List of people from Izmir

This is a list of famous people from İzmir, Turkey.

• Rita Abatzi (1914–1969) – Greek rebetiko singer
• Kayahan Açar (1949-2015), singer, composer and lyricist
• Sezen Aksu – (born 1954), Turkish singer–songwriter, musician, record producer; born in Sarayköy, Denizli and raised in central İzmir
• Ekrem Akurgal – (1911-2002), Turkish archaeologist born in Tulkarem, explorer of Old Smyrna, Pitane, Phocaea and Erythrai
• Furkan Aldemir – Turkish basketball player
• Bahadır Alkım (1915-1981), archaeologist
• George K. Anderson – U.S. Air Force general
• Necati Ateş – Turkish soccer player
• Alexander Balas – ruler of the Greek Seleucid kingdom in 150–146 BC
• Édouard Balladur – (born 1929), former French Prime Minister
• Halil Berktay – (born 1947), Turkish historian
• Haluk Bilginer (born 1954), theater and film actor
• Can Bonomo – Turkish singer of Sephardic Jewish descent; represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
• Mahir Çağrı – Turkish Internet phenomenon
• Olcay Çakır – Turkish basketball player
• Demetrios Capetanakis (1912–1944) – Greek poet, essayist and critic
• Anton Christoforidis (1918–1985) – Greek light heavyweight boxer
• Hüsamettin Cindoruk – (born 1933), Turkish politician, former party leader and Speaker of the Parliament
• Mehmet Culum – Turkish novelist born in Çeşme who worked in İzmir as an IT specialist
• Necati Cumalı – Turkish novelist born in Florina, raised in nearby Urla
• Meltem Cumbul – (born 1969), actress
• Cybele (1888–1978), Greek actress
• Anestis Delias (1912-1941), Greek bouzouki player, rebetiko composer and singer
• Michel Elefteriades – Greek-Lebanese composer, producer, politician, and Emperor of Nowheristan
• Stéphan Elmas (1862–1937)- Armenian composer and pianist
• Nehir Erdoğan – (born 1980), actress
• Gül Gölge – (born 1981), TV show host, model and actress
• Homer – Greek epic poet
• Attilâ İlhan – Turkish poet, novelist, essayist, journalist, and reviewer
• İsmet İnönü – (1884-1973), second President of Turkey
• Irenaeus (2nd–3rd century) – theologian, bishop of Lugdunum
• Sir Alec Issigonis – (1906-1988), Greek-British car designer whose most famous work is the Mini
• Manolis Kalomiris (1883–1962) – Greek composer
• Selâhattin Kantar – Turkish archaeologist who pioneered Smyrna excavations
• Semih Kaplanoğlu (born 1963), film director, screenwriter and filmproducer
• Semih Kaya – Turkish soccer player
• Erkut Kızılırmak (born 1969), author
• Vedat Kokona – Albanian writer and translator
• Adamantios Korais (1748–1833) – Greek humanist scholar
• Çağla Kubat – (born 1978), Turkish fashion model
• Alex Manoogian – Armenian-American industrialist; philanthropist; founder and CEO of MASCO Corporation
• Darío Moreno – Turkish-Jewish singer who made a career in France
• James Justinian Morier – (1780-1849), British diplomat, traveler and writer
• Magali Noël – (1931-2015), French actress and singer
• Metin Oktay – Turkish soccer player
• Aristotle Onassis (1906–1975) – Greek tycoon
• Alpay Özalan – Turkish soccer player
• Hüsnü Özyeğin (born 1944), banker
• Onur Özsu – Turkish singer–songwriter, musician
• Leonidas Paraskevopoulos (1860–1936) – Greek military man and politician
• Ambrosios Pleianthidis, (1872-1922), metropolitan bishop
• Polycarp – overseer of a Christian congregation
• Giacomo Pylarini – gave the first smallpox inoculation outside of Turkey
• Ahmed Adnan Saygun – Turkish composer, musician and writer
• Giorgos Seferis (1900–1971) – Greek poet; Nobel laureate; born in nearby Urla
• Quintus Smyrnaeus – Greek epic poet
• Yavuz Tatış – (born 1947), private collector
• Yıldız Tilbe – (born 1966), musician and pop singer
• Tryfon Tzanetis (1918–2001) – Greek footballer and coach
• Bilge Umar – Turkish jurist and writer
• Latife Uşşaki (1898-1976), wife of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
• Birsel Vardarlı – Turkish basketball player
• Sabbatai Zevi – (1626-1676), self-proclaimed messiah and founder of the community of Sabbateans

References