My favorite figures, historical and present are mostly visual artists, people who are sadly not important to Wikipedia at this point in time.
As painter, illustrator, graphic designer, and programmer by trade, my primary professions all fall into these fields in some way or another, so conflict of interest considered I shouldn't be adding any pages in this area anyway.
Secondary enthusiasms partain mostly to archaeology, anthropology, biology, astronomy, exploration, authors and people who I feel, aside from artists, have contributed the most to history and humanity in general.
I am a collector and avid reader of magazines - primarily National Geographic, Discover, Omni, Scientific American, Popular Science and Popular Mechanics since their earliest dates. As for post-1800's literature, my dislike for popular culture and lack of patience for recreational reading means that I tend to know more about the authors and the historical effects or social implications of their writings, than the actual writings themselves.
In those fields, I may be of some use, for as long as said categories are not sacrificed to make room for more sports players, pro wrestlers, one hit wonders, video game characters, livejournal debates, corporate entities, or just about any fool who makes videos of themselves for youtube, all of which are apparently essential to an encyclopedia.
Admittedly, I mostly use Wikipedia for looking up pop culture references, though I would hope to see it become something more as time progresses.
For now I am just seeing how things work, and keeping this account open just for that rare case where I might see something in need of an edit; I will probably not be creating any entries anytime soon, as I feel the need to log some hours in the sandbox and familiarize myself with Wikipedia policies and guidelines before trying to do so again.