Back to Current Biograhpy International Yearbook 2004

• Roman Abramovich, Russian tycoon and governor of Chukotka Province

• Victoria Abril, Spanish actress

• Carlos Acosta, Cuban ballet dancer

• Adriano, Brazilian soccer player

• Aga Khan IV, Islamic leader

• Leila Ahmed, Islamic scholar and writer

• Peter Jasper Akinola, Archbishop, Primate, and Metropolitan of All Nigeria

• Ilham Al Madfai, Iraqi musician

• Ahmad Al-Baghdadi, Kuwaiti political scientist

• Mahassen al-Emam, Jordanian journalist and editor

• Ali al-Sistani, Iraqi religious leader

• Iyad Allawi, Interim prime minister of Iraq

• Martín Almada, Paraguayan human rights activist

• Alphadi, Malian fashion designer

• Elvia Alvarado, Honduran peasant activist

• Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, Executive director of the Athens Organizing Committee for the Summer Olympic Games

• Angelina Acheng Atyam, Ugandan activist

• Amadou Mahtar Ba, President of AllAfrica Global Media

• Tom Baker, British actor

• Sari Baldauf, Executive vice president and general manager of Nokia Networks

• Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople

• Oscar Berger, President of Guatemala

• Manolo Blahnik, Spanish shoe designer

• Raoul Bova, Italian actor

• Frédéric Brenner, French photographer

• The Burning Flames, Antiguan musical group

• Iain Burnside, Scottish pianist and radio deejay

• Maria Cristina Caballero, Colombian journalist

• Alisa Camplin, Australian aerial skier

• Costas Caramanlis, Greek prime minister

• Gurinder Chadha, British-Indian filmmaker

• Philippe Charriol, Head of Charriol Inc.

• Chee Soon Juan, Secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party

• Chen Peisi, Chinese actor and comedian

• Don Cherry, Canadian hockey commentator

• Bikram Choudhury, Indian yogi

• Geoff Clark, Australian Aboriginal activist and former chairman of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission

• Kim Clijsters, Belgian tennis player

• André Cointreau, President of Le Cordon Bleu

• Simon Cowell, Music producer and judge of Pop Idol and American Idol

• Brian Cox, Scottish actor

• Rodney Croome, Australian gay-rights activist

• The Darkness, British rock band

• Isaach de Bankolé, Côte d’Ivoirian actor

• Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer

• Patricia de Lille, South African politician

• Paco de Lucía, Spanish flamenco guitarist

• John de Mol, Dutch television producer and co-founder of Endemol Entertainment

• Guillermo del Toro, Mexican filmmaker

• Luísa Diogo, Prime minister of Mozambique

• Nicanor Duarte Frutos, President of Paraguay

• Chiwetel Ejiofor, British actor

• Hicham El Guerrouj, Moroccan runner

• Karimat El-Sayed, Egyptian scientist

• Fernando Espinoza Fuentes, Former executive director of the Charles Darwin Foundation

• Alvaro Espinoza, Chilean winemaker

• Jan Fabre, Belgian artist

• Azza Fahmy, Egyptian jewelry designer

• Colin Farrell, Irish actor

• Roger Federer, Swiss tennis player

• Ranulph Fiennes, British explorer and writer

• Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish prime minister

• Noël Forgeard, President and CEO of Airbus

• Eytan Fox, Israeli filmmaker

• Stephen Frears, British filmmaker

• Toshihiko Fukui, Governor of the Bank of Japan

• Amalia Garcia, Governor of Zacatecas, Mexico

• Laurent Gbagbo, President of Côte d’Ivoire

• Eskander Ghermezian, Real estate developer and managing owner of the West Edmonton Mall and the Mall of America

• Carlos Ghosn, President and CEO of Nissan Motor Company

• David Gray, British singer and songwriter

• Ana Guevara, Mexican runner

• Ferreira Gullar, Brazilian poet and art critic

• Gustavo Gutiérrez, Peruvian theologian

• Abdul Hadi Awang, President of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and state legislator

• Ferial Haffajee, Editor in chief of the Mail & Guardian, a South African newspaper

• Yusuf K Hamied, Chairman of Cipla Ltd

• Yoko Haruka, Japanese writer and television personality

• Ichiro Hasegawa, Japanese astronomer

• Matthew Hayden, Australian cricket player

• David Hempleman-Adams, British explorer

• Kelly Holmes, British runner

• Hong Suk-chon, South Korean actor

• Sir John Houghton, Welsh climatologist

• Mishal Husain, British newscaster and anchor of the BBC World News

• Hauwa Ibrahim, Nigerian lawyer

• Jarome Iginla, Canadian hockey player

• Ana Istarú, Costa Rican poet, playwright, and actress

• Sam Jonah, Ghanaian gold-mining executive

• Ammu Joseph, Indian journalist and feminist

• Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistani scientist

• Sophie Kinsella, British writer

• Néstor Kirchner, President of Argentina

• Yevgeny Kiselyov, Russian journalist

• Yana Klochkova, Ukrainian swimmer

• Hone Kouka, Maori (New Zealand) playwright

• André Kuipers, Dutch astronaut

• Felicia Langer, Polish-born lawyer and writer

• Tatyana Lebedeva, Russian athlete

• Patrice Leconte, French filmmaker

• Sondre Lerche, Norwegian musician

• Denise Lewis, British heptathlete

• Liu Binyan, Chinese writer and dissident

• Vijay Mallya, Indian businessman and politician

• Yann Martel, Canadian novelist

• Camilla Martin, Danish badminton player

• Paul Martin, Prime minister of Canada

• Karita Mattila, Finnish opera singer

• Cildo Meireles, Brazilian installation artist and sculptor

• Kinito Méndez, Dominican musician

• Angela Merkel, Leader of the Germany’s Christian Democratic Union party

• Festus Mogae, President of Botswana

• Rafael Moneo, Spanish architect

• Gertrude Mongella, President of the Pan-African Parliament and feminist leader

• Masaharu Morimoto, Japanese chef and restauranteur

• Sofia Mulanovich, Peruvian surfer

• Gerry Munyama, Director general of the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation

• Titus Naikuni, CEO of Kenya Airways

• Pius Ncube, Archbishop of Zimbabwe

• Cyrille Nkontchou, Managing director of LiquidAfrica

• Graham Norton, Irish talk-show host

• Aldo Notari, President of the International Baseball Federation

• Thoraya Obaid, Executive director of the United Nations Population Fund

• Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the Gyalwa Karmapa

• Margaret Okayo, Kenyan marathoner

• Linda Omichinski, Canadian dietician and founder of HUGS International

• Gabriel Orozco, Mexican conceptual artist

• Letizia Ortiz, Princess of Asturias and former news anchor

• Kerry Packer, Australian businessman

• Jafar Panahi, Iranian filmmaker

• Vanessa Paradis, French singer, actress, and model

• Park Chan-wook, South Korean filmmaker

• Medha Patkar, Indian environmental activist

• Fredy Peccerelli, Director of the Guatemalan Forensic Anthropology Foundation

• Jacques Perrin, French filmmaker, actor, and producer

• Carlo Petrini, President of Slow Food

• Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, Balloon team

• Agustín Pichot, Argentinean rugby player

• François Pinault, French founder and owner of Pinault-Printemps-Redoute

• Peter Piot, Epidemiologist and executive director of UNAIDS

• Ivo Pitanguy, Brazilian plastic surgeon

• Slava Polunin, Russian clown and theater director

• Catalina Ponor, Romanian gymnast

• Azim Premji, Indian businessman

• Alla Pugacheva, Russian pop singer

• Hugh Quarshie, Ghanaian-born British actor

• Quino, Argentinian cartoonist

• Tariq Ramadan, Swiss-born Muslim scholar

• Eros Ramazzotti, Italian singer

• Wanda Rapaczynski, President of the Polish media conglomerate Agora SA

• Berhane Ras-Work, President of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children

• Ujjwala Raut, Indian model

• The Raveonettes, Danish rock band

• Shabana Rehman, Norwegian comedienne and journalist

• Alejandro Robaina, Cuban tobacco grower

• Stéphane Rousseau, Canadian comedian and actor

• Magdalena Ruiz Guinazu, Argentinean journalist

• Ludivine Sagnier, French actress

• Walter Salles, Brazilian filmmaker

• Saad Salman, Iraqi filmmaker

• Maya Sansa, Italian actress

• Cicely Saunders, British doctor and advocate of palliative care

• Mosadi Seboko, Chief of Botswana’s Balete tribe

• Abdoulie Sey, Editor in chief of the Gambian Independent

• Maria Sharapova, Russian tennis player

• Khalil Shikaki, Palestinian political scientist

• Malick Sidibé, Malian photographer

• Kwaku Sintim-Misa, Ghanaian actor, comedian, radio personality, and newspaper columnist

• Jesús Rafael Soto, Venezuelan artist

• Gabriela Spanic, Venezuelan actress

• Paradorn Srichaphan, Thai tennis player

• Supachai Panitchpakdi, Director-general of the World Trade Organization

• Yoshitomo Tani, Japanese baseball player

• Teitur, Danish singer-songwriter

• Juergen Teller, German photographer

• Tewolde Egziabher, General manager of Ethiopia’s Environmental Protection Authority

• Thalía, Mexican singer and actress

• Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, Nigerian businessman and politician

• U Tin Moe, Burmese poet

• Yulduz Usmanova, Uzbek singer

• Antonio Vargas, Ecuadorian activist and political leader

• Jacques Vergès, French lawyer

• Anastasia Volochkova, Russian ballerina

• Milos Vujanic, Serbian basketball player

• Günter Wallraff, German journalist

• Florence Wambugu, Kenyan plant pathologist

• Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor

• Tsuneo Watanabe, Chairman of the Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings media group and former owner of the Yomiuri Giants

• Mark Webber, Australian Formula One racecar driver

• The Wiggles, Australian children’s entertainers

• Robbie Williams, British singer

• Yang Liwei, Chinese astronaut

• Ronny Yu, Chinese filmmaker

• Corey Yuen, Chinese director, actor, and fight choreographer

• Daisy Zamora, Nicaraguan poet

• Leyla Zana, First Kurdish member of Turkish parliament and former political prisoner

• José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime minister of Spain

• Slavoj Zizek, Slovenian philosopher and cultural theorist

• Zola, South African kwaito musician and actor