Famous People Born In Adelaide

Australian singer-songwriter, voice-actress and director Sia Furler rose to fame with albums like We Are Born. Moving on, she bolstered her career with albums like 1000 Forms of Fear that debuted atop the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and singles like Cheap Thrills, her first Billboard Hot 100 number-one. Furler has also co-written hit songs like Diamonds, Titanium and Wild Ones.

Terence Tao is an Australian-American mathematician who works at the University of California, Los Angeles as a professor of mathematics. Widely considered one of the most prominent living mathematicians, Tao was honored with the prestigious Fields Medal in 2006. In 2014, he was awarded the Breakthrough Prize in Mathematics.

Born to a filmmaker/lecturer father and an art therapist mother in Australia, Samara Weaving grew up in places such as Fiji and Singapore. Initially known for her roles in series such as Out of the Blue and Home and Away, she gained international fame with films such as Ready or Not.

Rhea Ripley is an Australian wrestler best known for her association with the popular wrestling promotion, WWE. She is the current WWE Women's Tag Team Champion along with Nikki A.S.H. In 2019, she was named Breakthrough Wrestler of the Year by CBS Sports. In April 2021, Ripley became the first female Australian to win the WWE Raw Women's Championship title.

Named one among the 12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists by Elle magazine, Australian musician, singer and songwriter Orianthi Penny Panagaris began playing the guitar at the age of three and moved to acoustic by six. At fifteen, she began her professional career, concurrently focusing on songwriting and released her debut independent album at the age of 20. 

Howard Florey was an Australian pathologist and pharmacologist. He is best remembered for his role in the formation of penicillin, for which he shared the prestigious Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alexander Fleming and Ernst Chain in the year 1945. Florey is credited with carrying out the first clinical trial of penicillin at the Radcliffe Infirmary in 1941.

Tilda Cobham-Hervey is an Australian actress known for her work in all three major acting mediums. She is one of the few actresses with a background in physical theatre and circus. Her journey from being an entertainer at a circus, whose specialities involved acrobatic pitching, trapeze, and hula hoop, to becoming a popular actress is quite inspirational.

Mark Oliphant was an Australian humanitarian and physicist who played a prominent role in the first experimentation of nuclear fusion. He also played an influential role in the development of nuclear weapons. Oliphant is credited with founding the Australian Academy of Science. Over the course of his illustrious career, Mark Oliphant received several prestigious awards, such as the Hughes Medal.

Lleyton Hewitt is an Australian professional tennis player and a former world No. 1. He has won one Wimbledon, one U.S. Open and one U.S. Open doubles title. The son of a sportsman, he developed an early interest in different kinds of sports and decided to pursue tennis professionally. He has been involved in several controversies. 

Judith Anderson was an Australian actress who dominated the American and Australian theater scene during her career. Regarded as the greatest stage actress of her generation, Anderson won a Tony Award for her title role in Robinson Jeffers' Medea. Judith Anderson also achieved popularity as a TV and film actress; she received an Academy Award nomination and two Emmy Awards.

Born to Greek immigrant parents in Adelaide, Thanasi Kokkinakis was inspired by Russian tennis star Marat Safin in childhood. He now has a career-high ranking of 69 in singles. In 2021, he revealed how he had battled depression and had contemplated quitting tennis after a series of injuries threatened his career.

Born to a math and physics professor in Australia, Sir William Lawrence Bragg later moved to England, where his father was posted for work. He and his father jointly won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their research on X-ray diffraction through crystals. Bragg was an avid shell collector, too.

Gold Logie-winning Australian talk show host and radio presenter Carrie Bickmore is best known as the host of The Project. She has also been a UNICEF ambassador and has worked for causes such as brain-cancer and maternal tetanus awareness. She created a stir after accidentally flashing her bottom at the 2021 AACTA Awards.

Josh Helman is an Australian actor best known for his portrayal of William Stryker in the popular American superhero film, X-Men: Days of Future Past. Also known for his work on TV, Helman has played important roles in popular TV series, such as Wayward Pines. 

Tziporah Malkah is an Australian-American former model and actress. She began modeling in her teens and was already an internationally renowned model by the time she hit 20. She ventured into acting as well and appeared in many TV shows and films. She has since retired from the entertainment industry and is reportedly employed as an aged care worker. 

Australian fitness trainer Kayla Itsines had initially wished to become a beauty therapist but later deviated to fitness. She has not only released best-selling fitness books, but has also launched the fitness app Sweat with Kayla and several Bikini Body Guides, replete with high-intensity workouts and diet plans.

UK-based video journalist Brady Haran is known for his popular YouTube math channel Numberphile. Fans also love his other channels, such as the chemistry-oriented Periodic Videos and the physics-oriented Sixty Symbols, and his podcasts Hello Internet and The Unmade Podcast. He also has inactive channels on language, food, and culture.

Elton Mayo was an Australian-born industrial researcher, psychologist, and organizational theorist. As a psychologist, Mayo played an important role during World War I, helping soldiers returning from the war recover from the stresses. He also conducted psycho-pathological tests and is credited with pioneering the psychoanalytic treatment of shell-shock. Elton Mayo's works also laid the basis for the human relations movement.

Robin Warren is an Australian pathologist best known for re-discovering the bacterium Helicobacter pylori. Along with Barry J. Marshall, Warren proved that Helicobacter pylori causes stomach ulcers. In 2005, he won the prestigious Nobel Prize in Medicine, which he shared with Marshall. Their Nobel Prize-winning work became the subject of a documentary titled The Winner's Guide to the Nobel Prize.

Australian tennis coach and former player Darren Cahill is best known for mentoring renowned players such as Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, and Simona Halep. He was also the Australian Davis Cup coach. Known by his nickname Killer in the tennis circuit, he also works as a tennis analyst for ESPN.

Roma Mitchell was an Australian lawyer and judge. She became the first woman to hold a number of positions in Australia, including the country’s first female judge. She was also the first woman to be a Queen's Counsel and the governor of an Australian state. She was a pioneer of the Australian women's rights movement as well.

Shaun Micallef first gained fame with Theatre Sports on ABC TV. A qualified lawyer who practiced for a decade too, he later stepped into films and TV. Although a teetotaler, he does consume alcohol for his shoots. He has also hosted programs such as the Dave & Denise with Shaun Micallef.

Best known for The Kyle and Jackie O Show, which she co-hosted with Kyle Sandilands and which became the number one radio show in Australia, Jackie O was discovered at a deli by radio DJ and future husband Phil O'Neil. She has also hosted TV shows and is an animal rights activist.

Koch Industries heir David Koch was a chemical engineer from MIT and even excelled in basketball in college. Listed at number 11 on the Forbes billionaires list in 2019, he was also a dedicated philanthropist who has donated billions to charity. He was also the vice-presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party.  

Alexander Downer is an Australian former diplomat and politician. From 1996 to 2007, Downer served as Australia's foreign minister, becoming the longest-serving Minister for Foreign Affairs in the history of Australian politics. He also served as the Liberal Party's leader from 1994 to 1995. Alexander Downer was honored with the prestigious Centenary Medal in January 2001.

Emily Seebohm is an Australian competitive swimmer best known for winning a gold medal each at the 2008, 2012, and 2020 Olympic Games. She has also won five World Championship gold medals and seven gold medals at the Commonwealth Games so far. In 2009, Emily Seebohm was honored with the Medal of the Order of Australia.

Remembered as the coach of tennis legend Roger Federer, Peter Carter had started off as a player but moved to coaching after his playing career was cut short due to injuries. He tragically died in a car accident at the Kruger National Park, where he was supposed to be holidaying with his wife.