List of Czechs
This is a partial list of famous Czech, Czech-speaking/writing people, and people born in Bohemia or the Czech lands.
Note: A number of people on this list can also claim other nationalities; some were Czech-born, but spent the most important part of their lives outside the Czech lands (e.g. Madeleine Albright), others were born in the time of Austrian/Austro-Hungarian Empire and therefore may be listed also as Austrians (e.g. Freud, Mahler etc.).
Actors
- Vlasta Burian
- Ivan Jandl
- Petr Kostka
- Francis Lederer
- Herbert Lom
- Adina Mandlová
- Vladimír Menšík
- David Nykl
- Anny Ondra
- Jirí Bartoška
- Karel Roden
- Walter Slezak, of Czech descent
- Jan Tříska
- Jon Voight, of Czech descent
- Eduard Vojan
- Jiří Voskovec
- Jan Werich
- Stella Zázvorková
Architects
- Jan Santini Aichel
- Alois Dryák
- Josef Gočár
- František Maxmilián Kaňka
- Jaromír Krejcar
- Jan Kotěra
- Jan Letzel, architect of the A-Bomb Dome in Hiroshima
- Adolf Loos
- Balthasar Neumann
- Benedikt Rejt
Authors and Poets
- Jindřich Baar
- Eduard Bass
- Oskar Baum
- Karel Havlíček Borovský
- Egon Bondy
- Max Brod
- Otakar Bystřina
- Karel Čapek
- Svatopluk Čech
- František Ladislav Čelakovský
- Avigdor Dagan
- Jakub Deml
- Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
- Otokar Fischer
- Jaroslav Foglar
- Ladislav Fuks
- Bohdan Kaminský
- Jiří Kulhánek
- Hermann Grab
- Franz Grillparzer
- Jiří Grossmann
- Jaroslav Hašek
- Václav Havel
- Vladimír Holan
- Miroslav Holub
- Bohumil Hrabal
- František Hrubín
- Miroslav Ivanov
- Josef Jedlička
- Jan Jeník z Bratřic
- Milena Jesenská
- Alois Jirásek
- Ivan Martin Jirous
- Franz Kafka
- Jiří Karásek z Lvovic
- Oskar Kokoschka
- Karl Kraus
- Jan Křesadlo
- Ludvík Kundera
- Milan Kundera
- Paul Leppin
- Bohuslav z Lobkovic
- Jiří Mahen
- Karel Hynek Mácha
- Gustav Meyrink
- Ondřej Neff
- Vladimír Neff
- Božena Němcová
- Jan Neruda
- Tereza Nováková
- Ferdinand Peroutka
- Eduard Petiška, children books author
- Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová
- Rainer Maria Rilke
- Jaroslav Seifert, Nobel laureate
- Mark Slouka
- Adalbert Stifter
- Karolína Světlá
- Tom Stoppard
- Zdeněk Svěrák
- Jiří Suchý
- Miloslav Šimek
- Josef Škvorecký
- Jiří Šlitr
- Friedrich Torberg
- Jan Matzal Troska
- Michal Viewegh
- Franz Werfel
- Hermann Ungar
- Josef Váchal
- Vladislav Vančura
- Alena Vostrá
- Jan Zábrana
- Vojtech Zamarovský
- Julius Zeyer
Composers
- August Wilhelm Ambros
- Ralph Benatzky
- Carl Czerny
- Alexander Dreyschock
- Jan Ladislav Dusík
- Antonín Dvořák
- Zdeněk Fibich
- Josef Bohuslav Foerster
- Rudolf Friml
- Julius Fučík
- Alois Hába
- Jan Hammer
- Kryštof Harant z Polžic a Bezdružic
- Ilja Hurník
- Leoš Janáček
- Hanns Jelinek
- Jaroslav Ježek
- Gideon Klein
- Erich Wolfgang Korngold, film composer, two Oscars
- Petr Kotík
- Hans Krása
- Ladislav Kubík
- Jan Kubelik
- Rafael Kubelík
- Ernst Krenek
- Karel Kryl
- Gustav Mahler
- Bohuslav Martinů
- Ignaz Moscheles
- Josef Mysliveček
- Eduard Nápravník
- Oskar Nedbal
- Jaromír Nohavica
- Jan Novak
- Vítězslav Novák
- Karel Plíhal
- Emil Reznicek
- Jan Jakub Ryba
- František Škroup
- Bedřich Smetana
- Johann Stamitz
- Karel Stamitz
- Josef Suk
- Vilém Tauský
- Viktor Ullmann
- Johann Baptist Vanhal
- Jaromír Vejvoda, author of the Beer Barrel Polka
- Jan Václav Voříšek
- Jan Zach
- Jan Dismas Zelenka
Other Musicians
- Paul Badura-Skoda, pianist
- Karel Berman, opera singer
- Alfred Brendel, pianist
- Emmy Destinn (Ema Destinnová), opera singer
- Ernestine Schumann-Heink, opera singer
- Rudolf Serkin, pianist
- Leo Slezak, opera singer
- Walter Susskind
- Maria Jeritza, opera singer (soprano)
- Hana Zagorová
Filmmakers
- Miloš Forman, film director
- Jaromil Jireš, film director
- Jiří Menzel, film director, actor
- Georg Wilhelm Pabst, film director
- Jan Pinkava, animator, film director
- Karel Reisz, film director
- Jan Švankmajer, film director, animator
- Jan Svěrák, film director, actor
- Jiří Trnka, film director, animator
- Karel Zeman, film director, animator
Military
- Josef František, pilot ace
- Prokop the Great, Hussite leader
- Karel Kuttelwascher, general
- Joseph Radetzky von Radetz, Austrian field marshal
- Ludvík Svoboda, general, president
- Jan Syrový, general, prime minister
- Albrecht von Wallenstein, warlord during Thirty-Years War
- Jan Žižka, Hussite leader
Painters
- Mikolas Ales
- Václav Brožík
- Anton Chladek
- Emil Filla
- Václav Hollar
- Jan Jakub Quirin Jahn
- Josef Lada
- František Kaván
- Ludwik Kuba
- Jan Kupecký
- František Kupka
- Alfons Mucha
- Teodor Rotrekl
- Jaroslav Vesin
- Helena Zmatlíková, illustrator of children books
- Jan Zrzavý
Philosophers
- Arnošt Bláha
- Herbert Feigl
- Vilém Flusser
- Theodor Gomperz
- Edmund Husserl
- František Klácel
- Ernest Nagel
- Jan Patočka
Politicians
- Victor Adler, Austrian politician
- Madeleine Albright, foreign minister of the USA
- Edvard Beneš, president
- Anton Cermak, mayor of Chicago
- Klement Gottwald, president
- Stanislav Gross, prime minister
- Václav Havel, president
- Václav Klaus, prime minister and president
- Jan Masaryk, foregin minister
- Tomáš G. Masaryk, president
- Emanuel Moravec, collaborator with Nazis
- Karl Renner, Austrian politician
- Adolf Schärf, Austrian politician
Sculptors
- Božetěch - Medieval sculptor
- Franta Belsky - famous sculptor
- Matthias Bernard Braun - baroque sculptor
- Jan Brokoff - baroque sculptor
- Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff - baroque sculptor
- Michael Joseph Brokoff - baroque sculptor
- Otakar Kubin
- Vincenc Makovsky
- Josef Václav Myslbek
- Olbram Zoubek
- Albin Polasek
- Lea Vivot
Scientists
- Karel Absolon, archaeologist, speleologist
- Josef Augusta, paleontologist, science popularizer
- Jindřich Bačkovský, physicist
- František Běhounek, radiologist, writer, explorer
- Josef Belsky, economist
- Vincent Bochdalek, anatomist
- Johann Böhm, chemist
- Bernard Bolzano, philosopher, mathematician, and theologian
- Bohuslav Brauner, chemist
- Eugene Cernan, astronaut
- Václav Cílek, geologist, science popularizer
- Jan Amos Comenius, polyhistorian, educator
- Carl Ferdinand Cori, biochemist, Nobel laureate
- Gerty Cori, biochemist, Nobel laureate
- Eduard Čech, mathematician
- František Ladislav Čelakovský, scientist
- Václav Prokop Diviš, inventor of the lightning rod
- Josef Dobrovský, philologist and historian
- Karel Fortyn, physician
- Vilem Gajdusek, optician, manufacturer
- František Josef Gerstner, physicist, engineer
- Zaboj Harvalik, physicist
- Jaroslav Hájek, mathematician
- Tadeáš Hájek, physician, astronomer
- Jan Heweliusz, astronomer
- Jaroslav Heyrovský, scientist, Nobel laureate
- Václav Hlavatý, mathematician
- Ivan Honl, biologist
- Bedřich Hrozný, linguist
- Jan Janský, discoverer of blood types
- Karl Guthe Jansky, engineer
- Vojtěch Jarník, mathematician
- Konstantin Jireček, historian
- Karel Kavina, botanist
- František Křižík, inventor
- Luboš Kohoutek, astronomer
- František Koláček, physicist
- Stanislav Komárek, biologist
- Vincenz Kosteletzky, physician
- Alois Kovařík, physicist
- Bohumil Kučera, physicist
- Jaroslav Kurzweil, mathematician
- Mathias Lerch, mathematician
- Drahoslav Lím, chemist, inventor
- Johann Josef Loschmidt, physicist, chemist
- Karel Löwner, mathematician
- Frank Malina, aeronautical engineer
- Ernst Mach, physicist
- Jan Marek Marci, physician
- Kio Marv, biologist
- Gregor Mendel, biologist
- Antonín Mrkos, astronomer
- Zdeněk Nejedlý, historian, musicologist
- Zdeněk Neubauer, biologist
- Václav Pačes, biochemist
- František Palacký, historian
- František Patočka, biologist
- Jan Perner, engineer
- Karel Petr, mathematician
- Josef Ladislav Píč, archaeologist
- George Placzek, physicist
- Julius Pokorny, etymologist
- Jiří Procháska, physiologist
- Jan Evangelista Purkyně, physiologist
- Karel Presl, botanist
- Vlastimil Pták, mathematician
- Josef Ludvík František Ressel, inventor of the ship's propeller
- Karel Rokytanský, anatomist
- Karel Rychlík, mathematician
- Peter Safar, physician
- Jaroslav Šafránek, physicist
- Bohumil Sekla, biologist
- August Seydler, physicist, astronomer
- Joseph Schumpeter, economist
- Jan Šindel, astronomer
- Josef Skoda, physician
- Ivan Šolc, inventor
- Ferdinand Stoliczka, paleontologist
- Vincenc Strouhal, physicist
- Olga Taussky Todd, mathematician
- Viktor Trkal, physicist, mathematician
- Ota Šik, economist
- Miloslav Valouch, mathematician
- Petr Vopěnka, mathematician
- Jindřich Wankel, paleontologist
- Rudolf Weigl, biologist
- Max Wertheimer, psychologist
- Otto Wichterle, chemist, inventor of the modern contact lens
- Karel Zahradnik, mathematician
- Rudolf Zahradník, chemist
- Paul Zamecnik, inventor
- František Záviska, physicist
- John Zeleny, physicist, inventor
Linguistics, Anthropology, History
- Bořivoj Čelovský
- Max Dvořák, art historian
- Aleš Hrdlička, linguist
- Norbert Jokl
- Bohumil Mathesius
- Vilém Mathesius
- Jan Mukařovský
- Josef Vlcek (also as Josef František Vlček)
Sports Personalities
- Milan Michalek, ice-hockey player
- Milan Baroš, footballer
- Radek Bonk, ice-hockey player
- Věra Čáslavská, gymnast, Olympic gold medalist
- Roman Čechmánek, ice-hockey player
- Jaroslav Drobný, tennis player
- Patrik Eliáš, ice-hockey player
- Tomáš Enge, Grand prix race car driver
- Martin Erat, ice-hockey player
- Salo Flohr, chess player
- Dominik Hašek, ice hockey player
- Martin Havlát, ice-hockey player
- Milan Hejduk, ice-hockey player & 2003-2004 NHL All-Star
- Martina Hingis, tennis player
- Jakob Hlasek, tennis player
- Bobby Holik, ice-hockey player
- Jaromír Jágr, ice hockey player
- Eliška Junková, Grand prix race car driver
- Tomáš Kaberle, ice-hockey player
- Jan Koller, footballer
- Petr Korda, tennis player
- Ivan Lendl, tennis player
- Hana Mandlíková, tennis player
- Martina Navrátilová, tennis player
- Petr Nedvěd, ice-hockey player
- Pavel Nedvěd, footballer
- Jana Novotná, tennis player
- Karel Poborský, footballer
- Karel Rachůnek, ice-hockey player
- Martin Prusek, ice-hockey player
- Tomáš Rosický, footballer
- Roman Šebrle, decathlete, Olympic gold medalist
- Vladimír Šmicer, footballer
- Patrik Štefan, ice-hockey player
- Wilhelm Steinitz, chess player
- Helena Suková, tennis player
- Ján Svorada, cyclist
- Petr Sýkora, ice-hockey player
- Nicole Vaidišová, tennis player
- Aleš Valenta, freestyle skiing, Olympic gold medalist
- Tomáš Vokoun, ice-hockey player & 2003-2004 NHL All-Star
- Emil Zátopek, runner, Olympic gold medalist
- Jan Železný, javelin thrower, Olympic gold medalist
- Ludek Pachman, chess player
Models
- Monika Hájková
- Daniela Pestova, supermodel
- Eva Herzigová, supermodel
- Karolína Kurková, supermodel
- Petra Němcová
- Petra Kvapilova
- Paulina Porizkova
- Hana Soukupová
- Veronica Varekova, supermodel
- Linda Vojtová
Entrepreneurs
- Tomáš Baťa, industrialist (Bata Shoes)
- Joseph Bulova, American, Business executive
- Ray Kroc, American, founder of McDonalds chain
- Emil Škoda, industrialist (Škoda Works)
- Ignác Šechtl, pioneer of photography (Šechtl and Voseček)
Other
- (not classified)
- Joy Adamson, naturalist, author
- Guido Adler, musicologist
- Karel Barvitius, book and music publisher
- Giacomo Casanova, spent his last years as a librarian in Duchcov Castle
- Eduard Hanslick, critic
- Friedrich Hayek, economist (of Czech descent)
- Konrad Henlein, Nazi leader
- Jan Hus, religious thinker and reformer
- Karl Kautsky, theoretician of social democracy
- Hans Kelsen, jurist
- Manolo Blahnik, fashion designer
- Josef Florian, book publisher
- Victor Lustig, con artist
- Alois Musil, orientalist, explorer
- Vojtech Naprstek, journalist
- Saint John Neumann, John Nepomucene Neumann
- Jan Opletal, student killed by Nazis
- Jan Palach, suicider
- Frank Plicka, photographer
- Přemek Podlaha, TV personality
- Ferdinand Porsche, German automobile inventor
- Silvia Saint, pornstar
- Jan Saudek, photographer
- Eugen Sänger, aerospace engineer
- Oskar Schindler, German businessman and Nazi, (of the Schindler's List movie fame)
- Alois Senefelder, inventor of lithography
- Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Nazi leader
- Berta von Suttner, Austrian Nobel laureate
- Ivana Trump, model, businesswoman, first wife of real estate magnate Donald Trump
- Wenceslas I, Duke of Bohemia (Saint Wenceslas), known as "Good King Wenceslas" in a Christmas carol
- Hans Kohn, historian
- John Fiala, founder of Miss Czech-Slovak USA Pageant in the United States
- Josef Vlcek (also as Josef František Vlček), leader of the Czech Underground in communist era, author, professor