- Source: List of orphans and foundlings
Notable orphans and foundlings include world leaders, celebrated writers, entertainment greats, figures in science and business, as well as innumerable fictional characters in literature and comics. While the exact definition of orphan and foundlings varies, one legal definition is a child bereft through "death or disappearance of, abandonment or desertion by, or separation or loss from, both parents". According to the United Nations, the definition of an orphan is anyone that loses one parent, either through death or abandonment.
Figures from classical history and religious scripture
= Africa
=Amenhotep III, pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty
Hatshepsut, pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt
Thutmose III, Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty
= Asia
=Andal, Tamil saint, found in a temple garden according to religious tradition
Antiochus III the Great, Hellenistic Greek king and the 6th ruler of the Seleucid Empire
Confucius, Chinese scholar & politician
Cyrus the Great, Persian emperor, orphaned in childhood
Esther, Jewish queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus
Moses, religious leader, given up as an infant
Sargon of Akkad, ruler of the Semitic-speaking Akkadian Empire
Saint Nicholas, patron saint of children, orphaned early in childhood
Pulcheria, Roman ruler "Augusta Imperatrix"
= Europe
=Aristotle, Greek philosopher and scientist, orphaned in early childhood
Marcus Aurelius, Emperor of Rome
Britannicus, son of the Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina
Caligula, Roman emperor in AD 37–41
Cato the Younger, Roman Republic, left an orphan and raised by his uncle
Hadrian, Roman emperor
Juba II, king of Numidia and then later moved to Mauretania and his wife Cleopatra Selene II
Julian, Roman Emperor and philosopher
Oedipus, mythical Greek king, abandoned on a mountain
Pancras, Roman religious figure
Galla Placidia, major force in Roman politics
Romulus and Remus, traditional founders of Ancient Rome, orphaned in infancy
Sulla, Roman general and statesman
Lucius Verus, Roman Emperor
Political, civic and religious leaders
= Africa
=Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam
Jean-Hilaire Aubame, Gabonese politician active during both the colonial and independence periods
Jean-Bédel Bokassa, military officer and the head of state of the Central African Republic and Emperor of Central Africa
Piet Joubert, military leader in South African Republic
Jomo Kenyatta, Kenyan politician and the first President of Kenya
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, South African activist and politician
Nelson Mandela, president of South Africa, raised as a ward
Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia
Mobutu Sese Seko, military dictator and President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia
Gamal Abdel Nasser, second President of Egypt
= Asia
=Abbas, 5th Shah of Safavid dynasty of Iran
Akbar, rulers of the Mughal Dynasty in India
Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader
Chulalongkorn, monarch of Siam
Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Maharaja of Baroda State
Go-Momozono, Emperor of Japan
Go-Sakuramachi, Emperor of Japan
Go-Toba, Emperor of Japan
Hongwu, Chinese emperor
Huineng, Buddhist monk who is one of the most important figures in Chan Buddhism
Saddam Hussein, 5th President of Iraq
Hu Jintao, Chinese politician and the paramount leader of China
Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese political and military leader who served as the leader of the Republic of China
Genghis Khan, Mongol leader
Emperor Meiji, 122nd Emperor of Japan
Mohammad Mosaddegh, Iranian politician, head of a democratically elected government and Prime Minister of Iran
Muhammad, religious leader, orphaned at age 6
Nripendra Narayan, Maharaja of the princely state of Koch Bihar
Saparmurat Niyazov, 1st President of Turkmenistan
Li Peng, Chinese politician
Puyi, Last Emperor of China
Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli politician, statesman and general and the fifth Prime Minister of Israel
Madho Singh II, Maharajadhiraja of Jaipur
Seiwa, Emperor of Japan
Nader Shah, Iranian rulers
Reza Shah, Shah of Iran (Persia)
Adi Shankaracharya, scholar, philosopher, reformer, Advaita Vedanta non-dualism
Taixu, Buddhist modernist, activist and thinker who advocated the reform and renewal of Chinese Buddhism
Theodora, empress of the Byzantine Empire
Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist, teacher, lawyer and an independence activist
Minamoto no Yoritomo, founder and the first shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan
Zhu Rongji, premier of China
= Australia/Oceania
=Kamehameha III, King of Hawaii
John McEwen, Prime Minister of Australia, at age seven
William McMahon, Prime Minister of Australia, at age 8 and 18
Frank Rogers, New Zealand politician
= Europe
=Pope Adrian VI
Alfred the Great, King of Wessex from 871 to 899
Yuri Andropov, Chairman of the KGB and General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Anna of Russia, Empress of Russia
Anne of Brittany, French queen
Anne, Queen of Great Britain, Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland
Eleanor of Aquitaine, member of the Ramnulfid dynasty and one of the most powerful women in the High Middle Ages
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey
Manuel Azaña, second Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic
August Bebel, German socialist politician, writer, and orator
Ernest Bevin, British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour politician
Hans Böckler, German politician and trade union leader
Charles V, ruler of both the Spanish Empire and the Holy Roman Empire
Charlotte, wife of George III, King of England
Albert Chmielowski, Polish nobleman, noted painter, disabled veteran of the Uprising of 1863
John Church, clergyman, found as a toddler
Pope Clement VII
Clovis I, first King of the Franks
Gaspard II de Coligny, Huguenot leader in the French Wars of Religion, nobleman and Admiral of France
Saints Cyril, Byzantine Christian theologian and missionary
Edward VI of England, orphaned at age 9
Elizabeth I, Queen of England
Elizabeth of Russia, Empress of Russia
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia, and Archduke of Austria
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, medieval monarch
Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Chancellor of Germany
Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg, Landgravine consort and Regent of Hesse-Kassel
Henry VI, King of England and France
Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of Germany, orphaned at 18
Salvador of Horta, Spanish Franciscan lay brother from the region of Catalonia in Spain
Ivan IV, Russian ruler, orphaned at age 8
Joan II of Navarre, Queen of Navarre
John I, King of Portugal and the Algarve
Konstantinos Kanaris, Greek Prime Minister, admiral and politician, freedom fighter in the Greek War of Independence
Rudolf Kirchschläger, Austrian diplomat, politician, judge and the eighth President of Austria
Pope Leo X
David Lloyd George, Welsh statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922
Louis XIV, King of France or the Sun King
Louis XV, King of France
Louis XVI, King of France
Maria II, Queen regnant of the Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves
Mary of Burgundy, Duchess of Burgundy, reigned over the Burgundian State, now mainly in France and the Low Countries
Mary, Queen of Scots, and of France
Catherine de' Medici, Queen of France
Philip Melanchthon, German Lutheran reformer
Angela Merici, Italian religious educator
Louise Otto-Peters, German suffragist and women's rights movement activist who wrote novels, poetry, essays, and libretti
Olof Palme, Swedish politician, statesman and Prime Minister of Sweden
Peter the Great, Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire
Peter II of Russia, Emperor of Russia
Peter III of Russia, Emperor of Russia
Philip IV, of France, called the Fair or the Iron King
Maximilien Robespierre, French politician during the French Revolution, orphaned at age 6
Baal Shem Tov, Jewish mystic and healer from Poland
Albrecht von Wallenstein, Bohemian military & political leader
Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, King of Bohemia from 1363 until his death and King of Germany
William I, King of Prussia and the first German emperor
= North America
=William Bradford, colonial governor, orphaned at age 7
George Clymer, early American politician
Jefferson Davis, American politician, and President of the Confederate States
Frederick Douglass, African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman
Peter Francisco, soldier, found on a Virginia dock as a young child
Mariano Gálvez, Guatemalan politician, foundling adopted and raised by Gálvez family
Alexander Hamilton, American politician, orphaned at age 13
John Hancock, American merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution
Ben W. Hooper, governor of Tennessee, raised in an orphanage
Herbert Hoover, U.S. president, orphaned at age 9
Andrew Jackson, U.S. president, orphaned at age 14
Benito Juarez, Mexican president, orphaned at age 3
George F. Kennan, American diplomat and historian
Edward Langworthy, American politician, raised in an orphanage
Moctezuma II, ninth tlatoani or ruler of Tenochtitlan
Malcolm X, politician and civil rights activist, raised in an orphanage and foster care
Christopher G. Memminger, German American politician, raised in an orphanage
James Monroe, fifth President of the United States
Eleanor Roosevelt, U.S. First Lady & activist, orphaned at age 10
Joseph F. Smith, American religious leader, orphaned at age 13
Tenskwatawa, Native American religious and political leader of the Shawnee tribe
Pancho Villa, Mexican revolutionary general and one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution
Tom Vilsack, American politician, adopted at birth
= South America
=Túpac Amaru II, Peruvian leader, orphaned at age 12
Simón Bolívar, Latin American leader, orphaned at age 8
Pedro II of Brazil
Eva Perón First Lady of Argentina
Writers
= Africa
=Ingrid Jonker, South African poet
= Asia
=Kobayashi Issa, Japanese poet and lay Buddhist priest
Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese novelist and subtly-shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968
Kenzaburō Ōe, Japanese writer and a major figure in contemporary Japanese literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1994
Natsume Sōseki, Japanese novelist
Ouyang Xiu, Chinese essayist, historian, poet, calligrapher, politician, and epigrapher of the Song dynasty
= Australia/Oceania
=Thomas Bracken, Irish-born New Zealand poet, journalist and politician
= Europe
=Dante Alighieri, simply called Dante, major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages
Alfred Andersch, German writer, publisher, and radio editor
Hans Christian Andersen, Danish author
Achim von Arnim, German poet, novelist and a leading figure of German Romanticism
Bettina von Arnim, German writer and novelist
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, post-romanticist poet and writer
Thomas Bernhard, Austrian novelist, playwright and poet
Hayim Nahman Bialik, Jewish poet
Arrigo Boito, Italian poet, journalist, novelist, librettist and composer
Anthony Burgess, English writer and composer
The Brontë Sisters, English poets and novelists
Albert Camus, French-Algerian philosopher, author, dramatist, and journalist
Joseph Conrad, Polish-British author, orphaned at age 11
Hedwig Courths-Mahler, German writer of formula fiction romantic novels
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist, journalist and philosopher
Jean Genet, French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. In his early life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later became a writer and playwright
Nikolai Gogol, Russian/ Ukrainian novelist, short story writer and playwright
Yvan Goll, French-German poet
Maxim Gorky, Russian and Soviet writer, a founder of the socialist realism literary method and a political activist
Karoline von Günderrode, German Romantic poet
Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, German anthropologist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist
Alfred Grosser, German-French writer, sociologist, and political scientist
Friedrich Hölderlin, German poet and philosopher
Joris-Karl Huysmans, French novelist and art critic
Attila József, Hungarian poet
John Keats, English Romantic poet, orphaned at age 14 and raised partly by his grandmother
Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger, German dramatist and novelist
Eugen Kogon, Historian and Nazi concentration camp survivor
Jules Laforgue, Franco-Uruguayan poet, often referred to as a Symbolist poet.
Hugh Leonard, Irish dramatist, television writer and essayist, abandoned as an infant
Mikhail Lermontov, Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter
Thomas Mann, German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and Nobel Prize in Literature laureate
Harry Martinson, Swedish author, poet and former sailor, He was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in Literature.
W. Somerset Maugham, British playwright, novelist and short story writer, orphaned at age 10
Andy McNab, English soldier and novelist, found as a baby on the steps of hospital
Montesquieu, French man of letters, political philosopher and judge
Eduard Mörike, German writer
Gérard de Nerval, was the pen name of the French writer, poet, and translator
Seán O'Casey, Irish dramatist and memoirist
Georges Perec, French novelist, filmmaker, documentalist and essayist
Fernando Pessoa, was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher
Abbé Prévost, French author and novelist
Anatoly Pristavkin, Russian writer and public figure
Jean Racine, French playwright, orphaned at age 4
Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, logician, writer and Nobel Prize for Literature laureate
George Sand, French novelist and memoirist
Albertine Sarrazin, French author
Arno Schmidt, German author and translator
Torquato Tasso, Italian poet of the 16th century
J. R. R. Tolkien, English writer, poet, philologist and university professor, orphaned at age 12
Leo Tolstoy, Russian author, orphaned at age 9
William Wordsworth, English Romantic poet, orphaned at age 12
= North America
=Edward Albee, American playwright, adopted as an infant
Elizabeth Bishop, North American poet and short story writer. Effectively orphaned during early childhood, she lived with her maternal grandparents on a farm in Great Village, Nova Scotia.
Neal Cassady, was a major figure and muse of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s
Gregory Corso, was an American poet and a key member of the Beat movement
Jan Kerouac, was an American writer and the only child of beat generation author Jack Kerouac and Joan Haverty Kerouac
Mary McCarthy, American novelist, critic and political activist
Herman Melville, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period
James A. Michener, American author, abandoned as an infant
Sylvia Plath, poet, novelist, and short-story writer
Juan Rulfo, Mexican writer, screenwriter and photographer
Edgar Allan Poe, author, orphaned at age 2
Theodore Roethke, an American poet
William Saroyan, Armenian-American novelist, playwright, and short story writer
Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh-American journalist and explorer, raised in a workhouse
Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector
Dale Wasserman, American playwright, orphaned at age 9
Pete Wells, American food critic, adopted as an infant
Musicians and singers
= Africa
=Cesária Évora, Cape Verdean popular singer
Emmanuel Jal, South Sudanese-Canadian rapper
Miriam Makeba, South African singer and activist
= Asia
=Juan Karlos Labajo, Filipino singer, abandoned by father, and mother died at age 12
Choi Sung-bong, singer of the Republic of Korea
= Australia/Oceania
=Kiri Te Kanawa, New Zealand soprano singer, adopted as an infant
= Europe
=Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer, orphaned at age 9
Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist
Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music;
Alban Berg, Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School
Anton Bruckner, Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets
Josquin des Prez, French composer and singer of the Renaissance
Christoph Eschenbach, German-born musician
Paul Gerhardt, German theologian, Lutheran minister and hymnodist
George Frideric Handel, German-born Baroque composer becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi and organ concertos
John Koukouzelis, Albanian Orthodox Christian composer
John Lennon, English singer, raised by aunt and uncle
John Lundvik, Swedish singer, songwriter, and former sprinter
Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Swedish pop and jazz singer
Henry Purcell, English composer
Mstislav Rostropovich, Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor
Antonio Salieri, Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher
Franz Schubert, Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras
Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer
Wilhelm Richard Wagner, was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor
= North America
=Louis Armstrong, American musician, raised in an orphanage and by his grandmother
Hank Ballard, American rhythm and blues singer and songwriter
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie, was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer.
Charles Bradley, was an American singer
Chester Arthur Burnett, better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was a blues singer and guitarist, regarded as one of the most influential blues musicians of all time.
Ray Charles, American singer, orphaned at age 15
Ibrahim Ferrer, Afro-Cuban musician
Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer, orphaned in childhood
Kirk Franklin, American gospel musician
James Hetfield, American singer, orphaned by cancer at 16
Faith Hill, American singer, adopted as an infant
Billie Holiday, American jazz singer, intermittently abandoned in childhood
Al Jolson, American singer, comedian, and actor
B. B. King, American blues singer, electric guitarist, songwriter, and record producer
Eartha Kitt, American singer, actress, activist and voice actress
Jenkins Orphanage, American band in US
Mims, American hip hop recording artist, orphaned at age 13
Sonny Moore, American electronic dance music producer, adopted as an infant
That Mexican OT, American hip-hop artist. Orphaned at age 8.
Trent Reznor, American singer, abandoned by parents at age 5 and raised by grandparents
Jimmie Rodgers, American country singer
John Rzeznik, American musician, orphaned at age 15
Bessie Smith, American blues singer, orphaned at age 9
Tina Turner, American singer, intermittently abandoned in childhood
Tom Waits, American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His father left when he was 10
Muddy Waters, American blues musician
Jimmy Wayne, American country music singer, homeless foster teen taken in by a couple in their 70s
Z-Ro, American hip-hop artist. Orphaned at age 6.
= South America
=Víctor Jara, Chilean poet, singer-songwriter, teacher, theatre director and political activist
Milton Nascimento, Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist
Artists, actors, and entertainers
= Africa
=Michaela DePrince, Sierra Leonean-American ballet dancer
Ger Duany, actor, among Lost Boys of Sudan
Charlize Theron, South African and American actress and film producer
Natasha Joubert, South African entrepreneur, model and beauty pageant titleholder
= Asia
=Rajesh Khanna, Bollywood actor
Nadech Kugimiya, Thai model and actor
I. M. Pei, Chinese-American architect
Bianca Umali, Filipino Teen actress, commercial model and recurring dancer, orphaned at 7
Preity Zinta, Indian film actress
Tracy Perez, Filipino model, industrial engineer, and beauty pageant titleholder
= Australia/Oceania
=Cate Blanchett, Australian actress and theatre director
Guy Pearce, Australian actor and musician
= Europe
=Leon Battista Alberti, Italian humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher and cryptographer
Max Beckmann, German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer
Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress, orphaned at age 12
Sarah Bernhardt born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress
Roger Bissière, French artist. He designed stained glass windows for Metz cathedral and several other churches.
Gustave Boulanger, French painter, abandoned at the age of 14
Rosa Bonheur, French artist, an animalière (painter of animals) and sculptor
Lord Byron, English peer, who was a poet and politician
Caravaggio, Italian painter
Charlie Chaplin, English entertainer
Coco Chanel, French fashion designer and entrepreneur
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau, a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic.His father, a lawyer and amateur painter, committed suicide when Cocteau was nine.
Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist painter
Jacques-Louis David, was a French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era
Daniel Day-Lewis, English actor
Edgar Degas, French artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings
Eugène Delacroix, was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school
Narcisse-Virgilio Díaz de la Peña, was a French painter of the Barbizon school
Marlene Dietrich, German actress and singer
Juliette Drouet, French actress, orphaned in childhood
Anthony van Dyck, Flemish Baroque artist
Albert Gustaf Aristides Edelfelt was a Finnish-Swedish painter noted for his naturalistic style and Realist approach to art. His father died while he was young.
Barry Evans, English actor, abandoned as an infant, raised in an orphanage
Caspar David Friedrich, German Romantic landscape painter
Miloš Forman, Czech-American film director, screenwriter, actor, and professor who rose to fame in his native Czechoslovakia before immigrating to the USA in 1968
Greta Garbo, Swedish-born American film actress
Paul Gauguin, French post-Impressionist artist
Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian Baroque painter
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson also known as Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson or simply Girodet was a French painter and pupil of Jacques-Louis David
Francoise Hardy, French singer and songwriter
André Heller, Austrian artist, author, poet, singer, songwriter and actor
Alfred Hitchcock, English film director, producer, and screenwriter
Hape Kerkeling, German actor, presenter and comedian
Deborah Kerr, Scottish-born film, theatre and television actress
Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff, German painter and architect in Prussia
Isaac Levitan, was a classical Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape"
Adolf Loos, Austrian and Czechoslovak architect and influential European theorist of Modern architecture
Peter Lorre, Austro-Hungarian-American actor
Andrea Mantegna, Italian Renaissance painter
Ian McKellen, English actor
Michelangelo, Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer of the High Renaissance
Molière, French playwright and actor who and one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature
Lola Montez, Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria
Armin Mueller-Stahl, German film actor, painter and author
Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and printmaker
Gabriele Münter, German expressionist painter
Friederike Caroline Neuber, German actress and theatre director
David Niven, English actor and novelist
Edward Okuń, was a Polish Art Nouveau painter
Laurence Olivier, English actor
Parmigianino, Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker
Francis Picabia, French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist
Roman Polanski, French-Polish film director, producer, writer, and actor
Oleg Popov, Russian clown and circus artist
Neo Rauch, German painter
Raphael, Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance
Alan Rickman, English actor and director
Géza Röhrig, Hungarian actor and poet, raised in an orphanage
Peter Paul Rubens, Flemish Baroque painter
Heinz Rühmann, German film actor
Margaret Rutherford, English actress
Egon Schiele, Austrian painter
Karl Friedrich Schinkel, Prussian architect, city planner, and painter
Oskar Schlemmer, German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer associated with the Bauhaus school
Rudolf Schlichter, was a German painter, engraver and writer. He was one of the most important representatives of the critical-realistic style of verism
Joseph Edward Southall, English painter associated with the Arts and Crafts movement.
Nicolas de Staël, French painter of Russian origin known for his use of a thick impasto and his highly abstract landscape painting
Guillaume Taraval, French-born Swedish painter
Joaquín Torres-García, was a Uruguayan-Spanish artist
Margarethe von Trotta, German film director
Marie Tussaud, French artist known for her wax sculptures and Madame Tussauds
Ellen von Unwerth, German photographer and director, specializing in erotic femininity
Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress and film director
Lesser Ury, was a German Impressionist painter and printmaker, associated with the Düsseldorf school of painting
Roger Vadim, French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor
Gerardus "Geer" van Velde, was a Dutch painter
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, French painter
Naomi Watts, English actress and film producer
Stanisław Wyspiański, was a Polish playwright, painter and poet, as well as interior and furniture designer.
Franco Zeffirelli, Italian director and producer of operas, films and television
= North America
=Tallulah Bankhead, American actress, orphaned as an infant
Buffalo Bill, American frontier figure
Charles Bronson, Lithuanian-American film and television actor
Hazel Brooks, was an American actress.
Carol Burnett, American actress, comedian, singer and writer, raised by her grandmother
Mary Cassatt, American painter and printmaker
William Castle, American film figure, orphaned at age 11
Henry Darger, American writer and artist (whose work focused on orphans), orphaned at age 13.
Tommy Davidson, American comedian, orphaned as infant
James Dean, American actor
Benicio del Toro, Puerto Rican actor
Cecil B. DeMille, American filmmaker
William C. DeMille, American screenwriter and director
Jane Fonda, American actress, writer, political activist and fitness guru
Peter Fonda, American actor, director, and screenwriter
Clark Gable, American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood" or just simply as "The King"
Ava Gardner, American actress and singer
John Garfield, American actor
Judy Garland, American actress, singer and vaudevillian
Bill Graham, German-American impresario and rock concert promoter
D. W. Griffith, American film director, writer, and producer
Gene Hackman, American actor and novelist
Oliver Hardy, American actor of Laurel and Hardy
Mariska Hargitay, American actress
Ice-T, American musician and actor, orphaned at age 13
Brian Jungen, Dene-Zaa artist
Danny Kaye, American actor, singer, dancer, comedian, and musician
Alan Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer.
Veronica Lake, American film, stage, and television actress
Art Linkletter, Canadian-born American radio and television personality and entertainer, abandoned as an infant
Ray Liotta, American actor, film producer and voice actor, adopted at 6 months
George Lopez, American comedian, raised by a grandmother
Myrna Loy, American film, television and stage actress
Lee Majors, American film, television and voice actor, orphaned at age 2 & raised by aunt and uncle
Jayne Mansfield, American actress in film, theatre, television and Playboy Playmates
Jayne Marie Mansfield, Playboy nude model
Frances McDormand, American actress, adopted as an infant
Marilyn Monroe, entertainer, raised in foster care
Eddie Murphy, American comedian, actor, writer, singer and producer
Mary Pickford, Canadian-American film actress, writer, director, and producer
Priscilla Presley, American actress and entrepreneur
Kelly Preston, American actress
Anthony Quinn, Mexican-born American actor, painter and writer
Julia Roberts, American actress and producer
Jane Russell, American film actress and one of Hollywood's leading sex symbols
Gene Siskel, American film critic, orphaned at age 9 & raised by aunt and uncle
Barbara Stanwyck, American actress, raised in foster homes from age 2
Barbra Streisand, American singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker
Lana Turner, American actress
Andy Warhol, American artist who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art
Orson Welles, American actor and director, orphaned at age 15
Jeffrey Wright is an American actor whose father died when he was a child
Darryl F. Zanuck, American film producer, abandoned at age 13
= South America
=Ivian Sarcos, Miss World 2011, orphaned at age 8
Athletes
= Africa
=Eusébio, Portuguese footballer who played as a striker and first world-class African-born players
Guor Marial, Olympic runner, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan
Victor Moses, professional footballer
Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, African triathlete and advocate for the rights of the disabled
= Asia
=Garry Kasparov, Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion
Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, captain of the India national cricket team for the tour to England in 1946
Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Indian cricketer and former captain of the Indian cricket team
Greysia Polii, former Indonesian badminton player
Milkha Singh, known as The Flying Sikh, is an Indian former track and field sprinter
= Australia/Oceania
=Layne Beachley, Australian surfer, she won the World Championship
Jason Day, Australian professional golfer and PGA Tour member
Jack Lovelock, New Zealand athlete, and the 1936 Olympic champion
Wendell Sailor, Australian former professional rugby football player
= Europe
=Alberto Ascari, Italian racing driver and twice Formula One World Champion
Oksana Baiul, Ukrainian former competitive figure skater, World and Olympic champion
Franco Baresi, Italian professional football player and coach
Johan Cruyff, Dutch professional football player and coach
Moritz Fürste, German field hockey player, Olympic champion 2008 and 2012
Sepp Herberger, German football player and manager of the West German national team which won the 1954 FIFA World Cup final
James Mason, Irish-born chess player, journalist and writer
Declan McCormick, English Junior and British Youth Weightlifting Champion
Paavo Nurmi, Finnish middle- and long-distance runner
Jochen Rindt, racing driver, the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One
Daley Thompson, English former decathlete, Olympic, World- and European champion
Walter Tull, English professional footballer and British Army officer of Afro-Caribbean descent
= North America
=Simone Biles, American Olympic gymnast, adopted by her grandparents
Steve Van Buren, professional American football halfback
Nicholas Delpopolo, American judoka
Édouard Fabre, Canadian marathon runner
Scott Hamilton, figure skater, adopted as an infant
Aaron Hernandez, American football tight end and convicted murderer
Morgan Hurd, American gymnast, adopted as an infant
Carlin Isles, American rugby star, adopted at age 8
Colin Kaepernick, American civil rights activist and American football quarterback
Lopez Lomong, U.S. Olympic track star, one of the Lost Boys of Sudan
Greg Louganis, American Olympic diver, adopted as an infant
Karl Malone, American basketball player
Billy Mills, American Olympic runner, orphaned at age 12
Babe Ruth, American baseball star, raised in an orphanage
Gunboat Smith, Irish-American Boxer, grew up in orphanages around the Philadelphia area
Jim Thorpe, American multi-sport Olympic and professional athlete, orphaned as a teen
Jacques Villeneuve, Canadian professional auto racing driver
= South America
=Gustavo Kuerten, tennis player from Brazil, nickname as Guga, is a retired World No. 1
Rivaldo, Brazilian former professional footballer
Scientists and scholars
= Africa
=Maud Chifamba, the youngest university student in Africa, orphaned at age 14
Ibn Khaldun, North African Arab historiographer and historian lost both of his parents aged 17
= Europe
=Jean le Rond d'Alembert, French mathematician, abandoned as an infant
Lou Andreas-Salomé, Russian-born psychoanalyst and a well-traveled author, narrator, and essayist
Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist and one of the founders of modern chemistry
Elizabeth Blackwell, British-born physician
Sabina Baldoncelli, Italian pharmacist
Ludwig Boltzmann, Austrian physicist and philosopher
Robert Boyle, Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist and inventor
Henry Cavendish, British natural philosopher, scientist, and an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist
Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish Renaissance mathematician and astronomer
Benedetto Croce, Italian idealist philosopher, historian and politician
Marie Curie, Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the only one to win two.
Charles Darwin, English naturalist, geologist and biologist
René Descartes, French philosopher and polymath
Arthur Eddington, English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician
Willem Einthoven, Dutch doctor, physiologist and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician
Alexander Fleming, Scottish biologist, pharmacologist and botanist
Joseph von Fraunhofer, German optician
Hans-Georg Gadamer, German philosopher of the continental tradition
Fritz Haber, German chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher and an important figure of German idealism
Alexander von Humboldt, Prussian polymath
Wilhelm von Humboldt, Prussian philosopher and public figure
David Hume, Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist
James Hutton, Scottish geologist, physician, chemical manufacturer, naturalist, and experimental agriculturalist
Edward Jenner, English physician and scientist, who was the pioneer of smallpox vaccine, the world's first vaccine
Irène Joliot-Curie, French scientist second woman to win a Nobel Prize
Immanuel Kant, German philosopher who is considered the central figure of modern philosophy
Johannes Kepler, German scientist, raised by grandmother
Antoine Lavoisier, French chemist and father of modern chemistry
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Dutch tradesman and scientist
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German polymath and philosopher
Hendrik Lorentz, Dutch physicist, who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics
Ada Lovelace, English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine
James Clerk Maxwell, Scottish scientist in the field of mathematical physics
John McDouall Stuart, Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers
Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and inventor
Gerardus Mercator, Geographer, cosmographer and cartographer
Maria Sibylla Merian, German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator
Gustav Nachtigal, German explorer of Central and West Africa
Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher, writer, and linguist
Richard Owen, English biologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist
Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher
André Patry, French astronomer and discoverer of 9 minor planets in the late 1930s
Emmi Pikler, Hungarian pediatrician and infant-education theorist
Paul Ricœur, French philosopher, for combining phenomenological description with hermeneutics
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, raised by aunt and uncle
Arthur Rudolph, German rocket engineer
Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, orphaned at age 3
Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher, writer, and activist
Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher
Georg Simmel, German sociologist, philosopher, and critic
Adam Smith, Scottish moral philosopher and pioneer of political economy
Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin
Voltaire, French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher
Wilhelm Wundt, German physician, physiologist, philosopher, and professor
= North America
=John Bardeen, American physicist and electrical engineer
George Washington Carver, American scientist, inventor, orphaned while a slave
Stephanie Kwolek, American chemist
Linus Pauling, American chemist, biochemist, peace activist, author, and educator
Percy Spencer, American inventor, orphaned in childhood
Robert Taylor, American internet pioneer, adopted at age 28 days
Blake R. Van Leer, President of Georgia Tech, engineer and United States Army officer
Business people
= Asia
=Ian Karan, Tamil German businessman and politician
= Europe
=Roman Abramovich, Russian businessman and politician
Gianni Agnelli, Italian industrialist and principal shareholder of Fiat
Anthony Bacon, British iron pioneer
Karl Benz, German engine designer and automobile engineer
André Citroën, French industrialist and freemason
Thomas Cook, English founded the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son
Mario Draghi, Italian economist and central banker who served as President of the European Central Bank
Jakob Fugger, German major merchant, mining entrepreneur and banker of Europe
Alfred Krupp, German steel manufacturer and inventor, nickname "The Cannon King"
Christine Lagarde, French Managing Director (MD) of the International Monetary Fund
Wilhelm Maybach, German engine designer and industrialist
Rudolf August Oetker, German entrepreneur
Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate
Mary Portas, English retail consultant, and broadcaster, orphaned at age 18
Vidal Sassoon, British beauty products magnate, placed in an orphanage at age 7
Hugo Stinnes, German industrialist
Hans Wilsdorf, German-born British founder of noted watch brands Rolex and Tudor
Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and aircraft manufacturer
= North America
=Arthur E. Andersen, American accounting firm founder, orphaned as a teen
L.L. Bean, American retail catalog magnate, orphaned at age 12
William Boeing, American aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company
Adolph Coors, German American brewer who founded the Adolph Coors Company
August Duesenberg and Fred Duesenberg, German-born American automobile pioneers, designers, manufacturers and sportsmen
Henry Ford, American founder of Ford Motor Company
Samuel Goldwyn, American film mogul, raised by relatives
John Hancock, American merchant, statesman and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution
Howard Hughes, American entrepreneur
Jenna Jameson, American entrepreneur, webcam model and former pornographic film actress
Steve Jobs, American Apple Computer founder, adopted as infant
Howard Lutnick, American CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, orphaned as a teen
John Molson, 18th century Canadian brewer
Tom Monaghan, American Domino's Pizza founder, partially raised in an orphanage
Colonel Sanders, American businessman, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken
Carlos Slim, Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist
Henry E. Steinway, German-American piano maker
Levi Strauss, American Jewish businessman
Dave Thomas, American Wendy's entrepreneur adoption advocate, adopted as an infant
Madam C. J. Walker, American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and political and social activist
Jerry Yang, Taiwanese American Internet entrepreneur and programmer
Otherwise notables
= Asia
=Kanō Jigorō, Japanese educator and athlete, the founder of Judo
Oda Nobunaga, powerful daimyō of Japan
Swami Rama, Indian yógī
Natalya Stroeva, Russian model and beauty pageant titleholder
Kazuo Taoka, one of the most prominent yakuza godfathers
Minamoto no Yoshitomo, head of the Minamoto clan and a general of Japanese history
Minamoto no Yoshitsune, nobleman and military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan
Lu Yu, ancient author of The Classic of Tea
Osama bin Laden, founder of al-Qaeda
= Australia/Oceania
=Truganini, Aboriginal Tasmanian
Archibald Shaw, Catholic priest and radio pioneer
= Europe
=Roald Amundsen, Norwegian polar explorer
Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, British Army officer, founder and first Chief Scout of The Boy Scouts Association
William Blackstone, English jurist and political figure
Zofia Potocka, Greek slave courtesan and a Russian agent, later a Polish noble
George Blake, British spy who worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union
William Bligh, British Royal Navy, command of HMS Bounty, Governor of New South Wales in Australia and a colonial administrator
Martin Bormann, prominent official in Nazi Germany as head of the Nazi Party Chancellery
Johann Friedrich Böttger, German alchemist and the first European to discover the secret of the creation of hard-paste porcelain
Guy Burgess, British radio producer, intelligence officer and Foreign Office official
William Dampier, Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia and pirate
Karl Dönitz, German admiral who played a major role in the naval history of World War II
Adolf Eichmann, German Nazi SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) and one of the major organisers of the Holocaust
Prince Eugene of Savoy, general of the Imperial Army and one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history
Guy Fawkes, known as Guido Fawkes, member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot
Antoine Galland, French orientalist and archaeologist, most famous as the first European translator of One Thousand and One Nights
Hermann Gmeiner, Austrian philanthropist and the founder of SOS Children's Villages
Adam Griffith, American football player from Poland
Mata Hari, Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for Germany during World War I
Kaspar Hauser, German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell
Rudolf Höss, Nazi German SS-Obersturmbannführer (lieutenant colonel) and the longest-serving commandant of Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in World War II
Wilhelm Keitel, German field marshal who served as chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, the OKW) for most of World War II
Otto Lilienthal, German pioneer of aviation
Luigi Lucheni, Italian anarchist who assassinated the Austrian Empress, Elisabeth
Louis Philippe II, Colonel General (France) and member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon
Ferdinand Magellan, Portuguese explorer
John McDouall Stuart, Scottish explorer and one of the most accomplished of all Australia's inland explorers
Erich Mielke, head of the East German Ministry for State Security (Ministerium für Staatsicherheit), better known as the Stasi
Fridtjof Nansen, Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, British flag officer in the Royal Navy
Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, Swiss pedagogue and educational reformer
Elisabeth Petznek, nicknamed "The Red Archduchess"
Albert Pierrepoint, hangman in England
Grigory Potemkin, Russian military leader, statesman, nobleman and favourite of Catherine the Great
Joseph Priestley, English theologian, English Dissenters clergyman, multi-subject educator
Grigori Rasputin, Russian peasant and mystical faith healer
Johann Philipp Reis, German scientist and inventor, he constructed the first make-and-break telephone
Salvatore Riina, chief of the Sicilian Mafia
Hartmann Schedel, German physician, humanist, historian, and one of the first cartographers to use the printing press
Heinrich Schliemann, German archaeologist
Richard Sorge, Soviet military intelligence officer during World War II
Valentina Tereshkova, Russian cosmonaut and the first woman to have flown in space
Friedrich von der Trenck, Prussian officer, adventurer, and author
Victor of Aveyron, French feral child
Minik Wallace, Inuk anthropology subject
Raoul Wallenberg, Swedish architect, businessman, diplomat and humanitarian
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Field Marshal
= North America
=John Wilkes Booth, American stage actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln
Nikolas Cruz, perpetrator of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting
Dieter Dengler, United States Navy aviator
Genie, pseudonym for a feral child who was a victim of severe abuse, neglect, and social isolation
Peggy Guggenheim, American art collector and bohemian socialite
Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman and professional scout
Caroline Kennedy, American author, attorney, diplomat and her brother John F. Kennedy Jr., American lawyer and journalist
Billy the Kid, American Old West gunfighter who participated in New Mexico's Lincoln County War
Robert E. Lee, American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War
Jim Lovell, former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy
Marisol Malaret, Puerto Rican TV Host, model and beauty queen
James Naismith, Canadian-American, inventor of basketball
Annie Oakley, American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter
Lee Harvey Oswald, American former U.S. Marine who assassinated President John F. Kennedy
Bonnie Parker, American criminal
Robert Peary, American explorer who claimed to have reached the geographic North Pole
Sager orphans, twice-orphaned American settlers
Raphael Semmes, officer in the Confederate navy during the American Civil War
William Tecumseh Sherman, American soldier, businessman, educator and author
James West, Scouting leader, raised in an orphanage
Paul R. Williams, American architect
Aileen Wuornos, American serial killer
Pancho Villa, Mexican Revolutionary general and one of the most prominent figures of the Mexican Revolution
= South America
=Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate of critical pedagogy.
João Havelange, Brazilian lawyer, businessman, and athlete who served as the seventh President of FIFA
Tiradentes, hero of Brazil and patron of the Military Police
Fictional characters
See also Category:Fictional orphans
= In literature
=Amelia, The Star Money
several characters in the American Girl doll series
Frodo Baggins, The Lord of the Rings
Bambi
Banner, Bannertail
Captain America
Curious George
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire, A Series of Unfortunate Events
James Bond
Nathaniel "Natty" Bumppo/Hawkeye, Leatherstocking Tales
Cinderella
David Copperfield
Cosette, Les Misérables
Sodapop, Darrel and Ponyboy Curtis, The Outsiders
Eragon, Inheritance Cycle
Esmeralda
Rosa Esposto, The Lady of the Wheel
Jane Eyre
Huckleberry Finn
Moll Flanders
Dorothy Gale, Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Heathcliff, Wuthering Heights
Heidi
Tom Jones
Kim
Krabat
A Little Princess
Pippi Longstocking
Stephen Maturin, Master and Commander
Momo
Mowgli
Baron Munchausen
Pip, Great Expectations
Pollyanna
Harry Potter
Quasimodo
Tom Sawyer
Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables
Snow White
The Little Prince
Daenerys Targaryen, A Song of Ice and Fire
Tarzan
Oliver Twist
Lord Voldemort
Doctor Zhivago
= In popular culture
=Admiral General Aladeen, The Dictator
Allen Walker, D.Gray-man
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist
Batman and Robin
Bayman, Dead or Alive
Erin Hannon, The Office
Evey Hammond, V for Vendetta
Finn the Human, Adventure Time
Fox McCloud, Star Fox video games
Goku, Dragon Ball
James Bond
Kenshiro, Fist of the North Star
Po, Kung Fu Panda
Lex Luthor
Little Orphan Annie
Magneto, X-Men
Jann Lee, Dead or Alive
Naruto Uzumaki, Naruto
NiCO, Dead or Alive
Paddington Bear
Pi Patel, Life of Pi
Punky Brewster
Raiden, Metal Gear video game series
Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Moon
Shazam
Snow White
Sookie Stackhouse
Spider-Man
Leia Organa & Luke Skywalker, Star Wars
Superman
Will Hunting
Related lists
See also Category:Adoptees for lists of notable people who have been adopted (including by step-parents): many adoptees are neither orphans nor foundlings.
References
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- List of orphans and foundlings
- Orphan
- Foundling Hospital
- Child abandonment
- Orphan Train
- Christopher Memminger
- Orphanage
- List of ancient physicians
- Baby hatch
- Orphan film
