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

Christiane Soeder is a German-born Austrian road racing cyclist and former duathlete who now lives in Vienna. She won the Austrian National Road Race Championships in 2004, 2006 and 2009. She finished fourth in the 2008 Olympic road race with a time of 3h 32′ 28. She rides professionally for Garmin–Cervélo.

Hans Haacke is a German-born artist who lives and works in New York City. Haacke is considered a "leading exponent" of Institutional Critique.

Christoph Wolff is a German-born musicologist. He is best known for his works on the music, life, and period of Johann Sebastian Bach. Christoph Wolff is an emeritus professor of Harvard University, and was part of the faculty since 1976, and former director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig from 2001 to 2014.

Most Reverend Dr. Heinrich Mussinghoff was the Roman Catholic Bishop of the Aachen, Germany, from 11 February 1995 until the acceptance of his resignation on 8 December 2015.

Klaus-Peter Thaler was a professional cyclist between 1976 and 1988, successful in road-racing and cyclo-cross. He was world cyclo-cross champion twice as amateur and twice as professional and German champion eight times.

Kurt Bodewig is a German politician of the SPD.