List of Famous people born in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Michael Schumacher is a retired German racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles and, at the time of his retirement from the sport in 2012, he held the records for the most wins (91), pole positions (68) and podium finishes (155)—which have since been broken by Lewis Hamilton—while he maintains the records for the most fastest laps (77) and the most races won in a single season (13), amongst others.

Christian Wolfgang Lindner is a German politician, member of the Bundestag and leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP).

Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi, better known by his alias Bushido, is a German rapper, hip-hop producer, and entrepreneur of Tunisian descent. He is the co-founder of the record label ersguterjunge. Born in Bonn and raised by a single mother in Berlin-Tempelhof, Ferchichi came in contact with hip-hop through graffiti and his friend and fellow rapper Fler. In 2001, Ferchichi released his demo King of KingZ, which later led him to sign a record label deal with Aggro Berlin. Ferchichi's first official release was Carlo Cokxxx Nutten in 2002, a collobaration with Fler.

Heidi Klum is a German-American model, television host, producer, and businesswoman. She appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 1998 and was the first German model to become a Victoria's Secret Angel.

Jens Spahn is a German politician currently serving as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth Merkel cabinet. He is a member of the lower house of the federal parliament, the Bundestag for Steinfurt I – Borken I and is a member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), which governs in partnership with the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).

Alice Elisabeth Weidel is a German politician and has been the Leader of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the Bundestag since October 2017. She has been a member of the Bundestag (MdB) since the 2017 federal election during which she was the AfD's lead candidate together with Alexander Gauland. Since November 30, 2019, she has been the deputy federal spokeswoman for her party and, since February 2020, chairwoman of the AfD state association in Baden-Württemberg.

Bärbel Bas is a German politician (SPD) from Duisburg. Since the federal election in 2009, she is a member of the German Bundestag. She has been serving as deputy chairwoman of the SPD parliamentary group under the leadership of chairman Rolf Mützenich since 2019.

Bastian Pastewka is a German actor and comedian.

Udo Lindenberg is a German singer, drummer, and composer.

Hans Peter Wilhelm "Hape" Kerkeling is a German actor, presenter and comedian of Dutch descent.

Marco Buschmann is a German lawyer and politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia from 2009 to 2013 and again since 2017.

Johannes Oerding is a German singer-songwriter.

Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schröder is a German politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005, during which his most important political initiative was Agenda 2010. As a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), he led a coalition government of the SPD and the Greens. Since 2017, Schröder serves as the chairman of Russian energy company Rosneft.

Kim Petras is a German singer and songwriter currently based in Los Angeles. Since 2016, Petras has been releasing music as an independent artist under her own imprint, BunHead Records.

Heike Makatsch is a German actress, voice actress, and singer. She is known for her roles as Lisa Addison in Resident Evil (2002), Mia in Love Actually (2003), and as Liesel's mother in The Book Thief (2013).

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017.

Otto Adolf Eichmann was a German-Austrian SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust—the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" in Nazi terminology. He was tasked by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich with facilitating and managing the logistics involved in the mass deportation of Jews to ghettos and extermination camps in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe during World War II. Eichmann was captured by the Mossad in Argentina on 11 May 1960 and subsequently found guilty of war crimes in a widely publicised trial in Jerusalem, where he was executed by hanging in 1962.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2017, and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2007 to 2009. He was chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2016.

Mesut Özil is a German professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Süper Lig club Fenerbahçe. Nicknamed "The Assist King", Özil is known for his technical skills, creativity, agility, and finesse. He has also played as a wide midfielder in his career.

Leroy Aziz Sané is a German professional footballer who plays as a winger for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the German national team.