Actors/Actresses
Architects
Authors
See also: French language authors, French language poets, French novelists
- Marcel Achard -- playwright and scriptwriter
- Alain-Fournier
- Jean Anouilh -- 20th century dramatist
- Guillaume Apollinaire -- (born Russian) poet
- Antonin Artaud
- Honoré de Balzac -- realist author
- Henri Barbusse
- Charles Baudelaire, 19th century poet
- Pierre Beaumarchais, comedy playwright
- Simone de Beauvoir -- 20th century author
- Cyrano de Bergerac
- Georges Bernanos
- Tristan Bernard
- Maurice Blanchot
- Pierre Boulle
- Fernand Braudel
- André Breton
- Restif de le Bretonne
- Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
- Michel Butor
- Albert Camus -- existentialist author
- Louis-Ferdinand Céline -- 20th century author
- Blaise Cendrars
- Aimé Césaire-- 20th century author
- Nicolas Chamfort
- René Char, 20th century poet
- François-René de Chateaubriand
- E. M. Cioran
- Paul Claudel
- Jean Cocteau -- 20th century poet and playwright
- Colette-- 20th century author
- Benjamin Constant
- Pierre Corneille -- classicist playwright
- Marquis de Custine -- travel writer
- Denis Diderot
- Alexandre Dumas, père, Author
- Alexandre Dumas, fils -- Playwright/author
- Marguerite Duras - 20th century novelist
- Mircea Eliade
- 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 Giono
- Jean Giraudoux
- Françoise Giroud
- Julien Gracq
- Julien Green
- Pierre Guyotat
- Victor Hugo -- novelist, poet, and playwright
- Joris-Karl Huysmans
- Eugène Ionesco
- Jean de La Bruyère
- Jean de La Fontaine
- Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
- Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse)
- Villiers de L'Isle-Adam
- Leconte de Lisle -- parnassian poet
- Alphonse de Lamartine
- Jacques Lacan - psychoanalyst
- Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie - historian
- Jules Laforgue
- Valéry Larbaud
- Stéphane Mallarmé -- poet
- Hector Malot -- 19th century author
- André Malraux
- Pierre de Marivaux - playwright
- Clément Marot -- poet
- Guy de Maupassant novelist
- François Mauriac - Roman Catholic writer
- Prosper Mérimée - 19th century novelist
- Henri Michaux
- Catherine Millet - art expert, editor and erotic memoirist
- Patrick Modiano
- 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
- Georges Perec
- Saint-John Perse
- Jean Piaget - psychologist
- Christine de Pizan, historian, poet, philosopher
- Jacques Prevert -- 20th century poet
- Abbé Prévost
- Marcel Prevost
- Marcel Proust -- novelist
- François Rabelais -- Renaissance writer
- Raymond Radiguet
- Jean Racine -- classicist playwright
- Pauline Réage, novelist
- Arthur Rimbaud -- symbolist poet
- Alain Robbe-Grillet
- Pierre de Ronsard
- Edmond Rostand -- neo-romantic playwright
- Raymond Roussel
- Marquis de Sade -- erotic and philosophic author
- Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
- George Sand -- feminist author
- Nathalie Sarraute
- Victor Segalen
- Madame de Sévigné
- Madame de Staël
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery , humanist author and aviators.
- Claude Simon
- 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
- François Villon
- Émile Zola -- naturalist author
Aviators
Business
- Bernard Arnault (born 1949), entrepreneur
- Liliane Bettencourt, cosmetics, richest person in France
- Marcel Bich, (1914-1994), Bic pens
- Vincent Bolloré (born 1952), transportation and engineering
- Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947), automobile manufacturer
- André Citroen (1878-1935), automobile manufacturer
- Marcel Dassault (1892-1986), aviation
- Alexandre Darracq (1855-1931), automotive pioneer
- Louis Delage (1874-1947) automotive pioneer
- Emile Delahaye (1843-1905), automotive pioneer
- Philippe Camus Former Airbus co-CEO
- Gerard Louis-Dreyfus (born 1932), agricultural commodities
- Eleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (1771-1834), founder of DuPont
- Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), entrepreneur
- Jacques Foccart (1901-1956), import-export
- Léon Gaumont, pioneer film inventor
- Paul-Louis Halley (1934-2004), supermarket tycoon
- Max Hymans (1900-1961), aviation
- Jean-Marie Messier (born 1957), former Vivendi CEO
- Charles Pathé, pioneer of film industry
- François Pinault (born 1936), entrepreneur
- Jacques-Donatien Le Ray (1726-1803), shipping magnate and a "Father of the American Revolution"
- Marcel Renault (1872-1903), automobile manufacturer
- James Mayer Rothschild (1792-1868), banker
- Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988), wine maker
- Eugene Schueller (1881-1954), founder of L'Oreal
- Bernard Tapie (born 1943), entrepreneur
Colonial administrators
Composers
Criminals
For Collaboration with Nazi Germany see also the politicians section.
Dancers
See also Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergeres
Economists
Fashion
Fictional characters
Filmmakers
Humorists
Monarchs
See also French monarchs, members of the French Royal Families
Musicians, singers
Painters
Philosophers
Politicians
See also: Prime Ministers of France, Presidents of France
Popes
See List of French popes
Resistance workers
See also French Resistance
- Lucie Samuel-Aubrac(born 1912), human rights activist
- Raymond Aubrac (born 1914), statesman
- 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
- Pierre Mendès-France (1907-1982), lawyer, statesman
- Jean Moulin (1899-1943), statesman
- Abbé Pierre (1912- ), Priest and founder of Emmaus
- Christian Pineau(1904-1995), statesman
- Eliane Plewman (1917-1944), SOE operative: Croix de Guerre
- 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)
- Antoine Arbogast -- mathematician
- Jean Baptiste Biot -- physicist
- Jean-Charles de Borda -- mathematician, physicist, political scientist
- Henri Braconnot -- chemist and pharmacist
- 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 prize 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
- Jean-Marie Lehn -- chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1987
- Claude Lévi-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 -- mathematician and physicist
- Simeon Poisson -- mathematician and physicist
- Michel Rolle -- mathematician
- 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
Social Activists
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
- Serge Blanco -- Venezuela born French citizen, rugby player
- Louison Bobet -- cyclist
- Surya Bonaly -- figure skater
- Andrée Brunet & Pierre Brunet -- 1928 & 1932 Olympic skating Gold Medalists
- Philippe Candeloro - figure skater
- Eric Cantona -- football player
- Georges Carpentier -- world champion boxer
- Marcel Cerdan -- world champion boxer
- Eugene Criqui -- world champion boxer
- Jean Cruguet -- jockey of Seattle Slew
- Emile Delahaye -- race car pioneer
- Marcel Desailly -- Ghana born French citizen, football player
- David Douillet -- judo
- Laurent Fignon -- cyclist
- Just Fontaine -- football player
- Lucien Gaudin -- fencer
- 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
- Raymond Kopa -- football player
- Suzanne Lenglen -- tennis player
- Bixente Lizarazu - football player
- Jeannie Longo -- cyclist
- Laure Manaudou -- swimmer
- Amélie Mauresmo -- tennis player
- Jose Meiffret -- cyclist
- Alain Mimoun -- athlete
- Antoine Monteiro -- boxer, lost to Santos Laciar for the world title
- Carole Montillet -- skier
- Hellé Nice -- pioneer female race car driver
- Yannick Noah -- tennis player
- Tony Parker -- Belgian born French citizen, NBA player
- Marie-José Perec -- athlete
- Mary Pierce-- Canadian born French citizen, tennis player
- Julien Pillet -- fencer
- Michel Platini -- football player
- Alain Prost -- automobile racer
- Georges Stern -- thoroughbred racing jockey
- Marcel Thil -- world champion boxer
- Christophe Tiozzo -- world champion boxer
- Fabrice Tiozzo -- world champion boxer, Christophe's brother
- Damien Touya -- fencer
- Patrick Vieira -- Senegal born French citizen, football player
- Richard Virenque -- Morocco born French citizen, cyclist
- Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver
- Zinédine Zidane -- football player
Theologians
Others
See also
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