This list is rather generous -- many people on this list can also claim other nationalities; some were born in Austria, but spent the most important part of their lives outside Austria (e.g. Hitler, Schwarzenegger), others were born outside Austria or even outside of Austria-Hungary, but spent the most important part of their lives in Austria (e.g. Beethoven, Elisabeth of Austria).

Famous Austrians include:

• Alfred Adler father of Individual Psychology
• Franz Antel, filmmaker
• Marie Antoinette born in Vienna, became Queen of France
• Leon Askin, actor
• Ingeborg Bachmann, poet, 1926-1973
• Herbert Bayer, artist, typographer, art director, graphic designer,
• Ludwig van Beethoven composer, born in Bonn but spent most of his life in Vienna
• Alban Berg, composer, 1885-1935, born in Vienna
• Thomas Bernhard, dramatist, novelist, poet, 1931-1989, born in Cloister Heerlen, Netherlands
• Ludwig Boltzmann, physicist, 1844-1906, born in Vienna
• Klaus Maria Brandauer actor
• Martin Buber, philosopher, 1878-1965, born in Vienna
• Fritjof Capra, physicist
• Heimito von Doderer, writer, 1896-1966, born in Hadersdorf-Weidlingau near Vienna
• Engelbert Dolfuss, politician, 1892-1934, born in Texing
• Christian Andreas Doppler, physicist, 1803-1853, born in Salzburg
• Paul Ehrenfest, physicist & mathematician
• Elisabeth of Austria ("Sisi") born in Munich (Bavaria)
• Falco (1957-1998), pop musician
• Viktor Frankl father of logotherapy
• Sigmund Freud father of psychoanalysis
• Ernst Fuchs, painter and sculptor, born in Vienna, 1930
• Gaston Glock, inventor, founder of Glock
• Kurt Gödel mathematician (born in Austria-Hungary, became naturalized U.S. citizen)
• Heinrich Gomperz, philosopher, 1873-1942, born in Vienna
• Friedrich Gulda, pianist and composer, born in 1930 in Vienna
• Eduard Haas inventor of PEZ
• Otto Habsburg-Lothringen
• Liane Haid, first Austrian movie star
• Peter Handke, author, born in 1942 in Griffen (Carinthia)
• Rudolf Hausner, painter and graphic artist, 1914-1995
• Joseph Haydn Composer of the former "Imperial Hymn" now German Hymn
• Friedrich Hayek, Nobel Prize winner (economics)
• Gottfried Helnwein, artist, born in Vienna, 1948
• Theodor Herzl "founder" of Israel, lived most of his life in Austria
• Adolf Hitler, dictator of Germany from 1933-1945, born on April 20, 1889 in Braunau am Inn
• Alfred Hrdlicka, sculptor and graphic artist, born in Vienna, 1928
• Friedensreich Hundertwasser, artist, 1928-2000, born in Vienna
• Udo Jürgens, singer-songwriter
• Walter Jurmann, composer
• Franz Kafka, writer, born in Prague, Austria-Hungary (wrote in German)
• Viktor Kaplan inventor of turbines for river power plants
• Gustav Klimt artist, helped found Vienna Secession
• Franz Klammer, downhill skier, born in Mooswald (Carinthia), 1953
• Ludwig von Köchel writer, composer, botanist, music historian
• Franz Cardinal König, Archbishop of Vienna (1956-1985)
• Oskar Kokoschka, painter, 1886-1980, born in Pöchlarn (Lower Austria)
• Johann Korbuly inventor of matador (special wooden toy)
• Karl Kraus, essayist, poet, dramatist, 1874-1936
• Bruno Kreisky, Chancellor of Austria (1970-1983)
• Hedy Lamarr (1913-2000), actress; also co-inventor of spread spectrum radio technology
• Karl Landsteiner, physician, serologist, Nobel Prize winner, 1886-1943
• Niki Lauda (born 1949), race car driver and aviation entrepreneur
• Konrad Zacharias Lorenz zoologist, Nobel prize 1973 (physiology/medicine)
• Josef Madersberger invented the sewing-machine in 1818
• Alma Mahler, wife and muse to Mahler, Gropius, Werfel
• Gustav Mahler composer
• Sigfried Marcus inventor of automobile in 1864 in Vienna, lived most of his life in Austria
• Lise Meitner physicist
• Gregor Mendel pioneer of genetics
• Klemens Wenzel von Metternich diplomat
• Ludwig von Mises free-market economist
• Inge Morath, photographer
• Leopold Mozart composer & musician
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composer & musician
• Robert Musil writer
• Thomas Muster (born 1967), tennis champion
• Hermann Nitsch, artist, painter, born in Vienna, 1938
• Wolfgang Pauli Nobel prize winner (Physics, 1945)
• Alf Poier artist and stand-up comedian
• Karl Popper philosopher (born in Austria, became British)
• Ferdinand Porsche automotive engineer, designed the Volkswagen (the "people's car"), born in Austria-Hungary
• Otto Preminger, film director
• Arnulf Rainer, painter, born 1929
• Otto Rank pioneer psychologist
• Wilhelm Reich, psychologist, (1897-1957)
• Jochen Rindt race car driver
• Toni Sailer, 1956 Olympic Games - Won all three gold medals earning himself the Triple Crown of Alpine Skiing ; born 1935
• Egon Schiele, painter, 1890-1918
• Günther Schifter, radio personality
• Arthur Schnitzler writer
• Erwin Schrödinger physicist and Nobel Prize winner
• Franz Schubert composer & musician
• Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, architect and political activist
• Arnold Schwarzenegger (born 1947), bodybuilder, actor, and politician (became naturalized U.S. citizen)
• Romy Schneider, actress (Sissi)
• Paul Schwarzkopf, inventor of powder metallurgy
• Othmar Spann, philosopher and economist
• Fritz Spiegl, journalist
• Rudolf Steiner mystic & philosopher
• Josef von Sternberg, film director, 1894-1969
• Johann Strauss, Sr, 1809-1849, Johann Strauss, Jr, 1825-1899, and Josef Strauss, 1827-1870, the "Waltz Kings" of the latter 19th century
• Berta von Suttner, Nobel Prize winner
• Friedrich Torberg, narrative writer, essayist, script author 1908-1979, born in Vienna
• Georg Trakl poet
• Georg Ritter von Trapp head of Sound of Music family
• Kurt Waldheim, diplomat and politician; former Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1982, former President of Austria from 1986 to 1992 born 1918
• Otto Weininger, philosopher
• Auer von Welsbach inventor of gaslight
• Oskar Werner, actor
• Simon Wiesenthal, b.1908, Nazi hunter
• Billy Wilder, film director, 1906-2002, born in Austria-Hungary
• Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher, born 1889 in Vienna
• Fritz Wotruba, sculptor, 1907-1975, born in Vienna
• Joe Zawinul, jazz musician, composer, born in Vienna, 1932
• Fred Zinnemann film director
• Stefan Zweig, writer, 1881-1942, born in Vienna