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

Willi Reimann ), 45 km northwest of Osnabrück, is a retired German football player and manager.

Joshua Filler is a German pool player from Bönen, Germany. In 2018 Filler defeated Carlo Biado 13–10 to win the 2018 WPA World Nine-ball Championship. The same year he was the youngest player to win the China Open and 2018 10-ball European Pool Championships. Filler became WPA and Euro Tour world number 1 in 2019, and later reached the final of the 2019 WPA World Ten-ball Championship before losing 10–7 to Ko Ping-chung.

Maren Meinert is a German football coach and former player who played as a midfielder and striker. She was most recently the head coach of Germany women's national under-20 football team.

Manfred Lahnstein is a German politician (SPD). In 1982 he was German Federal Minister of Finance as well as Federal Minister of Economics and until 2004 worked for the media conglomerate Bertelsmann.

Achim Post is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2013.

Rüdiger Abramczik is a former German football player and coach, best known for his ability to cross the ball ("Flankengott").

Claudia Hürtgen is a German race driver. Along with Ellen Lohr and Sabine Schmitz, she is one of Germany's best known female racers.

Horst-Dieter Höttges is a German former footballer who played as a defender. Having started his career with hometown club Borussia Mönchengladbach, he spent most of his career with Werder Bremen. At international level, he represented West Germany from 1965 to 1974, amassing 66 caps and scoring 1 goal.

Paul Gauselmann is a German businessman, the founder and CEO of Gauselmann, a German company that produces slot machines, and runs gambling arcades.

Ellen Lohr is a German race car driver. She currently competes in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series, driving the No. 99 Chevrolet Camaro for Dexwet-df1 Racing in the Elite 1 class.