26.2026° S, 28.0412° E
JOHANNESBURG
Most Famous People Born in Johannesburg, South Africa
- Notable people
- 1,234
- Peak decade
- 1980s
- Median birth year
- 1967
- Most distinctive
- Golf 14.8×
A young city with an old sporting establishment. Johannesburg's notables are dominated by cricketers, golfers, and rugby players at concentrations that, given the city's size, look almost statistical — the legacy of an English-speaking sporting culture that organised itself around the gold rush of the 1880s. There is almost no pre-20th-century tail at all; the entire bench fits inside the lifetime of the city itself.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Johannesburg during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 247 notable births.
What Johannesburg Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Cricket is Johannesburg's biggest profession — 13% of all notables (156).
Johannesburg over-indexes on golf — 14.8× the global rate.
Johannesburg under-produces politician — only 0.2× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Johannesburg's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Music
- Science
- Politics & Law
- Other
- Filtered to 1900s Clear ×
Louis Hayward
1909 - 1985
Claude Chevalley
1909 - 1984
Ian Dalrymple
1903 - 1989
Gordon Hodgson
1904 - 1951
Ernest Mancoba
1904 - 2002
William Holford, Baron Holford
1907 - 1975
Leo Kuper
1908 - 1994
Ben Schoeman
1905 - 1986
William Alexander Smith (boxer)
1904 - 1955
Karin Evans
1907 - 2004
Wally Hayward
1908 - 2006
Harry Isaacs (boxer)
1908 - 1961
Bruce Mitchell (cricketer)
1909 - 1995
Henry Benson, Baron Benson
1909 - 1995
Eric Rowan
1909 - 1993
Alex Hepple
1904 - 1983
Dorothy Knowles (academic)
1906 - 2010
Jack Condon
1903 - 1967
Maud Sumner
1902 - 1985
Norman Farquharson
1907 - 1982
Molly Harrower
1906 - 1999
Pieter van der Bijl
1907 - 1973
Norman Braun (Architekt)
1900 - 1985
Walter Armitage
1907 - 1953
Ronnie Grieveson
1909 - 1998
Verner Clapp
1901 - 1972
Cyril Vincent
1902 - 1968
Ellen Hellmann
1908 - 1982
Jack Suchet
1908 - 2001
William Stephen Finsen
1905 - 1979
Siegfried Mynhardt
1906 - 1996
Harold Hanson
1904 - 1973
Vera Elkan
1908 - 2008
John Gluck
1906 - 1949
Gus Saron
1905 - 1989
Arthur Benson
1907 - 1987
Yvonne Caffin
1904 - 1985
Ted Garside
1904 - 1983
Simon Meyer Kuper
1906 - 1963
Aubrey Burton-Durham
1906 - 1959
Arthur Lourie
1903 - 1978
Charlie Thompson (footballer, born 1909)
1909 - 1979
William Thorneycroft Lofts
Born 1902
Thomas Mitchell (Kent cricketer)
1907 - 1960