List of Famous people born in Drenthe, Kingdom of the Netherlands

Serginho "Sergio" van Dijk is a Dutch-born Indonesian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the top goal scorer in the 2010–11 A-League regular season and made a name for himself in Australian football for his prolific scoring tally.

Pieter Timotheus "Tim" de Zeeuw is a Dutch astronomer specializing in the formation, structure and dynamics of galaxies. He was educated at Leiden, gaining a degree in mathematics in 1976 and one in astronomy in 1977. He graduated from Leiden with a PhD in astronomy in 1984. After stints in the US at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and at Caltech, he returned to the Netherlands in 1990 to become professor of theoretical astronomy at Leiden. In 2003, he was appointed the scientific director of Leiden Observatory, and from 2007 to 2017 he was the director general of ESO. In 2009, he was awarded the Brouwer Award by the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society. He is married to astronomer Ewine van Dishoeck. On 14 May 2018 at the annual Netherlands Astronomy Conference, he was awarded the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

Harm Kuipers is a former speed skater from the Netherlands. Kuipers combined his sports careers with being a Medicine student at the University of Groningen. Preferring his studies over speed skating, he did not participate in the 1972 Winter Olympics, a decision he still regrets today. The best year of his speed skating career was 1975, when he became World Allround Champion, after having won silver the year before. From 1971 to 1976, Kuipers also was a successful amateur bicycle racer.

Johanna Rika Hermanna "Hanja" Maij-Weggen is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA).

Karsten Kroon is a Dutch former professional road bicycle racer who most recently rode for Tinkoff, a UCI ProTeam. He retired at the end of the 2014 season.

Jan Bols is a former Dutch long track speed skater. Bols was among the top all-rounders in the late 60s and early 70s, this period overlapped the glory days of Kees Verkerk and Ard Schenk, so that he tends to be known as the third best Dutch skater of his time.

Jos Hooiveld is a retired Dutch footballer. Hooiveld is known for his strong physical performances.

John Talen is a former road racing cyclist from the Netherlands, who was a professional from 1987 to 2000. As an amateur he won the world title in the 100 km team time trial, alongside Rob Harmeling, Tom Cordes and Gerrit de Vries, and finished second in the individual road race.

Pieter "Piet" Kleine is a former speed skater from the Netherlands who specialized in the longer distances.

Martijn Verschoor is a Dutch former professional road racing cyclist, who competed for Team Novo Nordisk between 2010 and 2017. At the age of thirteen, Verschoor was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. A graduate of Hanze University, Verschoor was born, raised, and resides in Bovensmilde, Drenthe, Netherlands.