Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index 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 This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.