List of French people

Famous French or French-speaking/writing people

Actors/Actresses

Isabelle Adjani

Anouk Aimée

Brigitte Bardot

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Juliette Binoche, Academy Award for role in The English Patient

Sophie Marceau, Princess Isabelle in Braveheart, a "Bond" Girl

Yves Montand

Emmanuelle Seigner

Simone Signoret

Architects

Etienne-Louis Boullee

Fontaine architect

Hector Guimard architect

Charles Percier architect

Claude Nicolas Ledoux -- architect

Eugene Viollet-le-Duc -- architect

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

Léon-Paul Fargue

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

Alexander Dumas -- Author

Marguerite Duras - 20th century novelist

Georges Feydeau

Gustave Flaubert -- realist author

Anatole France

Marie de France -- poet

Romain Gary

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

Guy de Maupassant novelist

Jean Baptiste Poquelin dit Molière -- 17th century comedic playwright and actor

Alfred de Musset

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 deVigny

Jean-Marie Arouet dit Voltaire -- Enlightenment author, deist/agnostic philosopher

Èmile Zola -- naturalist author

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

Reynaldo Hahn

Pierre Henry -- writer of musique concrete and electronic music

Maurice Jarre

Michel Legrand

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-Saens

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

Christian Dior -- fashion designer

Yves Saint-Laurent -- fashion designer

Edouard de Givenchy

Daniel Hechter -- inventor of ready-to-wear

Filmmakers

François Truffaut -- director

Roger Vadim -- director

Humorists

Coluche

Francis Blanche

Pierre Dac humorist and Resistance worker

Pierre Desproges

Musicians, singers

Johnny Hallyday -- France's Elvis

Painters See French Impressionists

Francois Boucher -- painter

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Claude Monet -- impressionist painter

Gustave Moreau

Berthe Morisot

Nicolas Poussin

Pierre-Auguste Renoir -- painter

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Philippe Watteau

Philosophers

Jean Le Rond d'Alembert

Pierre Bourdieu, sociologist

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

Sculptors

Criminals

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

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"

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

Violette Szabo -- secret agent

Pierre Mendès-France

Economists

Alain Lipietz -- green economist

Scientists

Andre Marie Ampère -- scientist

Jean-Charles de Borda -- mathematician, physicist, political scientist

Jean-Francois Champollion -- egyptologist

Emilie du Chatelet -- 18th century mathematician

Georges Charpak -- physicist, Nobel price winner

Marquis de Condorcet -- philosopher, mathematician and political scientist

Jacques Cousteau -- Marine scientist

Joseph Cugnot

Irène Joliot-Curie -- scientist

Marie Curie -- scientist

Pierre Curie -- scientist

René Descartes -- scientist and philosopher

Georges Duby -- historian

Pierre de Fermat -- mathematician

Pierre Gassendi -- philosopher mathematician

Pierre-Gilles de Gennes -- physicist, Prix Nobel

Frédéric Joliot -- scientist

Joseph Louis Lagrange -- mathematician

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

Henri Poincaré -- scientist

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

Emile Delahaye -- race car pioneer

David Douillet -- judo

Bernard Hinault -- cyclist

Jean-Claude Killy -- skier

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

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

Paul Héroult -- inventor

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"

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

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