This is a list of notable people born, raised or resident in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Arts

Business

Thomas Andrews Thomas Andrews Jr. (7 February 1873 – 15 April 1912) was a British businessman and shipbuilder. He was managing director and head of the drafting department of the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. He was the nava ...

, shipbuilder * Andrew Mulholland, flax manufacturer * William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, shipbuilder and politician * Frank Carson, comedian * Nauheed Cyrusi, actress, model, VJ * Mary Gormley, beauty queen (

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

Ireland 2000) * Mickey Marley, street entertainer * Declan Mulholland, actor * Ruby Murray, singer * Holly Quin-Ankrah, actress * Roy Walker, comedian * Adrian Zagoritis, songwriter

Law

* Robert James McMordie, QC, Irish barrister, politician, and Lord Mayor of Belfast * Professor Denis Moloney OBE, solicitor

Media

Gerry Anderson Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...

(1944-2014), radio and TV presenter; born and raised in Derry * Christine Bleakley (born 1979), TV presenter; born in

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

; grew up in Newtownards *

Andrea Catherwood Andrea Catherine Catherwood (born 27 November 1967) is a Northern Irish television presenter and journalist. Early life Andrea Catherwood was born and raised in Belfast where her mother, Adrienne McGuill, was an announcer and newsreader at Ul ...

(born 1967), newsreader; born and raised in Belfast * Eamonn Holmes (born 1959), television presenter; born and raised in Belfast * John Irvine, broadcast journalist; born and raised in Belfast * Shauna Lowry (born 1970), television presenter; born and raised in Belfast * Abeer Macintyre (born 1964), television and radio presenter; born in Amman and moved to Belfast in 1969 * Lyra McKee (1990-2019), journalist; born and raised in Belfast *

Colin Murray Colin Murray (born Luke Wright on 10 March 1977) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter. In 2010, he became host of BBC Television's '' Match of the Day 2'' on BBC Two, while still anchoring shows on BBC Radio 5 Live, including '' 5 ...

(born 1977), radio DJ and journalist; born and raised in Belfast * Denis Murray (born 1951), broadcast journalist; born in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

and raised in Belfast * Bill Neely (born 1959), broadcast journalist; born and raised in Belfast *

Stephen Nolan Stephen Raymond Nolan (born 20 August 1973) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio 5 ''Live'', and is the highest earning broadcaster that the BBC employ in the Province. Early life Born in ...

(born 1973), radio and TV presenter DJ; born and raised in Belfast * Julian Simmons (born 1952), UTV, TV presenter and public figure; born in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

and raised in Belfast * Fionnuala Sweeney,

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

presenter and reporter; born and raised in Belfast

Military

* Bryan Budd, soldier and posthumous VC recipient * Patrick Carlin,

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

recipient * Colonel Tim Collins OBE, former commander, Royal Irish Regiment,

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

* James Joseph Magennis, submariner and VC recipient * William Frederick McFadzean, soldier and posthumous VC recipient

Politics

* Gerry Adams (born 1948), republican political leader *

Paddy Ashdown Jeremy John Durham Ashdown, Baron Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamdon, (27 February 194122 December 2018), better known as Paddy Ashdown, was a British politician and diplomat who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999. Internati ...

(1941-2018), former leader of the Liberal Democrats; born in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Ho ...

, brought up near

Comber Comber ( , , locally ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of Ca ...

* Tony Banks (1942-2006), later Lord Stratford, politician; born in Befast, grew up in London * Sarah "Venie" Barr, political and community activist *

May Blood, Baroness Blood May Blood, Baroness Blood, (26 May 1938 – 21 October 2022) was a British politician who was a member of the House of Lords, where she was a Labour peer, and the first peeress from Northern Ireland, from 31 July 1999 to 4 September 2018. Bl ...

(1938–2022), Labour member of the House of Lords * Robert Bradford (1941-1981), assassinated unionist politician; born in Limavady * Sir William Cairns (1826-1886), colonial administrator and Governor of Queensland, Australia *

Mairead Corrigan Mairead MaguireFairmichael, p. 28: "Mairead Corrigan, now Mairead Maguire, married her former brother-in-law, Jackie Maguire, and they have two children of their own as well as three by Jackie's previous marriage to Ann Maguire." (born 27 Januar ...

(born 1944), Nobel Laureate (Peace) *

James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon PC PC (NI) DL (8 January 1871 – 24 November 1940), was a leading Irish unionist and a key architect of Northern Ireland as a devolved region within the United Kingdom. During the Home Rule Crisis of 1 ...

(1871-1940), Prime Minister of Northern Ireland *

Reg Empey Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey, (born 26 October 1947), best known as Reg Empey, is a Unionist politician from Northern Ireland, who was the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 2005 to 2010. He was the chairman of the ...

(born 1947), unionist political leader * Frank Gault (1826-1896), member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

Gerry Fitt Gerard Fitt, Baron Fitt (9 April 1926 – 26 August 2005) was a politician in Northern Ireland. He was a founder and the first leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a social democratic and Irish nationalist party. Early yea ...

(1926-2005), later Lord Fitt, nationalist political leader *

Chaim Herzog Major-General Chaim Herzog ( he, חיים הרצוג; 17 September 1918 – 17 April 1997) was an Irish-born Israeli politician, general, lawyer and author who served as the sixth President of Israel between 1983 and 1993. Born in Belfast and ...

(1918-1997), sixth

President of Israel The president of the State of Israel ( he, נְשִׂיא מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Nesi Medinat Yisra'el, or he, נְשִׂיא הַמְדִינָה, Nesi HaMedina, President of the State) is the head of state of Israel. The posi ...

Mary McAleese Mary Patricia McAleese ( ; ga, Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish activist lawyer and former politician who served as the eighth president of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an academic ...

(born 1951), eighth

President of Ireland The president of Ireland ( ga, Uachtarán na hÉireann) is the head of state of Ireland and the supreme commander of the Irish Defence Forces. The president holds office for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms.Constitu ...

* David McCalden (1951-1990), far-right activist and AIDS victim * Arlene McCarthy (born 1960), politician;

Member of the European Parliament A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...

for North West England for the Labour Party from 1994 to 2014 *

Henry Joy McCracken Henry Joy McCracken (31 August 1767 – 17 July 1798) was an Irish republican, a leading member of the Society of the United Irishmen and a commander of their forces in the field in the Rebellion of 1798. In pursuit of an independent and democra ...

(1765-1798), leading member of the Society of the United Irishmen * Adam McGibbon (born 1988), environmentalist and writer * Julia McMordie (1860-1942), Ulster Unionist Party politician; first female High Sheriff of Belfast; born in Hartlepool * Peter Robinaon (born 1948), unionist political leader and

First Minister of Northern Ireland The First Minister and deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland are the joint heads of government of the Northern Ireland Executive and have overall responsibility for the running of the Executive Office. Despite the different titles for the two ...

* Bobby Sands (1954-1981), anti H-Block MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone; hunger striker *

David Trimble William David Trimble, Baron Trimble, (15 October 1944 – 25 July 2022) was a British politician who was the first First Minister of Northern Ireland from 1998 to 2002, and leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005. He wa ...

(1944-2022), Nobel Peace Prize winner; first

* Betty Williams (1943-2020), Nobel Laureate (Peace)

Religious

* William Conway (1913-1977),

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

Archbishop of Armagh * Henry Cooke (1788-1868), Presbyterian minister * Robin Eames (born 1936),

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

Archbishop of Armagh

Science

(1813-1885), chemist and physicist * Isobel Agnes Arbuthnot 1870–1963), botanist and botanical collector based in South Africa *

John Stewart Bell John Stewart Bell FRS (28 July 1928 – 1 October 1990) was a physicist from Northern Ireland and the originator of Bell's theorem, an important theorem in quantum physics regarding hidden-variable theories. In 2022, the Nobel Prize in Phy ...

(1928-1990), physicist *

Jocelyn Bell Burnell Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell (; Bell; born 15 July 1943) is an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who, as a postgraduate student, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. The discovery eventually earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in ...

(born 1943), astronomer (discoverer of pulsars); born in

Lurgan Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...

* Sidney Elisabeth Croskery (1901-1990), doctor; born in Gortgranagh, Killinure, County Tyrone *

John Boyd Dunlop John Boyd Dunlop (5 February 1840 – 23 October 1921) was a Scottish-born inventor and veterinary surgeon who spent most of his career in Ireland. Familiar with making rubber devices, he invented the first practical pneumatic tyres for his c ...

(1840-1921), inventor and veterinary surgeon; born in Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, and studied to be a veterinary surgeon at the Dick Vet, University of Edinburgh, moving to Downpatrick, Ireland in 1867 * George Crawford Hyndman (1796–1867), biologist *

Charles Lanyon Sir Charles Lanyon DL, JP (6 January 1813 – 31 May 1889) was an English architect of the 19th century. His work is most closely associated with Belfast, Northern Ireland. Biography Lanyon was born in Eastbourne, Sussex (now East Sussex) in ...

(1813-1889), architect; born in Eastbourne, Sussex; moved to Antrim in 1836 to become county surveyor until 1860; elected Mayor of Belfast in 1862 * William Lewis (1885–1956), Professor of Physical Chemistry, Liverpool; propounded

collision theory Collision theory is a principle of chemistry used to predict the rates of chemical reactions. It states that when suitable particles of the reactant hit each other with correct orientation, only a certain amount of collisions result in a percept ...

* William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, FRSE, (1824-1907), mathematical physicist, engineer, and leader in the physical sciences of the 19th century

Sport

* Tom Armstrong, football player *

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest p ...

, football player *

Billy Bingham William Laurence Bingham (5 August 1931 – 9 June 2022) was a Northern Ireland international footballer and football manager. As a player, his first professional club was Glentoran, whom he played for between 1948 and 1950. Making the move ...

, football player and manager * Danny Blanchflower, football player * William Clay, football player *

Sammy Clingan Samuel Gary Clingan (born 13 January 1984) is a Northern Irish former international footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Early career Clingan began his career in August 2001 as a youth trainee at Wolverhampton Wanderers ...

, pro footballer *

Ray Close Ray Close (born 20 January 1969 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a British retired boxer who fought for most of his career in the Super Middleweight division, ending his career in the Light Heavyweight division. He is a member of the Church of Je ...

, boxer * David Cullen, basketball player and 2007 winner of the Arthur Ashe for Courage Award at the

ESPY An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...

awards for work with Peace Players International * Joey Dunlop, international motorcycle champion * Dave Finlay, professional wrestler * Johnny Flynn, football player * John Graham, NASCAR driver * David Healy, football player *

Alex Higgins Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the game. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgins" because of his fast play, he was Worl ...

, former world snooker champion *

Eddie Irvine Edmund Irvine Jr. (; born 10 November 1965) is a former racing driver from Northern Ireland. He competed in Formula One between 1993 and 2002, and finished runner-up in the 1999 World Drivers' Championship, driving for Scuderia Ferrari. He b ...

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

driver * Damaen Kelly, former professional boxer and Olympic bronze medalist *

Jim Magilton James Magilton (born 6 May 1969) is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Southampton, Sheffield Wednesday and Ipswich Town. He started hi ...

, football player and manager *

Wayne McCullough Wayne Pocket Rocket McCullough (born Wayne William McCullough; 7 July 1970) is a former professional boxer from Northern Ireland who competed from 1993 to 2008. He held the WBC bantamweight title from 1995 to 1997, becoming the first boxer fr ...

, former world champion boxer and Olympic medalist * Alexander McDonnell, early 19th-century chess master * Sammy McIlroy, football player * Eric McMordie, football player * Rinty Monaghan, former undisputed world flyweight boxing champion *

Alanna Nihell Alanna Nihell (; born 14 October 1985) is a Northern Irish amateur boxer. Nihell competed at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal in the women's lightweight event. She also competed in 2018. She joined the army and serve ...

, boxer * Owen Nolan, Ice hockey player * Andrew Patterson, cricketer * Mark Patterson, cricketer * Mary Peters, athlete and Olympic gold medalist *

Paul Stirling Paul Robert Stirling (born 3 September 1990) is an Irish cricketer. Stirling is the opening batsman for the Ireland cricket team and an occasional right arm off break bowler. He is one of the top 10 run scorers in T20 internationals. He was one ...

, cricketer * Tucker, professional wrestler * John Watson, Formula One driver *

Norman Whiteside Norman Whiteside (born 7 May 1965) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and striker. Whiteside began his career at Manchester United, signing professional forms in 1982 at the age of 17 and quickly be ...

, football player

Other

* John Bodkin Adams (1899-1982), doctor and suspected

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

; born and raised in

Randalstown Randalstown is a townland and small town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, between Antrim and Toome. It has a very prominent disused railway viaduct and lies beside Lough Neagh and the Shane's Castle estate. The town is bypassed by the ...

; attended Queen's University Belfast; obtained post as general practitioner in

Eastbourne Eastbourne () is a town and seaside resort in East Sussex, on the south coast of England, east of Brighton and south of London. Eastbourne is immediately east of Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in Great Britain and part of the la ...

in 1922 * Hamish Kippen (1887-2008), Canadian fashion photographer and former junior athlete; born in Belfast, emigrated with family to Toronto in 1889 * Alexander Robinson (c. 1901-1995), boxer and loyalist paramilitary; born and lived in Belfast

References

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Belfast-related lists, People Lists of people by city in the United Kingdom, Belfast People from Belfast, *