List of French people
This is a list of famous French or French-speaking/writing people.
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 (1913-1997), import-export
- Paul-Louis Halley (1934-2004), supermarket tycoon
- Max Hymans (1900-1961), aviation
- Jean-Marie Messier (born 1957), former Vivendi CEO
- 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
Composers
Criminals
For Collaboration with Nazi Germany see also the politicians section.
Dancers
Economists
Fashion
Fictional characters
Filmmakers
Humorists
- Coluche
- Francis Blanche
- Pierre Dac humorist and Resistance worker
- Pierre Desproges
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
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 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
- 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
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
- 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
- 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
- Suzanne Lenglen -- tennis player
- Bixente Lizarazu - football player
- Jeannie Longo -- cyclist
- Laure Manaudou -- swimmer
- 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
- 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 -- cyclist
- Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver
- Zinédine Zidane -- football player
Theologians
Others
See also: List of people by nationality - List of Monegasque people, Catalans, Swiss, Belgians, Franco-Belgian comics, List of Quebecois
