Famous People Named Brian
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50 free Famous People Named Brian trivia questions with answers — pop culture quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Brian has been a name for kings, guitar heroes and cartoon dogs. Once you start looking, it turns up on album sleeves, film credits, team sheets and Nobel citations, and on some of the best-loved characters in film and television. This quiz rounds them up. Most questions hand you a clue and four Brians, so you have to tell the singer from the skater and the director from the news anchor. Others start with a well-known Brian, real or fictional, and ask what he did, who played him or what he created. It suits a themed pub quiz round, a birthday game for the Brian in your life, or anyone who likes general knowledge with a twist. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn something even when you guess wrong.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Queen guitarist Brian May completed a PhD in which science in 2007, having started the research back in 1971?
Astrophysics
Astrophysics had to wait while Queen conquered the charts. His famous guitar, the Red Special, was built at home with wood from an 18th-century fireplace.
Q 02Who voices Brian Griffin, the martini-loving talking dog in Family Guy, using his own normal speaking voice?
Seth MacFarlane
Seth MacFarlane created Family Guy and also voices Peter, Stewie and Quagmire, but Brian is the only one he plays in his everyday voice.
Q 03Which rock star founded HandMade Films to pay for Monty Python's Life of Brian after EMI pulled out?
George Harrison
George Harrison, the former Beatle, put up the money simply because he wanted to see the film, and he turns up in it briefly as Mr Papadopoulos.
Q 04Brian Wilson produced, arranged and mostly composed which landmark 1966 Beach Boys album, with lyricist Tony Asher?
Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds was made after he withdrew from touring, following a breakdown in late 1964, so that he could concentrate on writing and recording.
Q 05Which name is shared by the actor who played Logan Roy in Succession and a physicist who presents BBC science series?
Brian Cox
Brian Cox the actor was the screen's first Hannibal Lecter, in Manhunter. Brian Cox the physicist played keyboards for the pop group D:Ream before turning to science.
Q 06Which actor played Brian O'Conner, the undercover cop who befriends Dominic Toretto, in the Fast & Furious films?
Paul Walker
Paul Walker died partway through filming Furious 7, so his brothers Cody and Caleb stood in to help complete his remaining scenes.
Q 07Beatles manager Brian Epstein first saw the band play a lunchtime show in 1961 at which Liverpool venue?
The Cavern Club
The Cavern Club visit led him to offer to manage them within a month, and he soon talked the group into suits, ties and a synchronised bow.
Q 08Which shock rocker behind the album Antichrist Superstar was born Brian Hugh Warner in Canton, Ohio?
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson built the stage name from two opposite American icons: the film star Marilyn Monroe and the cult leader Charles Manson.
Q 09Brian Johnson, once of the Newcastle band Geordie, replaced the late Bon Scott in 1980 as singer of which group?
AC/DC
AC/DC put him straight to work on a comeback album recorded in the Bahamas, which went on to sell an estimated 50 million copies worldwide.
Q 10In John Hughes's The Breakfast Club, Anthony Michael Hall's character Brian is the detention student given which label?
The brain
The brain ends up writing the detention essay on behalf of the whole group. Rearrange the letters of Brian and you get his label.
Q 11Brian Jones, who drowned in his swimming pool at 27, founded and named which British blues-rock band in 1962?
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones dismissed him in June 1969, after Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had taken over the songwriting, and he died less than a month later.
Q 12Figure skater Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion, is hailed as a hero in a song from which cartoon's 1999 film?
South Park
South Park also drew him as a cartoon superhero. His real duel with rival Brian Orser at the Calgary Games was dubbed the Battle of the Brians.
Q 13Which instrument, reputedly once owned by High King Brian Boru, is the model for Ireland's coat of arms?
A harp
Q 21Brian Mulroney, who struck a free trade deal with Ronald Reagan's United States, was prime minister of which country?
Canada
Canada saw the agreement grow into NAFTA once Mexico joined. In nine years in power he also brought in the goods and services tax.
Q 22Brian Austin Green, later married to Megan Fox, played David Silver throughout the 1990s on which teen drama?
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 cast him because producer Aaron Spelling thought the teenager and the character had such similar personalities.
Q 23Singer Brian Littrell and his cousin Kevin Richardson both found fame in the 1990s as members of which boy band?
Backstreet Boys
A harp at Trinity College Dublin carries his name, although it was made some four centuries after he died. It is also the model for the Guinness trade mark.
Q 14Brian Lara made Test cricket's first score of 400 in 2004, batting against England for which team?
West Indies
West Indies fans had already seen the Trinidadian set the first-class record too: 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham in 1994.
Q 15Brian De Palma, director of Carrie and The Untouchables, made which 1983 gangster film about Tony Montana?
Scarface
Scarface is counted among his cult classics, while his biggest commercial hit was the first Mission: Impossible film, which started a long franchise.
Q 16In Gary Paulsen's novel Hatchet, teenager Brian Robeson must survive alone in the wilderness after which disaster?
A plane crash
A plane crash leaves the 13-year-old beside a remote lake after his pilot dies of a heart attack in mid-flight. The book was a Newbery Honor winner.
Q 17Brian Baumgartner played accountant Kevin Malone for nine seasons in which workplace sitcom?
The Office
The Office brought him two Screen Actors Guild Awards with the rest of the cast, and he later hosted two podcasts looking back on the series.
Q 18Which actor played Brian Flanagan, a business student who takes up bartending to pay his way, in the film Cocktail?
Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise had one of the highest-grossing films of 1988 with it, even though critics panned the film and it won the Golden Raspberry for Worst Picture.
Q 19Brian Clough, sacked by Leeds United after only 44 days, went on to win two European Cups managing which English club?
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest were in the Second Division when he arrived. He had already made Derby County champions of England for the first time in their history.
Q 20Brian Williams was suspended in 2015 over an embellished Iraq War story while anchoring which network's Nightly News?
NBC
NBC took him off the flagship broadcast for good and moved him to its cable channel, where he went on to host the late-night politics show The 11th Hour.
Backstreet Boys fame took both cousins a long way from Lexington, and in 2015 they entered the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame together.
Q 24The TV film Brian's Song tells of dying NFL running back Brian Piccolo's friendship with which teammate?
Gale Sayers
Gale Sayers and Piccolo became the first interracial roommates in NFL history. Piccolo, played in the 1971 film by James Caan, died of cancer at 26.
Q 25Brian Henson, son of Kermit the Frog's creator Jim Henson, made his feature directing debut with which 1992 film?
The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Muppet Christmas Carol was the first film in the series made after his father died, and it is dedicated to him. Michael Caine plays Scrooge.
Q 26Producer Brian Grazer founded Imagine Entertainment in 1985 with which director of Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind?
Ron Howard
Ron Howard and Grazer started the company after the success of their mermaid comedy Splash, and in 2002 they shared the Oscar for Best Picture.
Q 27Brian Selznick's illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret was filmed as Hugo in 2011 by which director?
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese made it his first film shot in 3D. The book had already become the first novel to win the Caldecott Medal, a prize for picture books.
Q 28Brian O'Driscoll captained Ireland in 2009 to a first Grand Slam in 61 years in which rugby union tournament?
Six Nations
Six Nations success capped a career that brought him 46 tries for his country, a national record, and 141 Test caps in all.
Q 29Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher spent all 13 of his NFL seasons with which team?
Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears fans watched him win a Rookie of the Year award after going ninth in the 2000 draft, then Defensive Player of the Year in 2005.
Q 30In the children's TV series The Magic Roundabout, Dougal is a dog and Ermintrude a cow, but what is Brian?
A snail
A snail in the English version, he was called Ambroise in the French original. The rabbit of the group is Dylan, a guitar-playing hippy.