rather

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Tom Brokaw

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Ruth Negga

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Jake Gyllenhaal

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Ethan Hawke

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Boris Johnson

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Moon Jae-in

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Xi Jinping

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Rainn Wilson

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Sophie Okonedo

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Keke Palmer

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Doja Cat

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Justin Trudeau

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Ted Cruz

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Michael Bloomberg

Self (archive footage) (1 episode)

Hector Elizondo

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Kim Cattrall

Narrator (voice) (1 episode)

Ezra Klein

Executive producer (20 episodes)

Joe Posner

Executive producer (20 episodes)

Claire Gordon

Executive producer (20 episodes)

Cleo Abram

Producer (2 episodes)

Emily Kassie

Director (1 episode)