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

Manfred Frank is a German philosopher, emeritus professor of philosophy at the University of Tübingen. His work focuses on German idealism, romanticism, and the concepts of subjectivity and self-consciousness. His 950-page study of German romanticism, Unendliche Annäherung, has been described as "the most comprehensive and thoroughgoing study of early German romanticism" and "surely one of the most important books from the post-War period on the history of German philosophy." He has also written at length on analytic philosophy and recent French philosophy.

Olaf Rose is a German historian and politician. He represents the right-wing National Democratic Party of Germany. Since 2006, Rose has worked as a parliamentary adviser to the group of the NPD in the Landtag of Saxony. He is a co-founder of the Gesellschaft für Freie Publizistik and a city councilor in Pirna. From 2008 to 2009, he was a member of the federal board of the NPD.

Carl Balhaus was a German stage and film actor. After the Second World War he worked as director for the East German state-owned studio DEFA. He was an uncle of the Academy Award nominated cinematographer Michael Ballhaus.

Armin Hahne is a German racing driver, best known for his exploits in touring car racing. The highpoint of his career was winning both the 1982 and 1983 Spa 24 Hours driving BMW's. Another highlight of his career was driving in the factory supported Tom Walkinshaw Racing run Jaguar Racing team racing the Jaguar XJS coupes. Hahne stayed with the team as they transitioned to Rover Vitesse. In 1991 he drove for one race in the British Touring Car Championship for BMW.

Peter Limbourg is a German broadcast journalist and the Director General of Deutsche Welle.