List of people from Zurich

Many notable people were either born or adopted in the Swiss city of Zürich.

Native people from Zürich
The following were born or adopted in Zürich. Some became famous after they moved away.



A to D

 * Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (1853–1920 in Zürich), the fifth child and only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia
 * Jost Amman (1539 in Zürich – 1591) artist, chiefly of woodcuts.
 * Hans Asper (ca.1499 in Zürich – 1571 in Zürich) a painter of portraits.
 * Richard Avenarius (1843–1896 in Zürich), philosopher.
 * Johann Georg Baiter (1801 in Zürich – 1877) philologist and textual critic.
 * Manon Bannerman (born 2002 in Zürich), Ghanaian-Italian-Swiss singer and member of US-based international girl group Katseye formed by HYBE Corporation and Geffen Records.
 * Daniel Barben (born 1961 in Zürich), university professor
 * Denise Biellmann (born 1962 in Zürich), Olympic figure skater, eponym of her skating spin
 * Diego Benaglio (born 1983 in Zürich), footballer
 * Severin Blindenbacher (born 1983 in Zürich), ice hockey player
 * Felix Bloch (1905 in Zürich – 1983), physicist
 * Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698 at Greifensee – 1783 in Zürich) author, academic and poet.
 * Rosa Bloch-Bollag (1880 in Zürich – 1922), political activist
 * Johann Kaspar Bluntschli (1808 in Zürich – 1881) a jurist and politician.
 * Alain de Botton (1969 in Zürich), British philosopher and author
 * Celeste Buckingham (born 1995 in Zürich), Slovak singer
 * Heinrich Bullinger (1504–1575 in Zürich), reformer and theologian.
 * René Burri (1933 in Zürich – 2014 in Zürich), photographer
 * Elias Canetti (1905–1994 in Zürich), novelist
 * Monika Dettwiler (born 1948 in Zürich), journalist and author
 * Fabio Digenti (born 1983 in Zürich), footballer
 * Gottlieb Duttweiler (1888–1962 in Rüschlikon), entrepreneur and politician (founder of Migros)
 * Ulla E. Dydo (1925 in Zürich – 2017), writer, editor and noted Gertrude Stein expert

E to G

 * Jeanne Eder-Schwyzer (1894–1957 in Zürich), women's rights activist, President of the International Council of Women
 * Nico Elvedi (1996 in Zurich) footballer, plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach
 * Alfred Escher (1819 in Zürich – 1882 in Zürich), politician, business leader and railways pioneer
 * Lydia Escher (1858 in Zürich-Enge – 1891), daughter of Alfred Escher, founded the Gottfried Keller Stiftung
 * Arnold Escher von der Linth (1807 in Zürich – 1872) a geologist.
 * Ernst Moritz Ludwig Ettmüller (1802 – 1877 in Zürich), a German philologist.
 * Wilhelm Filchner (1877–1957 in Zürich), explorer
 * Peter Fischli (born 1952 in Zürich), artist, part of artistic duo Fischli and Weiss
 * Robert Frank (1924 in Zürich - 2019), photographer and documentary filmmaker
 * Max Frisch (1911 in Zürich – 1991 in Zürich), major Swiss playwright and novelist
 * Christoph Froschauer (ca.1490/–1564 in Zürich), printer of the Froschauer Bible
 * Henry Fuseli (1741 in Zürich – 1825 in London) a painter, draughtsman and writer on art.
 * Daniel Garbade (born 1957 in Zürich), painter, illustrator, art director and publisher
 * Bruno Ganz (1941 in Zürich – 2019), Swiss actor known for playing Adolf Hitler in Downfall
 * Patrick Geering (born 1990 in Zürich), ice hockey player
 * Ueli Gegenschatz (1971–2009 in Zürich), Swiss BASE jumper, died after a failed jump from the Sunrise Tower
 * Conrad Gessner (1516 in Zürich – 1565 in Zürich), naturalist.
 * Salomon Gessner (1730 in Zürich – 1788) painter, graphic artist and poet of Idylls.
 * HR Giger (1940 – 2014 in Zürich), artist, designer of the Alien aliens
 * Hermann Goetz (1840 – 1876 in Zürich) a German composer, wrote the 1872 opera Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung.
 * Marcel Grossmann (1878–1936 in Zürich), mathematician

H to K

 * Markus Hediger (born 1959 in Zurich), poet and translator
 * Albert Heim (1849 in Zürich – 1937) a geologist.
 * Max Holzmann (1899 in Zürich – 1994 in Zürich), cardiologist
 * Johann Heinrich Hottinger (1620 in Zürich – 1667) a philologist and theologian.
 * Andy Hug (1964 in Zürich – 2000), karateka and kickboxer
 * Christine Hug (1980 – 2023), Swiss military officer
 * Otto Hunziker (1873 in Zürich – 1959), pioneer in the international dairy industry
 * Hans-Ulrich Indermaur (born 1939 in Zürich), magazine editor, TV reporter and author.
 * Philippe Jordan (born 1974 in Zürich), music director of the Opéra National de Paris, and current chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra
 * James Joyce (1882–1941 in Zürich), Irish novelist, (buried at Fluntern Cemetery in Zürich)
 * Leo Jud (1482 – 1542 in Zürich), a reformer who worked with Huldrych Zwingli in Zürich.
 * Carl Jung (1875 in Zürich – 1961 in Zürich), psychiatrist
 * Enes Kanter Freedom (born 1992 in Zürich), American basketball player
 * Raynold Kaufgetz (1797 in Zürich – 1869 in Zürich), economist
 * Gottfried Keller (1819 in Zürich – 1890 in Zürich), poet.
 * Otto Klemperer (1885–1973 in Zürich), German conductor (buried at Israelitischer Friedhof Oberer Friesenberg)
 * Hugo Koblet (1925 in Zürich – 1964), cycling champion
 * Ursula Koch (born 1941 in Zürich), politician
 * Albert von Kölliker (1817 in Zürich – 1905) an anatomist, physiologist and histologist.
 * Ernesto Korrodi (born Ernst Korrodi) (1870 in Zürich – 1944), architect who lived, worked and died in Portugal

L to R

 * Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741 in Zürich – 1801), poet and physiognomist.
 * Antonio Ligabue (1899 in Zürich – 1965), Italian painter
 * Hugo Loetscher (1929 in Zürich – 2009 in Zürich), writer
 * Rolf Lyssy (born 1936 in Zürich), screenwriter and film director
 * Erika Mann (1905 – 1969 in Zurich), German actress, cabaretist and novelist
 * Thomas Mann (1875 – 1955 in Zurich), German novelist, exilant in Zürich during WWII.
 * Mason McTavish (born 2003 in Zurich), Canadian ice hockey player for the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL.
 * Dieter Meier (born 1945 in Zürich), conceptual artist and musician with electronica group Yello
 * Conrad Ferdinand Meyer (1825 in Zürich – 1898), poet.
 * Silvio Moser, (1941 in Zurich – 1974), a racing driver, died from accident during a race in Monza
 * Walter Andreas Müller (born 1945 in Zürich), actor and comedian
 * Harald Naegeli (born 1939 in Zürich), artist, renowned as "Sprayer von Zürich"
 * Ernst Nobs (1886–1957), trade unionist, politician and mayor of Zürich, 1942 to 1944.
 * Hans Konrad von Orelli (1846 in Zürich - 1912) a theologian.
 * Johann Caspar von Orelli (1787 in Zürich – 1849), a classical scholar.
 * Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958 in Zürich), physicist
 * Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746 in Zürich – 1827), educational reformer.
 * Joachim Raff (1822 in Lachen – 1882) a German-Swiss composer and pianist.

S to Z

 * James Sadleir (ca.1815–1881 in Zürich), fugitive swindler, murdered in Zürich
 * Johann Jakob Scheuchzer (1672 in Zürich – 1733), scholar.
 * Hanna Scheuring (1965 in Zürich), actress and theatre director
 * Roland Scholl (1865 in Zürich – 1945), chemist
 * Trudi Schoop (1904 in Zürich – 1999), comedy dancer and therapist
 * Peter Schweri (1939–2016 in Zürich), artist, illustrator, musician, lived over 20 years in Villa Egli
 * Jonas Siegenthaler (born 1997 in Zürich), ice hockey player
 * Nadja Sieger (born 1967 in Zürich), comedian (Ursus & Nadeschkin) raised in Zürich
 * Johanna Spyri (1827–1901 in Zürich), author of Heidi
 * Tobias Stephan (born 1984 in Zürich), ice hockey player
 * Sandra Studer (born 1969 in Zürich), Swiss moderator and singer
 * Stefi Talman (born 1958 in Zürich), Swiss shoe designer
 * King Tribhuvan Shah (1906–1955 in Zürich), King of Nepal
 * Bénédict Turrettini (1588 in Zürich – 1631), an ordained a pastor and professor of theology.
 * Shefqet Vërlaci (1877–1946 in Zürich), 12th Prime Minister of Albanian Kingdom (1939–1943)
 * Pancho Vladigerov (1899 in Zürich – 1978), Bulgarian composer
 * Heini Waser (1913 in Zürich – 2008 in Zollikon), painter
 * Max Weber (1897–1974), trade unionist and politician, member of the Swiss Federal Council)
 * Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (born 1939 in Zurich), German politician and scientist
 * Hermann Weyl (1885–1955 in Zurich), mathematician
 * Urs Widmer (1938 – 2014 in Zurich), novelist, playwright, essayist and a short story writer.
 * Heidi Wunderli-Allenspach (born 1947), Swiss biologist and first women rector of ETH Zurich
 * Ozan Yildirim (born 1992 in Zurich), known as OZ, record producer
 * Katharina von Zimmern (1478–1547 in Neumarkt), last abbess of the Fraumünster Abbey

A to K

 * Sibylle Berg (1962 in Weimar), German novelist and essayist
 * Max Bill (1908 in Winterthur– 1994 in Berlin), Swiss architect, designer and member of the Swiss National Council
 * Anne-Marie Blanc (1919 in Vevey– 2009 in Zurich), Swiss actress
 * Boris Blank, (born 1952) musician with Yello
 * Georg Büchner (1813 – 1837 in Zurich), German revolutionary, dramatist, writer and physician
 * Johann Gottfried Ebel (1764–1830) author of the first guidebook to Switzerland, lived in Zurich from 1810.
 * Albert Einstein (1879 in Ulm – 1955) lived in Zurich, 1896–1900, 1909–1911, 1912–1914.
 * Stephanie Glaser (1920 in Neuchâtel– 2011 in Zollikerberg), Swiss actress, lived in Zürich-Witikon
 * Hermann Greulich (1842 in Breslau– 1925 in Zurich), politician, founder of the first Social Party in Switzerland
 * Franz Hohler (born 1943 in Biel), Swiss novelist, cabaretist and songwriter
 * Udo Jürgens, (1934–2014) an Austrian composer and singer of popular music
 * Patricia Kaas, (born 1966) a French singer and actress.
 * Jonas Kaufmann, (born 1969) a German operatic tenor.
 * Adolf Keller (1872–1963) Swiss Protestant theologian and writer
 * Tina Keller-Jenny (1887–1985) Swiss physician and Jungian psychotherapist
 * Erich Kleiber (1890–1956 in Zürich), an Austrian, later Argentine, conductor



L to Z

 * Vladimir Lenin [1870–1924), travelled to Russia from Zürich in 1917.
 * Moritz Leuenberger (born 1946 in Biel), Swiss politician, member of the Swiss Federal Council)
 * Mileva Maric, (1875 – 1948 in Zürich), Serbian mathematician, first wife of Albert Einstein
 * Alina Popa, (born 1978) a Romanian-born professional female bodybuilder
 * Manuel Rivera-Ortiz (born 1968) a stateside Puerto Rican photographer.
 * Elisabeth von Rapperswil (ca.1251 – 1309 in Rapperswil), Burgrecht of Zürich, last Countess of the House of Rapperswil
 * Roger Sablonier (1941–2010), historian and writer of non-fiction publications
 * Ernst Sieber (1927–2018), pastor, member of the Swiss National Council, worked with the homeless and drug addicts.
 * Lee 'Scratch' Perry (1936–2021), reggae and dub producer and singer.
 * Kurt Tucholsky (1890–1935) German journalist, satirist and writer, lived in Zürich, 1932–1933
 * Tina Turner (1939-2023), singer, dancer, actress and composer of American origin and naturalized Swiss
 * Tristan Tzara (1896–1963), a Romanian and French avant-garde poet, essayist and performance artist.
 * Georg von Vollmar (1850–1922) a Bavarian democratic socialist politician, lived in Zürich 1879 to 1882.
 * Richard Wagner (1813–1883) a German composer and conductor, lived in Zürich, 1849–1861.
 * Raphael Zuber (born 1973 in Chur), architect und visiting professor at the ETH Zurich