Famous People Born In Belfast

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 1 
Kenneth Branagh
(Actor, Director)
Kenneth Branagh
27
Birthdate: December 10, 1960
Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Northern Irish actor, director, and producer, Kenneth Branagh, is a respected figure in Hollywood. Beginning his career as a theater artist in Northern Ireland, he eventually moved to films. He is famous for starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays. He has been nominated for the Academy Awards five times.

 2 
George Best
(Northern Irish Professional Footballer Who Played as a Winger)
George Best
35
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: May 22, 1946
Sun Sign: Gemini
Died: November 25, 2005
Manchester United winger/midfielder George Best was the 1968 European Footballer of the Year and was placed sixth on the FIFA Player of the Century list. A skilled dribbler, the Northern Irish player was also known for his stunning good looks and his affinity for women and alcohol. 
 3 
Stephen Rea
(Irish Actor Known for His Films: ‘V for Vendetta’, ‘Michael Collins’ and ‘Interview with the Vampire’)
Stephen Rea
7
Birthdate: October 31, 1946
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Stephen Rea is best known for his Academy Award-nominated role of Fergus in The Crying Game. He has also appeared in films such as V for Vendetta and Interview with the Vampire. He won a BAFTA for The Honourable Woman and was nominated for one for The Shadow Line.
 4 
Alex Higgins
(Northern Irish Professional Snooker Player)
Alex Higgins
4
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: March 18, 1949
Sun Sign: Pisces
Died: July 24, 2010

Alex Higgins was a Northern Irish snooker player. Renowned for his fast play, which earned him the nickname Hurricane Higgins, Alex was one of the most iconic snooker players of his generation. Thanks to his popularity, he was also called the People's Champion and is credited with popularizing the game of snooker.

 5 
Jonny Evans
(Association football player)
Jonny Evans
3
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: January 3, 1988
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Height: 6'2" (188 cm)
 6 
Eamonn Holmes
(Northern Irish Broadcaster and Journalist)
Eamonn Holmes
3
Birthdate: December 3, 1959
Sun Sign: Sagittarius

Best known for his long stints as a presenter of shows such as GMTV, This Morning, and Sky News Sunrise, Irish journalist Eamonn Holmes has also campaigned for animal welfare and Alzheimer’s awareness. He has also appeared on Celebrity Big Brother and hosted game shows such as The Rich List.

 7 
Frances Tomelty
7
Birthdate: October 6, 1948
Sun Sign: Libra
Daughter of actor Joseph Tomelty, Irish actor Frances Tomelty amazed audiences playing a blind woman in the series Death in Paradise. She met her former husband, singer Sting of The Police fame, at the rock musical Rock Nativity, and they got married a couple of years later. 
 8 
James Barry
(military physician, Surgeon)
James Barry
2
Listed In: Physicians
Birthdate: November 9, 1795
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Died: July 25, 1865

Military surgeon James Miranda Steuart Barry is most noted for making medical reforms and performing one of the first known successful Caesarean sections in Africa. Although during adulthood Barry lived as a man, at birth Barry was named Margaret Ann Bulkley and was known as a girl-child. Barry's birth sex became public after a post-mortem examination.     

 9 
Warren Christie
(Actor)
Warren Christie
0
Birthdate: November 4, 1975
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Height: 6'2" (188 cm)
 10 
Laura Donnelly
(Actress)
Laura Donnelly
5
Birthdate: August 20, 1982
Sun Sign: Leo
Height: 5'4" (163 cm)
 11 
Michael Smiley
(actor, comedian)
Michael Smiley
0
Birthdate: 1963 AD
 12 
John Watson
(British Former Racing Driver)
John Watson
0
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: May 4, 1946
Sun Sign: Taurus
 13 
Mark Allen
(Northern Irish Professional Snooker Player)
Mark Allen
1
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: February 22, 1986
Sun Sign: Pisces
 14 
Gary Moore
(Northern Irish Musician)
Gary Moore
5
Listed In: Musicians
Birthdate: April 4, 1952
Sun Sign: Aries
Died: February 6, 2011

Known as one of the greatest musicians from the British Isles, Irish singer Gary Moore rocked the music scene since the 1960s. Known as part of rock bands such as Skid Row and Thin Lizzy, he gained fame as a fine guitarist who experimented with blues, rock, heavy metal, and jazz.

 15 
Martin Donnelly
(Race Car Driver)
Martin Donnelly
0
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: March 26, 1964
Sun Sign: Aries

Martin Donnelly is a motor racing driver best known for competing in popular races, including the Formula 3000 International Championship and Formula Three. He also competed in Formula One before a serious crash ended his F1 career. Since then, Martin Donnelly has been an important driving coach and works with Lotus Cars.

 16 
Tara Lynne O'Neill
(Actress)
Tara Lynne O'Neill
0
Birthdate: November 16, 1975
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Height: 5'7" (170 cm)
 17 
Carl Frampton
(Former Professional Boxer From Northern Ireland and a Former Two-Weight World Champion)
Carl Frampton
5
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: February 21, 1987
Sun Sign: Pisces

Carl Frampton is a British former professional boxer who won the silver medal at the Men's 2007 European Union Amateur Boxing Championships where he represented Ireland. He held the IBF super-bantamweight and WBA (Unified) titles between 2014 and 2016. From 2016 to 2017, he held the WBA (Super) featherweight title.

 18 
Sir James Galway
(Musician)
Sir James Galway
2
Listed In: Musicians
Birthdate: December 8, 1939
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
 19 
Mark Allen
(American Triathlete)
Mark Allen
0
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: January 12, 1958
Sun Sign: Capricorn
 20 
Ciarán Hinds
(Irish Actor Known for His Film ‘The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover’)
Ciarán Hinds
10
Birthdate: February 9, 1953
Sun Sign: Aquarius

Ciarán Hinds is an Irish actor who is popular for playing villainous roles, Ciarán Hinds has contributed immensely across all three major acting mediums: films, television and theatre. In 2020, Ciarán Hinds was ranked 31st on The Irish Times newspaper's Ireland's greatest film actors list.

 21 
Owen Nolan
(Former Ice hockey right winger)
Owen Nolan
0
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: February 12, 1972
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Height: 6'1" (185 cm)
 22 
Danny Blanchflower
(Northern Ireland Footballer, Football Manager and Journalist)
Danny Blanchflower
2
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: February 10, 1926
Sun Sign: Aquarius
Died: December 9, 1993
Height: 5'9" (175 cm)
 23 
Ryan Burnett
(Boxer)
Ryan Burnett
1
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: May 21, 1992
Sun Sign: Gemini
Height: 5'4" (163 cm)
 24 
Louis MacNeice
(Poet, Writer, Playwright)
Louis MacNeice
1
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: September 12, 1907
Sun Sign: Virgo
Died: September 3, 1963
 25 
Michael Conlan
(Irish Professional Boxer)
Michael Conlan
4
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: November 19, 1991
Sun Sign: Scorpio
Height: 5'8" (173 cm)
 26 
Ruby Murray
(Singer)
Ruby Murray
1
Listed In: Singers
Birthdate: March 29, 1935
Sun Sign: Aries
Died: December 17, 1996
 27 
Terry George
(Screenwriter, Film director)
Terry George
0
Birthdate: December 20, 1952
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
 28 
Tim Collins
(military personnel)
Tim Collins
0
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: 1960
Sun Sign: Aries
 29 
Brendan Hughes
(Republican)
Brendan Hughes
2
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: October 16, 1948
Sun Sign: Libra
Died: February 16, 2008
 30 
Ralph Bryans
(Motorcycle Racer)
Ralph Bryans
0
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: March 7, 1941
Sun Sign: Pisces
Died: August 6, 2014
 31 
Eric Bell
(Musician)
Eric Bell
2
Listed In: Singers
Birthdate: September 3, 1947
Sun Sign: Virgo
 32 
Mairead Farrell
(Activist)
Mairead Farrell
3
Listed In: Activists
Birthdate: March 3, 1957
Sun Sign: Pisces
Died: March 6, 1988

The brutal atrocities of the British forces in Northern Ireland made revolutionary Mairéad Farrell join the IRA. She was later imprisoned for attempting to bomb a Belfast hotel and then spearheaded a prisoners’ movement. She was later shot dead by the British Army for planning a bomb attack in Gibraltar.

 33 
James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon
(Politician)
James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon
1
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: January 8, 1871
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Died: November 24, 1940
 34 
Doc Neeson
(Singer, Songwriter)
Doc Neeson
1
Listed In: Musicians
Birthdate: January 4, 1947
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Died: June 4, 2014
Height: 6'4" (193 cm)
 35 
Wayne McCullough
(Boxer)
Wayne McCullough
0
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: July 7, 1970
Sun Sign: Cancer
Height: 5'7" (170 cm)
 36 
Mairead Maguire
(Peace Activist)
Mairead Maguire
2
Listed In: Activists
Birthdate: January 27, 1944
Sun Sign: Aquarius

Mairead Maguire is a peace activist from Northern Ireland. Along with Betty Williams and Ciaran McKeown, she co-founded the Women for Peace (now known as Community for Peace People). Maguire and Williams received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize. More recently, she was involved in discussions around the Rohingya crisis. She has also called for the abolition of all armies.

 37 
Roma Ryan
(Writer)
Roma Ryan
1
Listed In: Musicians
Birthdate: January 20, 1950
Sun Sign: Aquarius
 38 
Gusty Spence
(British Militant Who Led The Famous Paramilitary Group 'Ulster Volunteer Force')
Gusty Spence
1
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: June 28, 1933
Sun Sign: Cancer
Died: September 25, 2011

Augustus Andrew Spence was a British militant who led the famous paramilitary group, Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). A senior figure in the paramilitary group for over a decade, Spence was one of its first members to be convicted of homicide. Augustus Andrew Spence renounced violence while in prison and helped convince numerous inmates to take up a more political approach.

 39 
Derek Bell
(Baseball Player)
Derek Bell
2
Listed In: Sportspersons
Birthdate: December 11, 1968
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
 40 
Adam Maxted
(Reality Star and Professional Wrestler)
Adam Maxted
0
Birthdate: March 27, 1992
Sun Sign: Aries
Height: 6'3" (190 cm)
 41 
Elizabeth Dowdeswell
(29th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario)
Elizabeth Dowdeswell
1
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: November 9, 1944
Sun Sign: Scorpio
 42 
Joe McDonnell
(Activist)
Joe McDonnell
1
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: September 14, 1951
Sun Sign: Virgo
Died: July 8, 1981
 43 
Finbarr Donnelly
(Singer)
Finbarr Donnelly
0
Listed In: Singers
Birthdate: April 25, 1962
Sun Sign: Taurus
Died: June 18, 1989
 44 
Joe Cahill
(Irish paramilitary leader)
Joe Cahill
2
Listed In: Activists
Birthdate: May 19, 1920
Sun Sign: Taurus
Died: July 24, 2004
 45 
Derek Bell
(Harpist)
Derek Bell
0
Listed In: Musicians
Birthdate: October 21, 1935
Sun Sign: Libra
Died: October 17, 2002
 46 
Kieran Doherty
(Politician)
Kieran Doherty
0
Listed In: Leaders
Birthdate: October 16, 1955
Sun Sign: Libra
Died: August 2, 1981
 47 
Derek Mahon
(Poet)
Derek Mahon
0
Listed In: Writers
Birthdate: November 23, 1941
Sun Sign: Sagittarius
 48 
James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce
(Historian)
James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce
1
Birthdate: May 10, 1838
Sun Sign: Taurus
Died: January 22, 1922
 49 
Alastair McLeod
(Australian Celebrity Chef as Regular Guest on Ready Steady Cook)
Alastair McLeod
0
Listed In: Food Experts
 50 
John Luke
(Artist)
John Luke
0
Listed In: Miscellaneous
Birthdate: January 19, 1906
Sun Sign: Capricorn
Died: February 4, 1975

Known for his figurative paintings and landscapes, artist John Luke incorporated the style of Regionalism in his art. While he initially worked in a shipyard and a mill, an art scholarship changed his life. The Road to the West and The Three Dancers remain two of his best-known works.