Famous People

Actors

Ardal O'Hanlon, actor/comedian
Arthur Shields, actor
Barry Fitzgerald, actor
Brenda Fricker, Oscar winner
Brendan Gleeson, actor
Bronagh Gallagher, actress
Catherine Cusack
Charles Mitchel
Cillian Murphy, actor
Colin Farrell
Colm Meaney, actor
Cyril Cusack, born in South Africa
Daniel Day-Lewis, British-born Oscar winner
Devon Murray
Evanna Lynch
Fiona Shaw, actress
Fionnuala Flanagan, actress
Gabriel Byrne
George Brent Hollywood actor
Glenn Quinn, actor
Hilton Edwards, co-founder of the Gate Theatre, born in UK
Jim Norton, character actor
Joe Lynch, TV actor
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, actor
Kenneth Branagh, actor and director
Liam Neeson, actor
Maureen O'Hara, actress
Maureen O'Sullivan, actor and mother of Mia Farrow
Sir Michael Gambon
Micheál MacLiammóir, co-founder of the Gate Theatre, born in UK
Milo O'Shea, actor
Niamh Cusack
Patrick Bergin
Patrick McGoohan, actor and creator of The Prisoner
Peter O'Toole, Oscar winner
Pierce Brosnan
Richard Harris, (actor)
Roma Downey
Sorcha Cusack
Stephen Boyd, actor
Stephen Rea, actor
Stuart Townsend, actor and boxer
Susan Lynch

Architecture

Edward Lovett Pearce
Eileen Gray
Francis Johnston
George Ashlin
George Drumgoole Coleman
James Gandon
James Hoban, designer of White House
James Joseph McCarthy
Kevin Roche
Michael Scott
Sir Thomas Drew
Thomas Parke

Business

Anthony J F O'Reilly, Independent Newspapers and head of Heinz, 1979-1996
Arthur Guinness, brewer
Denis O'Brien, highly successful entrepreneur and founder of Esat Telecom
Dermot Mannion, CEO of Aer Lingus
Donie Cassidy, businessman and TD
Eddie Hobbs, financial guru, presenter of Show Me the Money and Rip-Off Republic
Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair
Niall FitzGerald, honorary KBE, chief executive Unilever
Pat McDonagh, founder of Supermac's
Peter Sutherland, Chairman of BP Plc, and Chairman of Goldman Sachs International and formerly Ireland's representative at the European Commission
Seán Quinn, multi-millionaire entrepreneur
Tony Ryan, founder of Ryanair and Guinness Peat Aviation

Comedians

Andrew Maxwell
Ardal O'Hanlon
Dara O'Briain
David O'Doherty
Dylan Moran
Ed Byrne
Sean Hughes
Tommy Tiernan

Dance

Bill Whelan, composer
Dame Ninette de Valois, ballet
Jean Butler, Irish dancer
Lola Montez (Eliza Gilbert), dancer, courtesan

Music

Individuals

Andy White, singer/songwriter
Angela Feeney, opera singer
Barney McKenna, banjo player
Big Tom, lead singer of Big Tom And The Mainliners
Bob Geldof, songwriter, singer of the Boomtown Rats, activist
Bono (real name: Paul Hewson), lead singer of U2
Brian Irvine, composer
Brian Kennedy, singer
Carmel Gunning, tin whistler
Carmel Quinn, singer
Catherine Hayes, opera singer
Chris de Burgh
Chris Singleton, singer-songwriter
Christy Moore, singer/songwriter
Ciaran Bourke, singer/guitarist
Ciarán Farrell, composer
Cora Venus Lunny, violinist
Damien Dempsey, singer/songwriter
Damien Leith, singer/songwriter, winner of Australian Idol 2006
Damien Rice, singer-songwriter
Dana Rosemary Scallon, MEP - singer turned politician
Daniel O'Donnell, country-and-western singer
Dave King, singer/songwriter
David Kitt
Derek Bell, harpist
Dolores Keane, singer
Dolores O'Riordan, singer/songwriter/guitarist
Dónal Lunny
Eamonn Campbell, guitarist/producer
Eleanor McEvoy
Enda Markey, singer
Enya (real name: Eithne Ní Bhraonáin), singer/songwriter
Fergus Johnston, Aosdána
Finghin Collins, pianist
Frances Black, singer
Frankie Gavin, fiddler
Gavin Friday
Gemma Hayes
Gerald Barry, Aosdána
Gilbert O'Sullivan, pop singer/songwriter/pianist
Hamilton Harty, composer and arranger
Ian Wilson, Aosdána
James Galway, flautist
James Wilson, Aosdána
Jem Finer, banjoist and guitarist
Joe Burke, accordionist
John Count McCormack, singer
John Field, composer (creator of the nocturne)
John Sheahan fiddler
Johnny Logan, singer/songwriter
Johnny Marr (real name: John Maher), guitarist/keyboardist/songwriter, formerly of The Smiths
Josef Locke, singer
Julia Clifford, traditional fiddle player
Kevin Burke, fiddler
Leo Rowsome, uilleann piper
Liam O'Flynn, uilleann piper
Lisa Hannigan, singer/songwriter
Luke Kelly, singer
Marc Gunn, autoharper and singer/songwriter of the Brobdingnagian Bards
Mark Geary
Martin O'Connor, accordionist
Mary Bergin, tin whistler
Mary Black, singer
Mary O'Hara, harpist/singer
Maura O'Connell, singer
Michael Coleman, fiddler
Michael William Balfe, composer
Mickey McConnell, singer/songwriter
Mundy, singer/songwriter
Órla Fallon - singer, harpist
Paddy Casey, singer/songwriter
Paddy Keenan, uilleann piper
Paddy Killoran, fiddler
Paddy Reilly, singer/guitarist
Paddy Tunney, singer
Patrick Cassidy, composer
Patsy Touhey, piper
Paul Brady, singer
Phil Coulter, composer
Phil Lynott, Thin Lizzy frontman
Philip Martin, pianist, Aosdána
Robert O'Connor, singer/songwriter
Ronan Keating, singer/songwriter
Ronnie Drew, singer/guitarist
Rory Gallagher, blues/rock guitarist
Ruby Murray, singer
Samantha Mumba, singer
Sarah Makem, singer
Séamus Ennis, uilleann piper
Sean Cannon, singer/guitarist
Sean Mackin, backup vocals and violinist of Yellowcard
Seán Ó Riada, composer and musician
Shane MacGowan, English born singer/songwriter
Sharon Shannon, traditional musician
Sinéad O'Connor, singer
Tadhg Cooke, singer
Tommy Makem, singer-songwriter
Tommy Peoples, fiddler
Turlough O'Carolan, 17th century harpist and composer ("Last of the Bards")
Van Morrison, singer/songwriter
Vivian Campbell, co-lead guitarist of Def Leppard
W. H. Grattan Flood, author and renowned musicologist
Wallis Bird, singer, songwriter
Willie Clancy, uilleann piper

Groups

Abaddon Incarnate
Afro-Celt Sound System
Agnelli & Nelson
Altan
An Góilín
Anúna
Aosdána
Ash
Aslan
B*Witched
Bad Habitz
Bad Haggis
Barley Bree
Bell X1
Bellefire
Black 47
Blink
Blue in Heaven
Boss Volenti
Boyzone, boy band
Brobdingnagian Bards
Bulraga
Cactus World News
Celtic Legacy
Celtic Tenors
Celtic Woman
Ceoltóirí Chualann
Channel One
Cherish the Ladies
Clannad
Compulsion
Cruachan
Cyclefly
D:Ream
Dagda
Danú
Déanta
Director
Dr. Strangely Strange
Dropkick Murphys
Energy Orchard
Fat Lady Sings
Fatima Mansions
Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band
Fish Go Deep
Flogging Molly
Flook
Foster & Allen
Four Men and a Dog
Four to the Bar
Future Kings of Spain
Geasa
God Talking Soul
Gráda
Hal
Horslips
Hothouse Flowers
In Tua Nua
InFOCUS
Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club
Jetplane Landing
JJ72
Kerbdog, rock band
Kíla
Language of Flowers
LeperKhanz
Lluther
Lúnasa
Mama's Boys
Marxman
Mellow Candle
Microdisney
Minor Detail
Mixtwitch
Mourning Beloveth
Moving Hearts
My Bloody Valentine
Na Casaidigh
Nightnoise
Oppenheimer
OTT
Owen's
Panda Kopanda
Patrick Street
Pay*Ola
Planxty
Poor Man's Fortune
Power of Dreams
Primordial
Rare
Real Friends Break Chairs
Republic of Loose
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Rollerskate Skinny
Ryan's Fancy
Sack
Self Aid
Seraphim
Six
Sixstarhotel
Skara Brae
Skelpin
Skid Row
Skindive
Snow Patrol, rock band
Solas (group)
Solas (liturgical)
Something Happens
St. Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band
Stalag 17
Stiff Little Fingers
Stockton's Wing
Surly
Sweeney's Men
Sweet Savage
Tamalin
Taste
Téada
That Petrol Emotion
The Answer
The Answer
The Bachelors
The Blizzards
The Boomtown Rats
The Bothy Band
The Boys of the Lough
The Brent Flood
The Brilliant Trees
The Chalets
The Chieftains
The Clancy Brothers
The Commitments
The Conway Sisters
The Corrs
The Cranberries
The Daze
The Divine Comedy
The Dubliners
The East Coast Angels
The Frames
The Fureys
The Golden Horde
The Groovin' Reels
The High Llamas
The Hitchers
The IRS
The Johnstons
The Mascara Story
The Middlewich Paddies
The Moondogs
The Mumbles
The Nolans
The Outcasts
The Pogues
The Popes
The Punters
The Radiators From Space
The Redneck Manifesto
The Saw Doctors
The Starjets
The Sultans Of Ping FC
The Thrills
The Undertones
The Vipers
The Virgin Prunes
The Waterboys
The Watertower Conspiracy
Them
Therapy?
Thin Lizzy
Those Nervous Animals
Tír na nÓg
Toasted Heretic
Toxic Waste
Trinití
Turn
U2
Venus Envy
Waylander
Wendimiller
Westlife
Whipping Boy
Whoopsadaisies
Wilt
Wolfe Tones
Wreck of the Hesperus

Sport

Alain Rolland, rugby referee
Alan Lewis, rugby referee
Andre Botha (cricketer)
Andrew Bree, swimmer
Andrew White (cricketer)
Andy Keogh, footballer
Barry McGuigan, boxer
Bob Tisdall - Olympic gold medal/400mH, 1932
Boyd Rankin, cricketer
Brian O'Driscoll - rugby player
Catherina McKiernan, athlete
Cian O'Connor - show jumper
Damien Duff, footballer
Dave Finlay, WWE wrestler
Dave Langford-Smith, cricketer
Dave McAuley, boxer
Denis Hickie, rugby player
Des Smyth - golfer
Eamon Dunphy, former soccer player, media commentator and broadcaster
Eamonn Coghlan, runner
Eddie Irvine - Formula 1 driver
Eddie Jordan, racing driver and Formula 1 team owner
Eddie Macken, horse show jumper
Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed, 19th century mountaineer
Eoin Morgan, cricketer
Geordan Murphy, rugby player
Glenn Ross, strongman
Gordon D'Arcy, rugby player
Ham Lambert, rugby and cricket player
Jeremy Bray, cricketer
Jim Stynes, Australian rules footballer
Jimmy McLarnin, boxer
John Mooney, cricketer
John Pius Boland, double Olympic medal-winner/tennis,1896
John Treacy, Olympic silver medal/marathon, 1984
Johnny Giles, footballer
Jonjo O'Neill, jockey
Keith Wood, rugby player
Ken Doherty, former World Snooker champion
Kenny Carroll, cricketer
Kevin McBride, boxer
Kevin O'Brien, cricketer
Kyle McCallan, cricketer
Liam Daish, footballer
Malcolm O'Kelly, rugby player
Michael Carruth, Olympic gold medal winner/boxing
Michael Kinane, jockey
Michelle Smith, Multi gold medallist 1996 Olympics
Mick Doyle, Muay Thai and kickboxing
Mick Doyle, rugby player
Mick Galwey, rugby player and coach
Mick McCarthy, former Republic of Ireland football manager
Niall O'Brien, cricketer
Niall Quinn, footballer
Packie Bonner, footballer
Pádraig Harrington, golfer
Pat O'Callaghan, Olympic gold medal/hammer, 1928, 1932
Patrick O'Connell, Real Betis/FC Barcelona manager, 1930s
Paul Darragh, show jumper
Paul McGinley, golfer
Paul McGrath, footballer
Paul Mooney, cricketer
Paul O'Connell, rugby player
Peter Gillespie, cricketer
Peter O'Sullevan, horse racing commentator
Robbie Keane, footballer
Ronan O'Gara, rugby player
Ronnie Delany, Olympic medal winner/athletics
Roy Keane, footballer
Ruby Walsh, jockey
Seamus Elliott, professional cyclist
Seán Kelly, cyclist
Sharon Foley, track and field athlete
Shay Given, footballer
Sonia O'Sullivan, Olympic silver medallist
Stephen Roche, cyclist
Steve Staunton, footballer
Tom Sharkey, boxer
Tony O'Reilly, rugby player
Trent Johnston, cricketer
Wayne McCullough, Olympic Silver Medallist - boxing
William Porterfield, cricketer
Willie John McBride, rugby player

Writers

Aidan Higgins, Aosdána
Anthony Cronin, Aosdána
Augusta, Lady Gregory, playwright and founder of the Abbey Theatre
Austin Clarke
Benedict Kiely, Saoi of Aosdána
Bram Stoker, author of Dracula
Brendan Behan, playwright, novelist
Brian Coffey, poet
Brian Friel, playwright, Aosdána
Brian O'Nolan (aka Myles na gCopaleen, Flann O'Brien), novelist/columnist
C. S. Lewis (author of the Chronicles of Narnia)
Caitlín R. Kiernan, American novelist and palaeontologist
Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander
Christopher Nolan, poet, Aosdána
Clare Boylan, Aosdána
Denis Devlin, poet
Dermot Bolger, novelist, Aosdána
Dermot Healy, Aosdána
Eamon Delaney
Edna O'Brien, novelist, Aosdána
Edward Martyn, playwright, art patron and political activist
Eoghan Corry, journalist and author
Eoin Colfer, author
Francis Ledwidge, poet
Francis Stuart, Saoi of Aosdána
Frank McCourt, writer
Frank McGuinness, Aosdána
Frank O'Connor, short story writer
Garth Ennis, comic writer
Geoffrey Squires, poet
George Barrington
George Bernard Shaw, novelist, playwright
George William Russell, (known under the pen-name AE), writer and critic
Gerard McKeown, writer
Herminie Templeton Kavanagh, author
Hugo Hamilton, author
J. B. Bury, historian
James Clarence Mangan, poet
James Joyce, novelist
James Plunkett, Aosdána
James Simmons poet
Jennifer Johnston, Aosdána
John Banville, novelist
John McGahern, novelist, Aosdána
John Millington Synge, dramatist
John Montague, poet
Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, novelist and satirist
Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, gothic novelist
Laurence Sterne, novelist
Liam O'Flaherty, novelist, short story writer
Máirtín Ó Díreáin, Irish-language poet,Aosdána
Malachi Martin, horror writer
Margaretta Eagar, memoirist
Marina Carr, Aosdána
Martin McDonagh, playwright
Mary Lavin, Saoi of Aosdána
Maurice Scully, poet
Michael Longley, Aosdána
Michael Smith, poet
Neil Jordan, author, film director, Aosdána
Oliver Goldsmith, novelist and dramatist
Oliver St. John Gogarty
Oscar Wilde, novelist, poet, satirist
Pat Ingoldsby, poet, playwright
Patrick Brontë, poet
Patrick Kavanagh, poet
Paul Muldoon, poet
Randolph Healy, poet
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, playwright
Richard Murphy, poet, Aosdána
Roddy Doyle, novelist
Roderick Flanagan, historian
Samuel Beckett, Saoi
Seamus Deane, Aosdána
Seamus Heaney, Saoi of Aosdána, Nobel Laureate
Seán Ó Faoláin, Saoi of Aosdána
Seán O'Casey, playwright
Seathrún Céitinn (Geoffrey Keating)
Sebastian Barry, novelist, Aosdána
Sir Samuel Ferguson, poet
Sister Mary Frances Cusack, the "Nun of Kenmare", patriot and controversialist
Thomas Moore, poet
Trevor Joyce, poet
Ulick O'Connor, Aosdána
Walter Macken, novelist
William Allingham, poet
William Butler Yeats, poet and Nobel laureate
William Carleton, novelist
William Trevor, writer, Aosdána
William Wall, novelist, poet

Other Famous Irish People

Catherine McAuley - founder the Sisters of Mercy
Catherine McGuinness - Justice of the Supreme Court of Ireland, President of the Law Reform Commission
Dermot Morgan - satirist and star of Father Ted
Desmond Connell - Roman Catholic Cardinal of Ireland
Diarmuid Martin - Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland
Eamonn Andrews - TV personality and producer
Edward Martyn - co-founder of the Irish Literary Theatre
Edward McLysaght - Chief Herald of Ireland, 1943-54
Eliza Lynch, mistress of Francisco López, Paraguayan dictator
Emily O'Reilly - journalist, Ombudsman and Information Commissioner
Ernest Shackleton - explorer
Gay Byrne - broadcaster and presenter of the Late Late Show (1962-1999)
George Berkeley - philosopher
Gerard Slevin - Chief Herald of Ireland, 1954-81
Grace O'Malley - Granuaile, pirate queen
Graham Norton - TV personality and actor
Harry Clarke - stained glass artist
James Larkin - labour leader
Jim Duffy - Irish advisor to Australia's Republic Advisory Committee
Johannes Scotus Erigena - theologian (b. 810)
Jose de Ribas, Imperial Russian Admiral, wars with Ottomans
Kevin Murphy, Ombudsman and Information Commissioner
Kitty O'Shea - mistress of Charles Stewart Parnell
Lady Mary Heath - early aviator
Lord Killanin, former head of the International Olympic Committee
Margaretta Eagar - Limerick born governess to the last Russian Royal Family
Michael Anthony Fleming - Bishop of St. John's, Newfoundland
Nellie Cashman, gold prospector in the United States; born in County Cork
Pat Kenny - broadcaster and presenter of the Late Late Show (1999-present)
Philip Treacy - milliner
Robin Eames - Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
Ryan Tubridy - entertainer
Seán Brady - Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland
Sir Horace Plunkett - founder of co-operative movement
St. Aidan of Lindisfarne
St. Brigid - Irish saint and bishop
St. Patrick - British born Irish patron saint
Terry Wogan - TV and radio personality
Timothy Smiddy - academic, economist, Ireland's first ambassador