20 Famous People from London

20 Famous People from London

Originally published by  Lynn in February 2022 and updated by Vanessa M in May 2024.

London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, located on the River Thames in south-east England. It was founded by the Romans as Londinium and retains boundaries close to its medieval ones. Known as one of the world’s global cities, London exerts strong influence on its arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, health care, media, tourism, and communications.

Below is a list of the 20 famous people from London;

1. Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II in March 2015 – Wikipedia

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary was born on 21 April 1926 in Mayfair, London, United Kingdom. She is Queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms. She is the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch, the longest-serving female head of state in history, the oldest living and longest-reigning current monarch, and the oldest and longest-serving incumbent head of state.

Queen Elizabeth II has reigned as a constitutional monarch through major political changes such as the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union, Canadian patriation, and the decolonization of Africa.

She has occasionally faced republican sentiment and press criticism of the royal family however, support for the monarchy in the United Kingdom has been and remains consistently high, as does her personal popularity.

2. Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin – Flickr

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. KBE was born on 16 April 1889 in London. He was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp. The Tramp, as portrayed by Chaplin, is a childlike, bumbling but generally good-hearted character who is most famously portrayed as a vagrant who endeavours to behave with the manners and dignity of a gentleman despite his actual social status.

By 1918, he was one of the world’s best-known figures and his career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977. He received many awards and honours, especially later in life. In the 1975 New Year Honours, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).

3. Elton John

Elton John – Flickr

Sir Elton Hercules John CH CBE was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947 in Pinner, Greater London. He is an English singer, pianist and composer known to fuse as many strands of popular music and stylistic showmanship.

Elton has received five Grammy Awards, five Brit Awards; including for Outstanding Contribution to Music; two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Tony Award, a Disney Legend’s Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor. He was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for “services to music and charitable services” in 1998. In 2019, French President Emmanuel Macron presented John with France’s highest civilian award, the Legion d’honneur, and called him a “melodic genius” and praised his work on behalf of the LGBT community.

4. David Beckham

David Beckham – Flickr

David Robert Joseph Beckham OBE was born on 2 May 1975 in London, England. He is an English former professional footballer, the current president & co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. He was known for his range of passing, crossing ability, and bending free-kicks as a right-winger.

He is the first English player to win league titles in four countries: England, Spain, the United States, and France, and the first British footballer to play 100 UEFA Champions League games. Beckham has been hailed as one of the greatest and most recognizable midfielders of his generation, as well as one of the best set-piece specialists of all time. He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2021.

He retired in May 2013 after a 20-year career.

5. Diane Abbott

Diane Abbott – Flickr

Diane Julie Abbott MP was born on 27 September 1953 in Paddington, London. She is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987. Abbott is the first black woman elected to Parliament and the longest-serving black MP in the House of Commons.

In the House of Commons, Abbott voted against several Blairite policies, including the launching of the Iraq War and the proposed introduction of ID cards. In September 2020, an authorized biography of Diane Abbott was released, Diane Abbott: The Authorised Biography, by Robin Bunce and Samara Linton, published by Biteback.

6. David Bowie

David Bowie – Flickr

David Robert Jones OAL professionally known as David Bowie was born on 8 January 1947 in London. He was an English singer-songwriter and actor. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century for his innovative work during the 1970s.

He was a pioneer of glam rock. According to critics, he” brought sophistication to rock music”. At the same time, he inspired the innovators of the punk rock music movement. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

On 10 January 2016, Bowie died of liver cancer in his New York City apartment.

7. Naomi Campbell

Naomi Elaine Campbell was born on 22 May 1970 in Streatham, South London. She is a British model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She was one of six models of her generation declared supermodels by the fashion industry and the international press.

Campell began her career at the age of 15 and established herself amongst the most recognizable and in-demand models of the past four decades. In addition to her modeling career, she has embarked on other ventures, including an R&B studio album and several acting appearances in film and television. Campbell is also involved in charity work for various causes.

8. Bob Hope

Bob Hope,1978 – Wikipedia

Leslie Townes “Bob” Hope KBE KC*SG was born on May 29, 1903, in Eltham, London. He was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, and author. He was praised for his comedic timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes that were often self-deprecating. Furthermore, he helped establish modern American stand-up comedy.

Hope appeared in more than 70 short and feature films, with 54 feature films with Hope as star, hosted the Academy Awards show 19 times and wrote 14 books. He retired from public life in 1998 and died on July 27, 2003, at the age of 100.

9. Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren – Wikipedia

Dame Helen Lydia Mirren DBE was born on 26 July 1945 in London. She is an English actor. The only person to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting in both the US and the UK, winning an Academy Award and a British Academy Film Award.

Amongst her major competitive awards, Mirren has won one Academy Award, four BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and one Tony Award. In the Queen’s 2003 Birthday Honours, Mirren was appointed a Dame (DBE) for services to drama. In 2021, she was announced as the recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.

10. Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock – Wikipedia

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE was born on 13 August 1899 Leytonstone, on the outskirts of East London. He was an English filmmaker who was one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. His career spanning six decades.

Known as the “Master of Suspense”, because of employing a kind of psychological suspense in his films. The “Hitchcockian” style includes the use of camera movement to mimic a person’s gaze, thereby turning viewers into voyeurs, and framing shots to maximise anxiety and fear. His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins.

He died of kidney failure on 29 April 1980.

11. Rachel McAdams

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

McAdams was born and raised in a small town near London, Ontario. She became interested in performing at a young age and began participating in Original Kids Theatre Company productions when she was twelve years old.

Her breakthrough role as Regina George in the hit comedy Mean Girls (2004) propelled her to the top ranks of Hollywood’s hottest young actresses. She followed that film with a lead role opposite Ryan Gosling in the adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ bestseller The Notebook (2004), which was a surprise box office success and became the dominant romantic drama for a new, young generation of moviegoers.

McAdams won “Supporting Actress of the Year” from ShoWest and “Breakthrough Actress of the Year” at the Hollywood Film Awards in 2005. In 2009, she was named ShoWest’s “Female Star of the Year.”

12. Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, DBE, better known as Liz Taylor, is an English-American actress. She was born on February 27, 1932, in London, England, and rose to prominence for her acting talent and beauty, as well as her Hollywood lifestyle, which has included numerous marriages. Taylor is regarded as one of the best actresses of Hollywood’s golden age. She ranked seventh on the American Film Institute’s list of Female Legends.

Taylor died on March 23, 2011, in Los Angeles, of congestive heart failure. Her final resting place is Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

13. Kelly Osbourne

Kelly Michelle Lee Osbourne is a British actress, singer, fashion model, and television personality from Westminster, London. She first gained international attention in 2002 on MTV’s The Osbournes.

The Primetime Emmy-winning reality show followed Osbourne, her father Ozzy Osbourne, her mother Sharon Osbourne, and her brother Jack Osbourne. When the show ended in March 2005, she co-hosted E!’s Fashion Police from 2010 to 2015 and judged Lifetime’s Project Runway: Junior from 2015 to 2016.

In 2021, she debuted The Kelly Osbourne and Jeff Beacher Show podcast. Her credits include Austin Powers in Goldmember, The Masked Singer UK, Phineas & Ferb, and The Muppets Wizard of Oz.

14. Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy is a British actor who was born in London, England on September 15, 1977. He is renowned for his unusual personality, striking good looks, and intelligent performances in both mainstream and cult films. 

He whooped on Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, made his way down Fury Road, and pulled off the seemingly impossible feat of turning a movie about a guy behind the wheel into the pulse-pounding drama Locke — and that only scratches the surface of Tom Hardy’s interesting career choices. 

Whether you’re more familiar with blockbuster films like Inception, prefer acclaimed fare like Bronson and The Revenant, or are a die-hard fan who’s been with him since Black Hawk Down, there’s a Hardy movie for everyone. Especially among superhero fans, as he brought Venom to life and returned for the sequel, Let There Be Carnage. 

15. Catherine Bell

2nd Lt. Melanie Nelson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Catherine was born in London but moved to California with her Iranian mother at the age of two. She is a renowned British-American actress, model, film producer, and massage therapist. She is best known for her role as Lieutenant Colonel Sarah MacKenzie in the 1997–2005 television series JAG. 

She appeared in a number of television commercials when she was younger. She attended UCLA to study biology/pre-medicine but dropped out to become a model in Japan.

She returned to acting with a Mexican commercial for American Express, followed by a role as Isabella Rossellini’s nude body double in Death Becomes Her (1992) where she met her future husband, Adam Beason, the director Robert Zemeckis’ assistant. As of 2018, the couple lives near Los Angeles with their daughter Gemma and son Ronan Beason.

16. William, Prince of Wales

The Prince of Wales is His Majesty The King’s eldest son and the heir to the throne. His Royal Highness is married to Catherine, the Princess of Wales, and they have three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis. Kensington Palace serves as the family’s official residence.

His Royal Highness participates in a variety of charitable activities and projects, as well as performing public and official duties in support of the King both in the United Kingdom and abroad. He is one of the most popular members of the British royal family, and he has come to represent the modern monarchy.

17. Samantha Fox

Rob DiCaterino from Clifton, NJ, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Samantha Karen Fox (born April 15, 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. She rose to prominence in the 1980s as a teen pinup model and pop singer. She became one of the most recognizable faces of the time, known for her attractive looks and provocative image.

Her music career took off after she released her debut single ‘Touch Me (I Want Your Body)’ in 1986, which became a chart-topping hit in several countries. Her subsequent albums and singles had varying degrees of success, and she remained active in the music industry into the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Aside from her music career, she has appeared in films and television shows. She switched to acting and reality television, appearing in a variety of shows over the years. Despite some controversies and ups and downs in her career, she remains a well-known figure in 1980s pop culture.

18. Keira Knightley

Keira Christina Knightley was born on March 26, 1985, in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond. She is an English actress best known for her roles in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and several period dramas, including Pride and Prejudice (2005).

Although she is extremely versatile, she is best known for playing courageous heroines and tragic figures. Other films from the early 2000s include the hugely popular romantic comedy Love Actually (2003) and the action drama King Arthur (2004). In 2005, Knightley played the vivacious Elizabeth Bennet in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

She was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes for her performance in the romantic film. Her performance earned her nominations for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award.

19. Rachel Riley

Ed Clifton, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Rachel Riley was born on January 11, 1986, in Southend, Essex, England (UK). She is a well-known British television presenter and one of Channel 4 and Sky Sports’ most recognizable personalities.

This celebrity TV host is the numbers expert on Channel 4’s quiz show ‘Countdown’ and a regular team member on ‘8 Out of 10 Cat Does Countdown’. She is a sports expert and Manchester United fan who hosts ‘Friday Night Football’ and ‘Fantasy Football Club’ on Sky Sports.

Because of her interest in mathematics, this British TV presenter has always wanted to promote science in general, and math in particular. She frequently visits schools and has advocated for several national numeracy initiatives.

20. Rosalind Franklin

Rosalind Franklin was a British scientist who was born in London, England on July 25, 1920, and passed away in London on April 16, 1958. She is most known for her work on the discovery of the molecular structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is a component of chromosomes and is used to encode genetic data. Franklin also contributed new data about the structure of viruses, laying the groundwork for the field of structural virology.

Did you know? Rosalind received numerous posthumous honors, including a 2013 Google doodle featuring her alongside a diagram of the DNA double helix and an illustration of Photograph 51.