List of Famous people born in Tunisia
Claudia Cardinale
Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale is a Tunisian-born Italian film actress who starred in some of the most acclaimed European films of the 1960s and 1970s, mainly Italian or French, but also in many English-language films.
Dany Brillant
Dany Brillant, is a French singer of a Jewish-Tunisian origin.
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun was an Arab scholar of Islam, social scientist, philosopher and historian who has been described as the founder of the modern disciplines of historiography, sociology, economics, and demography. Niccolò Machiavelli of the Renaissance and the 19th-century European scholars widely acknowledged the significance of his works and considered Ibn Khaldun to be one of the greatest philosophers of the Middle Ages.
Gisèle Halimi
Gisèle Halimi was a Tunisian-French lawyer, feminist, and essayist.
Najla Bouden
Najla Bouden, also known as Najla Bouden Romdhane, is a Tunisian geologist and university professor who is serving as the Prime Minister of Tunisia. She took office on 11 October 2021, making her the first female prime minister both in Tunisia and the Arab world. She previously served in the education ministry in 2011.
Georges Wolinski
Georges Wolinski was a French cartoonist and comics writer. He was killed on 7 January 2015 in a terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo along with other staff.
Roberto Blanco
Roberto Blanco, was born 7 June 1937 in Tunis, Tunisia. Of Afro-Cuban origin, Blanco is a German-speaking Schlager singer and actor.
Hamida Djandoubi
Hamida Djandoubi was a Tunisian sentenced to death in France. He was a Tunisian agricultural worker and convicted murderer. He moved to Marseille, France, in 1968 and six years later he kidnapped, tortured and murdered 22-year-old Élisabeth Bousquet, his former girlfriend. He was sentenced to death in February 1977 and executed by guillotine in September that year. He was the last person to be executed in Western Europe, and he was the last person to be lawfully executed by beheading anywhere in the Western world. He was not however, the last person sentenced to death in France. Marcel Chevalier served as chief executioner.
Poorna Jagannathan
Poorna Jagannathan is an American actress of Indian descent. She is best known for her portrayal of Safar Khan in the HBO miniseries The Night Of as well as playing the lead in the Bollywood comedy film Delhi Belly. She also initiated and produced the play Nirbhaya, written and directed by Yaël Farber, which dealt with breaking the silence about sexual violence. Nirbhaya won the 2013 Amnesty International Award and was called by The Telegraph as the "One of the most powerful pieces of theater you'll ever see".
Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career-high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of No. 30 in the world. At the 2020 Australian Open, Jabeur became the first Arab woman to reach quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament. She is also the highest-ranked Arab player in WTA history. Jabeur has won 11 singles titles and one doubles title on the ITF Women's Circuit. She reached her only WTA final in 2018 at the Premier-level Kremlin Cup in Russia.
Élie Kakou
Élie Kakou was a French actor and stand-up comedian.
Sorj Chalandon
Sorj Chalandon is a French writer and journalist. From 1973 until 2007 he worked as a journalist on Libération where, among other things, he covered events in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan. In 1988 he received the Albert Londres Prize for his articles on Northern Ireland and the Klaus Barbie trial. Since then he has worked for the satirical-investigative newspaper Le Canard enchaîné. His second novel, Une promesse (2006), won the Prix Médicis. His 2011 novel Return to Killybegs won the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française and was shortlisted for the Prix Goncourt.
Beji Caid Essebsi
Mohamed Beji Caid Essebsi was a Tunisian politician who was the President of Tunisia from 31 December 2014 until his death on 25 July 2019. Previously, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1981 to 1986 and as Prime Minister from February 2011 to December 2011.
Kais Saied
Kais Saied is a Tunisian politician, jurist and former lecturer serving as the President of Tunisia since October 2019. He was president of the Tunisian Association of Constitutional Law from 1995 to 2019. An independent candidate in the 2019 presidential election, he was elected against Nabil Karoui in the second round.
Kalthoum Sarrai
Kalthoum Sarrai كلثوم السراي in Arabic, best known as Cathy Sarrai, was a Tunisian-born French television presenter, anchorwoman and television personality. She was known to many French and Belgian television viewers for her role in the French version of Super Nanny, which began airing on M6 on 1 February 2005.
Azzedine Alaïa
Azzedine Alaïa was a Tunisian couturier and shoe designer, particularly successful beginning in the 1980s.
Seifeddine Jaziri
Seifeddine Jaziri, is a Tunisian footballer who plays as a forward for Egyptian Premier League side Zamalek on loan from Al Mokawloon Al Arab. He was capped by the Tunisian national team once in 2016.
Aymen Abdennour
Aymen Abdennour is a Tunisian professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Qatari club Umm Salal.
Daniel Cohen
Daniel Cohen is a French economist and a professor at the École d'économie de Paris as well as a senior advisor to the bank Lazard.
Dhafer L'Abidine
Dhafer L'Abidine is a Tunisian actor and former professional football player.