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

Heinz Rudolf Erich Arthur Kunze is a German writer and rock singer. His greatest hit was Dein ist mein ganzes Herz in 1985.

Aylin Tezel is a German actress and dancer. Her father is a Turkish-born medical doctor practicing in Bielefeld, Germany, and her mother is a nurse. She is a middle child, having an older sister and a younger brother. She is most known for her main role in the film "Almanya - Welcome to Germany" which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011 and for her main role in the film "Am Himmel der Tag" for which she received the Best Actress Award at the Torino Film Festival in 2012.

Jens Weidmann is a German economist, president of the Deutsche Bundesbank, and Chairman of the Board of the Bank for International Settlements.

Emma Bading is a German actress. She was nominated for an International Emmy Award for Best Performance by an Actress for her role in the TV film Play.

Melanie Amann is a German journalist and lawer. She is head of Berlin departement (Hauptstadtbüro) of German traditional news magazine Der Spiegel.

Ulrike von der Groeben, Ulrike Elfes is a German television sport journalist.

Josef "Jupp" Heynckes is a German retired professional footballer and manager. As a player, he spent the majority of his career as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its golden era of the 1960s and '70s, where he won many national championships and the DFB-Pokal, as well as the UEFA Cup. During this period the team played in its only European Cup final in 1977, losing to Liverpool. He is the fourth-highest goalscorer in the history of the Bundesliga, with 220 goals. He was a member of the West Germany national team that won the UEFA European Championship and the FIFA World Cup in the first half of the 1970s.

Mark Waschke is a German theatre, film, and television actor who has been appearing in German films since 2005.

Julian Felix Engels is a German footballer who plays as a midfielder.

Prince August Fredrik zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, known professionally as August Wittgenstein, is a German-Swedish actor and member of the princely House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. Wittgenstein has appeared in English, German, and Swedish language films, starring in the 2013 German television movie Desert Heart - The Trip of My Life. He is known for his portrayals of Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse in The Crown and Count Alfred Eckbrecht von Dürckheim-Montmartin in Ludwig II as well as his roles as Karl Tennstedt in Das Boot and Andreas Wolf in Deadwind.