Famous people from Faroe Islands
Here is a list of famous people from Faroe Islands. Curious if anybody from Faroe Islands made it our most famous people in the world list? Read the aformentioned article in order to find out.
Teitur Lassen
Singer-songwriter
Teitur is a Faroese musician, singer-songwriter and producer. He is a winner of multiple Danish Music Awards and has toured globally since his debut release, Poetry & Aeroplanes, in 2003. Since 2001 he has dedicated himself to playing and writing music in English full-time, and has released five studio albums as a solo artist. He has additionally produced, written for, or worked with multiple international artists including Seal, Corinne Bailey Rae, Nolwenn Leroy, Gordie Sampson, Nico Muhly, and Tina Dico. His songs have appeared on major motion picture soundtracks and numerous compilations, and in 2010 he was invited to perform for the Queen of Denmark's 70th birthday celebrations.
Eivør Pálsdóttir
Rock Artist
Eivør Pálsdóttir is a Faroese singer/songwriter with a distinct voice and a wide range of interests in various music genres spanding from rock, jazz, folk, and pop, to European classical music. Her roots are in the Faroese ballads. Usually she is only addressed by her first name Eivør, which is normally spelled Eyðvør in Faroese.
Gunnar Nielsen
Soccer Goalkeeper
Gunnar Nielsen is a Faroese footballer who plays for Scottish club Motherwell as a goalkeeper. Nielsen has also represented Havnar Bóltfelag, Boldklubben Frem, Gøtu Ítróttarfelag, Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City, Wrexham, Tranmere Rovers and the Faroe Islands national football team.
Niels Ryberg Finsen
Academic
Niels Ryberg Finsen was a Faroese-Danish physician and scientist of Icelandic descent. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology in 1903 "in recognition of his contribution to the treatment of diseases, especially lupus vulgaris, with concentrated light radiation, whereby he has opened a new avenue for medical science."
Jacob Haugaard
Comedian
Daniel Jacob Haugaard is a Danish comedian, actor and politician. He was a member of the Parliament of Denmark from 1994–1998. He ran without a party and still got 23,253 votes, enough for a seat. Haugaard ran for every election as a joke from 1979 onwards until he won in 1994. After his term expired, he decided not to seek re-election. Among his outrageous campaign promises were: 8 hours of free time, 8 hours of rest and 8 hours of sleep, more tailwind on bicycle paths, promises of better weather, right to impotency, Nutella in field rations and shorter queues in supermarkets. Asylum rated his win in the Parliamentary election the 11th greatest prank of all time.
Pál Joensen
Swimmer
Pál Joensen is a Faroese elite swimmer. He was born in Vágur, Suðuroy, Faroe Islands. In August 2012 he moved to Copenhagen, where he swims at the Danish National Training Centre. He is now swimming for Aalborg Svømmeklub and for the Faroe Islands. Earlier, before moving to Denmark, he was training in a short pool 25 m, because there is no 50 m pool in the Faroe Islands yet. He was training with Susvim. His trainer in the Faroe Islands was Jón Bjarnason. In August 2010 Joensen won silver in the men's 1500m Freestyle at the 2010 European Aquatics Championships in Budapest with the time 14:56.90, which was new Nordic record. In 2011 at 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai he swam with the second best time of all the heats and made it for the final in the men's 800m freestyle. He set a new Nordic record with the time 7:45.55. One of Joensen's biggest dreams was to swim at the Summer Olympics, and that dream did come true. He was competing at the 2012 Summer Olympics for Denmark in three events: 400 metre freestyle, 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay and 1500 metre freestyle. In December 2012 he won his first medal at a World Swimming Championship, when he took silver in the men's 1500 meter freestyle at the 2012 FINA World Swimming Championships in Istanbul. It was the first medal for his country, the Faroe Islands, which was won at a World Swimming Championship. Joensen holds many of the national swimming records of his country; and these records are not only in freestyle. On short course he holds most of the records in breaststroke, butterfly and individual medley too.
William Heinesen
Novelist
Andreas William Heinesen was a poet, novel writer, short story writer, children's book writer, composer and painter from the Faroe Islands.
Høgni Lisberg
Alternative rock Artist
Høgni Lisberg is a musician from Leirvík, Eysturoy, and is one of the most famous musicians of the Faroe Islands.
Jónas Tór Næs
Soccer Defender
Jónas Tór Næs is a Faroese international footballer who currently plays for Valur as a defender. He played professionally for BK Frem in 2005-06 and again 2009-10. Næs previously played for Fremad Amager, Køge BK, Argja Bóltfelag and NSÍ Runavík. In November 2010 he signed a two-year contract with Icelandic club Valur. He made his international debut for the Faroe Islands in 2008.
Kaj Leo Johannesen
Politician
Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen is the current Faroese prime minister, representing the Faroese Unionist Party. He took office, succeeding Jóannes Eidesgaard on 26 September 2008. Johannesen is also a former international football player; he was goalkeeper for the Faroe Islands national football team. In the Faroese parliamentary elections, held on 29 October 2011 Kaj Leo Johannesen received 1979 personal votes. This is the biggest ever number of personal votes, given to any Faroese parliament candidate.
Hans Fróði Hansen
Soccer Defender
Hans Fróði Hansen is a retired football player and now manager from the Faroe Islands, who had started a second career as Fashion- and Beauty advisor under the name Hans F. Hansen of Scandinavia. His main product line was called Below Your Belt and was a series of product intended for pubic hair removal. Hans Fróði played in Norway, Iceland and for several Faroese clubs, largely in central defence. He was capped 26 times for the Faroe Islands. On 5 June 1999, he scored his only goal for his country. In a qualification match for Euro 2000 in Toftir, he scored a last minute equaliser against Scotland. He later described this as the finest moment of his footballing career. He made his international debut in a 0-1 away defeat to Bosnia in Sarajevo on 19 August 1998 and played his last game for the Faroes in a 1-3 home defeat against Lithuania on 10 September 2003 in Toftir. After some of Hans Fróði's ambitious international business projects failed, he decided to resume his career in Faroese football. In 2013, he took over as manager of the top division side TB Tvøroyri.
Jens Martin Knudsen
Soccer Goalkeeper
Jens Martin Knudsen was a Faroese footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was perhaps best known for wearing a hat in his matches as a result of an injury he suffered at age 14. He later become known as "the bobble hat goalkeeper".
Arnbjørn Hansen
Footballer
Arnbjørn Theodor Hansen is a Faroese football striker who plays for EB/Streymur in the Faroe Islands Premier League. He also plays for the Faroe Islands national team.
Jóan Símun Edmundsson
Soccer Midfielder
Jóan Símun Edmundsson is a Faroese footballer who currently plays for Viking, and the Faroe Islands national team.
Heri Joensen
Folk metal Artist
Heri Joensen is a Faroese musician, notable for being the vocalist for folk metal band Týr. Heri was born in the Faroe Islands capital of Tórshavn which has had an influence on his song writing. As well as Týr, he has recently recorded a solo album titled Heljareyga.
Janus Kamban
Man
Janus Kamban was a Faroese sculptor and last living representative from the "first generation" of professional artists in the Faroe Islands. Kamban is the first and most important sculptor in the Faroe Islands. In 1930 he went to Copenhagen to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts to study painting, but soon changed his direction and attended the School of Sculpture in the Art Academy from 1932 to 1935 and from 1938 to 1940, where he studied under Professor Einar Utzon-Frank. Study tours in the 1930s led him to Paris, Florence, Oslo and Stockholm. In his Copenhagen studio he organized the first exhibition of Faroese Art in Denmark. In addition to his own works, it included works by Gudmund Hentze, Sámal Joensen-Mikines, Elin Borg Lützen, Ruth Smith and Ingolf Jacobsen. During the Second World War he had to remain in German-occupied Denmark since the Faroe Islands were occupied by Britain. However, in August 1945, Kamban returned to the Faroe Islands on the first ship, the Aarhus. Once there, he immediately established himself as a sculptor. His first monumental work was Móðurmálið, made in 1948 from local basalt, as an anniversary memorial for V U Hammershaimb, 1846, creator of the Faroese written language. This monument is now hidden behind high bushes in Tórshavn.
Jens Oliver Lisberg
Man
Jens Oliver Lisberg is one of the designers of the Merkið, the flag of the Faroe Islands. While a law student in Copenhagen, he devised the flag in 1919 with two other Faroese students, Janus Øssursson from Tórshavn and Paul Dahl from Vágur. Lisberg raised the flag for the first time on Faroese soil on 22 June 1919 on returning to his home town of Fámjin. It would not however receive official status until 25 April 1940 when the British occupation government approved its use as the civil ensign of the islands. Lisberg died of pneumonia on 31 August 1920. He is buried in Fámjin, where the church now holds the original copy of the Merkið.
Hallur Hansson
Soccer Midfielder
Hallur Hansson is a Faroese football player, a midfielder. He currently plays for AaB. The first half-year he was on loan from HB Tórshavn, but on 29 January 2013 he signed a 1½ year deal with AaB. Earlier he played for Aberdeen. He is currently a member of the sqaud of the Faroe Islands national football team; he has currently played four matches for the national team. Earlier he has played for the Faroe Islands U21, Faroe Islands national under-19 football team, and the Faroe Islands national under-17 football team and Under 15.
Jákup Dahl
Man
Jákup Dahl was a Faroese Provost and Bible translator. In 1908 he became known as a linguist with the first Faroese grammar lessons for school students.
Tróndur í Gøtu
Man
Tróndur í Gøtu was a viking from the Faroe Islands. He and Sigmundur Brestisson are the central figures in the Færeyinga Saga, which tells the early history of the Faroe Islands and the coming of Christianity to the islands, which Tróndur opposed. Chapter 3 of the Saga describes Tróndur as having "a shock head of red hair, and . . . freckled of face and right grim of look", features which were inherent to Faroese, who are said to have descended from Thorstan the Red's daughter. Tróndur í Gøtu lived on the island of Eysturoy, in his father's home Gøta, which was named for Torbjørn Gøtuskegg's nickname "Gatebeard". Initially Tróndur and his brother Thorlac drew lots to decide who should inherit the estate. After losing, Thorlac went to live in neighbouring islands with his wife. Chapter 35 of the saga tells that all siblings eventually lived together at Gøta, with their respective children. This same chapter explains that Thorlac had two sons, Sigurd and Thord; Tróndur's sister had a son known as "Geat the Red". Tróndur opposed the introduction of Christianity to the Faroes and pronounced a curse against it and Sigmundur, who was promulgating it. This is the subject of a Faroese poem by Janus Djurhuus, "Gandkvæði Tróndar".
Pauli Ellefsen
Politician
Joen Pauli Højgaard Ellefsen was a Faroese politician and member of the Union Party. He was Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands from 1981 to 1985. Pauli Ellefsen was the eldest of eight children born to Sofia from Rituvík and Joen Elias Ellefsen from Miðvágur. He was the brother of former Parliament member Svend Aage Ellefsen, and brother-in-law of former parliament member Jóannes Dalsgaard. He was married to Henni Egholm. He and his wife lived in Hoyvík, near Tórshavn. Ellefsen worked as a fisherman from 1954 to 1956. After that, he worked as a telecommunications technician and later he attended a business school in Copenhagen. In 1969, he became a government surveyor. He lived in Denmark while he was studying and a few years after that, but in the early 1970s, he moved back to the Faroes with his family. He and Jógvan Sundstein, who later became Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, worked together as Chartered Accountants. In 1975 he started his own auditor firm. Ellefsen was first elected to the Løgting in 1974. From 1974 to 1990 he was the chairman of the Union Party, which advocates a stronger bond between Denmark and the Faroe Islands. From 1977 to 1987 and 1988 to 1990 he was one of the two Faroese members of the Danish Folketing. From 1975 to 1976 and in 1979 he represented the Faroese in the Nordic Council.
Jakob Jakobsen
Man
Dr. phil. Jakob Jakobsen, was a Faroese linguist as well as a scholar of literature. He was the first Faroese person to earn a doctoral degree. The subject of his doctoral thesis was the Norn language in Shetland.
Súni Olsen
Soccer Midfielder
Súni Olsen is a Faroese professional football defender who currently plays at Faroese club B36 and for the Faroe Islands national football team.
Lena Anderssen
Singer
Lena Anderssen is a Faroese-Canadian singer-songwriter with four albums to her name. Her latest album, "Letters From The Faroes", was chosen as Album Of The Year on The Faroe Islands, where Lena was born. Although the lyrics to her songs are all written in English, she is also fluent in both Faroese and Danish. Lena is known for her intimate and intense live performances as well as having several of her song's featured in TV-series like 90210, Scrubs, Felicity, Nikita, Alias, and Miami Social.
Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb
Deceased Person
Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb was a Faroese Lutheran minister who established the modern orthography of Faroese, the language of the Faroe Islands based on the Icelandic language, which like Faroese, derives from Old Norse.
Símun Samuelsen
Soccer Midfielder
Símun Samuelsen is a Faroese football striker currently playing for HB Tórshavn after playing in Iceland for some years for Keflavik as a right or left winger but can also play as a second striker.
Fróði Benjaminsen
Soccer Midfielder
Fróði Benjaminsen is a Faroese international footballer who plays professionally as a defender for HB Tórshavn. Benjaminsen previously played for B68 Toftir, Fram Reykjavík and B36 Tórshavn, and made his international debut in 1999. In October 2012 it was announced that Benjaminsen will play with HB Tórshavn as well as being their assisting manager together with Oddbjørn Joensen, who will be new head manager of HB Tórshavn.
Tróndur Patursson
Man
Tróndur Patursson is a Faroese painter, sculptor, and glass artist. He was educated in Norway and was initially a sculptor. He has since become better known as a painter and glass artist. In February 2013 Patursson had an art exhibition at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; it was an installation called “Migration,” featuring approximately 90 of his trademark stained glass birds in the Grand Foyer windows throughout Nordic Cool 2013. The exhibition was a part of the Nordic Cool 2013. In 1976 he joined Tim Severin in a transatlantic voyage in a replica 6th century leather-hulled curragh named Brendan. The boat was named for the Irish monk Saint Brendan who was said to have made the same voyage centuries before the Vikings and Christopher Columbus. Paturrson joined Brendon when it arrived in the Faroe Islands and replaced another crewman. Paturrson's home was at Brandonvik, the Viking name for Brendan's Creek.
Rógvi Baldvinsson
Soccer Defender
Rógvi Baldvinsson is a Faroese international footballer who plays as a defender for Adeccoligaen side Bryne. Baldvinsson has a brief spell with Bristol Rovers in 2012.
Brandur Enni
Pop Artist
Brandur Helgason Enni, is a Faroese singer, songwriter, composer, and musician. He plays guitar, trumpet, piano and flugelhorn. In August 2006, he moved to Sweden, where he studied music for two years at the Music Production Academy "Musikmakarna". In 2012, he moved back to his hometown Tvøroyri and started to attend the Suduroy High School. Brandur's brother Tróndur Enni is also a singer and songwriter and plays several instruments; he is well known in the Faroe Islands and sometimes performs with Frændur singer Eyðun Nolsøe. At the Midsummer Festival in Tvøroyri, the two brothers Brandur and Tróndur performed together on stage along with other Faroese musicians.
John Petersen
Football player
John Petersen is a retired Faroese football striker and manager.
Atli Dam
Politician
Atli Pætursson Dam was Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands on five separate occasions, which is the longest period for any Faroese prime minister. He was prime minister in the periods: 1970–1981, 1985–1989 and 1991–1993. He was born in Tvøroyri in 1932 as the son of Peter Mohr Dam and Sigrid Ragnhild, née Strøm. He was educated engineer in 1964 and worked for the Danish company Haldor Topsøe until he became prime minister in 1970. He was vise president of the Faroese Mortgage Institution from 1981–1985 and again from 1989 until his death. He was elected to the Løgting in 1970, he was appointed Minister of Fisheries the same year, and in December of the same year he was appointed prime minister. He was elected as one of two Faroese members of the Danish Folketing and was a member of the Folketing from 1990 to 1994. Because of the financial crises of the Faroe Islands, Dam resigned as prime minister on 18 February 1993 and Marita Petersen took over. At the same time he left the post as chairman for the Socialist Democratic Party, Marita Petersen took over. Atli Dam was prime minister for 16 years and member og the Løgting for 21 years at that time.
Ruth Smith
Woman
Ruth Smith Nielsen was a Faroese artist. She lived for some years in Denmark, where she was educated as a painter first on the Bizzie Højer Art School and later on the Art Academy of Copenhagen. Later she moved back to the Faroe Islands; and the last years of her life she lived in the small village Nes, which is located on the fjord Vágsfjørður between the villages Vágur, where she was born and Porkeri. Ruth Smith liked to swim in the sea, but one day she drowned while swimming in Vágsfjørður.
Sunleif Rasmussen
Composer
Sunleif Rasmussen is the foremost Faroese composer of classical music.
Jákup Mikkelsen
Footballer
Jákup Nolsøe Mikkelsen is a Faroese football goalkeeper currently playing for ÍF Fuglafjørður, after signing a deal in early 2010. He is also one of the goal keepers of the Faroe Islands national football team. On 7 September 2012 the Faroese Football Association was told, that Jákup Mikkelsen is the oldest goal keeper in the world, who has played an international football match for his country. He was 42 years old and one day when he played against Iceland in a friendly match on 16 August 2012. Mikkelsen is the second most capped player of the Faroese national team with 73 matches. Only Óli Johannesen has played more matches.
Jens Pauli Heinesen
Novelist
Jens Pauli Heinesen was a Faroese writer. He was one of the most important novelists of the Faroe Islands. Four times he received the Faroese Literature Prize and one time the Faroese Cultural Prize. There were only a few Faroese novelists before him, there were several poets, but only a few novelists. The Faroese literature was quite new; the first novel in Faroese language was published in 1909. William Heinesen and Jørgen Frantz Jacobsen wrote in Danish, other Faroese writers, who wrote novels in Faroese were born thirty years before Jens Pauli Heinesen: Heðin Brú from Skálavík on Sandoy and Martin Joensen from Sandvík in Suðuroy. Jens Pauli Heinesen wrote in his own way, more like the spoken Faroese and not so much like the Faroese from the dictionary. As he said, he had to write in his own dialect, he couldn't write in the Sandoy dialect or in the Suðuroy dialect. He wrote about the Faroese society on its way from the old society to a modern society. He wrote critically about political issues. Sometimes he wrote partially autobiographical like in the 7 volume series of novels Á ferð inn í eina óendaliga søgu from 1980-92. Jens Pauli Heinesen was president of the Association of Writers of the Faroe Islands from 1968 to 1975
Christian Matras
Man
Christian Matras was born at Viðareiði. He took a doctor’s degree in Old Norse in 1933 from the University of Copenhagen, and in 1952 he became a professor at the same university. In 1965 he returned to the Faroe Islands to become head of the department for Faroese language at the University of the Faroe Islands in Tórshavn. His extensive work analyzes Faroese language, literature, and culture, but also as a poet is he one of the most important in Faroese literature. He died in 1988.
Bogi Løkin
Soccer Midfielder
Bogi Løkin is a Faroese footballer who plays for Faroese club ÍF Fuglafjørður, where his brother Karl Løkin also plays. Bogi Løkin is the son of former Faroese international midfielder Abraham Løkin, who is the former coach of ÍF Fuglafjørður. Bogi Løkin began his career at NSÍ Runavík and made over 100 appearances for the club before he turned 21. In 2010 he joined BK Frem midway through the Danish season. At the end of the season he choose to go back to the Faroe Islands for summer 2010. He has plays for the Faroe Islands national team and he has scored one goal. He scored an international goal for the Faroe Islands on 11 October 2008 in their 1-1 draw against Austria in a qualifying match for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Jens Kristian Hansen
Football player
Jens Kristian Hansen is a former Faroese football defender or midfielder.
Hans Pauli Olsen
Man
Hans Pauli Olsen is a sculptor based in Denmark, and held in high regard. He is one of the most popular artists in the Faroes. His work is to be found not only in art galleries but in many towns in the Faroes, especially in the Faroese capital Tórshavn. His work was featured on two Faroese stamps issued by Postverk Føroya in April 1993: ⁕ FR 238: Rørsla - Movement. ⁕ FR 239: Spegling - Reflection. ⁕ Ringriding ⁕ Sigmundur Brestisson - Hin seinasta ferðin, 2006. Monument in Sandvík in memory of Sigmundur Brestisson.
Linda Andrews
Singer
Linda Andrews is a Faroese singer who won the second season of the Danish version of The X Factor, and became the first Faroese winner of it.
Jens Christian Svabo
Deceased Person
Jens Christian Svabo was a pioneering Faroese linguist, scholar, and ethnographer. Svabo was born in Miðvágur, Vágar, the Faroe Islands to a minister and his wife. Svabo studied history, music, and theology in Miðvágur and later in Tórshavn. Between 1765 and 1800 he lived in Denmark and studied music there, especially the violin. In 1800, he returned to Tórshavn and lived in a house known as the Pætursarstovu: it was in the attic of this home that in 1928 a book of songs written by Svabo was found. This manuscript is now part of the collection of the Føroya Landsbókasavn. Svabo's work as a songwriter is of merit and indeed, his songs are still played and recorded by groups interested in traditional Faroese and Celtic music. However, it is Svabo's work on the Faroese language and its tradition of oral folktales that has brought him the greatest attention. Svabo's travels around Vágar and later the areas around Tórshavn were at their time unmatched and his efforts to write down oral legends and tales were the first real impetus to the serious study of Faroese oral history. He also wrote a dictionary and worked to standardize the Faroese written language in terms of spelling and grammar to match the traditional spoken language. His efforts to examine distinct dialects of Faroese were the first efforts in this area of regional linguistics of Faroese, also.
Torkil Nielsen
Soccer Midfielder
Torkil Nielsen is a former Faroese football midfielder. He is also one of the Faroe Islands' best chess players.
Rógvi Jacobsen
Soccer Midfielder
Rógvi Jacobsen is a former Faroese footballer who last played as a forward for ÍF. He is also the all-time top scorer of the Faroe Islands national football team.
Abraham Løkin
Soccer Midfielder
Abraham Løkin is a former Faroe Islands football player and former manager of Faroese football club ÍF Fuglafjørður. He is the father of Bogi Løkin and Karl Løkin. In November 2003, to celebrate UEFA's jubilee, he was selected by the Faroe Islands Football Association as the country's Golden Player - the greatest player of the last 50 years.
Atli Gregersen
Footballer
Atli Gregersen is a Faroese international footballer who plays for Víkingur as a defender.
Christian Høgni Jacobsen
Football player
Christian Høgni Jacobsen is a Faroese football striker, currently playing for B68 Toftir.
Janus Djurhuus
Man
Jens Hendrik Oliver Djurhuus, called Janus Djurhuus, was the first modern Faroese poet. He and his younger brother Hans Andreas Djurhuus, also a poet, are called the Áarstova brothers after the house where they grew up.
Jóhan Troest Davidsen
Soccer Defender
Jóhan Troest Davidsen is a Faroese football player. He is a Defender. He currently plays for HB Tórshavn. Davidsen started his career with NSÍ Runavík in the Faroe Islands, in 2004 he signed a trainee contract with Premier League club Everton and was part of U19 squad. As he did not succeed in England, he returned to his home country. In 2006, Jóhan Troest Davidsen went to NSÍ Runavík where he played half a season. The other half of the season Davidsen played for Skála ÍF, after which he returned to NSÍ. In 2007, Davidsen became national champions with NSÍ Runavík. He has won 28 caps for the Faroe Islands national football team.
Jens Christian Djurhuus
Deceased Person
Jens Christian Djurhuus or Sjóvarbóndin was the first poet who wrote in Faroese. He composed several Faroese ballads in traditional style on historical themes. The best known is Ormurin langi. Djurhuus also composed satirical poems directed against Danish rule in the Faroe Islands. Djurhuus was the fourth son of Johan Christian Djurhuus and Maria Rønning. They lived in Nes, Eysturoy, where his Danish grandfather Christen Djurhuus was provost. His mother came from Aust-Agder in Norway and is supposed to be a descendant of Earl Haakon Sigurdsson. In 1797, he married Jóhanna Maria Jensdóttir from Kollafjørður, daughter of farmer Jens Didriksen, Við Sjógv. Because Jóhanna Maria was his only child, she was sole heiress of the farm. The couple moved to this farm during the same year. This farm became the cultural centre of the village. Two of his great grandsons Janus Djurhuus and Hans Andrias Djurhuus, also known as the Áarstovu Brothers or Áarstovubrøðurnir in Faroese, are among the best known poets of the Faroe Islands.
Jan Dam
Football player
Jan Dam is a former Faroese football, largely considered one of the best ever in his native country. He was especially popular back home for his fearless tackles and fighting spirit. At present, he works as a teacher at a private school in Haslev, Denmark and also as a trainer of the U19 team of KB Copenhagen football club.
Peter Mohr Dam
Politician
Peter Mohr Dam was a Faroe Islands politician who was one of the founders of the Social Democratic Javnaðarflokkurin party in 1926. Born on 11 August 1898, in Skopun, Faroe Islands, Dam became a teacher in Tvøroyri. He was member of the Faroese Løgting from 1926 until his death in 1968. Chairman of the Social Democratic Javnaðarflokkurin party from 1936 until his death in 68. He was a member of the town council of Tvøroyri from 1925 until his death, mayor of Tvøroyri from 1934–1957. He was member of the Danish Folketing as one of two Faroese members from 1948–1957 and 1964–1967. From 1958 to 1963 and from 1967 to 1968 he was the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands. He was the father of three-time Prime Minister Atli P. Dam. His granddaughter, Helena Dam á Neystabø, is a Social Democratic politician. Dam died on 8 November 1968, in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands.
Zacharias Heinesen
Man
Zacharias Heinesen is a Faroese landscape painter. He is the son of the writer William Heinesen. He attended Myndlistaskóli Íslands in Reykjavik between 1957-58. In 1959-1963 he attended the Royal Danish Academy of Art in Copenhagen. Through the years he has held a number of exhibitions and his paintings are to be found in several museums. In 1986 he was awarded the Henry Heerup prize. His paintings were featured on a series of stamps in June 2001: ⁕ Sunrise ⁕ Úti á Reyni ⁕ The artist's mother His work can also be seen on the 200 Faroese kronur bank note issues in 2004. In 2006 he was honoured with the Faroese Cultural Prize.
Jón Rói Jacobsen
Soccer Defender
Jón Rói Jacobsen is a Faroese football defender.
Samuel Jacob Sesanus Olsen
Man
Samuel Jacob Sesanus Olsen, commonly known as Jacob Olsen was a Faroese teacher, writer and translator. He was deeply engaged in the local community and the Faroe Islands as a whole.
Ove Joensen
Deceased Person
Ove Joensen was a Faroese seaman and adventurer. Ove Joensen was living on the Island of Nólsoy, where he built his Faroe boat Diana Victoria, to row the 900 nautical miles from the Faroes to Copenhagen in Denmark. After two unsuccessful tries in 1984 and 1985, where he reached the Shetland Islands, he succeeded in 1986, when he arrived in Copenhagen on 11 August 1986 after 41 days rowing alone. Thousands of people were greeting him in the Danish capital. The Danes called him Ro-Ove. In 1987 Ove drowned in Skálafjørður-inlet where he fell over board. The civic festival Ovastevna is held each August on Nólsoy to commemorate Ove Joensen. His boat Diana Victoria can also be seen in Nólsoy, it is inside a boat house / old storage house, which is now a café and Tourist Information Centre in summertime, the boat house is located down in the harbour, near the ferry port. There is a monument to him situated by the harbour, next to the whale bones that form an ornamental entrance to the village, just opposite of the Tourist Information Centre. Ove Joensen is buried in Nólsoy in the cemetery south of the village.
Jákup á Borg
Soccer Midfielder
Jákup á Borg is a Faroese footballer currently playing for Faroe Islands Premier League team B36 Tórshavn.
Finnur Justinussen
Footballer
Finnur Justinussen is a Faroese footballer who plays for Víkingur and the Faroe Islands national team.
Ingálvur av Reyni
Man
Ingálvur av Reyni was the most celebrated painter of the Faroe Islands during the last years. Ingálvur av Reyni was born in Tórshavn. He rebelled through his expressionism against the epic content of his predecessors' art, and has opened up new paths in his painting. His art is characterised by a clear, French colourist tone, and his artistic roots go back to Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse. The powerful nature of the Faroes, which makes an immediate visual impact on any painter, is the all-embracing theme in Reyni's art. But he experiences nature from the inside, as structures, tones, and fragments of a universe offering opportunities for graphical treatment of form and movement, light colours and rhythms. The expressions of nature become the basis of an increasingly abstract idiom. The light fills his landscapes, interiors and figure paintings from the 1940s and 1950s, where he characteristically simplifies the motif in cubist style. The lines and forms of nature contribute to the strict, cubist-inspired composition of the picture, or they are subjected to it. The composition is free of all unnecessary elements, and the work becomes at the same time a picture of both the inner and the outer reality. Increasingly contrasting colours are set against each other, until the culmination at the end of the 1950s with the bold counterplay of complementary colours.
Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen
Author
Jørgen-Frantz Jacobsen was a Faroese writer, which occupies a distinct place in Scandinavian literature. He is the only Faroese writer to achieve international best-seller status. This status derives from his sole novel, Barbara: Roman, which has the added cachet of being one of the few Scandinavian novels to be translated twice into English within the space of fifty years. The novel was translated into five other languages shortly after the first edition in Danish. It was also adapted as a motion picture directed by Nils Malmros in 1997. These facts, together with Jacobsen's essays, a study of the Faroe Islands published in the guise of a travel guide, and a volume of his letters, are sufficient to suggest that had he lived longer, he would have been one of the outstanding literary figures in Scandinavia in the twentieth century. He must moreover be seen in the context of his being one of five Faroese writers, all born between 1900 and 1903, who represent a remarkable blossoming of literature in a country which had no tradition of literature in a modern sense. Jacobsen, together with William Heinesen, Christian Matras, Heðin Brú, and Martin Joensen, created modern Faroese literature, whether writing in Danish, as did Jacobsen and Heinesen, or Faroese, as did the others.
Anker Eli Petersen
Man
Anker Eli Petersen is a Faroese writer and artist. He is most known for his many Faroe Islands postage stamp designs under the name Anker Eli. Many of his stamps depict scenes from Norse mythology, Christianity, or interpretations of other Faroese authors or poets. He is also designing the Postverk Føroya web site, that will become a portal about the Faroes, and has illustrated many books. As a writer, he translates texts from Old Norse, and writes children's carols and lyrics for Faroese singers.
Viljormur Davidsen
Soccer Defender
Viljormur í Heiðunum Davidsen is a Faroese footballer who plays as defender for Vejle Boldklub from Denmark in the Danish 1st Division.
Christian Mejdahl
Politician
Christian Mejdahl is a Danish politician representing the liberal party, Venstre. He was a Member of Parliament—the Folketing—from 9 September 1987 to 13 November 2007, and served as Speaker of Parliament from 18 March 2003. He lives in Løgstør in Himmerland.
Beinta Broberg
Deceased Person
Bente Christine Broberg, known as Beinta Broberg, is perhaps the best known woman from the history of the Faroe Islands. She has been the inspiration for novels and a film.
Julian Johnsson
Soccer Midfielder
Julian Johnsson is a Faroese author and football midfielder, currently playing for Danish team Svendborg FB.
Marita Petersen
Politician
Marita Petersen was the first and to date only female Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands and the first female speaker of the Løgting. She was elected to the Løgting in 1988 for Javnaðarflokkurin. In January 1993, she was elected to the post of Prime Minister which she held until September 1994. Later, she became chairman of the parliament from 1994 to 1995. She was Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands in a very difficult time with economic crisis. Marita Petersen died of cancer in 2001.
Kristian Djurhuus
Politician
Kristian Djurhuus was a Faroese politician and statesman. He was a member of the Union Party.
Rúni Brattaberg
Singer
Rúni Brattaberg is a bass opera singer from the Faroe Islands.
René Tórgarð
Footballer
René Tórgarð is an Faroese international footballer who plays club football for EB/Streymur, as a goalkeeper. He made his international debut for the Faroe Islands in 2008.
Christian Mouritsen
Football player
Christian Restorff Mouritsen is a Faroese footballer who currently plays for HB Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands.
Erlendur Patursson
Politician
Erlendur Patursson was a Faroese politician and writer. Erlendur was born in 1913 in Kirkjubøur. He was the son of the politician Jóannes Patursson. He became cand.pol. in 1940 and was one the founders of Tjóðveldisflokkurin, the Faroese Republican Party, in 1948. The Republicans are a left-wing Faroese political party in favor of national independence from Denmark. He was a member of the Faroese parliament — the Løgting — from 1958 to 1966 and again in 1970–86. From 1963 to 1967 he was minister of fishery and finance, and from 1973 to 1977 a member of the Danish parliament – the Folketing. Patursson came up with the idea for the Nordic House in the Faroe Islands. In the Nordic council he agitated for independence for Greenland and Åland. As a writer Patursson has been honoured for his work concerning Faroese fishermen from 1850–1970. In 1981 he received the Faroese Literature Prize, M. A. Jacobsens Heiðursløn, for these writings.
Jóannes Eidesgaard
Politician
Jóannes Dan Eidesgaard is the Finance Minister of the Faroe Islands. He has held the position since 26 September 2008. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Faeroe Islands from 3 February 2004, shortly after the general election of 20 January 2004, until 26 September 2008, when a new coalition took office.
Jógvan Martin Olsen
Football player
Jógvan Martin Olsen was the head coach of the Faroe Islands national football team. He has since 2009 been the manager of Víkingur Gøta.
Regin Dahl
Composer
Regin Dahl was a Faroese author and music composer.
Jóannes Patursson
Politician
Jóannes Patursson was a Faroese nationalist leader and poet. He was the great-grandson of the Faroese national hero Nólsoyar Páll. His brother Sverre Patursson was an important writer and his sister Susanna Helena Patursson the first feminist of the Faroe Islands.
Victor Danielsen
Deceased Person
Victor Danielsen, was the first Faroese Bible translator and Plymouth Brethren missionary. Victor Danielsen played a pivotal role in the Plymouth Brethren's establishment in the Faroe Islands after it was introduced there by William Gibson Sloan in the late nineteenth century.
Atli Danielsen
Soccer Midfielder
Atli Danielsen is a Faroese footballer who currently plays for KÍ Klaksvík in the Premier League of the Faroe Islands.
Erling Jacobsen
Soccer Defender
Erling Dávidsson Jacobsen is a Faroese international footballer who plays as a defender for Víkingur.
Pól Jóhannus Justinussen
Soccer Defender
Pól Jóhannus Justinussen is an Faroese international footballer who plays club football for the Faroese team NSÍ, as a defender. He previously played for Valur Football Club in Iceland and for the Faroese football clubs B68 Toftir, NSÍ Runavík and GÍ Gøta. In February 2012 he signed a contract with Danish Superliga club AaB Aalborg until the end of the Danish season in June, having been on trial with the club on two occasions in the months before signing. After his contract expired in the summer he signed with NSÍ Runavík in July. Justinussen made his international debut for the Faroe Islands national football team in 2010.
Ingi Højsted
Soccer Midfielder
Ingi Højsted is a Faroese midfield football player, who currently plays for B36 Tórshavn.
Heidi Andreasen
Woman
Heidi Andreasen is a Faroese swimmer. She represented the Faroe Islands at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, winning three silver medals, in the S8 50m freestyle, the S8 100m freestyle, and the S8 400m freestyle, and a bronze in the S8 100m backstroke. She was the Faroe Islands' sole representative at the 2004 Summer Paralympics, where she won the Islands' only medal: a bronze in the S8 400m freestyle, with a time of 5:26,29. Andreasen competed again at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, and was the Faroe Islands' flagbearer during the Games' opening ceremony. She did not win a medal. It was her last participation in the Paralympic Games. There is no Olympic-sized pool in the Faroe Islands, where Andreasen trains in a 25 metre pool.
Rói Patursson
Philosopher
Rói Reynagarð Patursson is a Faroese writer and philosopher. He is also the director of the Folk High School of the Faroes. He was born in Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. After attending the St. Frans School in Tórshavn and secondary school, Patursson went abroad from 1964 to 1965, afterwards taking various jobs in Tórshavn and Copenhagen. In 1968 he traveled across Europe, and afterwards he attended a Gymnasium until 1969. From 1970 to 1985 he lived in Copenhagen. In 1973 he married Sólrun Johannessen, with whom he had a daughter Unn Cecilia in 1974. In 1976 he began the study of philosophy at the University of Copenhagen, and received a Masters in 1985. He had a second daughter, Lív Maria, in 1981. Having returned to the Faroes in 1985, he taught night school and at the University of the Faroe Islands, and made transmissions for Útvarp Føroya. In 1987 he received the post as docent at the Skrivekunst Akademiet in Bergen, Norway. Since 1988, he has led the Folk High School of the Faroes. Rói Patursson's literary work includes prose and poetry. In 1986, he won The Nordic Council's Literature Prize for his poetry collection Líkasum. This prize is awarded to only one author per year, and Paturrsson and William Heinesen are the only Faroese writers to win to date.
Anfinn Kallsberg
Politician
Anfinn Kallsberg is a Faroese politician - Prime Minister of his country 1998-2004 - and the leader of the Faroese People's Party. First elected to the Faroese parliament in 1980 and consecutively since then, Kallsberg served as Fisheries Minister from 1983 to 1985 and for 5 months in Jógvan Sundstein's first coalition government in 1989, and as Economics and Finance Minister from 1996 to 1998 in a coalition led by Edmund Joensen. He was Speaker of the Løgting 1991–1993. Kallsberg became Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands on 15 May 1998 in a coalition formed by the People's Party, Republican Party and the Self-Government Party. His first administration aimed for economic and legal independence of the Faroe Islands and started a process of assuming various governmental sectors from the Danish government. Likewise, Denmark set up a plan to grant full sovereignty to the Faroe Islands. In 2002 the coalition went through parliamentary elections that resulted in the entry of the Center Party into government. In December 2003, Kallsberg took over the ministries previously served by members of the Republican Party and issued a new election that took place in January 2004. In 2005 Kallsberg was elected as one of two Faroese citizens to represent the islands in the Danish Parliament.
Andrass Samuelsen
Politician
Andrass Samuelsen was a Faroese politician and member of the Union Party. He was the first Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands after the autonomy of the Faroe Islands in 1948. Andrass was the son of Katrina Malena, born Mikkelsen and Sámal Joensen from Haldarsvík. He was married with Beata Emilia, born Lindenskov from Tórshavn. Between 1906 and 1950 Samuelsen was a member of the Faroese parliament. From 1913 to 1916 and 1918 to 1939 he was also a member of the Danish Folketing and he was a member of the Landsting from 1917 to 1918. From 1924 to 1948 Samuelsen was the chairman of the Union Party. From 1948 to 1950 he was the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands and was the first Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands since the office had been abolished in 1816. His son Georg Lindenskov Samuelsen was the publisher of the Dimmalætting newspaper for almost 50 years and his granddaughter Lisbeth L. Petersen was one of the first women in Faroese politics. [[]]
Uni Arge
Football player
Uni Jógvansson Arge is a Faroese journalist, writer, musician, singer, and a former international football striker. He is also a former handball player. He played 105 matches for the handball club Kyndil from Tórshavn and scored 693 goals for the club.
Sólrun Løkke Rasmussen
Politician
Sólrun Jákupsdóttir Løkke Rasmussen is the wife of the former Prime Minister of Denmark, Lars Løkke Rasmussen.
Símun av Skarði
Man
Símun av Skarði was a Faroese poet, politician and teacher. He graduated from the Faroese Teacher's College in 1896. He founded Føroya Fólkaháskúli in 1899, and worked there as headmaster from 1899 to 1942. His most famous work as a poet is the Faroese National Anthem, Mítt alfagra land, usually called Tú alfagra land mítt since those are the first words. He was a member of parliament for the Sjálvstýrisflokkurin from 1906 to 1914.
Óli Johannesen
Soccer Defender
Óli Johannesen is a Faroese football player, currently playing for TB Tvøroyri.
Hans Edward Andreasen
Alternative rock Artist
Hans Edward Andreasen is a Faroese musician, best known for his work as the guitarist and lead vocalist of the alternative rock band The Dreams. He is the founder of the band along with Eirikur Gilstón Corfitz Andersen and Heini Mortensen.
Andreas Olsen
Soccer Forward
Andreas Lava Olsen is a Faroese international footballer, who currently plays for Boldklubben Frem in the Danish 1st Division.
Kári P. Højgaard
Politician
Kári Páll Højgaard is the current head of the Faroese Independence Party and President of the West Nordic Council. He was elected as member of the Faroese Parliament on 27 February 2001, and took over as party leader the following year. He has been member of the City Council in Runavík from 1988 to 31. December 2008, and is currently living in Saltangará. Højgaard was member of The Environment and Natural Resources Committee of the Nordic Council in the period 2004-2008. In November 2011 Højgaard became Minister of Internal Affairs, in the ABDH government. He was minister from 14 November 2011 until 5 September 2013.
Katrin Olsen
Woman
Katrin Olsen is a Danish–Faroese rower, and represents Denmark. She weights 61 kilos, and is therefore in the lightweight class. Before she went to live in Denmark she was rowing in Faroese rowing competitions and became Faroese Rowing Champion two times with the boat Jarnbardur of Róðrarfelagið Knørrur.
Hákun Djurhuus
Politician
Hákun Djurhuus was the prime minister of the Faroe Islands from 1963-1967. He was born in Tórshavn. He was first elected to the Løgting in 1946 and was its speaker 1950–1951. He was member of the town council of Klaksvík from 1946 to 1951, mayoer of Klaksvík from 1950-51. He was chairman of the Peoples Party from 1951-80. He was minister from 1951-54 and Prime Minister from 1963-1967. He was member of the Folketing, elected as one of two Faroese members in the periods 1957–1960 and 1968–1973. Djurhuus withdrew from politics after the 1980 elections. He died on 22 September 1987.
Katrin Ottarsdóttir
Film Director
Katrin Ottarsdóttir is a Faroese movie director and a poet. Katrin Ottarsdóttir went to Denmark in 1976 and is the first person from the Faroe Islands to study at the film school in Copenhagen. In 1989, she received for Atlantic Rhapsody the first prize for a Faroese film at the film festival Nordische Filmtage. Ottarsdóttir writes her screenplays herself and also leads the direction. She also produced Atlantic Rhapsody. Most actors in Ottarsdóttir's films are Faroese people because the island maintains a rich theater scene and there are many skilled actors there. The Faroe Islands, with their unique landscape, are prominently showcased in her films. The road movie Bye Bye Bluebird received top honors in 1999 at Nordische Filmtage and the Tiger Award in 2000 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Her daughter Hildigunn Eyðfinnsdóttir acted the leading role in it. Since 2007 Katrin Ottarsdóttir has been working on a trilogy of film portraits of Faroese artists. The first of the films No One Can Achieve Perfection - on the sculpturer Hans Pauli Olsen - premiered in January 2008. The second film - A Line A Day Must Be Enough! - on the poet, painter and performance artist Tóroddur Poulsen, premiered in September 2008. The third film in the trilogy - on the writer Jóanes Nielsen will be premiered at the end of 2009.
Astrid Andreasen
Woman
Astrid Jóhanna Andreasen is a Faroese textile and graphical artist, marine researcher and postage stamp designer. As a scientific illustrator, she specialises in marine animals. Early in her career she produced illustrations for collections of her father's poetry. Then in 1968 she entered a vocational school in Kerteminde in Denmark to become a teacher of embroidery. In 1970 she took a job as a therapist in Tórshavn hospital where she worked with mentally handicapped people, teaching them embroidery and other art forms. From 1982 she learned scientific illustration at the Academy of Arts in Århus, and became illustrator specialising in marine animals at the Jerlesborg School in Tjarnö, Sweden in 1990. She is currently the only artist at the Faroese Natural History Museum, and has gained international recognition through illustrations she has produced for Postverk Føroya to use on many series of postage stamps.
Egil á Bø
Soccer Defender
Egil á Bø Zachariassen is a Faroese football defender who plays for EB/Streymur and the Faroe Islands national football team. Bø scored his first goal for the national team in a 3-1 defeat in Piatra Neamţ to Romania. Egil á Bø was previously known as Egil Zachariassen, he changed his family name a few years ago.
Andrew av Fløtum
Football player
Andrew av Fløtum is a Faroese football striker, currently playing for Faroe Islands Premier League Football team HB Tórshavn.