43.2967° N, 5.3764° E
MARSEILLE
Most Famous People Born in Marseille, France
- Notable people
- 2,271
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- Median birth year
- 1928
- Most distinctive
- Sculptor 2.8×
A Greek colony founded around 600 BC that is still, stubbornly, a Mediterranean city rather than a French one. Marseille's distinctive professions are sculptors, painters, and poets — the trades of a port city with a heavy North African and Italian presence and a long Mediterranean visual-arts lineage. Zinedine Zidane and Eric Cantona are both from here, as are Antonin Artaud and Edmond Rostand, and the 18th-century bench is unusually deep for a city outside Paris.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Marseille during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 178 notable births.
What Marseille Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Football is Marseille's biggest profession — 13% of all notables (295).
Marseille over-indexes on sculptor — 2.8× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Marseille's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Writing
- Film & TV
- Politics & Law
- Art & Design
- Music
- Other
- Field: Sculptor Clear ×
César Baldaccini
1921 - 1998
Constant Roux
1865 - 1942
Alice Colonieu
1924 - 2010
Jean-Baptiste Hugues
1849 - 1930
Jules Cantini
1826 - 1916
Louis Pons
1927 - 1985
Étienne Dantoine
1737 - 1809
Richard Baquié
1952 - 1996
Élie-Jean Vézien
1890 - 1982
Henri-Édouard Lombard
1855 - 1929
Ary Bitter
1883 - 1973
Miguel Verdiguier
1706 - 1796
Jean-Joseph Espercieux
1757 - 1840
Auguste Carli
1868 - 1930
Antoine Duparc
1698 - 1755
Jean-Marie Baumel
1911 - 1978
Marius Guindon
1831 - 1918
Ferdinand Faivre
1860 - 1937
Charles Delanglade
1870 - 1952
Paul Gondard
1884 - 1953
Jean-Jacques Rifaud
1786 - 1852
Gustave Guétant
1873 - 1953
Marcel Damboise
1903 - 1992
Antoine Bontoux
1805 - 1892
Gaston Cadenat
1905 - 1966
Berthe Girardet
1861 - 1948
Henri Raybaud
1879 - 1942
Enrique Alciati
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Joseph Marchand (peintre)
1758 - 1843
Thomas Cartier
1879 - 1943
François Carli
1872 - 1957
François Mourgues
1884 - 1954
Cyrille Bartolini
Born 1934
Raymonde Martin
1887 - 1977
Barthélémy Corneille
1760 - 1805
Jacques Martin (sculpteur)
1885 - 1976
Paul Gonzalès
1856 - 1938
Pierre Graille
1915 - 2014
Raymond Servian
1903 - 1953
Adolphe Royan
1869 - 1925
Ernest Morenon
1904 - 2003
Anne Houllevigne
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