List of Famous people born in Latvia

Balys Dvarionas, 19 June [O.S. 6 June] 1904 in Liepāja — 23 August 1972 in Vilnius), was a Lithuanian composer, pianist, conductor and educator. Dvarionas first became known as a composer after World War II. His works are in a romantic vein, with roots in folk song.

Andrzej Łapicki was a Polish film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1947 and 1999. He was married twice. His first marriage to Zofia Chrząszczewska lasted from 1947 to her death in 2005. He then married Kamila Mścichowska in 2009 and remained with her until his death.

Andris Šķēle is a former Latvian politician and business oligarch. He served two terms as Prime Minister of Latvia from 21 December 1995 to 7 August 1997, and from 16 July 1999 to 5 May 2000.

Carl Wilhelm Wolfgang Ostwald was a German chemist and biologist researching colloids.

Morris Halle was a Latvian-born Jewish American linguist who was an Institute Professor, and later professor emeritus, of linguistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The father of "modern phonology", he was best known for his pioneering work in generative phonology, having written "On Accent and Juncture in English" in 1956 with Noam Chomsky and Fred Lukoff and The Sound Pattern of English in 1968 with Chomsky. He also co-authored the earliest theory of generative metrics.

Igors Vihrovs is a Latvian gymnast, who won the Gold Medal in floor exercise at the 2000 Summer Olympics, and the Bronze Medals in floor exercise in 2000 European Championships and 2001 World Championships. He was the first Olympic gold medalist for independent Latvia.

Indulis Emsis is a Latvian biologist and politician. He was Prime Minister of Latvia for ten months in 2004, the first Green politician to lead a country in the history of the world. He was Speaker of the Saeima, the Latvian parliament from 2006 to 2007. Emsis' political views are described as rather conservative, unusual for members of green parties around the world.

Valdis Birkavs is a Latvian politician. He was born in Riga. Birkavs attended the University of Latvia, where he studied philosophy, sociology, law, psychology and mathematical logic. He was first elected to the Latvian parliament in 1990 and helped to found the Latvian Way party. After Latvian Way won the 1993 parliamentary election, Birkavs became the prime minister, leading a coalition government of Latvian Way and the Latvian Farmers' Union. He resigned after the Farmer's Union left the government in the summer of 1994. He then became the deputy prime minister and foreign minister in the next government. He remained the foreign minister for five years under four different prime ministers, eventually resigning in 1999. In the presidential elections of 1999, he was nominated as a candidate and received second place. He was then appointed as minister of justice, and served in that position until 2000.