Famous People From Belfast

Reference
Updated June 9, 2017903 items

List of famous people from Belfast, including photos when available. The people below are listed by their popularity, so the most recognizable names are at the top of the list. Some of the people below are celebrities born in Belfast, while others are simply notable locals. If you're from Belfast you might already know that these prominent figures are also from your hometown, but some of the names below may really surprise you. This list includes people who were born and raised in Belfast, as well as those who were born there but moved away at a young age.

List ranges from Phil Hughes to Rhona Torney and more.

If you want to answer the questions, "Which famous people are from Belfast?" or "Which celebrities were born in Belfast?" then this list is a great resource for you.
Ranked by
  • Kenneth Branagh
    • Birthplace: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
    Sir Kenneth Charles Branagh (born 10 December 1960) is a Northern Irish actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. Branagh trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and in 2015 succeeded Richard Attenborough as its president. He has both directed and starred in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays, including Henry V (1989) (for which he was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Actor and Best Director), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Othello (1995), Hamlet (1996) (for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay), Love's Labour's Lost (2000), and As You Like It (2006). Branagh has starred in numerous other films and television series including Fortunes of War (1987), Woody Allen's Celebrity (1998), Wild Wild West (1999), as the voice of Miguel in The Road to El Dorado (2000), as SS leader Reinhard Heydrich in Conspiracy (2001), Shackleton (2002), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Warm Springs (2005), as Major General Henning von Tresckow in Valkyrie (2008), The Boat That Rocked (2009), Wallander (2008–2016), My Week with Marilyn (2011) as Sir Laurence Olivier (Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor), and as Royal Navy Commander Bolton in the action-thriller Dunkirk (2017). He has directed such films as Dead Again (1991), in which he also starred, Swan Song (1992) (Academy Award nominated for Best Live Action Short Film), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994) in which he also starred, The Magic Flute (2006), Sleuth (2007), the Marvel superhero film Thor (2011), the action thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014) in which he also co-stars, the live-action adaptation of Disney's Cinderella (2015), and the mystery drama adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express (2017), in which he also starred as Hercule Poirot. He narrated the series Cold War (1998), the BBC documentary miniseries Walking with Dinosaurs (1999) (as well as The Ballad of Big Al), Walking with Beasts (2001) and Walking with Monsters (2005). Branagh has been nominated for five Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, and has won three BAFTAs, and two Emmy Awards. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2012 Birthday Honours and was knighted on 9 November 2012. He was made a Freeman of his native city of Belfast in January 2018.
  • Eamonn Holmes
    • Birthplace: Belfast, United Kingdom
    Eamonn Holmes (born 3 December 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster, best known for presenting Sky News Sunrise and This Morning. Holmes currently presents his show (4–7pm) weekdays on Talkradio, and is the lead relief anchor for Good Morning Britain. Holmes co-presented GMTV for twelve years between 1993 and 2005, before presenting Sky News Sunrise for eleven years between 2005 and 2016. Since 2006, he has co-hosted This Morning with his wife Ruth Langsford on Fridays and during school holidays. He has also presented How the Other Half Lives (2015–present) and It's Not Me, It's You (2016) for Channel 5. Holmes is an advocate of numerous charities and causes including Dogs Trust, Variety GB and Northern Ireland Kidney Patients' Association.
  • Osborne Reynolds

    Osborne Reynolds

    Dec. at 69 (1842-1912)
    • Birthplace: Belfast, United Kingdom
    Osborne Reynolds FRS (23 August 1842 – 21 February 1912) was a prominent Irish-born British innovator in the understanding of fluid dynamics. Separately, his studies of heat transfer between solids and fluids brought improvements in boiler and condenser design. He spent his entire career at what is now the University of Manchester.
  • Harold Beverage

    Harold Beverage

    Dec. at 99 (1893-1993)
    • Birthplace: North Haven, Maine
    Harold Henry "Bev" Beverage (October 14, 1893 – January 27, 1993) is perhaps most widely known today for his invention and development of the wave antenna, which came to be known as the Beverage antenna and which for the last few decades has seen a resurgence in use within the amateur radio and broadcast DXing hobbyist communities. Less widely known (outside of the community of science history researchers) is that Bev was a pioneer of radio engineering and his engineering research paralleled the development of radio transmission technology throughout his professional career with significant contributions not only in the field of radio frequency antennas but also radio frequency propagation and systems engineering.
  • Danny Blanchflower

    Danny Blanchflower

    Dec. at 67 (1926-1993)
    • Birthplace: Belfast, United Kingdom
    Robert Dennis "Danny" Blanchflower (10 February 1926 – 9 December 1993) was a former Northern Ireland international footballer who played for and captained Tottenham Hotspur, most notably during its double-winning season of 1960–61. He played as a defensive midfielder at right half and was known particularly for his accurate passing, his ability to dictate the tempo of the game and his inspiring leadership.. After a lengthy playing career, he retired at the age of 38 and became a respected football journalist, and later a football manager. He was ranked as the greatest player ever in Spurs history by The Times in 2009.He made one of the best known quotes on football: "The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom."
  • Gemma Garrett
    • Birthplace: Belfast, United Kingdom
    Gemma Dawn Garrett (born 25 September 1981, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a former holder of the titles Miss Great Britain and Miss Belfast. She is the official face of the Formula One British Grand Prix at Silverstone.She appeared with Dolph Lundgren in the film Direct Contact, which was scheduled for release in 2008. She was cast as a character called Creech due to her "distinctive" looks. She stood as a candidate in the Crewe and Nantwich by-election on 22 May 2008, representing the "Beauties for Britain" party, formed recently by herself, in the intention, in her own words, of "making Westminster less dowdy and down-trodden". She came in tenth with 113 votes, 0.27% of the total. She contested the Haltemprice and Howden by-election following the resignation of its MP, David Davis, representing the 'Miss Great Britain Party'. Her candidacy attracted 521 votes, placing her in fifth position behind the Conservative Party, Green Party, English Democrats and National Front Britain for the British.Garrett currently writes for Sunday Life newspaper and Fate magazine. In a poll named Britain's sexiest blondes Garrett took 3rd place behind Keeley Hazell and Eva.