Again, I'm starting with my country. I'll do other countries later. 
Portugal
Alive
Durão Barroso is a Portuguese politician and the 11th and current President of the European Commission.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese footballer. Ronaldo was the first player to win all four main PFA and FWA awards, doing so in 2007. In 2008, Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or. He was named the FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, Onze d'Or, and the FIFA World Player of the Year. He got 50 million 'likes' on Facebook.
Joaquim de Almeida is a Portuguese-American actor. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Félix Cortez in the 1994 thriller Clear and Present Danger and Bucho in the 1995 action thriller Desperado. Several years later, he became popular for playing Ramon Salazar on the Fox thriller drama series 24, between 2003 and 2004, and Hernan Reyes in 2011 street racing film Fast Five.
José Mourinho is a Portuguese football manager. He won the first ever FIFA Ballon d'Or Best Coach Award in 2010. Mourinho won league titles in at least four different countries: Portugal, England, Italy, and Spain, also becoming the first manager to win the traditional top three European league championships.
Mariza is a popular fado singer. She has sold over 1 million records worldwide. Mariza was the first Portuguese singer being nominated for a Grammy award (2007).
Tiago Monteiro is a Portuguese racing driver. He currently shares the Formula One record for the most finishes in a season (18) with Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa, while he also shares the record for most finishes in a row for a rookie (16) with Heikki Kovalainen, who had also achieved this landmark in 2007.
I'll do the deceased people part later.
Portugal Alive
Durão Barroso is a Portuguese politician and the 11th and current President of the European Commission.
Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese footballer. Ronaldo was the first player to win all four main PFA and FWA awards, doing so in 2007. In 2008, Ronaldo won the Ballon d'Or. He was named the FIFPro Player of the Year, World Soccer Player of the Year, Onze d'Or, and the FIFA World Player of the Year. He got 50 million 'likes' on Facebook.
Joaquim de Almeida is a Portuguese-American actor. He achieved international fame with his portrayals of Félix Cortez in the 1994 thriller Clear and Present Danger and Bucho in the 1995 action thriller Desperado. Several years later, he became popular for playing Ramon Salazar on the Fox thriller drama series 24, between 2003 and 2004, and Hernan Reyes in 2011 street racing film Fast Five.
José Mourinho is a Portuguese football manager. He won the first ever FIFA Ballon d'Or Best Coach Award in 2010. Mourinho won league titles in at least four different countries: Portugal, England, Italy, and Spain, also becoming the first manager to win the traditional top three European league championships.
Mariza is a popular fado singer. She has sold over 1 million records worldwide. Mariza was the first Portuguese singer being nominated for a Grammy award (2007).
Tiago Monteiro is a Portuguese racing driver. He currently shares the Formula One record for the most finishes in a season (18) with Nick Heidfeld and Felipe Massa, while he also shares the record for most finishes in a row for a rookie (16) with Heikki Kovalainen, who had also achieved this landmark in 2007.
I'll do the deceased people part later.
It sort of seems to me "oh here's a thread where you can share stuff about your countries, but I'm just going to go ahead and do it for you".Again, I'm starting with my country. I'll do other countries later.
You probably don't mean it that way, but give people the chance to post about their own countries before you do it for them. 
It sort of seems to me "oh here's a thread where you can share stuff about your countries, but I'm just going to go ahead and do it for you".
Sure. I would only do it if nobody else does it.
nofuxCZ
Well-known member
SCIENTISTS/INVENTORS
JAN JANSKÝ was a serologist (serology is the study of blood serum), neurologist and psychiatrist. Janský was the first scientist to classify blood into the four types (A, B, AB, O). His discovery was almost overlooked, but was found by an American medical commission in 1921. Janský was awarded a posthumous Nobel Prize for this work in 1930.
OTTO WICHTERLE was a world-famous scientist and inventor whose field was in macromolecular organic chemistry. His main scientific contributions were the development of soft contact lenses and the discovery of nylon fibers.
JAN EVANGELISTA PURKYNĚ was a physician and natural scientist, whose name is known around the world for his findings that human cells are the basis of human life, and that finger prints are able to identify specific individuals. He also discovered human sweat glands and how light affects the pupils in our eyes. In addition, Purkynĕ discovered heart fibers, and studied the structures in the human brain—known as Purkynĕ cells. He made more discoveries about the human body that are too numerous to list here. Along with being a scientist, Purkynĕ also was quite a supporter of the Czech national revival in the 18th and 19th centuries.
POLITICIANS
VÁCLAV HAVEL was a playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician.
Havel was the ninth and last president of Czechoslovakia (1989–1992) and the first president of the Czech Republic (1993–2003). He wrote more than 20 plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally. He was one of the most important figures of our Velvet Revolution in 1989, which brought down the communism here. Havel received many recognitions, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Gandhi Peace Prize, the Philadelphia Liberty Medal, the Order of Canada, the freedom medal of the Four Freedoms Award, and the Ambassador of Conscience Award.
MADELEINE ALBRIGHT (born as Marie Jana Korbelová) was the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, she came up the ranks from being campaign fund-raiser to a security adviser to a UN ambassador. In 2001, she left her position to found the Albright Group, an international consulting firm. She also sits on the board of directors for the Council on Foreign Relations.
TOMÁŠ GARRIGUE MASARYK. He founded Czechoslovak democracy and believed in individual responsibility. He asserted that small nations had a vital role to play in Europe and was convinced they could contribute to the world as a whole. This philosopher, scholar and politician stressed practical ethics and exposed Czechs and Slovaks to what were then the most contemporary advancements in science, humanities and world literature. He promoted religion as a source of morality. And he was the first president of Czechoslovakia (1918 - 1935).
SPORT / OTHER
MILOŠ FORMAN is a director, screenwriter, and professor, who since 1968 has lived and worked primarily outside the former Czechoslovakia and the present Czech Republic. Forman was one of the most important directors of the Czechoslovak New Wave.
Since Forman left Czechoslovakia, two of his films, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus, have acquired particular renown, both gaining him an Academy Award for Best Director. He was also nominated for a Best Director Oscar for The People vs. Larry Flynt. He has also won Golden Globe, Cannes, Berlinale, BAFTA, Cesar, David di Donatello, European Film Academy, and Czech Lion awards.
IVAN LENDL is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player. Originally from Czechoslovakia, he became a United States citizen in 1992. He was one of the game's most dominant players in the 1980s and remained a top competitor into the early 1990s. He has been described as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Lendl's game relied particularly on strength and heavy topspin from the baseline and helped usher in the modern era of "power tennis". Lendl captured eight Grand Slam singles titles. He competed in 19 Grand Slam singles finals, a record surpassed by Roger Federer in 2009. He reached at least one Grand Slam final for 11 consecutive years, a record shared with Pete Sampras, with the male primacy of 8 consecutive finals in a slam tournament (a record shared with Bill Tilden at US Open). Before the formation of the ATP Lendl reached a record 12 year-end championships (equaled by John McEnroe). He won two WCT Finals titles and five Masters Grand Prix titles, with the record of 9 consecutive finals. He also won a record 22 Championship Series titles (1980–89) the precursors to the current ATP Masters 1000.
MARTINA NAVRÁTILOVÁ is a retired Czech American tennis player and coach, and a former World No. 1. Billie Jean King said about Navratilova in 2006, "She's the greatest singles, doubles and mixed doubles player who's ever lived."
Originally from Czechoslovakia, she was stripped of her citizenship when, in 1975 at the age of 18, she asked the United States for political asylum and was granted temporary residency. Navratilova became a US citizen in 1981, and on January 9, 2008, she had her Czech citizenship restored. When not playing tennis, Navratilova is involved with various charities that benefit animal rights, underprivileged children, and gay rights.
EMIL ZÁTOPEK was a Czech long-distance runner best known for winning three gold medals at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He won gold in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres runs, but his final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the first marathon of his life. He was nicknamed the "Czech Locomotive" for his multiple golds.
Zátopek was the first athlete to break the 29-minute barrier in the 10 km run (in 1954). Three years earlier, in 1951, he had broken the hour for running 20 km. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest runners of the 20th century and was also known for his brutally tough training methods.
PETR ČECH is a Czech footballer who plays for Chelsea and the Czech Republic as a goalkeeper. Čech previously played for Chmel Blšany, Sparta Prague, and Rennes. He was voted into the all-star team of Euro 2004 after helping his country reach the semi-finals. Čech also received the individual award of Best Goalkeeper in the 2004–05, 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons of the UEFA Champions League. In addition, he was named in the FIFPro and UEFA Champions League teams of the season in 2006. He currently holds the Premier League record for fewest appearances required to reach 100 clean sheets, having done so in 180 league appearances. He also holds a Czech professional league record of not conceding a goal in 903 competitive minutes.
JAROMÍR JÁGR is a Czech professional ice hockey right winger. Jágr is the most productive European-born player who ever played in the NHL and he is considered one of the best players of all time. Jágr has formerly played with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers; serving as captain of the Penguins and the Rangers. After leaving the Rangers, Jágr played for three seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League with Avangard Omsk before returning to the NHL with the Flyers. He is one of a small group of hockey players to have won the Stanley Cup (1991, 1992), the Ice Hockey World Championships (2005, 2010), and the Olympic gold medal in ice hockey (1998). This is known as the Triple Gold Club, and Jágr is one of only two Czech players (the other being Jiří Šlégr) in the Triple Gold club, the 15th player to complete it out of 25 total, as of June 2010.
DOMINIK HAŠEK is a retired legendary ice hockey goaltender. In his 16-season National Hockey League (NHL) career, he played for the Chicago Blackhawks, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings and the Ottawa Senators. During his years in Buffalo, he became one of the league's finest goaltenders, earning him the nickname "The Dominator". His strong play has been credited with establishing European goaltenders in a league widely dominated by North Americans. Hašek was one of the league's most successful goaltenders of the 1990s and early 2000s. From 1993 to 2001, he won six Vezina Trophies. In 1998 he won his second consecutive Hart Memorial Trophy, becoming the first goaltender to win the award multiple times. During the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, he led the Czech national ice hockey team to its first and only Olympic gold medal. Hašek is regarded as a future Hall of Famer by those in the hockey world. At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest active goalie in the NHL at 43.
To be continued...
seb89
Active member
some famous Belgians Music
Adolphe Sax (inventor of the saxophone)
Jeanne Deckers (known as The Singing Nun or Soeur Sourire) had a massive hit with 'Dominique'
Jacques Brel (famous chansonnier)
Inventors
Lambert Adolphe Quetelet (invented the Body Mass Index)
Artists
Peter Paul Rubens (the world famous Flemish baroque painter, was the most renowned northern European artist of his day and is now widely recognized as one of the foremost painters in Western art history)
René Magritte (leading painter and theorist of surrealism)
George Remi (Hergé) ( the creator of Tin Tin (Kuifje))
Georges Simenon (writer of the Maigret-series)
Victor Horta (initiator of the Art Nouveau style)
Politicians
Paul Henri Spaak (founder of the Benelux and first president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1946)
Scientists
Andreas Vesalius (laid foundations of the modern science of anatomy)
Gerardus Mercator (cartographer, he is remembered for the Mercator projection world map)
Sports
Eddy Merckx (cyclist, no explication needed
)
Kim Clijsters (tennis)
Justine Henin (tennis)
Jacques Rogge
DannyDS
Well-known member
You forgot Filip De Winter...
Oh wait... he's INfamous
Oh wait... he's INfamous
seb89
Active member
Isn't he going to move to Namibia? 
DannyDS
Well-known member
Isn't he going to move to Namibia?
Wasn't he gonna jump in the Schelde as well?? A true politician! He doesn't keep his promise
seb89
Active member
Wasn't he gonna jump in the Schelde as well?? A true politician! He doesn't keep his promise
He said that as well, but I don't know anymore when he would do that. If BDW & Janssens would form a coalition?
You are so right
!!!
vatroslav_cro
Active member
OK now I ll try with some famous people from my country I picked up. (with an alphabetical order of the family names)
NOTE: I WON'T mention politicians, they are bunch of losers and pain in the ass (especially ours).:twisted:
CROATIA
Veljko Barbieri (culinary expert and writer)
Prof. Veljko Barbieri (Split, May 14, 1950.) is a famous Croatian Croatian culinary expert and writer. He writes novels, travelogues, short stories and poems. He has contributed to the art of film as an actor in the movie The Lost Treasure.
He is also an editor and leader of the television show "Menus of the passed times" and of culinary sections in the Croatian press.
Stipe Božić (mountain climber)
Stipe Božić (born 2 January 1951) is a Croatian mountaineer, documentary filmmaker, photographer and writer. He is the most successful Croatian Himalayan climber. Božić completed the Seven Summits and is the second European, after Reinhold Messner, to climb the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest, twice (1979 and 1989).
[SUP]Vinko Bresan (director)
[/SUP]Vinko Brešan (born February 3, 1964) is a Croatian film director who emerged into international renown with three critically acclaimed and award-winning films that, each in its own way, broke some of the perceived taboos of Croatian cinema in the 1990s.
His first feature-length film Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku ("How the War Started on My Island"), is a humorous microcosmic take on the Yugoslav Wars set in the Dalmatian Adriatic. The film was awarded the Velika zlatna arena ("Grand Golden Arena") for cinematography at the Pula Film Festival and Grand Prize at the 1997 Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema. It proved to be a tremendous commercial success as well, beating Independence Day at the Croatian box office in 1996 with over 300,000 viewers, and was screened at 32 international film festivals, including Toronto and Montreal. He was appointed Director of Zagreb Film in December 2004.[SUP]
[/SUP]Valter Dešpalj (born 1947) is cellist and a professor at the Zagreb Academy of Music.
Dešpalj was born in Zadar, Croatia and graduated from the Juilliard School (cello with L. Rose, chamber music with F. Galimir and Juilliard Quartet). He also took master classes with P. Casals, P. Fournier and A. Navarra, and did two years of postgraduate study with G. Kozolupova at the Moscow Conservatory.
Dešpalj has performed all over the world, including performances at festivals in Gstaad, Lockenhaus,Kuhmo and Dubrovnik also in some of the most prestigious concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall in London, Sydney Opera House, Amsterdam′s Concertgebouw, Moscow Conservatory Hall etc.
Goran Ivanišević (tennis player)
Goran Ivanišević ( born 13 September 1971) is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He is the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998.
Janica Kostelić (alpine skier)
Janica Kostelić (January 5, 1982) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and four-time Olympic gold medalist from Croatia. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she won thirty individual races, three overall titles, three slalom titles, and four (unofficial) combined titles.
Kostelić is the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics (in 2002 and 2006), and the only woman to win three alpine skiing gold medals in one Olympics (2002). Kostelić was born in Zagreb, Croatia, into a winter sports family: her father Ante is also her trainer and her older brother Ivica Kostelić is a renowned ski racer in his own right, the 2011 overall World Cup champion.
She was the World Cup overall champion in 2001, 2003, and 2006.
...TO BE CONTINUED....
NOTE: I WON'T mention politicians, they are bunch of losers and pain in the ass (especially ours).:twisted:
CROATIA Veljko Barbieri (culinary expert and writer)
Prof. Veljko Barbieri (Split, May 14, 1950.) is a famous Croatian Croatian culinary expert and writer. He writes novels, travelogues, short stories and poems. He has contributed to the art of film as an actor in the movie The Lost Treasure.
He is also an editor and leader of the television show "Menus of the passed times" and of culinary sections in the Croatian press.
Stipe Božić (mountain climber)
Stipe Božić (born 2 January 1951) is a Croatian mountaineer, documentary filmmaker, photographer and writer. He is the most successful Croatian Himalayan climber. Božić completed the Seven Summits and is the second European, after Reinhold Messner, to climb the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest, twice (1979 and 1989).
[SUP]Vinko Bresan (director)
[/SUP]Vinko Brešan (born February 3, 1964) is a Croatian film director who emerged into international renown with three critically acclaimed and award-winning films that, each in its own way, broke some of the perceived taboos of Croatian cinema in the 1990s.
His first feature-length film Kako je počeo rat na mom otoku ("How the War Started on My Island"), is a humorous microcosmic take on the Yugoslav Wars set in the Dalmatian Adriatic. The film was awarded the Velika zlatna arena ("Grand Golden Arena") for cinematography at the Pula Film Festival and Grand Prize at the 1997 Cottbus Film Festival of Young East European Cinema. It proved to be a tremendous commercial success as well, beating Independence Day at the Croatian box office in 1996 with over 300,000 viewers, and was screened at 32 international film festivals, including Toronto and Montreal. He was appointed Director of Zagreb Film in December 2004.[SUP]
[/SUP]Valter Dešpalj (born 1947) is cellist and a professor at the Zagreb Academy of Music.
Dešpalj was born in Zadar, Croatia and graduated from the Juilliard School (cello with L. Rose, chamber music with F. Galimir and Juilliard Quartet). He also took master classes with P. Casals, P. Fournier and A. Navarra, and did two years of postgraduate study with G. Kozolupova at the Moscow Conservatory.
Dešpalj has performed all over the world, including performances at festivals in Gstaad, Lockenhaus,Kuhmo and Dubrovnik also in some of the most prestigious concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall in London, Sydney Opera House, Amsterdam′s Concertgebouw, Moscow Conservatory Hall etc.
Goran Ivanišević (tennis player)
Goran Ivanišević ( born 13 September 1971) is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He is the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998.
Janica Kostelić (alpine skier)
Janica Kostelić (January 5, 1982) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer and four-time Olympic gold medalist from Croatia. In addition to the Olympics, she won five gold medals at the World Championships. In World Cup competition, she won thirty individual races, three overall titles, three slalom titles, and four (unofficial) combined titles.
Kostelić is the only woman to win four gold medals in alpine skiing at the Winter Olympics (in 2002 and 2006), and the only woman to win three alpine skiing gold medals in one Olympics (2002). Kostelić was born in Zagreb, Croatia, into a winter sports family: her father Ante is also her trainer and her older brother Ivica Kostelić is a renowned ski racer in his own right, the 2011 overall World Cup champion.
She was the World Cup overall champion in 2001, 2003, and 2006.
...TO BE CONTINUED....
Valvejoodik
Active member
Arvo Pärt
Famous composer
Siim Kallas
EU's Vice president
Kerli Kõiv
Bet you all know her
Lennart Meri (dead)
President, writer, diplomat, politician
Adding some more later
doctormalisimo
Well-known member
@nofuxCZ, you forgot Gregor Mendel, the man who my genetics lecturer can't go 10 minutes without mentioning
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Army officer, revolutionary leader, statesman, the founder and the first president of the Turkish Republic)
Halide Edip Adıvar (novelist, a leading civil activist during the Allied Occupation of Turkey, also considered to be the founder of Turkish feminism)
Sabiha Gökçen (The first female fighter pilot in the world)
Nazım Hikmet Ran (Revolutionary poet, novelist, one of the most important romantic communist figures in Turkish history)
Deniz Gezmiş (People's revolutionary, marxist-leninist pioneer)
Tansu Çiller (The first Turkish female prime minister)
Fazıl Say (Pianist, composer)
Arda Turan (Footballer)
Hedo Türkoğlu (Basketballer, playing in NBA)
Azra Akın (Beauty, the first Turkish Miss World winner)
Sertab Erener (Singer, the first Turkish Eurovision winner)
Şebnem Ferah (Hard rock singer)
Naim Süleymanoğlu (Weightlifter, World and Olympic records holder)
Yasemin Dalkılıç (Free diver, world record holder)
Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ (Actor)
Hazal Kaya (Actress)
SpZ
Well-known member
Well nowadays I think like it or not the most famous person from Turkey is Mehmet Öz
Yes, Mehmet Öz is one of the most-known Turks internationally, especially in US but Mesut Özil must be the most famous Turk(ethnically)
Nuri Şahin(Liverpool), Arda Turan(Atletico Madrid), Turkish drama actors/actresses like Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ, Beren Saat, Tuba Büyüküstün. They are famous especially in Middle East. Sertab Erener, Hadise, Manga from Eurovision. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Fatih Akın. They are famous, awarded directors. these are some of most-known Turks imo.
Nuri Şahin(Liverpool), Arda Turan(Atletico Madrid), Turkish drama actors/actresses like Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ, Beren Saat, Tuba Büyüküstün. They are famous especially in Middle East. Sertab Erener, Hadise, Manga from Eurovision. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Fatih Akın. They are famous, awarded directors. these are some of most-known Turks imo.
@nofuxCZ, you forgot Gregor Mendel, the man who my genetics lecturer can't go 10 minutes without mentioning
was he Czech? he is really well-known. How could you forget nofuxCZ?
r3gg13
Well-known member
From The Philippines
Carlos Romulo - President of the UN General Assembly 1949
Monique Lhuillier - Prominent fashion designer
Rafé Totengco - A high-end, award-winning leather craft designer.
Jo Koy - A stand-up comedian
Billy Crawford - Singer
Kenn Navarro- Creator of Happy Tree Friends
Van Partible - Creator of Johnny Bravo
Cristeta Comerford - First woman executive chef in the White House (2005 onwards)
Jessica Hagedorn - Playwright, multimedia artist
