33.8867° N, 35.5131° E

BEIRUT

Most Famous People Born in Beirut, Lebanon

Notable people
782
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1960
Most distinctive
Designer 4.3×

Pre-war Beirut was the publishing and broadcasting capital of the Arab world, and the panel still carries that imprint — Singer, Journalist, Film and Diplomat benches all tracing back to the AUB-and-Hamra axis that made this the Paris of the Middle East before 1975. The Designer cluster and the diaspora the civil war scattered across Paris, Montreal and São Paulo explain why the headline names read more like an international directory than a Levantine one.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Beirut during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 127 notable births.

What Beirut Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Beirut's biggest profession — 12% of all notables (92).

Beirut over-indexes on designer4.3× the global rate.

Beirut under-produces football — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Politician92
  2. Football52
  3. Singer51
  4. Actor37
  5. Writer35
  6. Journalist34
  7. Painter24
  8. Basket23
  1. Designer84.3×
  2. Singer513.1×
  3. Diplomat143.1×
  4. Journalist342.8×
  5. Business192.4×
  6. Film232.4×
  7. Basket232.3×
  8. Photographer82.1×
  1. Football520.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Beirut's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1700175018001850190019502000
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Film & TV
  • Art & Design
  • Other
All782
Sort By

Showing 48 of 782 notable people

0005 ACTOR

Fairuz

Born 1934

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0007 ACTOR

Delphine Seyrig

1932 - 1990

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0017 ACTOR

Antonella Lualdi

Born 1931

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0050 COMPOSER

Tigran Mansurian

Born 1939

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0095 POET

Nadia Tueni

1935 - 1983

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0099 ACTOR

Aïché Nana

1936 - 2014

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0104 POLITICAL SCIENTIST

Malcolm H. Kerr

1931 - 1984

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0143 NOVELIST

Layla Balabakki

Born 1934

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0153 POLITICIAN

Omar Karami

1934 - 2015

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0162 BANK

Joseph Safra

Born 1939

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0189 PAINTER

Benni Efrat

Born 1936

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0193 JUDGE

Mishael Cheshin

1936 - 2015

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0198 WRESTLER

Khalil Taha

1932 - 2020

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0226 PAINTER

Huguette Caland

1931 - 2019

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0237 POLITICIAN

Charles Rizk

Born 1935

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0246 FOOTBALL

Guy Van Sam

Born 1935

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0275 ORGANIST

Louis Robilliard

Born 1939

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0277 CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Ray R. Irani

Born 1935

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0280 BUSINESS

Jacques Saadé

1937 - 2018

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0291 AUTHOR

May Menassa

1939 - 2019

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0332 NEUROSCIENTIST

George Aghajanian

Born 1932

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0335 WRITER

Robert Abirached

Born 1930

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0339 CONDUCTOR

Varujan Kojian

1935 - 1993

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0341 COMPOSER

Setrak Sarkissian

1936 - 2017

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0343 PLAYWRIGHT

Jalal Khoury

1934 - 2017

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0344 SPORT

Tarek Abou Al Dahab

Born 1939

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0345 LAWYER

Adnan Kassar

Born 1930

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0379 ACTOR

Benjamin Lev

Born 1935

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0394 PAINTER

Jean Kazandjian

Born 1938

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0436 SCREENWRITER

Philippe Dumarçay

Born 1932

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0451 WRITER

Shawqi Abi Shaqra

Born 1935

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0467 ACTOR

Nicolas Abu Samah

1939 - 2016

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0490 OPERA

Tigran Levonyan

1936 - 2004

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0503 BUSINESS

Antoine Choueiri

1939 - 2010

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0515 MISSING

Ali Ghandour

1931 - 2020

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0568 POLITICIAN

Edgar Maalouf

1934 - 2018

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0580 DIPLOMAT

Khalil Makkawi

Born 1930

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0620 WRITER

Nur Salman

Born 1937

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0625 AUTHOR

Romeo Lahoud

Born 1931

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0635 PHYSICIST

Nicola Khuri

Born 1933

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0638 POLITICIAN

Mohammad Youssef Beydoun

Born 1931

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0649 PAINTER

Derrie Fakhoury

1930 - 2015

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0699 BUSINESS

Myrna Bustani

Born 1937

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0705 PSYCHOLOGIST

Molly Potter

Born 1930

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0730 PRODUCTEUR

Jacques Boissenot

1938 - 2014

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0734 FENCER

Souheil Ayoub

Born 1936

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0758 SPORT

Abdullah Jaroudi Jr.

Born 1938

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0773 AMBASSADOR

Ibrahim Youssouf Ibrahim Izziddin

Born 1934

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