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

Daniel Gerlach is a German author, journalist, publisher and Middle East expert. He is the current editor-in-chief of the German Middle East quarterly magazine zenith and director-general of the Candid Foundation.

David Schraven is a German journalist. Since 2010 till 2014, he used to be head of investigations at Funke Mediengruppe, one of the largest European media holdings for regional newspapers including Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung. From 2007 till Sept 2014, he was treasurer of German association of investigative journalists Netzwerk Recherche. From June 2014, he is Founder and Publisher of Correctiv - the first nonprofit investigative newsroom in the German-speaking world. Schraven is one of Germany's best known investigative journalists.

Elvir Omerbegovic is a German entrepreneur of Bosnian descent, who is mainly known as the founder and CEO of the Hip Hop label Selfmade Records and as President of Rap of Universal Music Germany. Furthermore, he is the founder of the clothing label Pusher Apparel and the co-founder of Suckit.

Oliver Stuenkel is a German-Brazilian political scientist, writer and Associate Professor at FGV's School of International Relations in São Paulo, Brazil. In addition to several books written on emerging powers and global politics — such as BRICS and the Future of Global Order (2015) and Post-Western World (2016), he is a columnist for EL PAÍS and Americas Quarterly and a frequent commentator in the national and international media on topics related to Brazilian politics and foreign policy, US-China relations and political risk. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Financial Times, the Global Times, among others. Besides that, he is a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington DC, a non-resident fellow at the German think-tank Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi), based in Berlin. He has earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Valencia, and he also holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University. He has obtained his PhD at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Karl-Heinz Wiesemann is the 96th Bishop of Speyer.

Thomas Wolf, also known under the alias of David van Dyk, is a German criminal and was, until capture in May 2009, one of the most wanted fugitives in Germany for nine years.

Johannes Weinrich is a German left-wing terrorist and a founder of the Revolutionary Cells (RZ). He later became a close aide to Carlos the Jackal. He is currently serving a life sentence for murder.

René Schnitzler is a German football player, he plays for 1. FC Bettrath.

Christian Keller. is a former medley and freestyle swimmer from Germany, who competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1992. Four years later the three-time European Junior Champion won the bronze medal with the men's 4×200 m freestyle relay. Keller was named German Swimmer of the Year for two consecutive years: 1994 and 1995.

Stefan Klos is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.