Two Degrees of Separation (from me) by PotatoD

In high school, I performed many times on stage with his beautiful and talented future (second) wife, making me two degrees of separation from this movie star, whose injury in a horseback riding accident transformed him (and my high school cast-mate) into activists for spinal cord injury research. Name the actor.

A good friend of mine teaches at a Manhattan private school for (among others) children of the rich and famous, so I'm probably two degrees of separation from a bunch of people, but she doesn't like to say who they are. But I do know that among the parents with whom she rubs elbows is this Indiana-born former weatherman better known for other pursuits. Name the celebrity.

I'm not sure what to call it when you're separated by two degrees from someone in two different ways, but that's my situation with this prominent civil rights activist, co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and former chairman of the NAACP. My daughter took a college class with him at American University--maybe the last course he taught before his recent death in 2015--and a friend of mine is married to his nephew. Name the activist.

Because I went to junior high with Rob Morrow, I'm two degrees of separation from this actor, who appeared with Morrow in Northern Exposure and later starred in one of the top-grossing romantic comedies of all time as well as a current sequel. Name the actor.

In college, this future Emmy-nominated actress was cast in a production of Sondheim's musical, Company, but ultimately declined the role, so it went to me, making us separated by two degrees. The role she turned down, originated by Beth Howland on Broadway (as well as one role for which the actress in question has been nominated for an Emmy) has the same first name as the actress herself. Name the actress.

Brian Greene, a theoretical physicist well-known for his scientific books for general audiences and related TV appearances (including one appearing as himself on a hit sitcom), was in my college class. I never met him, but, hey, I'm making the rules here, and I say that makes me two degrees of separation from this actor, identified by Forbes Magazine as the top-paid prime time TV actor of 2015. Name the actor.

For a year and a half in the early '70s, my family rented a house in Arlington, Virginia, that was said to have belonged to this American contralto, best known for her rendition of "God Bless America," so I'm two degrees of separation from her as well. Or maybe it was her mother's house, I don't remember. What do I know? I was in elementary school. Name the singer.

One of my colleagues went to this tony high school with Barack Obama, so I'm two degrees of separation from him as well. Name the high school, which also features in the George Clooney movie, "The Descendants."

Through the director of my daughter's show choir, who likes to take credit for launching his career, I'm separated by two degrees actor Edward Norton, who was nominated in 2015 for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in Birdman, which won Best Picture. He also appeared in a DIFFERENT Best Picture-nominated film in the same year. Name the film.

My sister once brought Jodie Foster home from Yale for our family Passover seder, so I'm connected by just one degree of separation from Jodie herself, but I'm two degrees of separation from her many co-stars, including this seven-time Oscar nominated, two-time Oscar-winning actor (Best Supporting Actor 1974, Best Actor 1980). Name the actor.

I once took my daughter to a playdate at the home of a preschool classmate, who was the niece of this award-winning playwright and screenwriter, making me connected to him by two degrees of separation. The classmate's mom (the playwright's sister) was a lawyer whose time in the Judge Advocate General corps inspired her brother's first big hit. Name the playwright/screenwriter.

John Guare wrote the play "Six Degrees of Separation" based on a true story. One of the families in the true story was that of a college classmate of mine, whom I met once when she came to buy tickets to a concert, but then it turned out she thought it was a Kinks concert but it was actually a concert by the King's Singers, so she passed. So I guess I'm two degrees of separation from John Guare. His play centers on a young man who claimed to be the son of an Academy award-winning actor. Name the actor.