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

Rainer Wendt is a German former policeman (Schutzpolizei) and national populist. Since 2007 he is the Federal Chairman of the German Police Union (DPolG). The DPolG is one of the two German police unions. Left-of-center daily tagezeitung characterized Wendt as an effective populist notorious for law and order catchphrases.

Anna-Maria Zimmermann is a German singer and a Deutschland sucht den Superstar participant in 2006. Zimmermann was injured in a helicopter accident when a Robinson R44 type helicopter crashed into the ground on October 24, 2010.

Dietrich Hollinderbäumer is a German-Swedish actor. He is known for his role in Downfall as Robert Ritter von Greim and for playing Adam in the German Netflix series Dark.

Selma Ergeç is a Turkish-German actress, beauty pageant titleholder, model, designer, philologist, psychologist and doctor.

Kristina Bach is a German "Schlager" singer, lyricist, and music producer. Bach is noted for her 3 ½-octave vocal range.

Louis Hofmann is a German actor who first gained attention as the lead in the 2011 German film Tom Sawyer and won the Bodil Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a teenage German prisoner of war in the 2015 Danish film Land of Mine. He is also known for his role in the 2017 German Netflix Original series Dark.

Horst Hrubesch is a German professional football manager and former player who last managed the German women's national team. As a player, Hrubesch won three West German championships with his club side, Hamburger SV, as well as the European Cup title in 1983. He was a key member of the West Germany team that made it to the final of the 1982 World Cup, losing to Italy. His nickname was Das Kopfball-Ungeheuer for his heading skills as a centre-forward.

Katy Nina Karrenbauer is a German actress, dubbing actress, singer, and author. She is known for her role as Christine Walter in the drama series Hinter Gittern – Der Frauenknast.

Edina Müller is a German 2.5 point wheelchair basketball player and KL1 canoeist. She played for ASV Bonn in the German wheelchair basketball league, and for the national team. As part of the German women's national wheelchair basketball team, she won bronze at the 2006 World Cup in Amsterdam, won three time European champions, a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. The team was voted 2008 Team of the Year in disabled sports, and Horst Köhler presented it with Germany's highest sports award, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt. President Joachim Gauck awarded the team a second Silver Leaf after it won the gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Müller was also a two-time U.S. champion (2006-2008) with her college team Illinois Fighting Illini at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and helped ASV Bonn win the European Cup in Valladolid, Spain in 2009. From 2011 to 2014 she played for Hamburger SV.

Manfred Manglitz is a former German football player.