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

Alexander Sebastian Léonce, Baron von der Wenge, Count Lambsdorff, commonly known as Alexander, Count Lambsdorff is a German politician of the Free Democratic Party of Germany, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. He has served as a Member of the Bundestag (MP) and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany.

Gyles Daubeney Brandreth is an English writer, broadcaster, actor, and former politician. Educated at the University of Oxford, he subsequently began a career in media. On television, he worked as a presenter for TV-am in the 1980s, and has been regularly featured on Countdown. On radio, he has made frequent appearances on the BBC Radio 4 programme Just a Minute.

Tina Hassel is a German broadcast journalist. Since July 2015 she has been director of the capital studio of ARD, the German public broadcasting association.

Lars Windhorst is a German entrepreneur and co-founder of Sapinda Group. In 2015, he was ranked in the Sunday Times Rich List, with his net worth reported as being £320 million. He notably founded businesses in his teens, filing for bankruptcy in 2003 as a result of the Dot-com bubble. The following year, Windhorst co-founded the Sapinda Group. Following restructuring, Sapinda Holding BV, founded in 2009, is the group’s parent company. Windhorst is its Non-Executive Chairman.

Sonja Zietlow is a German television presenter.

Guido Cantz is a German television presenter.

Heiner Lauterbach is a German actor.

Ekrem Bora, better known by his stage name Eko Fresh, is a German rapper of Turkish and Kurdish descent.

Thore Schölermann is a German actor and television host.

Dietmar Bär is a German actor. Since 1997 he has starred as Freddy Schenk in the popular television crime series Tatort since 1997 and in Ärzte. He has been in several films, including Männer by Doris Dörrie. He is a narrator of many audiobooks translated into German.