Famous French or French-speaking/writing people
Actors/Actresses
- Isabelle Adjani
- Anouk Aimée
- Fanny Ardant
- Jean-Pierre Aumont
- Charles Aznavour
- Brigitte Bardot
- Emmanuelle Béart
- Jean-Paul Belmondo
- Sarah Bernhardt
- Juliette Binoche, Academy Award for role in The English patient
- Charles Boyer
- Capucine
- Leslie Caron
- Maurice Chevalier
- Claudette Colbert
- Alain Delon
- Julie Delpy
- Gérard Depardieu
- Catherine Deneuve
- Fernandel
- Jean Gabin
- Judith Godrèche
- Isabelle Huppert
- Irene Jacob
- Valérie Kaprisky
- Marcel Marceau
- Sophie Marceau, Princess Isabelle in Braveheart, a "Bond" Girl
- Jean Marais
- Miou-Miou
- Mistinguett
- Yves Montand
- Jeanne Moreau
- Emmanuelle Seigner
- Simone Signoret
- Jean-Louis Trintignant
- Michael Vartan
- Hervé Villechaize
Architects
- Le Corbusier
- Etienne-Louis Boullee
- Fontaine architect
- Hector Guimard
- Charles Percier
- Claude Nicolas Ledoux
- Eugene Viollet-le-Duc
Authors
- Marcel Achard -- French playwright and scriptwriter
- Guillaume Apollinaire -- (born Russian) poet
- Honoré de Balzac -- realist author
- Henri Barbusse
- Charles Baudelaire -- 19th century poet
- Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais -- comedy playwright
- Simone de Beauvoir -- 20th century author
- Henri Bergson -- Nobel Prize Winner
- Tristan Bernard
- Albert Camus -- existentialist author
- Louis-Ferdinand Céline -- 20th century author
- Aimé Césaire-- 20th century author
- François-René de Châteaubriand
- Colette-- 20th century author
- Benjamin Constant
- Pierre Corneille -- classicist playwright
- Alexandre Dumas, pere -- Author
- Alexandre Dumas, fils -- Playwright/author
- Marguerite Duras - 20th century novelist
- Léon-Paul Fargue
- Georges Feydeau
- Gustave Flaubert -- realist author
- Anatole France
- Marie de France -- poet
- Romain Gary
- Jean Genet
- Andre Gide -- Nobel Prize Winner
- Jean Giraudoux
- Victor Hugo -- novelist and playwright
- Eugène Ionesco
- Alphonse de Lamartine
- Stéphane Mallarmé -- poet
- André Malraux
- Pierre de Marivaux - playwright
- Clément Marot -- poet
- Guy de Maupassant novelist
- Francois Mauriac - Roman Catholic writer
- Jean Baptiste Poquelin dit Molière -- 17th century comedic playwright and actor
- Alfred de Musset
- Anaïs Nin
- Charles Perrault -- Mother Goose Tales
- Christine de Pisan -- historian, poet, philosopher
- Marcel Proust -- novelist
- Francois Rabelais -- Renaissance writer
- Jean Racine -- classicist playwright
- Arthur Rimbaud -- symbolist poet
- Edmond Rostand -- neo-romantic playwright
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- author
- Marquis de Sade -- erotic and philosophic author
- George Sand -- feminist author
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -- author
- Stendhal -- novelist
- Paul Verlaine -- symbolist poet
- Jules Verne
- Boris Vian -- 20th century author
- Alfred de Vigny
- Jean-Marie Arouet dit Voltaire -- Enlightenment author, deist/agnostic philosopher
- Èmile Zola -- naturalist author
Aviators
Composers
- Georges Auric
- Hector Berlioz
- Georges Bizet -- composer of Carmen
- Pierre Boulez -- avant garde composer
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier
- Claude Debussy -- Impressionist composer
- Paul Dukas -- composer of The Sorcerer's Apprentice
- Gabriel Fauré
- César Franck -- also considered Belgian
- Reynaldo Hahn
- Pierre Henry -- writer of musique concrete and electronic music
- Maurice Jarre
- 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
Dancers
- Roland Petit
- See Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergeres
Fashion Designers
- 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
Filmmakers
- Jean-Jacques Beneix
- Luc Besson
- Bertrand Blier
- Robert Bresson
- André Cayatte
- Jean Cocteau
- Abel Gance
- Jean-Luc Godard
- Claude Lelouch
- Louis Malle
- André Malraux
- Georges Méliès
- Roman Polanski
- Jean Renoir
- Alain Resnais
- Jacques Tati
- François Truffaut -- director
- Roger Vadim -- director
Humorists
- Coluche
- Francis Blanche
- Pierre Dac humorist and Resistance worker
- Pierre Desproges
Musicians, singers
- Charles Aznavour
- Barbara
- Georges Brassens
- Dalida
- Serge Gainsbourg
- Johnny Hallyday -- France's Elvis
- David Hallyday
- Kiki -- "Queen of Montparnasse"
- Claudine Longet
- Luis Mariano
- Mireille Mathieu
- Mistinguett
- Pierre Perret
- Edith Piaf
- Tino Rossi
- Charles Trenet
- Sylvie Vartan
- Pauline Garcia-Viardot - opera singer & composer
Painters
- See French Impressionists
- Francois Boucher -- painter
- Paul Cézanne
- Jacques Louis David
- Edgar Degas
- Marcel Duchamp
- Henri Fantin-Latour
- Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- Paul Gauguin
- Jean-Baptiste Gros
- Charles de La Tour
- Fernand Léger
- Edouard Manet
- Henri Matisse
- Claude Monet -- impressionist painter
- Gustave Moreau
- Berthe Morisot
- Nicolas Poussin
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir -- painter
- Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
- Nicolas de Staël
- Philippe Watteau
Philosophers
- Jean Le Rond d'Alembert
- Pierre Bourdieu, sociologist
- Henri Bergson
- 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
- Michel de Montaigne -- philosopher essayist
- Montesquieu -- political philosopher
- Emmanuel Mounier -- philosopher
- Blaise Pascal -- scientist, Christian philosopher and author
- Jean-Paul Sartre -- existentialist philosopher
- Michel Serres
- Simone Weil
Sculptors
Criminals
- Jules Bonnot
- Henri Désiré Landru -- serial killer
- Maurice Papon -- politician and war criminal
- Marcel Petiot -- serial killer
- Paul Touvier -- only Frenchman convicted of war crimes against humanity
Politicians
- 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
- 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
- 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
- Victor Schoelcher -- anti-slavery activist
- Maurice Thorez
- Dominique Voynet -- Physician and Green politician
Resistance workers - See also French Resistance
- Raymond Aubrac
- Lucie Aubrac
- Jean Moulin
- Christian Pineau
- Violette Szabo -- secret agent
- Pierre Mendès-France
Economists
- Alain Lipietz -- green economist
Scientists
- Louis Agassiz -- geologist
- Andre Marie Ampère -- scientist
- Jean Baptiste Biot -- physicist
- Jean-Charles de Borda -- mathematician, physicist, political scientist
- Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot -- physicist
- Augustin Louis Cauchy -- mathematician
- Jean-Francois 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
- Abraham de Moivre -- mathematician
- 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, Prix Nobel
- 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 -- Historien
- Jules Michelet -- historien
- Theodore Monod -- naturalist and theologian
- Claude Mossé -- (Ms), historian
- Denis Papin
- Louis Pasteur -- scientist
- Blaise Pascal -- mathematician and philosopher
- 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
Sportsmen and -women
- Jacques Anquetil -- cyclist
- Louison Bobet -- cyclist
- Philippe Candeloro - figure skater
- Eric Cantona -- football player
- Emile Delahaye -- race car pioneer
- David Douillet -- judo
- Bernard Hinault -- cyclist
- Jean-Claude Killy -- skier
- Bixente Lizarazu - football player
- Alain Mimoun -- athlete
- Carole Montillet -- skier
- Marie-José Perec -- athlete
- Michel Platini -- football player
- Alain Prost -- automobile racer
- Zinédine Zidane -- footballer
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
- 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. -- fouder of the Revue Thomiste
- Bernard Sesboué s.j.
Monarchs
- See also list of French monarchs.
- Henri IV
- Joséphine de Beauharnais -- Empress
- Louis XIV -- King of France
- Marie Antoinette -- Austrian born Queen of France
- Napoléon Bonaparte -- Emperor
- Napoleon III -- Président and Emperor
Others
- Andre 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
- Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt
- Ninon de l'Enclos -- courtesan, patron of the arts
- Cavalier de la Salle -- explorer
- Alfred Dreyfus
- Rene Dumont -- agronomist engineer and sociologist and ecology activist
- Jules Dumont d'Urville
- Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours -- entrepreneur
- Maurice Duverger -- jurist
- Gustave Eiffel -- engineer
- Ferdinand Foch -- general
- Paul Héroult -- inventor
- Claude de Jouffroy d'Abbans, designed the first steamship in 1783
- René Lalique -- artist
- 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"
- Albert Schweitzer, physician
- Philippe Starck - designer
- Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
Sub-lists
See also: