Famous People Born In Beirut

The star of John Wick, Speed and The Matrix films, Keanu Reeves has displayed his wide range as an actor, time and again. The humble Canadian actor has also famously given away his money to recognise the work of crew and to enable the production team to hire good actors.

Amal Clooney is a Lebanese-British barrister, specializing in human rights and international law. Her clients include popular and influential personalities like Yulia Tymoshenko, Nadia Murad, and Julian Assange. Her work and philanthropic activities gained media coverage after her wedding to actor George Clooney. The Clooneys are well-known philanthropists and are founders of the Clooney Foundation for Justice.

Professional basketball coach and former player, Steve Kerr, is currently the head coach of the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. He has won five NBA titles as a player and three as a head coach. He has been immensely successful as a coach, helping his team break the record for the most wins in an NBA season.

Serj Tankian is an Armenian-American record producer, singer, and songwriter. Tankian is credited with co-founding the popular band System of a Down. Renowned for his wide vocal range and unusual delivery, Serj Tankian is widely considered one of the best heavy metal vocalists of all time. Also a political activist, Tankian co-founded Axis of Justice, a non-profit organization.

Lebanese-born British singer Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr., also known as Mika, had moved to France as an infant and to Britain later, as his family escaped the war-torn Lebanon. Known for tracks such as Grace Kelly, he also earned a Grammy nomination for his single Love Today.

Lebanese-Canadian evolutionary-psychologist Gad Saad is best-known for applying evolutionary-psychology to marketing and consumer behaviour. He is a professor of marketing at Concordia University, an advisory fellow for the Centre for Inquiry Canada, and the Concordia University Research Chairman in Evolutionary Behavioural Sciences and Darwinian Consumption. He hosts the YouTube channel The Saad Truth and writes a blog for Psychology Today.

Lebanese designer Elie Saab had started dressing up his sisters in scraps at age 10. Known for his ornate bridal couture, combining Western silhouettes and Middle-Eastern embellishments, he was the first non-Italian in the governing body of the Milan Fashion Week. He also ventured into interior design in Dubai.

Born to a Lebanese father and a Tunisian mother, Nadine Nassib Njeim was crowned Miss Lebanon 2004 and later represented Lebanon at the Miss Universe pageant. She exhibited her acting skills in series such as Samra. After being injured in the deadly 2020 Beirut explosion, she underwent a 6-hour surgery.

Lebanese diva Cyrine Abdelnour made her mark in modelling working with fashion-designers like Zuhair Murad. She received the title Model of the World. She has acted in many Arabic television serials and films and won four Murex D'or awards as the best Lebanese actress. Her song Law Bas Fe Aini emerged as one of the most-popular Lebanese songs in 2006.   

Edmond Safra was a Lebanese Brazilian banker. His father was a prominent banker, and he began his career working at his father’s bank. He was hardworking, ambitious, and street-smart and started earning millions while still in his teens. He was also a major philanthropist. He died in an arson that attracted wide media interest.  

Lebanese-born-French actress and film-director Delphine Seyrig played diverse roles in films and stage works. She garnered international recognition performing in the film Last Year at Marienbad and bolstered her career with other films like The Day of the Jackal and Muriel ou Le temps d'un retour. A prominent feminist-figure in France, Seyrig also directed films like Sois belle et tais-toi.   

Joseph Safra was a Swiss-based Lebanese Brazilian banker and businessman. A billionaire, he ran the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group, and was the chairman of all Safra companies. At the time of his death in 2020, he was the richest person in Brazil. He was married to a Greek-born woman named Vicky and had four children. 

Lebanese singer and TV personality Ragheb Alama started his career with the TV talent show Studio El Fan. The Murex d'Or Award-winning artist is now one of the most popular Arab music artists of the world. A philanthropist, too, he launched the Saint George Schools to educate Arab children.

Known for his unique style which has been greatly influenced by Middle Eastern melodies,  Lebanese-Canadian singer and composer Massari began his journey in early 2000s, incorporating in his music, elements of R&B, pop and hip hop, winning several awards and nominations for that. Fluent in English French and Arabic, he has also been highly influenced by Syrian singer George Wassouf.

Ibrahim Maalouf is a French-Lebanese composer and jazz trumpeter. In addition to his many studio albums, Maalouf is also known for his contribution as a composer for many movie soundtracks and symphonic orchestras. In 2014, he was honored at the French Music Awards with the prestigious Best World Music Artist award.

One of the greatest authors and journalists born in Lebanon, Amin Maalouf initially reported major political events around the world. He is known for his internationally bestselling French books, such as Samarkand and Balthasar's Odyssey. His novels usually have a historical setting, with war and migration as prominent themes.

A singer, known for her patriotic songs, Julia Boutros is also the wife of former defense minister of Lebanon, Elias Bou Saab. She soared to fame with tracks such as Ghabet Shams El Haq and once donated the profits garnered from one of her tracks to the Lebanese victims of the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

Singer Yasmine Hamdan began her career with the rock band Lombrix and then soared to fame as part of Soapkills, an indie electro-pop band, with Zeid Hamdan. An Arab music icon, she later stepped into the French electronic new wave scene. Now married to filmmaker Elia Suleiman, she stays in Paris.

Lebanese-Canadian musician Karl Wolf soared to fame with his cover version of Toto's Africa. Born to musician parents in Beirut, he moved to Sharjah and then to Montreal with his family. His hits include tracks such as Butterflies and collaborations such as Yalla Habibi. He is also part of the collective BAE.

Former president of Lebanon, Émile Lahoud was initially part of the Lebanese army and navy. The son of pro-independence politician and military general Jamil Lahoud, he had a 30-year military career and was part of the Lebanese Civil War, too. He also strengthened the Lebanese army with the help of Syria.

Walid Jumblatt is a Lebanese Druze politician who has been serving as the leader of the popular Progressive Socialist Party for many years now. A former militia commander, Walid Jumblatt also played a key role in the Syrian Civil War. Since the late-1970s, Walid Jumblatt has been the subject of photography like many other political leaders around the world. 

Known as Al-Hakim, or The Doctor, Lebanese politician Samir Geagea was initially part of the Kataeb Party and then joined the Lebanese Forces. Born into a family of farmers, he had started studying medicine before the civil war forced him to take up a military and political career.

Gebran Tueni, who served as director-editorialist of An Nahar, gained international attention writing a front-page letter to Bashar Assad for withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. Tueni cofounded Qornet Shehwan Gathering, contributed to Cedar Revolution demonstrations and became Member of Parliament of Lebanon. He was killed in 2005 as part of a series of assassinations that struck Lebanon since 2004. 

Lebanese politician Tammam Salam served as Minister of Culture from 2008 to 2009. He was assigned to form new government following resignation of Najib Mikati's government. Supported by March 14 Alliance as also by Mikati, Salam served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from February 2014 to December 2016 and as acting President of Lebanon from May 2014 to October 2016.  

Popular Lebanese singer-actor Assi El Helani is also known as The Knight of the Arab Song. Known for his hit tracks such as Shou Bkhaf Alayki, Habibi Yalli Nasini, and Wani Mareq Mareet, he was 17 when he began his career on the show Studio Al Fan.