Famous People Born In Zürich

Bruno Ganz was a Swiss actor best remembered for his collaborations with acclaimed directors like Francis Ford Coppola, Werner Herzog, and Wim Wenders. Ganz achieved immense popularity for his performance in movies like The American Friend and Nosferatu the Vampyre. Bruno Ganz was the recipient of several prestigious awards such as the Swiss Film Prize and the European Film Award.

Swiss-born British philosopher and author, Alain de Botto,n is best known for his work, Essays in Love, which has sold millions of copies worldwide. He is one of the founders of the educational company, The School of Life, launched in 2008. He is a recipient of  "The Fellowship of Schopenhauer", an annual writers' award from the Melbourne Writers Festival. 

Swiss artist Henry Fuseli is remembered for the drama and sensuality showcased in his paintings. Though born to a landscape and portrait painter, he was initially taught theology. After leaving the country due to political risks, he made it to Britain and Italy. He later contributed to the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery.

Remembered for inventing the inkblot test to uncover the hidden traits of a subject’s personality, known as the Rorschach test, Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach was born to an art teacher in Zürich and had thus wished to be an artist initially. His Rorschach test was later criticized for its subjectivity.

Known for his deep voice and his signature moustache, Swiss musician and conceptual artist Dieter Meier co-founded the electronic music band Yello. The son of an affluent banker, he dropped out of a law course and pursued music and art. He is also on the board of a music technology business.

Swiss-born American basketball player Enes Kanter is known for his stint with the NBA team Boston Celtics but has been in the news mostly for his controversial political opinions. From supporting the Uyghurs in China, to tweeting his negative views on LeBron James, he has created some serious waves in the media.

Felix Bloch was a Swiss-American physicist who served as the first Director-General of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) from 1954 to 1955. Before joining CERN, Bloch worked on the Manhattan Project during the Second World War after which he started focusing on investigations into nuclear magnetic induction, for which he received the 1952 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Anatole Taubman is a Swiss actor best known for his portrayal of Elvis in the 2008 spy film, Quantum of Solace. He has also played important roles in other popular films like Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, Northmen: A Viking Saga, and The Circle.

With a career-high ranking of 36 in singles, Swiss tennis player Viktorija Golubic is definitely showing a lot of promise. While she began training in the game at age 5, she now has an Olympic doubles silver medal in her kitty, and that too, in her debut Olympic game, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Denied formal education for being a woman, Toni Wolff later became one of psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s closest collaborators. She entered Jung’s life as a patient of depression after her father’s death. She later headed the Psychologischer Club Zürich as its president and is often described as an intellectual rival of Jung’s wife.

Better known as Doctor Doom, Swiss economist Marc Faber was associated with companies such as White Weld & Co., before launching his own business. Known for his books such as The Great Money Illusion and his investment newsletters, he has also been in the news for his racist comments.

Grammy-winning Swiss harpist Andreas Vollenweider was no stranger to music as a child, being the son of an organist father. He is now regarded as one of the pioneering new-age artists. While he initially mastered instruments such as the guitar and the flute, he switched to the harp much later.

Swiss drummer Jojo Mayer was no stranger to music in his childhood, being the son of bassist Vali Mayer. Introduced to the drums at age 2, he later started experimenting with jazz. His interest in electronic and experimental funk made him launch the New York-based trio Nerve.

Born to a poor fur dealer, Conrad Gessner was sent to study under an uncle who dealt in medicinal herbs. He then studied theology but later grew up to become a Renaissance polymath, excelling in subjects such as natural history and medicine. His Bibliotheca universalis remains a major work in bibliography.

Swiss instrumentalist and composer Adrian von Ziegler, known for his signature long mane, first gained international attention on YouTube, where he has over a million subscribers. A self-proclaimed lover of Celtic and fantasy music, he also often experiments with metal and Oriental music. He was initially known by his pseudonym Indigo.

Known as a pioneer of death metal, Swiss metal musician Thomas Gabriel Fischer, also known as Satanic Slaughter, soared to fame with groups such as Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, and Triptykon. One of Guitar World’s 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists of All Time, Fischer has also penned a book.

Max Miedinger was a Swiss typeface designer who achieved international fame after creating the Helvetica typeface in 1957. Initially named Neue Haas Grotesk, the typeface was renamed Helvetica in 1960. Helvetica achieved global success after being marketed as a symbol of Swiss technology.

Grammy-nominated Swiss musician Oz had initially taken up music as a hobby. He is now best known for his chartbusting collaborations with artists such as Drake and Travis Scott. With tracks such as Sicko Mode and Highest in the Room, he already has multiple Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers.

Best known for his research on physiognomy, Johann Kaspar Lavater was also a theologian and an author. He had penned books such as Aussichten in die Ewigkeit and several epic and lyric poems. He died of a grenade wound during the French occupation of Switzerland.

Swiss author and poet Gottfried Keller remains one of the most significant contributors to German literature. After devoting his initial years to landscape painting, he focused on poetry and eventually became a pioneer of poetic realism. He also penned novels such as Green Henry and several short story collections.

Victor Moritz Goldschmidt was a Norwegian mineralogist. He is credited with co-founding crystal chemistry and modern geochemistry along with Vladimir Vernadsky. He is also credited with developing the Goldschmidt Classification of elements. The Geochemical Society has established the V. M. Goldschmidt Medal in his honor, which is awarded annually.

Mario Adorf is a German actor best known for having played supporting and leading roles in more than 200 film and television productions. He is widely regarded as one of the finest character actors of European cinema. Apart from being an actor, Mario Adorf is also known as a successful author.

Swiss musician Carlos Perón started his career with the New Wave band Urland, as a keyboardist. He later co-founded the electronic band Yello and also contributed to soundtracks of movies such as Die schwarze Spinne. He has also worked on commercials and soundtracks for theater.