List of Famous people born in South Africa

Henri Schoeman is a South African triathlete. He represented his country at the 2016 ITU Grand Final in Cozumel where he won the Gold medal, the 2016 Summer Olympics where he won a bronze medal, and the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where he won a silver medal in the mixed relay. He is the brother of the South African swimmer, Riaan Schoeman. His bronze at Rio in 2016 is the first Olympic medal South Africa has won in the sport.

Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director widely regarded as South Africa’s greatest playwright. He is best known for his political plays opposing the system of apartheid and for the 2005 Oscar-winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood. Acclaimed as “the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world” by Time in 1985, Fugard continues to write and has published over thirty plays. Fugard was an adjunct professor of playwriting, acting and directing in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California, San Diego. He is the recipient of many awards, honours, and honorary degrees, including the 2005 Order of Ikhamanga in Silver "for his excellent contribution and achievements in the theatre" from the government of South Africa. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was honoured in Cape Town with the opening of the Fugard Theatre in District Six in 2010, and received a Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 2011.

Nomalizo Leah Tutu is a South African activist and the wife of Desmond Tutu.

Dame Janet Suzman, is a South African/British actress who enjoyed a successful early career in the Royal Shakespeare Company, later replaying many Shakespearean roles, among others, on TV. In her first film, Nicholas and Alexandra (1971), her performance as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna earned her several honours, including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Victor Humphry Knipe is a sociology and history author, and adult film writer, director, and website administrator. He is a co-author of The Dominant Man: The Pecking Order in Human Society, a sociology book which has been translated into five languages, and the sole author of The Nero Prediction, a historic novel about Emperor Nero and astrology, which won the 2006 Independent Publisher Book Award for "Best Historical Fiction."

Leleti Khumalo is a South African actress known for her leading role in the movie and stage play Sarafina! and for her roles in other films such as Hotel Rwanda, Yesterday and Invictus, as well as the soap opera Imbewu: The Seed where she plays Nokubonga "MaZulu" Bhengu.

Lewis Wolpert was a South African-born British developmental biologist, author, and broadcaster. Wolpert was best known for his French flag model of embryonic development, where he used the French flag as a visual aid to explain how embryonic cells interpret genetic code for expressing characteristics of living organisms and explaining how signalling between cells early in morphogenesis could be used to inform cells with the same genetic regulatory network of their position and role.

Vusi Sidney Mahlasela Ka Zwane is a Sotho South African singer-songwriter.

Otta Helene Maree, known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she was the Premier of the Western Cape province for two five-year terms, and a member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament. She served as Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance from 2007 to 2015 and as Mayor of Cape Town from 2006 to 2009.

Jonathan Reuven Rotem is a South African-born American record producer, songwriter and music publisher.