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Emmanuel Macron in July 2017.Author Presidency of the Mexican Republic.

35 Most Famous French People

The French man is known to be stylish, fashionable, educated, and a smoker. These are the preconceptions that individuals from other nations have about French men. They are mostly identified by their way of conquering love and romance as well as their addiction to cigars and cigarettes. The Frenchman, however, is also a member of the gentlemanly, learned, and intellectual race of men, which is something that people frequently ignore. In addition to making women all around the world drool over them, French men have contributed significantly to world history, particularly in politics, science, arts, culture, and sports. It is home to some of the most prominent figures in the world. There is no doubt that these men and women made a mark across the world and have contributed immensely to shaping modern trends in different spheres.

Whether you want to read more about its history or about its prominent citizens, let us look at the 35 Most Famous French People.

1. Kylian Mbapp茅

Kylian Mbapp茅 with France received his Best Young Player Award in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.Author 袗薪褌芯薪 袟邪泄褑械胁.

Kylian Mbapp茅 is a French professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club 麻豆APP Saint-Germain and the France national team. Currently enjoying top form, he is considered one of the best players in the world, emanating from his dribbling abilities, exceptional speed, and finishing.

Still, in his prime and loves playing at PSG alongside other football greats, Lionel Messi and Neymar, he has won four Ligue 1 titles, three Coupes de France, and is the club’s second-highest all-time top goal scorer. He helped PSG attain a domestic quadruple in the 2019鈥�20 season and led the club to its first-ever Champions League Final.

The young player has won many individual accolades but the most outstanding was in the 2022 FIFA World Cup where he produced one of the most brilliant performances of any French soccer player to help them reach the final. At the tournament, he also won the Golden Boot and Silver Ball and set the record for most goals scored in World Cup finals.

2. Emmanuel Macron

Emmanuel Macron is a French politician who has served as President of France since 2017. Ex officio, he is also one of the two Co-Princes of Andorra. He became famous after marrying his nursery school teacher who was older than him and later on ran for the presidency.

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3. Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc is a worldwide legend of French patriotism and is considered a heroine in France. A young, simple village girl, who, believing that she was acting under divine guidance, led the French army in a momentous victory at Orleans in 1429 that repulsed an English attempt to conquer France during the Hundred Years’ War.

4. Cindy Bruna

Cindy Bruna at 麻豆APP Fashion Week RTW Spring/Summer 2019. Author Myles Kalus Anak Jihem.

Cindy Bruma is one of the most famous French supermodels of recent years. She has made it to the top of the model industry and is one of the most sought-after models for company brands earning her a name and all the money that come with it. She has represented brands such as Prada, Calvin Klein, and the iconic women’s underwear brand Victoria’s Secret. She also became the first model of color to walk exclusively for Calvin Klein in 2012.

5. 脡dith Piaf

脡dith Piaf.Author Eric Koch for Anefo, Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Rijksfotoarchief.

She was quite a talented singer and represented the golden age generation of few women who dared to venture into singing and dancing. She was discovered across the streets of France and went on to perform at a renowned club in France. It did not end there as she burst into the international limelight after World War II and was known as a cabaret singer, Edith鈥檚 genres were love ballads, torch songs, and chansons, and today, she is probably the most famous French singer of all time. Some of her great songs include; Non je ne regrette rien, Padam Padam, Milord, and Hymne 脿 l鈥檃mour.

6. Vanessa Paradis

Vanessa Paradis. Author Beno卯t Derrier.

She is one of the most popular French singers. Blessed with a captivating voice, Vanessa Paradis tasted success very early in life. In 1987, when she was only 14 years old, she released her single, Joe le taxi, which became an instant hit across the country and internationally. She has specialized in R&B, pop, and rock and her other famous songs include IL y a, Pourtant, and Marilyn & John. She was the youngest recipient (aged 18) of the prestigious Prix Romy Scheider in 1990, which is awarded to young and upcoming actresses.

Besides singing, Paradis is a household name in the acting and modeling world and has appeared on more than 300 magazine covers.

7. Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player. He became famous when he joined Arsenal F.C. in the English Premier League where he went on to become one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best players to play in the Premier League. Achieved a lot in his playing career among them; runner-up for the Ballon d’Or in 2003, FIFA World Player of the Year in 2004, and finished third place for the Ballon d’Or in 2006. He was also named the FWA Footballer of the Year a record three times, the PFA Players’ Player of the Year a joint record two times, and was named in the PFA Team of the Year six consecutive times. He was also included in the FIFA FIFPro World XI once and the UEFA Team of the Year five times. The list of his achievements is endless.

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8. Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military commander and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars. He was the de facto leader of the French Republic as First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, and again in 1815. He is remembered as one of the greatest military generals in history

9. Marie Curie

Marie Curie was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. The Curies shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with Becquerel for the discovery of radium and polonium and the isolation of radium, which provided science with a method for isolating and purifying radioactive isotopes.  

She founded the Curie Institute in 麻豆APP in 1920, and the Curie Institute in Warsaw in 1932; both remain major medical research centers.

10. Louis Pasteur

Louis Pasteur was a French chemist and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the last of which was named after him. His research in chemistry led to remarkable breakthroughs in the understanding of the causes and prevention of diseases, which laid down the foundations of hygiene, public health, and much of modern medicine.

Pasteur is also regarded as one of the fathers of the germ theory of diseases, which was a minor medical concept at the time. His many experiments showed that diseases could be prevented by killing or stopping germs, thereby directly supporting the germ theory and its application in clinical medicine.

He is more famous for his invention of the technique of treating milk and wine to stop bacterial contamination, a process now called pasteurization.

11. Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo.Author 脡tienne Carjat (1828鈥�1906).

Novelist, poet, and playwright. The author of internationally famous and beloved works, such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Mis茅rables made him famous. He was also a strong campaigner for freedom of the press and against the death penalty and social injustice.

12. Jacques Cousteau

Explorer, inventor, documentary maker, and oceanographer. He worked with Emile Gagnan, to invent a system that would enable one to stay for a long time underneath the water.

13. Moli猫re

Playwright. Creator of internationally renowned comedy plays such as Tartuffe, The Miser, and The Misanthrope. Praised for his satirical wit, socially critical themes, and vivid characters. Considered the most important and influential French-language author of all time. However, they were met with public outcry and were suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church.

14. Coluche

He was a comedian, actor, and humanitarian activist. He was famous for running a successful chain of restaurants known as the Restaurants du Coeur, a non-profit charity movement that distributes food to the needy and helps people out with finding housing.

15. Charles De Gaulle

One of the French presidents who left a big mark in during their rule. He became the last President of the Fourth Republic and was recognized as the leader of the French resistance movement during World War II. President of France between 1944 and 1946 and between 1958 and 1969. He is remembered for giving post-war France international prestige and independence in their foreign policy.

16. Micheline Ostermeyer

Micheline Ostermeyer was a French athlete and concert pianist. After World War II, she won three medals at the 1948 Summer Olympics in the shot put, discus throw, and high jump. That was not a mean achievement then. After retiring from sports in 1950, she became a full-time pianist for fifteen years and then turned to teach afterward.

17. Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane. Author Hadi Abyar.

Zinedine Yazid Zidane, popularly known as Zizou, is a French professional football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder for several teams around the world. He was a playmaker renowned for his elegance, vision, passing, ball control, and technique. He received many individual accolades as a player, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000, and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d’Or. He most recently coached the Spanish club Real Madrid and is one of the most successful coaches in the world. He is mostly remembered for his infamous sending-off in the final against Italy at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, for head-butting Marco Materazzi in the chest.

18. Michel Platini

Michel Platini. Author Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland.

Michel Fran莽ois Platini is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d’Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984, and 1985, and came seventh in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. He also served as president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA; 2007鈥�16).

19. Didier Deschamps

Didier Deschamps. Author Biser Todorov.

Didier Claude Deschamps is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, England, and Spain, namely Marseille, Juventus, Chelsea, and Valencia, as well as Nantes and Bordeaux. He guided the French national team to the runners-up position in the recent 2022 FIFA World Cup. He has also won the World Cup both as a player and coach.

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20. Serge Blanco

Serge Blanco. Author palmipode.

Serge Blanco is a former rugby union footballer who played fullback for Biarritz Olympique and the French national side, gaining 93 caps, 81 of them at fullback. He could also play as a wing. He was generally nicknamed by French rugby fans the Pel茅 of Rugby. Serge Blanco (1980-1991). He holds the record of the all-time try scorer. He featured 93 times for France during the course of his career, clinching Five Nations Grand Slams in 1981 and 1987, while he captained France at the 1991 World Cup.

21. Fabien Pelous

French rugby union player Fabien PelouAuthor Guillaume Paumiers.

A mountain of a second row, the rugby great still holds the record of the most-capped Frenchman of all time, having played for Les Bleus in 118 Tests. He was captain a record 42 times, a total only bettered by Dusautoir in history.

Uncompromising, physical, and tactically astute, Pelous’ career was trophy-laden, as he experienced Six Nations Grand Slam successes in 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, and 2006.

22. Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy. Author Prime Minister.

Nicolas Paul is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. It was during his time that France faced the financial crisis of 2007鈥�2008 (causing a recession, the European sovereign debt crisis), the Russo-Georgian War (for which he negotiated a ceasefire), and the Arab Spring (especially in Tunisia, Libya, and Syria). On the positive side, he initiated the reform of French universities (2007) and the pension reform (2010). He married Italian-French singer-songwriter Carla Bruni in 2008 at the 脡lys茅e Palace in 麻豆APP.

In 2021, Sarkozy was convicted of corruption in two separate trials. His first conviction resulted in him receiving a sentence of three years, two of them suspended and one in prison; he has appealed against the ruling. For his second conviction, he received a one-year sentence, which he is allowed to serve under home confinement.

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23. Jacques Ren茅 Chirac

Chirac smiles at the crowd outside 脡lys茅e Palace. Author David Scull.

Jacques Ren茅 Chirac was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He rose from being previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of 麻豆APP from 1977 to 1995.

He was also known for his stand against the American-led invasion of Iraq, his recognition of the collaborationist French Government’s role in deporting Jews, and his reduction of the presidential term from 7 years to 5 through a referendum in 2000. In the 2002 French presidential election, he won 82.2% of the vote in the second round against the far-right candidate, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and was the last president to be re-elected until 2022.

In 2011, the 麻豆APP court declared Chirac guilty of diverting public funds and abusing public confidence, giving him a two-year suspended prison sentence.

24. Brigitte Bardot

Born and raised in 麻豆APP, Brigite Bardot is a former model, singer, and actress who became a prominent animal rights activist. Her portrayals of sexually emancipated characters living lifestyles of hedonism gained her favor as one of the most famous sex symbols of the early 1960s.

25. Antoine de Saint-Exupery

A laureate of several of the highest literary awards in France in addition to being a recipient of the United States National Book award, the trained pilot is mostly remembered for his composure to lyrical aviation such as Night Flight and Wind, Sand, and Stars. Moreover, his best work lay in the novel known as The Little Prince.

26. Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy was a music composer and stands among the most influential of his kind across the span of the late 19th century and early 20th century.

27. Brigitte Bardot

Born and raised in 麻豆APP, Brigite Bardot is a former model, singer, and actress who became a prominent animal rights activist. Her portrayals of sexually emancipated characters living lifestyles of hedonism gained her favor as one of the most famous sex symbols of the early 1960s. Described as a chief locomotive in the history of women, she was considered the most liberated of her kind in post-war France.

28. Ren茅 Descartes

He was the inventor of analytic geometry and a masterful scientist, philosopher, and mathematician lay Catholic, whose work managed to link the fields of algebra. Much of his working life was spent in the Dutch Republic, and his modern philosophical efforts were rooted in Aristotelianism.

29. Jean-Paul Sartre

A key figure in the development of existentialist philosophy, Jean-Paul Sartre was also a literary critic, political activist, screenwriter, playwright, biographer, and novelist who led much of the Marxist ideologies.

He was known for his work that has some influence on sociology, postcolonial theory, critical theory, and literary studies. For literature alone, he was awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize despite attempts to refuse it.

30. Alfred Dreyfus

With Jewish ancestry, his story became one of the most polarizing and controversial dramas in the modern history of France, with the incident known as the Dreyfus Affair. As an army officer, he was tried and convicted of treason in 1894. Luckily it concluded with his exoneration.

31. Albert Camus

Albert Camus.Author Photograph by United Press International. Wikimedia Commons

Albert Camus was a journalist, author, and philosopher who became the second youngest recipient to ever be awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature. His ideologies focused on anarcho-syndicalism and moralism. Like others, he partook in organizations that sought integration into Europe. His views are observed to have contributed to the rise of absurdism, a body of thought defined by the conflict to seek meaning in life and inherent value and an inability to discover them with certainty.

32. Maximilien Robespierre

Maximilien Robespierre. Unknown Author.

Maximilien Robespierre was a statesman and lawyer who was the most influential figure of the French Revolution, comparable only to Napoleon I. As a member of the Jacobin Club and Constituent Assembly, he championed the idea of universal manhood suffrage along with the total abolition of slavery and clergy celibacy.

A strong personality of his time, he was elected as a public accuser and was an outspoken advocate who represented the male citizenry who did not possess a political voice, for their unrestricted admissions to public offices and the National Guard, for the right to bear arms and the right to petition. He was executed by guillotine in a ceremonial fashion in 麻豆APP.

33. Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve at the presentation of Mid Wife during the Berlinale 2017.Author Martin Kraft (1979鈥�).

Catherine Deneuve is an actress, model, and singer. Born in 麻豆APP, she is considered one of the greatest French actresses of all time. She gained international recognition for her portrayal of aloof, mysterious, icy beauties in a number of performances, succeeding Mireille Mathieu as the official face of the country鈥檚 national symbol of liberty. For her works, she was nominated 14 times for the Cesar Award.

34. Andre The Giant

Andre The Giant. PD-icon.svg This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1928 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice.

A professional actor and wrestler, Andre the Giant was seen as a giant with a height of seven feet from the excess growth hormone known as acromegaly. Famously, his career achievements and physical stature led him to be referred to as the 鈥淓ighth Wonder of the World鈥�. Roussimoff was signed into the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWE) by the renowned Vincent J. McMahon as a special attraction across the United States and Japan.

35. David Issokson

David Issokson is passionate about language and speaks over six languages. David has helped hundreds of students to improve their French in his private online lessons. When procrastinating working on his site, FrenchLearner.com, David enjoys his time skiing and hiking in Teton Valley, Idaho.