List of Famous people born in Latvia

Abraham Isaac Kook also known by the acronym הראי״ה‎ (HaRaAYaH); was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine in the Land of Israel. He is considered to be one of the fathers of religious Zionism, and is known for founding the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva.

Oswald Schmiedeberg was a Baltic German pharmacologist. In 1866 he earned his medical doctorate from the University of Dorpat with a thesis concerning the measurement of chloroform in blood, before becoming the first professor of pharmacology at the University of Strasbourg, where he remained for 46 years.

Edgars Rinkēvičs is a Latvian public official and politician, currently serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, a role he has held since 2011. Before beginning in this role, he served as head of the Chancery of the President of Latvia, as State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, as well as a deputy of the Saeima.

Ida Kerkovius (1879–1970) was a Baltic German painter and weaver from Latvia.

Frederick Casimir Kettler was Duke of Courland and Semigallia from 1682 to 1698. Frederick Casimir was the son of Jacob Kettler and Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg. In his reign the Duchy lost its geopolitical position and became Sweden, Prussia and Russia's territorial subject of interests.

Princess Maria Anna Amalia of Courland was a landgravine of Hesse-Kassel through her marriage on 21 May 1673 to her first cousin Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. She was the child of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia and Margravine Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg, eldest daughter of George William, Elector of Brandenburg. Her eldest son became King Frederick of Sweden.

Vasiliy Vasilievich Ulrikh was a senior judge of the Soviet Union during most of the regime of Joseph Stalin. Ulrikh served as the presiding judge at many of the major show trials of the Great Purges in the Soviet Union.

Solomon (Shloyme) Mikhoels was a Soviet Jewish actor and the artistic director of the Moscow State Jewish Theater. Mikhoels served as the chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee during World War II. However, as Joseph Stalin pursued an increasingly anti-Semitic line after the War, Mikhoels's position as a leader of the Jewish community led to increasing persecution from the Soviet state. He was assassinated in Minsk in 1948 by order of Stalin.

Dana Reizniece-Ozola is a Latvian chess player and politician. She served as minister of Economics (2014–2016) and minister of Finance (2016–2019) of the Republic of Latvia. She has been elected as a member of the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Saeima of the Republic of Latvia and worked as the chairperson of the Commission on Education, Culture and Science, Member of the Legal Affairs Commission and Member of the European Affairs Commission. In chess, Reizniece-Ozola was awarded the title of Woman Grandmaster by FIDE in 2001.