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 1910s Clear ×
Peter Abrahams
1919 - 2017
Sid James
1913 - 1976
Max Gluckman
1911 - 1975
Joseph Wolpe
1915 - 1997
John Charles Daly
1914 - 1991
Shmuel Katz (politician)
1914 - 2008
Harry Bloom
1913 - 1981
Harry Rabinowitz
1916 - 2016
Cuthbert Alport
1912 - 1998
Bruce Lester
1912 - 2008
Pearl Argyle
1910 - 1947
Charles Madge
1912 - 1996
Lawrence Stevens
1913 - 1989
Patrick Duncan (anti-apartheid activist)
1918 - 1967
John Karlin
1918 - 2013
Cecil Margo
1915 - 2000
Sheila Piercey Summers
1919 - 2005
Jeremy Hawk
1918 - 2002
Denis Shore
1915 - 1963
Edana Romney
1919 - 2002
Joly Garbi
1912 - 2002
Olga Edwardes
1917 - 2008
Jackie Gibson (athlete)
1914 - 1944
Dooley Briscoe
1911 - 1941
H. Basil S. Cooke
1915 - 2018
Hugo Biermann
1916 - 2012
Henry van Straubenzee
1914 - 2002
Audrey Cruddas
1912 - 1979
Patrick Kelly (footballer)
1918 - 1985
Dudley Milligan
1916 - 1971
Neville McGarr
1917 - 1944
Owen Wynne (cricketer)
1919 - 1975
Sarah Carneson
1916 - 2015
Lance Carr
1910 - 1983
Bruce Clarke (footballer)
1910 - 1954
Leonard Cullen
1914 - 1984
Florence Waren
1917 - 2011
Lazar Sidelsky
1911 - 2002
Stephanus Biermann
1918 - 2003
Jimmy Woolf
1916 - 2003
Arthur Gavshon
1916 - 1995
Kitty Black
1914 - 2006
Joachim Upmeyer
1914 - 1987