A list of famous people, chosen mainly from the nineteenth, twentieth or twenty-first centuries. This list includes famous actors, politicians, entrepreneurs, writers, artists and humanitarians.

  1. Marilyn Monroe (1926 – 1962) American actress, singer, model
  2. Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) US President during American civil war
  3. Nelson Mandela (1918 – 2013)  South African President anti-apartheid campaigner
  4. Queen Elizabeth II (1926 – 2022) British monarch since 1954
  5. John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) US President 1961 – 1963
  6. Martin Luther King (1929 – 1968)  American civil rights campaigner
  7. Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965) British Prime Minister during WWII
  8. Donald Trump (1946 – ) Businessman, US President.
  9. Bill Gates (1955 – ) American businessman, founder of Microsoft
  10. Muhammad Ali (1942 – 2016) American Boxer and civil rights campaigner
  11. Mahatma Gandhi (1869 – 1948) Leader of Indian independence movement
  12. Mother Teresa (1910 – 1997) Macedonian Catholic missionary nun
  13. Christopher Columbus (1451 – 1506) Italian explorer
  14. Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882) British scientist, theory of evolution
  15. Elvis Presley (1935 – 1977) American musician
  16. Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) German scientist, theory of relativity
  17. Paul McCartney (1942 – ) British musician, member of Beatles
  18. Queen Victoria ( 1819 – 1901) British monarch 1837 – 1901
  19. Pope Francis (1936 – ) First pope from the Americas
  20. Jawaharlal Nehru (1889 – 1964) Indian Prime Minister 1947 – 1964
  21. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) Italian, painter, scientist, polymath
  22. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890) Dutch artist
  23. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945) US President 1932 – 1945
  24. Pope John Paul II (1920 – 2005) Polish Pope
  25. Thomas Edison ( 1847 – 1931) American inventor
  26. Rosa Parks (1913 – 2005)  American civil rights activist
  27. Lyndon Johnson (1908 – 1973) US President 1963 – 1969
  28. Ludwig Beethoven (1770 – 1827) German composer
  29. Oprah Winfrey (1954 – ) American TV presenter, actress, entrepreneur
  30. Indira Gandhi (1917 – 1984) Prime Minister of India 1966 – 1977
  31. Eva Peron (1919 – 1952) First Lady of Argentina 1946 – 1952
  32. Benazir Bhutto (1953 – 2007) Prime Minister of Pakistan 1993 – 1996
  33. George Orwell (1903 – 1950) British author
  34. Vladimir Putin (1952 – ) Russian leader
  35. Dalai Lama (1938 – ) Spiritual and political leader of Tibetans
  36. Walt Disney (1901 – 1966) American film producer
  37. Neil Armstrong (1930 – 2012) US astronaut
  38. Peter Sellers (1925 – 1980) British actor and comedian
  39. Barack Obama (1961 – ) US President 2008 – 2016
  40. Malcolm X (1925 – 1965) American Black nationalist leader
  41. J.K.Rowling (1965 – ) British author
  42. Richard Branson (1950 – ) British entrepreneur
  43. Pele (1940 – ) Brazilian footballer, considered greatest of 20th century.
  44. Angelina Jolie (1975 – ) Actress, director, humanitarian
  45. Jesse Owens (1913 – 1980) US track athlete, 1936 Olympics
  46. John Lennon (1940 – 1980) British musician, member of the Beatles
  47. Henry Ford (1863 – 1947) US Industrialist
  48. Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975) Emperor of Ethiopia 1930 – 1974
  49. Joseph Stalin (1879 – 1953) Leader of Soviet Union 1924 – 1953
  50. Lord Baden Powell (1857 – 1941) British Founder of scout movement
  51. Michael Jordon (1963 – ) US Basketball star
  52. Vladimir Lenin (1870 – 1924) Leader of Russian Revolution 1917
  53. Ingrid Bergman (1915 – 1982) Swedish actress
  54. Fidel Castro (1926 –2016 ) President of Cuba 1976 – 2008
  55. Leo Tolstoy (1828 – 1910) Russian author and philosopher
  56. Greta Thunberg (2003 – ) Environmentalist activist
  57. Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) Spanish modern artist
  58. Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) Irish author, poet, playwright
  59. Coco Chanel (1883 – 1971) French fashion designer
  60. Charles de Gaulle (1890 – 1970) French resistance leader and President 1959 – 1969
  61. Amelia Earhart (1897 – 1937) Aviator
  62. John M Keynes (1883 – 1946) British economist
  63. Louis Pasteur (1822 – 1895) French chemist and microbiologist
  64. Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – ) Leader of Soviet Union 1985 – 1991
  65. Plato (423 BC – 348 BC) Greek philosopher
  66. Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) leader of Nazi Germany 1933 – 1945
  67. Sting (1951 – ) British musician
  68. Elon Musk (1971 – ) Business magnate, and entrepreneur.
  69. Mary Magdalene (4 BCE – 40CE) devotee of Jesus Christ
  70. Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980) English / American film producer, director
  71. Michael Jackson (1958 – 2009) American musician
  72. Madonna (1958 – ) American musician, actress, author
  73. Mata Hari (1876 – 1917) Dutch exotic dancer, executed as spy
  74. Cleopatra (69 – 30 BCE) Queen of Egypt
  75. Grace Kelly (1929 – 1982) American actress, Princess of Monaco
  76. Malala Yousafzai (1997 – ) Pakistani human rights activist
  77. Steve Jobs (1955 – 2012) co-founder of Apple computers
  78. Ronald Reagan (1911 – 2004) US President 1981-1989
  79. Lionel Messi (1987 – ) Argentinian footballer
  80. Babe Ruth (1895 – 1948) American baseball player
  81. Bob Geldof (1951 – ) Irish musician, charity worker
  82. Roger Federer (1981 – ) Swiss Tennis player
  83. Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939) Austrian psychoanalyst
  84. Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) US president 1913 – 1921
  85. Mao Zedong (1893 – 1976) Leader of Chinese Communist revolution
  86. Katherine Hepburn (1907 – 2003) American actress
  87. Audrey Hepburn (1929 – 1993) British actress and humanitarian
  88. David Beckham (1975 – )  English footballer
  89. Tiger Woods (1975 – ) American golfer
  90. Usain Bolt (1986 – ) Jamaican athlete and Olympian
  91. Carl Lewis (1961 – ) US athlete and Olympian
  92. Prince Charles (1948 – )  Heir to British throne
  93. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929 – 1994) American wife of JF Kennedy
  94. Joe Biden (1942 – ) US President
  95. Kim Kardashian (1980 – ) American socialiate
  96. C.S. Lewis (1898 – 1963) British author
  97. Billie Holiday (1915 – 1959) American jazz singer
  98. J.R.R. Tolkien (1892 – 1973) British author
  99. Billie Jean King (1943 – ) American tennis player and human rights activist
  100. Margaret Thatcher (1925 – 2013) British Prime Minister 1979 – 1990

More famous people

  1. Anne Frank (1929 – 1945) Dutch Jewish author who died in Holocaust
  2. Simon Bolivar (1783 – 1830) Venezuelan independence activist in South America.
  3. Marie Antoinette (1755 – 1793) French Queen, executed during the French revolution
  4. Cristiano Ronaldo (1985 – ) Portuguese footballer.
  5. Emmeline Pankhurst  (1858 – 1928) English suffragette.
  6. Emile Zatopek (1922 – 2000) Czech athlete
  7. Desmond Tutu (1931 – 2021) South African Bishop and opponent of apartheid
  8. Lech Walesa (1943 – ) Polish leader of Solidarity movement
  9. Julie Andrews (1935 – ) British singer, actress
  10. Florence Nightingale (1820 – 1910) British nurse
  11. Marie Curie (1867 – 1934) Polish / French scientist
  12. Stephen Hawking (1942 – ) British scientist
  13. Tim Berners Lee (1955 – ) English creator of World Wide Web
  14. Aung San Suu Kyi (1945 – ) Burmese opposition leader
  15. Lance Armstrong (1971 – ) American cyclist
  16. Shakira (1977 – ) Colombian singer
  17. Jon Stewart (1962 – ) American comedian
  18. Wright Brothers  Orville (1871 – 1948) and Wilbur (1867 – 1912) American inventors, aviation pioneers
  19. Ernest Hemingway (1899 – 1961) American author
  20. Roman Abramovich (1966 – ) Russian oligarch
  21. Tom Cruise (1962 – ) American actor
  22. Rupert Murdoch (1931 – ) Media owner of News Corporation
  23. Al Gore (1948 – ) US presidential candidate and environmental campaigner
  24. Sacha Baron Cohen (1971 – ) English comedian
  25. George Clooney (1961 – ) American actor and political activist
  26. Paul Krugman (1953 – ) American Nobel Prize winning economist
  27. Jimmy Wales (1966 – ) American creator of Wikipedia
  28. Brad Pitt (1963 – ) Actor
  29. Kylie Minogue (1968 – ) Australian singer and actress
  30. Stephen King (1947 – ) American author