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

Frank Stippler is a German professional racing driver. He has competed in such series as Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, Rolex Sports Car Series and the Swedish Touring Car Championship. He won both the Porsche Supercup and Porsche Carrera Cup Germany series in 2003. He is also very successful in historic racing.

Annika Zeyen is a former 1.5-point wheelchair basketball player, who has played for ASV Bonn, RSV Lahn-Dill and BG Baskets Hamburg in the German wheelchair basketball league, and for the University of Alabama in the United States. She has represented her country a total of 382 times in which she won six European titles, was the runner-up at 2010 and 2014 World Championships, won silver medals at the 2008 Summer Paralympic Games in Beijing and 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, and won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, for which President Joachim Gauck awarded the team Germany's highest sporting honour, the Silbernes Lorbeerblatt . Following the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, Zeyen retired from wheelchair basketball to pursue alternative sporting challenges as an individual athlete.

Björn Böhning is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs under the leadership of minister Hubertus Heil since 2018.

Sören Storks is a German football referee who is based in Velen. He referees for VfL Ramsdorf of the Westphalian Football and Athletics Association.

Jeremy Dudziak is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hamburger SV. A former youth international for Germany, Dudziak represents the Tunisia national football team internationally.

Selin Oruz is a German field hockey player. She represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Marcus Kink is a German professional ice hockey forward who is currently playing as the Captain for Adler Mannheim in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL).

Andreas Stenschke, is a German actor and director.

Christian Ahlmann is a German equestrian who competes in the sport of show jumping. He ranks first in the FEI Longines World Ranking List.

Karl-Richard Frey is a German judoka. He competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, in the men's 100 kg. He finished in 5th place after losing to Cyrille Maret of France in the bronze medal match.