This is a list of notable people hailing from the city of Istanbul.

• Hrant Dink (1954-2007), editor of an Armenian newspaper
• Halide Edib Adıvar, novelist, politician
• Müjde Ar, actress
• Oğuz Aral, cartoonist
• Bülent Arel, music producer
• Duygu Asena, women's rights activist
• Hulusi Behçet, dermatologist
• Semiha Berksoy, opera singer
• Orhan Boran, radio and TV host
• Aydın Boysan, architect, academic, author and essayist
• Yaşar Büyükanıt, Chief of the Turkish General Staff
• Eylül Cansın, transgender sex worker
• Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek-French political philosopher
• Hakan Celik, journalist, TV anchorman, radio producer
• Hande Berktan, journalist, TV presenter
• Nuri Bilge Ceylan, filmmaker
• Manuel Chrysoloras, Greek academic, diplomat
• Tansu Çiller, former prime minister
• Volkan Diyaroğlu, artist
• Bülent Ecevit, former prime minister
• Neşe Erberk, Miss Europe 1984
• Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey
• Sertab Erener, singer
• Ahmet Ertegün, co-founder and executive of Atlantic Records and the New York Cosmos
• Nesuhi Ertegün, co-founder and executive of Atlantic Records and the New York Cosmos
• Yonca Evcimik, pop singer
• Shlomo Gazit (1926–2020), Israeli head of IDF military intelligence, President of Ben-Gurion University
• Leyla Gencer, opera singer
• Fatma Girik, actress
• Münir Göle, writer and photographer
• Ali Ferit Gören (1913-1987), Austrian-Turkish Olympic sprinter
• Gregory V, Greek Patriarch of Constantinople
• Ara Güler, photographer
• Tunç Hamarat, correspondence chess world champion 2004
• Tunch Ilkin, former American football player, TV anchor
• Ertuğrul Işınbark, stage magician
• Nihat Kahveci, football player
• İrem Karamete (born 1993), Olympic fencer
• Elia Kazan, director, producer, screenwriter, novelist, actor
• Hülya Koçyiğit, actress
• Fahri Korutürk, former president of Turkey
• Lefter Küçükandonyadis, football player
• Mike Lazaridis, founder of Research in Motion
• Nasuh Mahruki, first Turkish person to summit Mt. Everest
• Barış Manço, musician
• Andrew Mango, British author
• Arif Mardin, music producer
• Kleanthis Maropoulos, Greek footballer
• Alexander Mavrocordatos, Greek dragoman to Sultan Mehmed IV
• Iskouhi Minas (1884–1951), French poet and novelist of Armenian descent, born in Istanbul
• Leone Minassian (1905–1978), Italian painter of Armenian descent, born in Istanbul
• Kostas Negrepontis, Greek footballer
• Aziz Nesin, novelist
• Marika Nezer, Greek singer
• Altay Öktem, Turkish poet, writer, researcher and doctor
• Irfan Orga, Turkish Air Force fighter pilot, diplomat, writer
• Leon Walerian Ostroróg, jurist of Polish descent, adviser to the Ottoman government
• Orhan Pamuk, novelist
• Sadettin Pasha, Ottoman pasha
• Pekinel sisters, twin pianists
• Ajda Pekkan, singer
• Athinodoros Prousalis, Greek actor
• Nicola Rossi-Lemeni, opera singer
• Alexandros Soutsos, Greek poet and partisan
• Haldun Taner, playwright
• Hidayet Türkoğlu, basketball player
• Antonietta Gambara Untersteiner, composer
• Orhan Veli, poet
• Stavros Xenidis, Greek actor
• Hamza Yerlikaya, wrestler and Olympic gold medalist
• Erol Yesilkaya, Turkish-German screenwriter
• Cem Yılmaz, stand-up comedian, actor
• Gönül Engin Yılmaz, artist
• Alexander Ypsilantis (senior), Greek diplomat
• Alexander Ypsilantis (junior), Greek military commander
• Constantine Ypsilantis, Greek revolutionary