48.8573° N, 2.3509° E

PARIS

Most Famous People Born in Paris, France

Notable people
19,561
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1888
Most distinctive
Playwright 7.0×

Paris is the salon and the studio. Notable births stretch unbroken from the late Renaissance through the Belle Époque to the Nouvelle Vague, and whole subgenres of fame — the chansonnier, the salonnière, the ébéniste, the gallerist — exist here at densities found almost nowhere else. Painters, playwrights, sculptors, and architects crowd every century since 1600, and each era seems to leave its own profession on the books before the next one arrives.

Standouts

What Paris Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Paris's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (1,799).

Paris over-indexes on playwright 7.0× the global rate.

Paris under-produces football — only 0.2× the global rate.

  1. Politician 1,799 0.8×
  2. Actor 1,636 1.6×
  3. Painter 1,632 3.2×
  4. Writer 1,043 1.6×
  5. Journalist 490 1.6×
  6. Architect 470 2.7×
  7. Film 463 1.9×
  8. Composer 451 1.8×
  1. Playwright 212 7.0×
  2. Sculptor 408 3.2×
  3. Painter 1,632 3.2×
  4. Architect 470 2.7×
  5. Photographer 207 2.2×
  6. Film 463 1.9×
  7. Composer 451 1.8×
  8. Diplomat 197 1.7×
  1. Football 445 0.2×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

1550 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
  • Art & Design
  • Writing
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Music
  • Other
All19,561
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19,561 notable people

0001 WRITER

Voltaire

1694 - 1778

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0002 PLAYWRIGHT

Jean-Paul Sartre

1905 - 1980

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0003 PAINTER

Claude Monet

1840 - 1926

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0004 PLAYWRIGHT

Molière

1622 - 1673

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0005 PAINTER

Paul Gauguin

1848 - 1903

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0006 NOVELIST

Émile Zola

1840 - 1902

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0007 EMPEROR

Napoleon III

1808 - 1873

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0008 FILM

Roman Polanski

Born 1933

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0009 ACTRESS

Emma Watson

Born 1990

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0010 ACTOR

Brigitte Bardot

Born 1934

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0011 WRITER

Simone de Beauvoir

1908 - 1986

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0012 POET

Charles Baudelaire

1821 - 1867

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0013 POLITICIAN

Nicolas Sarkozy

Born 1955

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0014 WRITER

Marquis de Sade

1740 - 1814

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0015 NOVELIST

Marcel Proust

1871 - 1922

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0016 POLITICIAN

Jacques Chirac

1932 - 2019

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0017 SINGER

Charles Aznavour

1924 - 2018

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0018 SCULPTOR

Auguste Rodin

1840 - 1917

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0019 CHEMIST

Antoine Lavoisier

1743 - 1794

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0020 PAINTER

Édouard Manet

1832 - 1883

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0021 PAINTER

Edgar Degas

1834 - 1917

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0022 WRITER

George Sand

1804 - 1876

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0023 ACTOR

Marion Cotillard

Born 1975

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0024 FILM

Jean-Luc Godard

Born 1930

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0025 PAINTER

Jacques-Louis David

1748 - 1825

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0026 POLITICIAN

Cardinal Richelieu

1585 - 1642

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0027 PRODUCER

David Guetta

Born 1967

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0028 ACTOR

Catherine Deneuve

Born 1943

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0029 ACTOR

Serge Gainsbourg

1928 - 1991

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0030 FILM

Luc Besson

Born 1959

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0031 PSYCHIATRIST

Jacques Lacan

1901 - 1981

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0032 ACTOR

Sarah Bernhardt

1844 - 1923

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0033 PHILOSOPHER

Henri Bergson

1859 - 1941

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0034 COMPOSER

Camille Saint-Saëns

1835 - 1921

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0035 FILM

François Truffaut

1932 - 1984

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0036 AUTHOR

André Gide

1869 - 1951

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0037 FILM

Isabelle Huppert

Born 1953

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0038 ACTOR

Georges Méliès

1861 - 1938

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0039 KING

Louis Philippe I

1773 - 1850

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0040 PHILOSOPHER

Alexis de Tocqueville

1805 - 1859

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0041 WRITER

Charles Perrault

1628 - 1703

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0042 PLAYWRIGHT

W. Somerset Maugham

1874 - 1965

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0043 ACTOR

Jeanne Moreau

1928 - 2017

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0044 POLITICIAN

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

1754 - 1838

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0045 PHYSICIST

Pierre Curie

1859 - 1906

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0046 RE

Madame de Pompadour

1721 - 1764

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0047 HISTORIAN

Pierre de Coubertin

1863 - 1937

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0048 PHILOSOPHER

Simone Weil

1909 - 1943

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0049 NOVELIST

André Malraux

1901 - 1976

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0050 PAINTER

Georges Seurat

1859 - 1891

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0051 COMPOSER

Eva Green

Born 1980

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0052 WRITER

Anatole France

1844 - 1924

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0053 POET

François Villon

1431 - 1463

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0054 OFFICER

Prince Eugene of Savoy

1663 - 1736

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0055 ACTOR

Vincent Cassel

Born 1966

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0056 WRITER

Jean Genet

1910 - 1986

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0057 COMICS

René Goscinny

1926 - 1977

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0058 POLITICIAN

Léon Blum

1872 - 1950

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0059 WRITER

Alfred de Musset

1810 - 1857

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0060 PHYSICIST

Henri Becquerel

1852 - 1908

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0061 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Prosper Mérimée

1803 - 1870

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0062 ECONOMIST

Vilfredo Pareto

1848 - 1923

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0063 ACTOR

Maurice Chevalier

1888 - 1972

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0064 VIOLIN

Yo-Yo Ma

Born 1955

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0065 EMPEROR

Napoleon II

1811 - 1832

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0066 QUEEN

Henrietta Maria of France

1609 - 1669

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0067 MONARCH

Charles VI of France

1368 - 1422

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0068 WRITER

Pierre Beaumarchais

1732 - 1799

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0069 ACTOR

Annie Girardot

1931 - 2011

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0070 COMPOSER

Francis Poulenc

1899 - 1963

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0071 PHILOSOPHER

Jean le Rond d'Alembert

1717 - 1783

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0072 FILM

Claude Chabrol

1930 - 2010

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0073 PAINTER

Alfred Sisley

1839 - 1899

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0074 FILM

Claude Lelouch

Born 1937

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0075 SCULPTOR

Louise Bourgeois

1911 - 2010

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0076 WRITER

Germaine de Staël

1766 - 1817

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0077 KING

Philip II of France

1165 - 1223

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0078 NOVELIST

Jean d'Ormesson

1925 - 2017

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0079 SOVEREIGN

Charles VII of France

1403 - 1461

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0080 WRITER

Alexandre Dumas fils

1824 - 1895

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0081 SINGER

Manu Chao

Born 1961

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0082 MATHEMATICIAN

Augustin-Louis Cauchy

1789 - 1857

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0083 POET

Stéphane Mallarmé

1842 - 1898

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0084 FILM

Guy Debord

1931 - 1994

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0085 PHYSICIAN

Jean-Martin Charcot

1825 - 1893

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0086 INVENTOR

Rudolf Diesel

1858 - 1913

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0087 ACTOR

Mathieu Kassovitz

Born 1967

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0088 ACTOR

Renaud

Born 1952

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0089 PAINTER

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot

1796 - 1875

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0090 PHILOSOPHER

Henri de Saint-Simon

1760 - 1825

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0091 ACTOR

Roger Vadim

1928 - 2000

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0092 COMPOSER

Alexandre Desplat

Born 1961

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0093 WRITER

Gérard de Nerval

1808 - 1855

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0094 PAINTER

Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

1755 - 1842

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0095 POLITICIAN

Georges-Eugène Haussmann

1809 - 1891

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0096 KING

Oscar I of Sweden

1799 - 1859

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0097 PAINTER

Robert Delaunay

1885 - 1941

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0098 PHILOSOPHER

Raymond Aron

1905 - 1983

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0099 PAINTER

François Boucher

1703 - 1770

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0100 MATHEMATICIAN

Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot

1796 - 1832

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0101 QUEEN

Isabella of France

1292 - 1358

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0102 PAINTER

Gustave Caillebotte

1848 - 1894

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0103 MATHEMATICIAN

Émilie du Châtelet

1706 - 1749

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0104 COMPOSER

Charles Gounod

1818 - 1893

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0105 FILM

Michel Hazanavicius

Born 1967

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0106 ARCHITECT

Eugène Viollet-le-Duc

1814 - 1879

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0107 PAINTER

Paul Signac

1863 - 1935

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0108 WRITER

Joris-Karl Huysmans

1848 - 1907

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0109 PHOTOGRAPHER

Nadar

1820 - 1910

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0110 ACTOR

Christian Clavier

Born 1952

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0111 SCULPTOR

Gustave Moreau

1826 - 1898

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0112 ACTOR

Adèle Exarchopoulos

Born 1993

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0113 PHILOSOPHER

Edgar Morin

Born 1921

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0114 IMPÉRIAL

Eugène de Beauharnais

1781 - 1824

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0115 PLAYER

Suzanne Lenglen

1899 - 1938

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0116 PLAYWRIGHT

Pierre de Marivaux

1688 - 1763

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0117 PHILOSOPHER

Alain Finkielkraut

Born 1949

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0118 PAINTER

Francis Picabia

1879 - 1953

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0119 PLAYER

René Lacoste

1904 - 1996

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0120 MATHEMATICIAN

Adrien-Marie Legendre

1752 - 1833

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0121 ACTOR

François Cluzet

Born 1955

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0122 NOVELIST

Maurice Druon

1918 - 2009

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0123 FILM

François Ozon

Born 1967

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0124 HISTORIAN

Jules Michelet

1798 - 1874

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0125 PAINTER

Balthus

1908 - 2001

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0126 PAINTER

Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin

1699 - 1779

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0127 PIANIST

Richard Clayderman

Born 1953

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0128 POET

Robert Desnos

1900 - 1945

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0129 SCREENWRITER

Jacques Audiard

Born 1952

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0130 NOBILITY

François de La Rochefoucauld (writer)

1613 - 1680

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0131 POET

Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux

1636 - 1711

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0132 COMEDIAN

Jamel Debbouze

Born 1975

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0133 PHILOSOPHER

Jacques Maritain

1882 - 1973

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0134 POLITICIAN

Jacques Delors

Born 1925

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0135 POET

Sully Prudhomme

1839 - 1907

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0136 EXPLORER

Louis Antoine de Bougainville

1729 - 1811

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0137 MATHEMATICIAN

Sophie Germain

1776 - 1831

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0138 ACTOR

Jean-Pierre Léaud

Born 1944

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0139 MONARCH

Louis VI of France

1081 - 1137

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0140 ACTOR

Jacques Dutronc

Born 1943

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0141 KING

Louis X of France

1289 - 1316

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0142 COMPOSER

Marc-Antoine Charpentier

1643 - 1704

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0143 ACTOR

Jean-Pierre Cassel

1932 - 2007

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0144 KING

Henri, Count of Chambord

1820 - 1883

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0145 QUEEN

Catherine of Valois

1401 - 1437

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0146 CHAMBERLAIN

Louis, Grand Condé

1621 - 1686

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0147 PHOTOGRAPHER

Dora Maar

1907 - 1997

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0148 POLITICIAN

Pierre Mendès France

1907 - 1982

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0149 ACTOR

Emmanuelle Seigner

Born 1966

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0150 ARCHITECT

Philippe Starck

Born 1949

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0151 SOVEREIGN

Louis VII of France

1120 - 1180

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0152 COMPOSER

Edgard Varèse

1883 - 1965

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0153 PHYSICIST

Paul Langevin

1872 - 1946

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0154 ACTOR

Claude Berri

1934 - 2009

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0155 COUNT

Charles I of Anjou

1226 - 1285

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0156 EMPEROR

Hortense de Beauharnais

1783 - 1837

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0157 PHYSICIST

Léon Foucault

1819 - 1868

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0158 MONARCH

Louis VIII of France

1187 - 1226

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0159 ACTOR

Miou-Miou

Born 1950

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0160 COMPOSER

François Couperin

1668 - 1733

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0161 POLITICIAN

Félix Faure

1841 - 1899

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0162 ARCHITECT

André Le Nôtre

1613 - 1700

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0163 ACTOR

Samy Naceri

Born 1961

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0164 WRITER

Gaston Leroux

1868 - 1927

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0165 POLITICIAN

Michel Debré

1912 - 1996

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0166 POLITICIAN

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot

1727 - 1781

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0167 PHILOSOPHER

Nicolas Malebranche

1638 - 1715

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0168 PAINTER

Marie Laurencin

1883 - 1956

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0169 PAINTER

Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Born 1946

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0170 PAINTER

Charles Le Brun

1619 - 1690

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0171 ACTOR

Anne Parillaud

Born 1960

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0172 POLITICIAN

Nicolas Fouquet

1615 - 1680

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0173 WRITER

Fred Vargas

Born 1957

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0174 ACTOR

Romain Duris

Born 1974

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0175 AUTHOR

Éliphas Lévi

1810 - 1875

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0176 PRODUCER

Thomas Bangalter

Born 1975

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0177 ACTOR

Louis Garrel

Born 1983

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0178 WRITER

Ève Curie

1904 - 2007

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0179 DUKE

Charles, Duke of Orléans

1394 - 1465

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0180 ACTOR

Irène Jacob

Born 1966

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0181 WRITER

Régis Debray

Born 1940

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0182 COMPOSER

Adolphe Adam

1803 - 1856

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0183 AUTHOR

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné

1626 - 1696

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0184 NUN

Héloïse

1101 - 1164

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0185 WRITER

Madame de La Fayette

1634 - 1693

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0186 SCREENWRITER

Olivier Assayas

Born 1955

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0187 ESSAYIST

Jean de La Bruyère

1645 - 1696

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0188 CHEMIST

Marcellin Berthelot

1827 - 1907

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0189 DESIGNER

Raymond Loewy

1893 - 1986

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0190 COMPOSER

Charles-Valentin Alkan

1813 - 1888

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0191 ARTIST

Stéphane Grappelli

1908 - 1997

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0192 ACTOR

Caterina Valente

Born 1931

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0193 COMPOSER

Paul Dukas

1865 - 1935

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0194 WRITER

Julien Green

1900 - 1998

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0195 POLITICIAN

Alexandre Millerand

1859 - 1943

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0196 ACTOR

Fabrice Luchini

Born 1951

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0197 SINGER

Martin Solveig

Born 1976

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0198 SCREENWRITER

René Clair

1898 - 1981

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0199 PAINTER

Maurice de Vlaminck

1876 - 1958

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0200 ACTOR

François Berléand

Born 1952

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0201 ACTOR

Virginie Ledoyen

Born 1976

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0202 ASTRONOMER

Jean Sylvain Bailly

1736 - 1793

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0203 DESIGNER

Christian Louboutin

Born 1964

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0204 PHILOSOPHER

Claude Adrien Helvétius

1715 - 1771

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0205 ACTOR

Yeardley Smith

Born 1964

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0206 NOVELIST

Eugène Sue

1804 - 1857

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0207 ACTOR

Isabelle Carré

Born 1971

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0208 WORLD WAR

Henri Giraud

1879 - 1949

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0209 WRITER

Henry de Montherlant

1895 - 1972

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0210 HISTORIAN

B. H. Liddell Hart

1895 - 1970

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0211 ACTOR

Catherine Frot

Born 1956

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0212 LINGUIST

Georges Dumézil

1898 - 1986

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0213 ACTOR

Jean-Pierre Aumont

1911 - 2001

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0214 KING

Prince Philippe, Count of Paris

1838 - 1894

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0215 ACTOR

Josiane Balasko

Born 1950

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0216 ACTOR

Patrice Leconte

Born 1947

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0217 PHYSICIAN

Luis Federico Leloir

1906 - 1987

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0218 FEMINIST

Flora Tristan

1803 - 1844

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0219 WRITER

Elena Poniatowska

Born 1932

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0220 WRITER

Pierre Drieu La Rochelle

1893 - 1945

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0221 FOOTBALL

Louis Saha

Born 1978

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0222 PRINCE

Albert I, Prince of Monaco

1848 - 1922

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0223 PAINTER

Paul Delaroche

1797 - 1856

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0224 CURATOR

Georges Rouault

1871 - 1958

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0225 FILM

Marcel Carné

1906 - 1996

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0226 FRENCH REVOLUTION

Madame Roland

1754 - 1793

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0227 FOOTBALL

Lassana Diarra

Born 1985

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0228 WRITER

Érik Orsenna

Born 1947

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0229 MATHEMATICIAN

André Weil

1906 - 1998

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0230 ECONOMIST

Maurice Allais

1911 - 2010

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0231 ACTOR

Pierre Arditi

Born 1944

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0232 CARDINAL

Jean-Marie Lustiger

1926 - 2007

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0233 COMPOSER

Lili Boulanger

1893 - 1918

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0234 ACTOR

Benoît Magimel

Born 1974

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0235 ACTOR

Olivier Martinez

Born 1966

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0236 ACTOR

Claire Denis

Born 1946

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0237 FILM

Guy Hamilton

1922 - 2016

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0238 ACTOR

Yasmina Reza

Born 1959

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0239 PAINTER

Antoine-Jean Gros

1771 - 1835

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0240 ACTOR

Gérard Oury

1919 - 2006

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0241 FOOTBALL

Mamadou Sakho

Born 1990

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0242 DUCHESS

Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier

1627 - 1693

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0243 ACTOR

Richard Berry (actor)

Born 1950

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0244 CHEMIST

Henri Moissan

1852 - 1907

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0245 AUTHOR

Ninon de l'Enclos

1620 - 1705

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0246 COMPOSER

Marin Marais

1656 - 1728

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0247 WRITER

Emmanuel Carrère

Born 1957

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0248 ARCHITECT

Pierre Charles L'Enfant

1754 - 1825

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0249 PRODUCER

Mr. Oizo

Born 1974

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0250 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Alphonse Bertillon

1853 - 1914

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0251 ACTOR

Amel Bent

Born 1985

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0252 PHILOSOPHER

Ernest Gellner

1925 - 1995

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0253 BASKET

Dominique Wilkins

Born 1960

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0254 ACTOR

Jean-Claude Pascal

1927 - 1992

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0255 MEMOIRIST

Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon

1675 - 1755

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0256 MILITAR

Maurice Gamelin

1872 - 1958

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0257 CHEF

Marie-Antoine Carême

1784 - 1833

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0258 PHYSICIAN

Charles Richet

1850 - 1935

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0259 PHILOSOPHER

Pierre Janet

1859 - 1947

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0260 POLITICIAN

Seán MacBride

1904 - 1988

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0261 ACTOR

Jeanne Balibar

Born 1968

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0262 ARCHITECT

Charles Garnier (architect)

1825 - 1898

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0263 QUEEN

Marie Louise d’Orléans

1662 - 1689

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0264 POLITICIAN

Martine Aubry

Born 1950

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0265 ACTOR

Claudine Auger

1941 - 2019

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0266 ARCHITECT

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli

1700 - 1771

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0267 WRITER

Georges Duhamel

1884 - 1968

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0268 PAINTER

Roland Topor

1938 - 1997

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0269 FOOTBALL

N'Golo Kanté

Born 1991

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0270 PAINTER

Théodore Rousseau

1812 - 1867

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0271 EMPEROR

Napoléon, Prince Imperial

1856 - 1879

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0272 PLAYWRIGHT

Victorien Sardou

1831 - 1908

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0273 ACTOR

Adèle Haenel

Born 1989

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0274 ACTOR

Marie-Christine Barrault

Born 1944

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0275 HISTORIAN

Georges Duby

1919 - 1996

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0276 POLITICIAN

Léon Bourgeois

1851 - 1925

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0277 PLAYER

Gaël Monfils

Born 1986

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0278 COMPOSER

Pauline Viardot

1821 - 1910

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0279 ARTIST

Albert Gleizes

1881 - 1953

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0280 POLITICIAN

Armand-Emmanuel de Vignerot du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu

1766 - 1822

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0281 MUSIC

Kavinsky

Born 1975

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0282 CHEMIST

Jean-Pierre Sauvage

Born 1944

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0283 REVOLUTIONARY

Inessa Armand

1874 - 1920

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0284 BIOLOGIST

Charles Lucien Bonaparte

1803 - 1857

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0285 CONDUCTOR

Jacques Ibert

1890 - 1962

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0286 PAINTER

Horace Vernet

1789 - 1863

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0287 POLITICIAN

Frédéric Passy

1822 - 1912

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0288 FILM

Jean Vigo

1905 - 1934

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0289 ACTOR

Micheline Presle

Born 1922

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0290 ACTOR

Hervé Villechaize

1943 - 1993

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0291 SINGER

Maria Malibran

1808 - 1836

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0292 ACTOR

Claudine Longet

Born 1942

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0293 PHOTOGRAPHER

Sophie Calle

Born 1953

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0294 COMPOSER

Pierre Henry

1927 - 2017

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0295 ARCHITECT

Étienne-Louis Boullée

1728 - 1799

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0296 MATHEMATICIAN

Jean-Baptiste Biot

1774 - 1862

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0297 SCREENWRITER

Alexandre Aja

Born 1978

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0298 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Antoine Galland

1646 - 1715

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0299 MATHEMATICIAN

Guillaume de l'Hôpital

1662 - 1704

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0300 ACTOR

Julie Depardieu

Born 1973

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