From world leaders like Obama to philosophers like Socrates, the list of famous ENTP personalities includes people from various fields. The one thread that binds them all is their futuristic vision and innovative persona. Get to know more about these famous ENTP men and women, who have truly made a mark with their talent.
“Curiosity … has an appetite which is very sharp, but very easily satisfied; and it has always an appearance of giddiness, restlessness, and anxiety.”
– Edmund Burke
This curiosity alongside an immense desire to experience something new, makes ENTPs the innovators and visionaries that they are. Most ENTPs are multifaceted, and will succeed in any field they choose. But, they must choose wisely. ENTPs are notorious for jumping from one task to another without completing anything at hand. If they focus and curb the desire to do too many things at one time, nothing can stop them. Charming and friendly, ENTPs are great conversationalists and love debates. They hate mundane tasks and crave for adventures and intellectual discussions.
You can read more about ENTP character traits before we browse through the list of some well-known ENTPs.
ENTP Actors and Directors
Neil Patrick Harris
Date of Birth: 15 June, 1973
About: American actor, director, comedian, singer
The legendary character of Barney Stinson in the series How I Met Your Mother made him very popular. He has acted in many television series and movies. He has also successfully hosted award functions, and is known for his wit and charm. He started acting as a child, and is known to be a fan of magic.
Famous Quote: “I’m like a plate-spinner. … I’ve got a lot of little plates that I’m trying to keep spinning at the same time.”
Rowan Atkinson
Date of Birth: 6 January, 1955
About: English actor and comedian
Who can forget the very popular and super-funny Mr. Bean! He has featured in the list of top 50 comedians ever in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians. He even has a degree in Electrical Engineering. He has also experimented with theater. His comic time, and physical style of comedy has made him very popular.
Famous Quote: “For me, the best way to increase society’s resistance to insulting or offensive speech is to allow a lot more of it.”
Robert Downey Jr.
Date of Birth: 4 April, 1965
About: American actor and producer
One of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, Robert Downey Jr. is known for his films like the Iron Man Series and The Avengers. His father being an actor himself, Robert started acting at a very young age of 5. He is also a good singer, and has sung various soundtracks in different films.
Famous Quote: “Listen, smile, agree, and then do whatever the fuck you were gonna do anyway.”
David Hyde Pierce
Date of Birth: 3 April, 1959
About: American actor and comedian
He has won four Emmy Awards for the show Frasier, and has done lot of voice work as well. He has worked as a security guard and sold ties when studying.
Famous Quote: “Never believe anything that anyone tells you. [This advice is] not as cynical as it sounds; it’s just that … you can’t take things at face value.”
Sacha Baron Cohen
Date of Birth: 13 October 1971
About: English actor and comedian
He has won a Golden Globe Award for best actor, two BAFTA Awards and several Emmy nominations. He has done voice work for Madagascar film series. He has also worked as a fashion model.
Famous Quote: “[‘Borat’ is not a joke] on Kazahkstan. The joke is on the people who can believe that the Kazahkstan I describe can exist.”
Terry Gilliam
Date of Birth: 22 November 1940
About: British screenwriter and director
He is a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Initially he was an animator, then started directing. He has directed many feature films. Though he was born in America, he renounced his citizenship to accept British citizenship.
Famous Quote: “[I’m] trying to make people perceive the world in a different way. … I don’t want to reassure people. I want them to think and question the world they are living in. … We live in a surreal world, and nobody notices it.”
Amy Poehler
Date of Birth: 16 September, 1971
About: American actress, director, comedian, and writer.
She became very popular with the television show Saturday Night Live. She has also won one Golden Globe award. She has worked in many films like Mean Girls, Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Envy, Shrek the Third, and Mr. Woodcock.
Famous Quote: “Keep your mind open to possibilities and your mouth closed on matters that you don’t know about.”
Gillian Anderson
Date of Birth: 9 August, 1968
About: American actress
The television series The X-files made her very popular. Her prominent films include The House of Mirth (2000), The Mighty Celt (2005), The Last King of Scotland (2006), The X-Files (1998), and The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008). She has won a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. She has written an episode of X-Files, and co-authored a book titled A Vision of Fire.
Famous Quote: “I’m a more spontaneous person [than my ‘X-Files’ character]. I laugh. I’m crass. I’m raunchy!”
Elizabeth Olsen
Date of Birth: 16 February, 1989
About: American actress and singer
She won lot of critical appreciation for her role in the movie, Martha Marcy May Marlene. Godzilla, Silent House, Liberal Arts are some of her other prominent movies. Olsen started acting at the tender age of 4.
Famous Quote: “It’s good to have a conversation about two different opinions. Always having multiple opinions is a good thing, because then you can have a conversation and learn something from the conversation.”
Rose McGowan
Date of Birth: 5 September, 1973
About: American actress and singer
She is known for her work in movies like Devil in the Flesh (1998), Jawbreaker (1999), Monkeybone (2001) and Planet Terror (2007). Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008) is also a very popular movie of hers. She had a habit of sleepwalking when young. She has also admitted that she still talks in her sleep.
Famous Quote: I’m not really one of those people who goes and writes some big backstory and agonizes over characters … For me personally, it’s just kind of more instinctive. But I don’t have kind of an acting background. I fell into it accidentally.
Claire Danes
Date of Birth: 12 April, 1979
About: American actress
She is most popular for her role of Carrie Mathison in Homeland. She has received four Golden Globe Awards and three Emmy Awards. She has starred in many movies like Little Women (1994), Romeo + Juliet (1996), and Les Misérables (1998). She was considered for the role of “Rose” in the movie Titanic, but she declined it.
Famous Quote: “I’d been acting for a long time and I was really tired of it. I was restless, and a little bored, and I was really eager to investigate different parts of myself.”
Hugh Grant
Date of Birth: 9 September 1960
About: English actor and producer
He has won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award. He is known for his comic timing, and some of his popular films include Mickey Blue Eyes (1999) and Notting Hill (1999). Hugh Grant is known for his character acting and has a reputation of having strong work ethics.
Famous Quote: “I rather hate acting. … I cling to the fantasy that I could have done something more creative, like writing a book. But … I don’t have the discipline.”
Matthew Perry
Date of Birth: 19 August, 1969
About: Actor
Who can forget the goofy yet alarming Chandler Bing, from the TV show Friends. Perry is known for his excellent comic timing. He has worked in many films and TV series. Matthew Perry was a top ranked tennis player in college.
Famous Quote: “To be a comedian, you have to have some darkness behind it.”
Megan Mullally
Date of Birth: 12 November, 1958
About: American actress and singer
Her role in the series Will & Grace made her very popular. She has starred in television programs like Parks and Recreation, Happy Endings, 30 Rock, Up All Night, Boston Legal. Mullally has hosted her own talk show as well.
Famous Quote: “[To] get to do whatever [I] want and [not to] have to answer to anyone – there’s something joyful about that.”
Salma Hayek
Date of Birth: 2 September, 1966
About: Mexican and American actress, director
She has won numerous awards for her Hollywood as well as Mexican movies. She is an able director and a good singer. Hayek’s humanitarian work is also commendable.
Famous Quote: “People always underestimate me. But if you stick around long enough, act out of conviction, and try to be honorable in everything you do, good things will come to you.”
Stephen Fry
Date of Birth: 24 August 1957
About: English comedian and actor
He has worked in numerous television shows, and made some documentaries as well. The comic act, A Bit of Fry & Laurie made him a very known comedian.
Famous Quote: “Seriousness is no more a guarantee of truth … than humor is a guarantee of superficiality.”
Political Figures
Catherine II
Benjamin Franklin
Barack Obama
Date of Birth: 4 August, 1961
About: 44th President of the United States
Obama is the first African-American to hold the office, and is known as an exceptional orator. He was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after assuming office.
Famous Quote: “[As an adolescent I was] arguing all the time, usually about me failing to abide by … petty and arbitrary rules. I found that I could generally win these arguments.”
Catherine the Great
Date of Birth: 2 May 1729
About: Yekaterina Alexeevna or Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great
She holds the honor of being the longest-ruling female leader of Russia. Her rule is said to be the Golden period of Russian Empire. She was called “The Star of the North” by Voltaire.
Famous Quote: “Fortune is not as blind as people imagine. It is often the result of a long series of precise and well-chosen steps that precede events and are not perceived by the common herd.”
Benjamin Franklin
Date of Birth: January 17, 1706
About: One of the Founding Fathers of the United States
He was an author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. Some of his inventions include lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove. He was also a music composer, and developed a version of glass harmonica.
Famous Quote: “Debates [should] be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without … desire of victory.”
Henry Kissinger
Date of Birth: 27 May, 1923
About: American diplomat
He has served as Secretary of State, and National Security Advisor. He has played a major role in the United States foreign policy, and has authored many books on international relations.
Famous Quote: “We tend to think that a problem is either economic or political or military. … It is hard for us to understand that we have to be able to do military, political, economic and psychological things, all simultaneously.”
Newt Gingrich
Date of Birth: 17 June, 1943
About: American Politician
He has served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is also a well-known author, with many fiction and non-fiction books being written by him.
Famous Quote: “I’m not a natural leader. I’m too intellectual; I’m too abstract; I think too much.”
ENTP Philosophers
Edmund Burke
John Stuart Mill
Socrates
Date of Birth: 469 BC
About: Greek Philosopher
He is one of the founders of the Western philosophy, and the Socratic method is his biggest contribution. It uses questions to generate the solution to any problem. He was a mentor to philosophers like Plato and Xenophon. It is through the writings of his students, that we can get an insight into his life. Plato’s writings say a lot about the enigmatic personality and life of Socrates.
Famous Quote: “The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.”
Voltaire
Date of Birth: 21 November 1694
About: Philosopher
He was born François-Marie Arouet. He was a historian and writer, known for his wit and outspoken nature. He has published 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets. He had a penchant for using pen names, and is said to have used at least 178 different ones.
Famous Quote: “It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong.”
Edmund Burke
Date of Birth: 12 January 1729
About: Irish philosopher and author
He was a political theorist, and has written many books on politics and philosophy. He believed that religion is the foundation of civil society.
Famous Quote: “The first and simplest emotion which we discover in the human mind is curiosity … Curiosity blends itself more or less with all our passions.”
John Stuart Mill
Date of Birth: 20 May 1806
About: British philosopher and civil servant
He has made immense contributions to the social theory and political theory. He believed that an individual has the liberty to do whatever he wishes, as long as he does not harm anybody.
Famous Quote: “Stupidity is much the same all the world over. A stupid person’s notions and feelings may confidently be inferred from those which prevail in the circle by which the person is surrounded.”
Other ENTPs
Leonardo da Vinci
Date of Birth: 15 April 1452
About: Greatest painter of all time
He was a diversely talented man with unquenchable curiosity and inventive imagination. He was painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. The Mona Lisa is his most celebrated painting. He has also made some important discoveries in astronomy, civil engineering, optics, and hydrodynamics. He always believed that the world is logical rather than mystical. He was a vegetarian, and had a habit of buying caged birds and releasing them.
Famous Quote: “People of accomplishment rarely sit back and let things happen to them. They go out in the world and happen to things.”
Richard Feynman
Date of Birth: 11 May, 1918
About: American Physicist
Feynman is known as a remarkable physicist. In 1965, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics along with Julian Schwinger and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga. He was placed in the list of ten greatest physicists of all time by British journal, Physics World. He played a crucial part in the development of the atomic bomb during World War 2. He was very curious and inventive, even as a child. He made a home burglar alarm system. Feynman had synesthesia for equations. Normal equations appeared in color to him.
Famous Quote: “I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of certainty … but I’m not absolutely sure of anything.”
Steve Wozniak
Date of Birth: 11 August, 1950
About: American entrepreneur
He is the co-founder of Apple Computer. An electrical engineer by profession, he has received the National Medal of Technology, and many other awards.
Famous Quote: “Everything’s changing, everything’s dynamic. … You get this idea, and you get another idea, and this doesn’t work out and you have to replace it with something else.”
Karl Lagerfeld
Date of Birth: 10 September, 1933
About: German fashion designer and photographer
A very popular name in the field of fashion, he heads the house Chanel and Fendi. He is the chief designer of both the houses. He is distinctively known for his white hair and black glasses.
Famous Quote: “Everything I have not known before interests me more than everything I have seen in my life.”
Stephen Colbert
Date of Birth: 13 May, 1964
About: American political satirist, writer, producer, and television host
He has worked in The Daily Show, and hosted the satirical show, The Colbert Report. He has won six Primetime Emmy Awards and two Grammy Awards.
Famous Quote: “Sometimes [on the show] I really just want my natural curiosity to run wild with the guest. It kills me that I can’t know more about what they’re talking about.”
Bill Maher
Date of Birth: January 20, 1956
About: American political satirist, writer, producer, and television host
The talk show, Politically Incorrect made him very popular. He is known for his sarcastic attitude, and has acted in many movies.
Famous Quote: “We need more people speaking out. This country is not overrun with rebels and free thinkers. It’s overrun with sheep and conformists.”
Jon Stewart
Date of Birth: 28 November, 1962
About: American political satirist, writer, producer, and television host
Although he has worked as an actor, he is most popularly known for his hosting. He is the host of The Daily Show, and has hosted his own show, The Jon Stewart Show previously. He has co-authored a couple of best-selling books too.
Famous Quote: “I’m not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance.”
