List of French people

This is a partial list of famous French or French-speaking/writing people

Table of contents

1 Actors/Actresses 2 Architects 3 Authors 4 Aviators 5 Composers 6 Criminals 7 Dancers 8 Economists 9 Fashion 10 Fictional characters 11 Filmmakers 12 Humorists 13 Monarchs 14 Musicians, singers 15 Painters 16 Philosophers 17 Politicians 18 Resistance workers 19 Scientists 20 Sculptors 21 Sportsmen and -women 22 Theologians 23 Others

Actors/Actresses

• Isabelle Adjani
• Renée Adorée
• Anouk Aimée
• Antonin Artaud, actor, playwright, poet, essayist
• Fanny Ardant
• Jean-Pierre Aumont
• Daniel Auteuil
• Charles Aznavour
• Brigitte Bardot
• Emmanuelle Béart
• Jean-Paul Belmondo
• Charles Berling
• Sarah Bernhardt
• Juliette Binoche, Academy Award for role in The English patient
• Bourvil
• Charles Boyer
• Guillaume Canet
• Capucine
• Leslie Caron
• Maurice Chevalier
• Aurore Clément
• Claudette Colbert
• Alain Delon
• Julie Delpy
• Catherine Deneuve
• Gérard Depardieu
• Fernandel
• Louis de Funès
• Jean Gabin
• Annie Girardot
• Judith Godrèche
• Eva Green
• Isabelle Huppert
• Irène Jacob
• Valérie Kaprisky
• Virginie Ledoyen
• Marcel Marceau
• Sophie Marceau, Princess Isabelle in Braveheart, a "Bond" Girl
• Jean Marais
• Miou-Miou
• Mistinguett
• Yves Montand
• Jeanne Moreau
• Michèle Morgan
• Michel Piccoli
• Pierre Richard
• Jean Rochefort
• Emmanuelle Seigner
• Simone Signoret
• Audrey Tautou
• Jean-Louis Trintignant
• Marie Trintignant
• Michael Vartan
• Hervé Villechaize

Architects

• Le Corbusier
• Étienne-Louis Boullée
• Fontaine architect
• Hector Guimard
• Charles Percier
• Claude Nicolas Ledoux
• Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

Authors

See also: French language authors, French language poets, French novelists

• Marcel Achard -- playwright and scriptwriter
• Jean Anouilh -- 20th century dramatist
• Guillaume Apollinaire -- (born Russian) poet
• Honoré de Balzac -- realist author
• Henri Barbusse
• Charles Baudelaire, 19th century poet
• Pierre Beaumarchais, comedy playwright
• Simone de Beauvoir -- 20th century author
• Henri Bergson -- Nobel Prize Winner
• Georges Bernanos
• Tristan Bernard
• Pierre Boulle
• Albert Camus -- existentialist author
• Louis-Ferdinand Céline -- 20th century author
• Aimé Césaire-- 20th century author
• René Char, 20th century poet
• François-René de Chateaubriand
• Jean Cocteau -- 20th century poet and playwright
• Colette-- 20th century author
• Benjamin Constant
• Pierre Corneille -- classicist playwright
• Alexandre Dumas, père, Author
• Alexandre Dumas, fils -- Playwright/author
• Marguerite Duras - 20th century novelist
• Paul Eluard
• Frantz Fanon -- 20th century author, psychiatrist
• Léon-Paul Fargue
• Georges Feydeau
• Alain Finkielkraut - essayist
• Gustave Flaubert -- realist author
• Anatole France
• Marie de France -- poet
• Romain Gary
• Jean Genet
• André Gide, Nobel Prize Winner
• Jean Giraudoux
• Françoise Giroud
• Victor Hugo -- novelist, poet, and playwright
• Eugène Ionesco
• Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
• Jean de La Fontaine
• Leconte de Lisle -- parnassian poet
• Alphonse de Lamartine
• Stéphane Mallarmé -- poet
• André Malraux
• Pierre de Marivaux - playwright
• Clément Marot -- poet
• Guy de Maupassant novelist
• François Mauriac - Roman Catholic writer
• Prosper Mérimée - 19th century novelist
• Jean Baptiste Poquelin dit Molière -- 17th century comedic playwright and actor
• Alfred de Musset -- 19th century poet
• Anaïs Nin
• Marcel Pagnol
• Charles Péguy -- 20th century poet
• Charles Perrault -- Mother Goose Tales
• Saint-John Perse
• Christine de Pizan, historian, poet, philosopher
• Jacques Prevert -- 20th century poet
• Marcel Proust -- novelist
• François Rabelais -- Renaissance writer
• Jean Racine -- classicist playwright
• Pauline Reage, novelist
• Arthur Rimbaud -- symbolist poet
• Edmond Rostand -- neo-romantic playwright
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- author
• Marquis de Sade -- erotic and philosophic author
• George Sand -- feminist author
• Madame de Sévigné
• Madame de Staël
• Antoine de Saint-Exupery , humanist author and aviators.
• Stendhal -- novelist (born Henry Beyle)
• Paul Valéry -- 20th century poet
• Paul Verlaine -- symbolist poet
• Jules Verne -- novelist
• Boris Vian -- 20th century author
• Alfred de Vigny -- 19th century poet
• Jean-Marie Arouet dit Voltaire -- Enlightenment author, deist/agnostic philosopher
• Émile Zola -- naturalist author

Aviators

• Clément Ader
• Jacqueline Auriol
• Louis Blériot
• Henry Farman
• Georges Guynemer
• Jean Mermoz
• Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, humanist author and aviators.

Composers

• Georges Auric
• Hector Berlioz
• Georges Bizet -- composer of Carmen
• Pierre Boulez -- avant garde composer
• Marc Antoine Charpentier
• François Couperin
• Georges Delerue
• Claude Debussy -- Impressionist composer
• Paul Dukas -- composer of The Sorcerer's Apprentice
• Gabriel Fauré
• César Franck -- also considered Belgian
• Jean-Jacques Goldman*
• Reynaldo Hahn
• Pierre Henry -- writer of musique concrete and electronic music
• Jean-Michel Jarre
• Maurice Jarre -- film music composer
• Michel Legrand
• Jean François Lesueur
• Jean Baptiste Lully, court composer to Louis XIV
• Darius Milhaud
• Jacques Offenbach -- noted for his operettas
• Francis Poulenc
• Jean Philippe Rameau
• Maurice Ravel
• Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle -- composer of "La Marseillaise", French National Anthem
• Edmond Roussel
• Camille Saint-Saëns
• Erik Satie composer of Musiques d'ameublement
• Pierre Schaeffer -- inventor of musique concrete
• Les Six -- group of composers
• Germaine Tailleferre
• Charles-Marie Widor

Criminals

For Collaboration with Nazi Germany see also the politicians section.

• Jules Bonnot
• Henri Désiré Landru -- serial killer
• Jacques Mesrine
• Maurice Papon -- politician and war criminal
• Marcel Petiot -- serial killer
• Paul Touvier -- The only Frenchman convicted of crime against humanity

Dancers

• Roland Petit
• See Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergeres

Economists

• Alain Lipietz -- green economist

Fashion

• Liliane de Bettencourt, majority owner of L'Oreal, wealthiest person in France
• Coco Chanel -- fashion designer
• Edouard de Givenchy
• Christian Dior -- fashion designer
• Jean-Paul Gaultier
• Madame Grey
• Daniel Hechter -- inventor of ready-to-wear
• Paul Poiret
• Yves Saint-Laurent -- fashion designer

Fictional characters

• Asterix, Obelix and Idefix (René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo) -- Gaul warriors
• Tintin (Hergé) -- Belgian reporter
• Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan (Alexandre Dumas) -- Musketeers of the King of France
• Cyrano de Bergerac (Edmond Rostand) -- not fictional but there's no better category ;)
• Rastignac (Honore de Balzac) -- The most ambitious man in Paris?
• The Man in the Iron Mask -- Not fictional either, but who know who he was?
• Hercule Poirot (Agatha Christie) -- a Belgian private detective.

Filmmakers

• Olivier Assayas
• Jean-Jacques Beineix
• Luc Besson
• Bertrand Blier
• Catherine Breillat
• Robert Bresson
• André Cayatte
• Jean Cocteau
• Jacques Cousteau -- inventor of the modern aqua lung
• Jacques Demy
• Abel Gance
• Jean-Luc Godard
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Mathieu Kassovitz -- also actor
• Patrice Leconte
• Claude Lelouch
• Louis Malle
• André Malraux
• Georges Méliès
• Maurice Pialat
• Roman Polanski
• Jean Renoir
• Alain Resnais
• Alain Sarde
• Jacques Tati
• François Truffaut, director
• Roger Vadim -- director
• Agnès Varda
• Jean Vigo

Humorists

• Coluche
• Francis Blanche
• Pierre Dac humorist and Resistance worker
• Pierre Desproges

Monarchs

See also French monarchs, members of the French Royal Families

• Charlemagne
• Henri IV
• Louis XIV, the Sun King -- King of France
• Louis XVI -- King of France when the Revolution started.
• Marie Antoinette -- Austrian born Queen of France, wife of Louis XVI.
• Napoléon Bonaparte and Joséphine de Beauharnais -- Emperor and Empress of France
• Napoleon III -- Président and Emperor

Musicians, singers

• Charles Aznavour
• Josephine Baker, American born entertainer
• Jane Bathori, opera singer
• Barbara
• Michel Berger
• Georges Brassens
• Manu Chao
• Dalida
• Damia
• Marie Dubas
• France Gall
• Serge Gainsbourg
• Jean-Jacques Goldman
• Georgius
• Stéphane Grappelli -- jazz musician
• Johnny Hallyday -- France's Elvis
• David Hallyday
• Kiki -- "Queen of Montparnasse"
• Claudine Longet
• Luis Mariano
• Félix Mayol
• Mireille Mathieu
• Mistinguett
• Pierre Perret
• Edith Piaf
• Tino Rossi
• Alain Souchon
• Charles Trénet
• Sylvie Vartan
• Pauline Garcia-Viardot - opera singer & composer

Painters

• François Boucher
• Pierre Brissaud
• Gustave Caillebotte
• Paul Cézanne
• Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot
• Gustave Courbet
• Thomas Couture
• Jacques Louis David
• Edgar Degas
• Eugène Delacroix
• Robert Delaunay
• André Derain
• Marcel Duchamp
• Suzanne Duchamp
• Henri Fantin-Latour
• Jean-Honoré Fragonard
• Antonio de La Gandara
• Paul Gauguin
• Jean-Baptiste Gros
• Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres
• Charles de La Tour
• Georges Lacombe
• Fernand Léger
• Edouard Manet
• Henri Matisse
• Claude Monet
• Gustave Moreau
• Berthe Morisot
• Francis Picabia
• Camille Pissarro
• Nicolas Poussin
• Pierre-Auguste Renoir
• Georges Seurat
• Nicolas de Staël
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
• Maurice Utrillo
• Suzanne Valadon
• Horace Vernet
• Jacques Villon
• Philippe Watteau

Philosophers

• Jean le Rond d'Alembert
• Jean Baudrillard -- philosopher and sociologist
• Pierre Bourdieu, sociologist
• Julien Benda
• Henri Bergson
• Jean de Crèvecoeur
• Gilles Deleuze
• Jacques Derrida
• René Descartes -- scientist and philosopher
• Denis Diderot -- Enlightenment author and atheist philosopher
• Elisabeth Bourdiau de Fontenay
• Michel Foucault
• Vladimir Jankelevitch
• Etienne de La Boétie -- philosopher and politician
• Marcel Légaut - christian philosopher
• Jean de Léry -- corsaireand ethnologist, anti-racism acivist
• Emmanual Lévinas
• Gabriel Marcel -- philosopher
• Maurice Merleau-Ponty -- existentialist philosopher
• Michel de Montaigne -- philosopher essayist
• Montesquieu, political philosopher
• Emmanuel Mounier -- philosopher
• Jean Luc Nancy -- philosopher
• Blaise Pascal -- scientist, Christian philosopher and author
• Paul Ricoeur
• Jean-Paul Sartre -- existentialist philosopher
• Michel Serres
• Simone Weil

Politicians

See also: Prime Ministers of France, Presidents of France

• Pierre Badinter -- lawyer, statesman and anti death sentence activist
• Léon Blum
• José Bové -- anti-globalization activist
• Marcel Cachin -- founder of the daily periodic L'Humanité
• Jacques Chirac
• Samuel de Champlain -- 1st governor of Canada
• Georges Clemenceau
• Gaspard de Coligny
• Bertrand Delanoë
• Jacques Delors
• Félix Faure, President of France who died of a heart attack while making love to his mistress
• Charles de Gaulle
• Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
• Guizot, Prime Minister
• Gisèle Halimi lawyer and feminist activist
• Jean Jaurès, politician, pacifist
• Lionel Jospin
• Bernard Kouchner -- founder of Medecins du Monde and other "French Doctors"
• Jean-Marie Le Pen
• Alain Lipietz -- green economist
• Pierre Mendès-France -- Lawyer and Statesman
• Honoré Mirabeau
• François Mitterrand -- Lawyer and Statesman
• Jean Monnet
• Henri Philippe Pétain -- Head of Vichy France
• Alexandre de Prouville, Viceroy of New France
• Jean-Pierre Raffarin -- Prime Minister of France since 2002
• Victor Schoelcher -- anti-slavery activist
• Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
• Maurice Thorez
• Jacques Toubon
• Dominique Voynet -- Physician and Green politician

Resistance workers

See also French Resistance

• Raymond Aubrac (born 1914), statesman
• Lucie Samuel-Aubrac(born 1912), human rights activist
• Eliane Plewman (1917-1944), SOE operative: Croix de Guerre
• Robert Benoist (1895-1944), SOE operative, champion race car driver
• Denise Bloch (1915-1945), SOE operative: King's Commendation for Brave Conduct, Legion of Honor, French Resistance Medal
• Andrée Borrel (1919-1944), SOE operative: Croix de Guerre
• Madeleine Damerment (1917-1944), SOE operative: Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerre, Médaille combattant volontaire de la Résistance
• Marie Louise Dissard
• William Grover-Williams (1903-1945), SOE operative, champion race car driver
• Cecily Lefort (1900-1945), SOE operative: Croix de Guerre
• Jean Moulin (1899-1943), statesman
• Christian Pineau(1904-1995), statesman
• Pierre Mendès-France (1907-1982), lawyer, statesman
• Germaine Ribière
• Elise Rivet (1890-1945), nun executed by Nazis for aiding the resistance
• Lilian Rolfe (1914-1945), SOE agent executed by the Nazis
• Odette Sansom (1912-1995), SOE operative: George Cross, MBE, Legion of Honor
• Suzanne Spaak, Belgian-born agent: "Red Orchestra" intelligence network; executed 1944
• Violette Szabo (1921-1945), SOE operative: George Cross, Croix de Guerre
• Jean-Pierre Wimille (1908-1949), SOE operative, champion race car driver

Scientists

• Louis Agassiz -- geologist
• André-Marie Ampère -- scientist
• François Arago -- physicist, astronomer (and also politician)
• Jean Baptiste Biot -- physicist
• Jean-Charles de Borda -- mathematician, physicist, political scientist
• Louis de Broglie -- 1929 Physics Nobel Prize winner.
• Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot -- physicist
• Augustin Louis Cauchy -- mathematician
• Jean-François Champollion -- egyptologist
• Emilie du Chatelet -- 18th century mathematician
• Georges Charpak -- physicist, Nobel price winner
• Marquis de Condorcet -- philosopher, mathematician and political scientist
• Charles-Augustin de Coulomb -- physicist, mathematician, engineer
• Jacques Cousteau, Marine scientist
• Joseph Cugnot
• Irène Joliot-Curie -- scientist
• Marie Curie -- scientist
• Pierre Curie -- scientist
• Guillaume Delisle, cartographer
• René Descartes -- scientist and philosopher
• Girard Desargues -- mathematician
• Georges Duby -- historian
• Pierre de Fermat -- mathematician
• Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier -- mathematician and physicist
• Pierre Gassendi -- philosopher mathematician
• Pierre-Gilles de Gennes -- physicist, Nobel prize winner
• Evariste Galois -- mathematician
• Frédéric Joliot -- scientist
• Joseph Louis Lagrange -- mathematician
• Pierre-Simon Laplace -- mathematician and physicist
• Antoine Lavoisier
• Claude Levi-Strauss, anthropologist
• Antoine Lévi-Leblond -- physicist
• Albert Matthiez -- historian
• André Michaux -- botanist and explorer
• Jules Michelet -- historian
• Abraham de Moivre -- mathematician
• Theodore Monod -- naturalist and theologian
• Claude Mossé -- (Ms), historian
• Denis Papin
• Louis Pasteur -- scientist
• Blaise Pascal -- mathematician and philosopher
• Étienne Pascal -- mathematician
• Henri Poincaré -- scientist
• Simeon Poisson -- mathematician and physicist
• Jean Rostand
• Albert Soboul -- historian
• Jean-Pierre Vernant -- historian
• Pierre Vidal-Naquet -- historian and Civil Rights activist
• Pierre Vilar, historian
• Christophe Victor -- geographer
• Paul-Emile Victor -- ethnologist

Sculptors

• Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
• César
• Camille Claudel
• Raymond Duchamp-Villon
• Jean Antoine Houdon
• Georges Lacombe
• Auguste Préault
• Auguste Rodin
• Niki de Saint-Phalle

Sportsmen and -women

• Tariq Abdul-Wahad -- NBA player (born Olivier Saint-Jean)
• Louis Acaries -- boxer, former world title challenger, now promoter
• Jacques Anquetil -- cyclist
• Fabien Barthez -- football player
• Louison Bobet -- cyclist
• Surya Bonaly - figure skater
• Philippe Candeloro - figure skater
• Eric Cantona -- football player
• Georges Carpentier -- world champion boxer
• Marcel Cerdan -- world champion boxer
• Eugene Criqui -- world champion boxer
• Emile Delahaye -- race car pioneer
• Marcel Desailly -- Ghana born French citizen, football player
• David Douillet -- judo
• Laurent Fignon -- cyclist
• Thierry Henry -- football player
• Bernard Hinault -- cyclist
• Constant Huret -- cyclist
• Olivier Jacque -- motorcycle rider
• Rene Jacquot -- boxer, underdog who became world champion
• Laurent Jalabert -- cyclist
• Jean-Claude Killy -- skier
• Suzanne Lenglen -- tennis player
• Bixente Lizarazu - football player
• Jeannie Longo -- cyclist
• Amelie Mauresmo -- tennis player
• Jose Meiffret -- cyclist
• Alain Mimoun -- athlete
• Antoine Monteiro -- boxer, lost to Santos Laciar for the world title
• Carole Montillet -- skier
• Yannick Noah -- tennis player
• Tony Parker -- Belgian born French citizen, NBA player
• Marie-José Perec -- athlete
• Mary Pierce-- Canadian born French citizen, tennis player
• Michel Platini -- football player
• Alain Prost -- automobile racer
• Marcel Thil -- world champion boxer
• Christophe Tiozzo -- world champion boxer
• Fabrice Tiozzo -- world champion boxer, Christophe's brother
• Patrick Vieira -- Senegal born French citizen, football player
• Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver
• Zinédine Zidane -- football player

Theologians

• Marie-Emile Boismard o.p.
• Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
• Jean Calvin
• Sebastian Castellion -- translator of the Bible
• Bernard of Clairvaux
• Yves Congar o.p.
• André Gounelle
• Pierre Lagrange o.p. -- founder of the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique de Jérusalem
• Hubert Languet
• Maurice Leenhardt -- ethnologist, theologien
• Etienne Mennegoz
• Wilfred Monod
• Etienne Nodet o.p.
• Rachi de Champagne
• Pierre Teilhard de Chardin s.j.
• Auguste Sabatier
• Antonin Sertillanges o.p. -- founder of the Revue Thomiste
• Bernard Sesboué s.j.

Others

• André the Giant, professional wrestler
• Frédéric Bartholdi
• Paul Bocuse -- Chief cook
• André Citroen
• Charles Cros -- poet and inventor
• Jeanne d'Arc -- (Joan of Arc) warrior, Saint.
• Pierre de Coubertin -- initiator of the modern Olympic Games
• Bob Denard -- mercenary
• Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt
• Ninon de l'Enclos -- courtesan, patron of the arts
• Cavalier de la Salle -- explorer
• Alfred Dreyfus
• René Dumont -- agronomist engineer and sociologist and ecology activist
• Jules Dumont d'Urville
• Eleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours -- entrepreneur, founder of DuPont
• Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours -- entrepreneur
• Maurice Duverger -- jurist
• Gustave Eiffel -- engineer
• Marquis de la Fayette -- military leader in the American Revolution
• Ferdinand Foch -- general
• Paul Héroult -- inventor
• Claude de Jouffroy d'Abbans, designed the first steamship in 1783
• René Lalique -- artist
• Charles Leclerc -- general
• Jacques-Donatien Le Ray -- a "Father of the American Revolution"
• Auguste and Louis Lumière -- inventors
• Jean Paul Marat
• Marcel Mazoyer -- agronomist
• Montgolfier brothers -- balloonists
• Jean-Marie Pelt -- botanist
• Lionel Poilâne -- boulanger
• Elisée Reclus -- geographer and anarchist
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin -- magician, namesake of "Harry Houdini"
• Philippe Starck - designer

See also: List of people by nationality - List of Monegasque people, Catalans, Swiss, Belgians, Franco-Belgian comics