List of Famous people who died in 2003

Yuri Ivanovich Tishkov was a Russian professional footballer, sports agent and commentator who was murdered at age 31.

Igor Pavlovich Farkhutdinov was governor of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia during 1995–2003.

Yūji Aoki was a Japanese manga artist born in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, Japan.

Ferdinand Alexander "Ferry" Sonneville was an Indonesian badminton player noted for his touch, consistency, tactical astuteness, and coolness under pressure. He won numerous international singles titles from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s and his clutch performances helped Indonesia to win its first three Thomas Cup titles consecutively in 1958, 1961, and 1964, setting the pattern for his country's continued formidable presence in world badminton. Sonneville's playing career ended on a sour note in the 1967 Thomas Cup final in Jakarta when, past his prime, he was roundly booed by his countrymen after dropping singles matches in Indonesia's controversial loss to Malaysia.

Kinji Fukasaku was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who rose to prominence for his association with the Japanese New Wave. He directed the Japanese portion of the Hollywood war film Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), yakuza films including Battles Without Honor and Humanity (1973), samurai period pieces such as Shogun's Samurai (1978), the space opera Message from Space (1978), the fantasy film Samurai Reincarnation (1981), and his final film Battle Royale (2000). He used a cinema verite-inspired shaky camera technique in many of his films from the early 1970s.

Yoko Mizuki was a Japanese screenwriter. Born in Tokyo, she later graduated from Bunka Gakuin and began writing screenplays to support her family after her father died. Mizuki was active in the 1950s era of the Japanese studio system and is notable for her work with directors Tadashi Imai and Mikio Naruse. Her work had received several Best Screenplay Awards from Kinema Junpo and has been described in the book Women Screenwriters: An International Guide as "One of the most important and accomplished Japanese female screenwriters of all time".

Juan José Menéndez Gutiérrez de la Torre better known as Juanjo Menéndez was a Spanish actor. He appeared in 92 films and television shows between 1953 and 1997. He starred in the film El Lazarillo de Tormes, which won the Golden Bear at the 10th Berlin International Film Festival.

Misa Uehara appeared in a few Japanese films from the late 1950s, most notably starring as Princess Yuki in Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. Following a brief career, she left acting.

Yerzhan Tatishev was Kazakhstani banker who was the chairman and CEO of BTA Bank JSC.

Helmut Knochen was the senior commander of the Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst in Paris during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II.