This is a list of notable people born, raised or resident in Belfast.

Arts

Business

• Thomas Andrews, shipbuilder
• Andrew Mulholland, flax manufacturer
• William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, shipbuilder and politician
• Frank Carson, comedian
• Nauheed Cyrusi, actress, model, VJ
• Mary Gormley, beauty queen (Miss Universe Ireland 2000)
• Mickey Marley, street entertainer
• Declan Mulholland, actor
• Ruby Murray, singer
• Holly Quin-Ankrah, actress
• Roy Walker, comedian
• Adrian Zagoritis, songwriter

Law

• Robert James McMordie, QC, Irish barrister, politician, and Lord Mayor of Belfast
• Professor Denis Moloney OBE, solicitor

Media

• Gerry Anderson (1944–2014), radio and TV presenter; born and raised in Derry
• Christine Bleakley (born 1979), TV presenter; born in Newry; grew up in Newtownards
• Andrea Catherwood (born 1967), newsreader; born and raised in Belfast
• Eamonn Holmes (born 1959), television presenter; born and raised in Belfast
• John Irvine, broadcast journalist; born and raised in Belfast
• Shauna Lowry (born 1970), television presenter; born and raised in Belfast
• Abeer Macintyre (born 1964), television and radio presenter; born in Amman and moved to Belfast in 1969
• Lyra McKee (1990–2019), journalist; born and raised in Belfast
• Colin Murray (born 1977), radio DJ and journalist; born and raised in Belfast
• Denis Murray (born 1951), broadcast journalist; born in Worcestershire and raised in Belfast
• Bill Neely (born 1959), broadcast journalist; born and raised in Belfast
• Stephen Nolan (born 1973), radio and TV presenter DJ; born and raised in Belfast
• Julian Simmons (born 1952), UTV, TV presenter and public figure; born in Kent and raised in Belfast
• Fionnuala Sweeney, CNN presenter and reporter; born and raised in Belfast

Military

• Bryan Budd, soldier and posthumous VC recipient
• Patrick Carlin, Victoria Cross recipient
• Colonel Tim Collins OBE, former commander, Royal Irish Regiment, British Army
• James Joseph Magennis, submariner and VC recipient
• William Frederick McFadzean, soldier and posthumous VC recipient

Politics

• Gerry Adams (born 1948), republican political leader
• Paddy Ashdown (1941–2018), former leader of the Liberal Democrats; born in New Delhi, brought up near Comber
• Tony Banks (1942–2006), later Lord Stratford, politician; born in Befast, grew up in London
• Sarah "Venie" Barr, political and community activist
• May Blood, Baroness Blood (1938–2022), Labour member of the House of Lords
• Robert Bradford (1941–1981), assassinated unionist politician; born in Limavady
• Sir William Cairns (1826–1886), colonial administrator and Governor of Queensland, Australia
• Mairead Corrigan (born 1944), Nobel Laureate (Peace)
• James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon (1871–1940), Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
• Reg Empey (born 1947), unionist political leader
• Frank Gault (1826–1896), member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Gerry Fitt (1926–2005), later Lord Fitt, nationalist political leader
• Chaim Herzog (1918–1997), sixth President of Israel
• Mary McAleese (born 1951), eighth President of Ireland
• David McCalden (1951–1990), far-right activist and AIDS victim
• Arlene McCarthy (born 1960), politician; Member of the European Parliament for North West England for the Labour Party from 1994 to 2014
• Henry Joy McCracken (1765–1798), leading member of the Society of the United Irishmen
• Adam McGibbon (born 1988), environmentalist and writer
• Julia McMordie (1860–1942), Ulster Unionist Party politician; first female High Sheriff of Belfast; born in Hartlepool
• Peter Robinson (born 1948), unionist political leader and First Minister of Northern Ireland
• Bobby Sands (1954–1981), anti H-Block MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone; hunger striker
• David Trimble (1944–2022), Nobel Peace Prize winner; first First Minister of Northern Ireland
• Betty Williams (1943–2020), Nobel Laureate (Peace)

Religious

• William Conway (1913–1977), Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh
• Henry Cooke (1788–1868), Presbyterian minister
• Robin Eames (born 1936), Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh

Science

• Thomas Andrews (1813–1885), chemist and physicist
• Isobel Agnes Arbuthnot (1870–1963), botanist and botanical collector based in South Africa
• John Stewart Bell (1928–1990), physicist
• Jocelyn Bell Burnell (born 1943), astronomer (discoverer of pulsars); born in Lurgan
• Sidney Elisabeth Croskery (1901–1990), doctor; born in Gortgranagh, Killinure, County Tyrone
• John Boyd Dunlop (1840–1921), inventor and veterinary surgeon; born in Dreghorn, North Ayrshire, and studied to be a veterinary surgeon at the Dick Vet, University of Edinburgh, moving to Downpatrick, Ireland in 1867
• George Crawford Hyndman (1796–1867), biologist
• Charles Lanyon (1813–1889), architect; born in Eastbourne, Sussex; moved to Antrim in 1836 to become county surveyor until 1860; elected Mayor of Belfast in 1862
• William Lewis (1885–1956), Professor of Physical Chemistry, Liverpool; propounded collision theory
• Samuel Martin Stephenson (1742–1833), prominent Belfast doctor who founded a hospital, the medical society and medical school
• William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, FRSE, (1824–1907), mathematical physicist, engineer, and leader in the physical sciences of the 19th century

Sport

Other

• John Bodkin Adams (1899–1982), doctor and suspected serial killer; born and raised in Randalstown; attended Queen's University Belfast; obtained post as general practitioner in Eastbourne in 1922
• Hamish Kippen (1987–2008), Canadian fashion photographer and former junior athlete; born in Belfast, emigrated with family to Toronto in 1989
• Alexander Robinson (c. 1901–1995), boxer and loyalist paramilitary; born and lived in Belfast