Portal:Biography

A page from the first edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, published in 1563
Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Cover of the first English publication, J. Parson's, London, 1793

A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of their life, including intimate details of experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality. (Full article...)

Featured biographies

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William Matthews (December 16, 1770 – April 30, 1854), occasionally spelled Mathews, was an American who became the fifth Roman Catholic priest ordained in the United States and the first such person born in British America. Born in the colonial Province of Maryland, he was briefly a novice in the Society of Jesus. After being ordained, he became influential in establishing Catholic parochial and educational institutions in Washington, D.C. He was the second pastor of St. Patrick's Church, serving for most of his life. He served as the sixth president of Georgetown College, later known as Georgetown University. Matthews acted as president of the Washington Catholic Seminary, which became Gonzaga College High School, and oversaw the continuity of the school during suppression by the church and financial insecurity.

Matthews was vicar apostolic and apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Philadelphia during a period of ecclesiastical turmoil. He was a co-founder and president of the Washington Library Company for thirteen years—the first public library in the District of Columbia. He also was co-director and trustee of the District of Columbia Public Schools, where he was one of the superintendents of a school. He played a significant role in the founding of Washington Visitation Academy for girls, St. Peter's Church on Capitol Hill, and the parish that now includes the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. Matthews was involved in Catholic charitable organizations as well; he was the founder and president of St. Vincent's Female Orphan Asylum and the co-founder and president of St. Joseph's Male Orphan Asylum. (Full article...)
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Vidya in 2024

Vidya Balan (pronounced [ʋɪd̪ːja baːlən]; born 1 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Known for pioneering a change in the portrayal of women in Hindi cinema with her roles in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including a National Film Award and seven Filmfare Awards. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2014.

Vidya aspired to a career in film from a young age and had her first acting role in the 1995 sitcom Hum Paanch. While pursuing a master's degree in sociology from the University of Mumbai, she made several unsuccessful attempts to start a career in film, and featured in television commercials and music videos. She made her film debut by starring in the Bengali film Bhalo Theko (2003) and received praise for her first Hindi film, the drama Parineeta (2005). This was followed by commercial successes in Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) and Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007), but her subsequent roles failed to propel her career forward. (Full article...)
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Ranariddh in 2006

Norodom Ranariddh (Khmer: នរោត្តម រណឫទ្ធិ; 2 January 1944 – 28 November 2021, UNGEGN: Nôroŭttâm Rôṇârœ̆ddhĭ, ALA-LC: Narottam Raṇaṛddhi [nɔroːɗɑm rĕəʔnaʔrɨt]) was a Cambodian politician and law academic. He was the second son of King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia and a half-brother of King Norodom Sihamoni. Ranariddh was the president of FUNCINPEC, a Cambodian royalist party. He was also the first Prime Minister of Cambodia following the restoration of the monarchy, serving between 1993 and 1997, and subsequently as the President of the National Assembly between 1998 and 2006.

Ranariddh was a graduate of the University of Provence and started his career as a law researcher and lecturer in France. In 1983, he joined FUNCINPEC and in 1986 became the chief of staff and commander-in-chief of Armée nationale sihanoukiste. Ranariddh became Secretary-General of FUNCINPEC in 1989, and its president in 1992. When FUNCINPEC won the 1993 Cambodian general election, it formed a coalition government with the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), which was jointly headed by two concurrently serving prime ministers. Ranariddh became the First Prime Minister of Cambodia while Hun Sen, who was from the CPP, became the Second Prime Minister. As the First Prime Minister, Ranariddh promoted business interests in Cambodia to leaders from regional countries and established the Cambodian Development Council (CDC). (Full article...)
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Solidus of Theodosius III. The inscription reads d n theodosius mul a.

Theodosius III (Greek: Θεοδόσιος, romanized: Theodósios) was Byzantine emperor from c. May 715 to 25 March 717. Before rising to power and seizing the throne of the Byzantine Empire, he was a tax collector in Adramyttium. In 715, the Byzantine navy and the troops of the Opsician Theme, one of the Byzantine provinces, revolted against Emperor Anastasius II (r. 713–715), acclaiming the reluctant Theodosius as emperor. Theodosius led his troops to Chrysopolis and then Constantinople, the capital, seizing the city in November 715. Anastasius did not surrender until several months later, accepting exile in a monastery in return for safety. Many themes viewed Theodosius to be a puppet of the troops of the Opsician Theme, and his legitimacy was denied by the Anatolics and the Armeniacs under their respective strategoi (generals) Leo the Isaurian and Artabasdos.

Leo declared himself emperor in the summer of 716 and allied himself with the Umayyad Caliphate, the Islamic empire; Theodosius sought aid from the Bulgarians under Khan Tervel (r. 700–721), setting a firm border at Thrace and ceding the Zagoria region to the Bulgarians, as well as stipulating the payment of tribute to them. Leo then marched his troops to Constantinople, seizing the city of Nicomedia, and capturing many officials, including Theodosius' son, also named Theodosius. With his son in captivity, Theodosius took the advice of Patriarch Germanus and the Byzantine Senate, and negotiated with Leo, agreeing to abdicate and recognize Leo as emperor. Leo entered Constantinople and definitively seized power on 25 March 717, allowing Theodosius and his son to retire to a monastery. Exactly when Theodosius died is uncertain, but it may have been on 24 July 754. (Full article...)
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Dan Leno in the 1880s

George Wild Galvin (20 December 1860 – 31 October 1904), better known by the stage name Dan Leno, was a leading English music hall comedian and musical theatre actor during the late Victorian era. He was best known, aside from his music hall act, for his dame roles in the annual pantomimes that were popular at London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, from 1888 to 1904.

Leno was born in St Pancras, London, and began to entertain as a child. In 1864, he joined his parents on stage in their music hall act, and he made his first solo appearance, aged nine, at the Britannia Music Hall in Coventry. As a youth, he was famous for his clog dancing, and in his teen years, he became the star of his family's act. He adopted the stage name Dan Leno and, in 1884, made his first performance under that name in London. As a solo artist, he became increasingly popular during the late 1880s and 1890s, when he was one of the highest-paid comedians in the world. He developed a music hall act of talking about life's mundane subjects, mixed with comic songs and surreal observations, and created a host of mostly working-class characters to illustrate his stories. In 1901, still at the peak of his career, he performed his "Huntsman" sketch for Edward VII at Sandringham. The monarch was so impressed that Leno became publicly known as "the king's jester". (Full article...)
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Eduard Anatolyevich Streltsov (Russian: Эдуа́рд Анато́льевич Стрельцо́в, IPA: [ɨdʊˈart ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲitɕ strʲɪlʲˈtsof] ; 21 July 1937 – 22 July 1990) was a Soviet footballer who played as a forward for Torpedo Moscow and the Soviet national team during the 1950s and 1960s. A powerful and skilful attacking player, he scored the fourth-highest number of goals for the Soviet Union and has been called "the greatest outfield player Russia has ever produced". He is sometimes dubbed "the Russian Pelé".

Born and raised in east Moscow, Streltsov joined Torpedo at the age of 16 in 1953 and made his international debut two years later. He was part of the squad that won the gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and came seventh in the 1957 Ballon d'Or. The following year, his promising career was interrupted by allegations of sexual assault shortly before the 1958 World Cup. Soviet authorities pledged he could still play if he admitted his guilt, after which he confessed, but was instead prosecuted and sentenced to twelve years of forced labour under the Gulag system (abolished in 1960 and replaced by prisons). The conviction was highly controversial, with many pointing to conflicts between Streltsov and government officials. (Full article...)
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Portrait c. 1550

John Calvin (/ˈkælvɪn/; Middle French: Jehan Cauvin; French: Jean Calvin [ʒɑ̃ kalvɛ̃]; 10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, including its doctrines of predestination and of God's absolute sovereignty in the salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation. Calvinist doctrines were influenced by and elaborated upon the Augustinian and other Christian traditions. Various Congregational, Reformed and Presbyterian churches, which look to Calvin as the chief expositor of their beliefs, have spread throughout the world.

Calvin was a tireless polemicist and apologetic writer who generated much controversy. He also exchanged cordial and supportive letters with many reformers, including Philipp Melanchthon and Heinrich Bullinger. In addition to his seminal Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin wrote commentaries on most books of the Bible, confessional documents, and various other theological treatises. (Full article...)
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Cover of the anonymous play, The True Tragedy of Richard III (1594), which was "to be sold by William Barley, at his shop in Newgate Market"

William Barley (1565?–1614) was an English bookseller and publisher. He completed an apprenticeship as a draper in 1587, but was soon working in the London book trade. As a freeman of the Drapers' Company, he was embroiled in a dispute between it and the Stationers' Company over the rights of drapers to function as publishers and booksellers. He found himself in legal tangles throughout his life.

Barley's role in Elizabethan music publishing has proved to be a contentious issue among scholars. The assessments of him range from "a man of energy, determination, and ambition", to "somewhat remarkable", to "surely to some extent a rather nefarious figure". His contemporaries harshly criticised the quality of two of the first works of music that he published, but he was also influential in his field. (Full article...)
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Kroeber in 1919

Theodora Kroeber (/ˈkroʊbər/ KROH-bər; née Theodora Covel Kracaw; March 24, 1897 – July 4, 1979) was an American writer and anthropologist, best known for her accounts of several Native Californian cultures. Born in Denver, Colorado, Kroeber grew up in the mining town of Telluride, and worked briefly as a nurse. She attended the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), for her undergraduate studies, graduating with a major in psychology in 1919, and received a master's degree from the same institution in 1920.

Married in 1920 and widowed in 1923, she began doctoral studies in anthropology at UC Berkeley. She met anthropologist Alfred Louis Kroeber during her studies, and married him in 1926. One of her two children with Kroeber was the writer Ursula K. Le Guin. The Kroebers traveled together to many of Alfred's field sites, including an archaeological dig in Peru, where Theodora worked cataloging specimens. On their return, Alfred encouraged Theodora to continue her graduate work, but she declined, feeling she had too many responsibilities. (Full article...)
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William Sterndale Bennett – engraving after a portrait by John Everett Millais, 1873

Sir William Sterndale Bennett (13 April 1816 – 1 February 1875) was an English composer, pianist, conductor and music educator. At the age of ten Bennett was admitted to the London Royal Academy of Music (RAM), where he remained for ten years. By the age of twenty, he had begun to make a reputation as a concert pianist, and his compositions received high praise. Among those impressed by Bennett was the German composer Felix Mendelssohn, who invited him to Leipzig. There Bennett became friendly with Robert Schumann, who shared Mendelssohn's admiration for his compositions. Bennett spent three winters composing and performing in Leipzig.

In 1837 Bennett began to teach at the RAM, with which he was associated for most of the rest of his life. For twenty years he taught there, later also teaching at Queen's College, London. Among his pupils during this period were Arthur Sullivan, Hubert Parry, and Tobias Matthay. Throughout the 1840s and 1850s he composed little, although he performed as a pianist and directed the Philharmonic Society for ten years. He also actively promoted concerts of chamber music. From 1848 onward, his career was punctuated by antagonism between himself and the conductor Michael Costa. (Full article...)
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Drake in 1969

Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridge. His debut album, Five Leaves Left, was released in 1969, and was followed by two more albums, Bryter Layter (1971) and Pink Moon (1972). While Drake did not reach a wide audience during his brief lifetime, his music found critical acclaim and he gradually received wider recognition following his death.

Drake suffered from depression and was reluctant to perform in front of live audiences. Upon completion of Pink Moon, he withdrew from both performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. On 25 November 1974, Drake was found dead at the age of 26 due to an overdose of antidepressants. (Full article...)
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Pen-and-ink portrait of Reed, c. 1880

Talbot Baines Reed (3 April 1852 – 28 November 1893) was an English writer of boys' fiction who established a genre of school stories that endured into the mid-20th century. Among his best-known work is The Fifth Form at St. Dominic's. He was a regular and prolific contributor to The Boy's Own Paper (B.O.P.), in which most of his fiction first appeared. Through his family's business, Reed became a prominent typefounder, and wrote a standard work on the subject: History of the Old English Letter Foundries.

Reed's father, Charles Reed, was a successful London printer who later became a Member of Parliament (MP). Talbot attended the City of London School before leaving at 17 to join the family business in Fann Street. His literary career began in 1879, when the B.O.P. was launched. The family were staunchly Christian, pillars of the Congregational Church, and were heavily involved in charitable works. However, Reed did not use his writing as a vehicle for moralising, and was dismissive of those early school story writers who did, such as Dean Farrar. Reed's affinity with boys, his instinctive understanding of their standpoint in life and his gift for creating believable characters, ensured that his popularity survived through several generations. He was widely imitated by other writers in the school story genre. (Full article...)
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Portrait by Peter Lely, 1648–49

Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale (née Murray; 28 September 1626 – 5 June 1698) was a Scottish peeress. She was the eldest daughter of William Murray and his wife Catherine, the Earl and Countess of Dysart. She was raised in English court circles during the years leading up to the English Civil War and received a well-rounded education from her parents. Her first husband was Lionel Tollemache, with whom she had eleven children. In 1672, three years after Lionel's death, she married John Maitland and gained a prominent position in the restored court.

After her father's death, Maitland held the title of Countess of Dysart in her own right. After her remarriage in 1672, she was also the Duchess of Lauderdale. She was famous for the political influence she exercised and for her support for Charles II during his exile. As an associate of the secret Royalist organisation known as the Sealed Knot, she actively supported the return of the monarchy after the execution of Charles I. She was also a lifelong patron of artists, particularly Peter Lely. She died at the age of 71 at her family home, Ham House near Richmond by the Thames, and is buried in the nearby parish church. (Full article...)
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Silhouette profile portrait of Blackburne, published 1854

Anna Blackburne (baptised Anne Blackburne; bapt.Tooltip baptised 3 January 1726 – 30 December 1793) was an English botanist, naturalist, and collector who assembled an extensive collection of natural history specimens and corresponded with several notable naturalists of her era. Blackburne was born at Orford Hall, Orford, Warrington, Lancashire, into a family of landowners and merchants. After her mother's death, she lived at Orford with her father John Blackburne, who was known for his interest in botany and his hothouses for exotic plants. John Blackburne also had an extensive library where Anne probably studied botany; she later taught herself Latin so she could read the Systema Naturae of Carl Linnaeus. She developed a natural history museum where she collected insects, shells, minerals and birds. She regularly met with the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster while he was teaching at Warrington Academy. Forster instructed her in entomology and helped with her insect collection.

Blackburne corresponded with other naturalists including Linnaeus, to whom she sent a box of birds and insects. Her brother Ashton, who lived in New York, sent her specimens of North American birds. The Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant studied these bird specimens and included them in his book Arctic Zoology. After her father's death, Blackburne and her museum moved to nearby Fairfield Hall. When she died in 1793, her nephew John Blackburne inherited the collection. Several species are named after Blackburne, including the beetle Geotrupes blackburnii, the Blackburnian warbler and the flowering plant Blackburnia pinnata, now called Zanthoxylum pinnatum. (Full article...)
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Self-Portrait, c.1887, Art Institute of Chicago

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləɱ vɑŋ ˈɣɔx] ; 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterised by bold colours and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was beginning to gain critical attention before he died from a self-inflicted gunshot at age 37. During his lifetime, only one of Van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.

Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet and thoughtful, but showed signs of mental instability. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a missionary in southern Belgium. Later he drifted into ill-health and solitude. He was keenly aware of modernist trends in art and, while back with his parents, took up painting in 1881. His younger brother, Theo, supported him financially, and the two of them maintained a long correspondence. (Full article...)

Today anniversaries

Pre-1600

968 – Minamoto no Yorinobu, Japanese samurai (d. 1048)
1401 – Masaccio, Italian painter (d. 1428)
1468 – William Conyers, 1st Baron Conyers, English baron (d. 1524)
1505 – Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, English politician (d. 1550)
1538 – Luigi d'Este, Catholic cardinal (d. 1586)
1542 – Thomas Allen, English mathematician and astrologer (d. 1632)
1550 – Man Singh I, Mughal noble (d. 1614)
1596 – Peter Mohyla, Ruthenian Orthodox metropolitan and saint (d. 1646)

1601–1900

1603 – Roger Williams, English minister, theologian, and politician, 9th President of the Colony of Rhode Island (d. 1684)
1615 – Benedict Arnold, Rhode Island colonial governor (d. 1678)
1672 – Benjamin Schmolck, German pastor and composer (d. 1737)
1714 – John Bradstreet, Canadian-English general (d. 1774)
1728 – Hermann Raupach, German harpsichord player and composer (d. 1778)
1778 – Anders Sandøe Ørsted, Danish jurist and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1860)
1795 – Jack Russell, English priest, hunter, and dog breeder (d. 1883)
1795 – Leopold von Ranke, German historian, author, and academic (d. 1886)
1803 – Achille Vianelli, Italian painter and academic (d. 1894)
1804 – Benjamin Disraeli, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1881)
1805 – Thomas Graham, Scottish chemist and academic (d. 1869)
1811 – Archibald Tait, Scottish-English archbishop (d. 1882)
1815 – Thomas Couture, French painter and educator (d. 1879)
1820 – William H. Osborn, American businessman (d. 1894)
1830 – Bartolomé Masó, Cuban soldier and politician (d. 1907)
1832 – John H. Ketcham, American general and politician (d. 1906)
1840 – Ernest de Munck, Belgian cellist and composer (d. 1915)
1840 – Namık Kemal, Turkish journalist, playwright, and activist (d. 1888)
1843 – Thomas Bracken, Irish-New Zealander journalist, poet, and politician (d. 1898)
1850 – Zdeněk Fibich, Czech composer and poet (d. 1900)
1851 – Thomas Chipman McRae, American lawyer and politician, 26th Governor of Arkansas (d. 1929)
1857 – Joseph Carruthers, Australian politician, 16th Premier of New South Wales (d. 1932)
1859 – Gustave Kahn, French poet and critic (d. 1936)
1866 – Maud Gonne, Irish nationalist and political activist (d. 1953)
1868 – George W. Fuller, American chemist and engineer (d. 1934)
1872 – Trevor Kincaid, Canadian-American zoologist and academic (d. 1970)
1872 – Lorenzo Perosi, Italian priest and composer (d. 1956)
1872 – Albert Payson Terhune, American journalist and author (d. 1942)
1876 – Jack Lang, Australian lawyer and politician, 23rd Premier of New South Wales (d. 1975)
1877 – Jaan Sarv, Estonian mathematician and scholar (d. 1954)
1878 – Jan Łukasiewicz, Polish-Irish mathematician and philosopher (d. 1956)
1884 – María Cadilla, Puerto Rican writer, educator, women's rights activist (d. 1951)
1885 – Frank Patrick, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1960)
1888 – Jean Bouin, French runner and rugby player (d. 1914)
1889 – Sewall Wright, American geneticist and biologist (d. 1988)
1890 – Hermann Joseph Muller, American geneticist and biologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
1891 – John William McCormack, American lawyer and politician, 53rd Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1980)
1892 – Walter Hagen, American golfer (d. 1969)
1892 – Rebecca West, English journalist and author (d. 1983)
1896 – Konstantin Rokossovsky, Marshal of the Soviet Union during World War II (d. 1968)
1900 – Luis Arturo González López, Guatemalan supreme court judge and briefly acting president (d. 1965)

1901–present

1905 – Käte Fenchel, German mathematician (d. 1983)
1905 – Anthony Powell, English author (d. 2000)
1909 – Seichō Matsumoto, Japanese journalist and author (d. 1992)
1911 – Josh Gibson, American baseball player (d. 1947)
1913 – Arnold Friberg, American illustrator and painter (d. 2010)
1914 – Frank Fenner, Australian microbiologist and virologist (d. 2010)
1917 – Heinrich Böll, German novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
1918 – Donald Regan, American colonel and politician, 11th White House Chief of Staff (d. 2003)
1918 – Kurt Waldheim, Austrian colonel and politician; 9th President of Austria (d. 2007)
1919 – Doug Young, American voice actor (d. 2018)
1920 – Alicia Alonso, Cuban ballerina and choreographer, founded the Cuban National Ballet (d. 2019)
1920 – Adele Goldstine, American computer programmer (d. 1964)
1922 – Itubwa Amram, Nauruan pastor and politician (d. 1989)
1922 – Cécile DeWitt-Morette, French mathematician and physicist (d. 2017)
1922 – Paul Winchell, American actor, voice artist, and ventriloquist (d. 2005)
1923 – Wat Misaka, American basketball player (d. 2019)
1926 – Arnošt Lustig, Czech author and playwright (d. 2011)
1926 – Joe Paterno, American football player and coach (d. 2012)
1930 – Phil Roman, American animator
1932 – U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian author, poet, and critic (d. 2014)
1932 – Edward Hoagland, American author and critic
1933 – Jackie Hendriks, Jamaican cricketer
1933 – Robert Worcester, American businessman and academic, founded MORI
1934 – Giuseppina Leone, Italian sprinter
1934 – Hanif Mohammad, Pakistani cricketer (d. 2016)
1935 – John G. Avildsen, American director, producer, and cinematographer (d. 2017)
1935 – Lorenzo Bandini, Italian racing driver (d. 1967)
1935 – Phil Donahue, American talk show host and producer (d. 2024)
1935 – Stela Popescu, Romanian actress (d. 2017)
1935 – Edward Schreyer, Canadian academic and politician, Governor General of Canada
1937 – Jane Fonda, American actress and activist
1938 – Larry Bryggman, American actor
1939 – Lloyd Axworthy, Canadian academic and politician, 2nd Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1939 – Wafic Saïd, Syrian-Saudi Arabian financier, businessman and philanthropist
1940 – Frank Zappa, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer and producer (d. 1993)
1942 – Hu Jintao, Chinese engineer and politician, 5th Paramount leader of China
1942 – Carla Thomas, American singer
1943 – Albert Lee, English guitarist and songwriter
1943 – Walter Spanghero, French rugby player
1944 – Michael Tilson Thomas, American pianist, composer, and conductor
1944 – Zheng Xiaoyu, Chinese diplomat (d. 2007)
1945 – Doug Walters, Australian cricketer
1946 – Roy Karch, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1946 – Carl Wilson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1998)
1947 – Paco de Lucía, Spanish guitarist, songwriter, and producer (d. 2014)
1948 – Barry Gordon, American actor and voice artist; longest-serving president of the Screen Actors Guild (1988–95)
1948 – Samuel L. Jackson, American actor and producer
1948 – Dave Kingman, American baseball player
1949 – Thomas Sankara, Burkinabé captain and politician, 5th President of Burkina Faso (d. 1987)
1949 – Nikolaos Sifounakis, Greek lawyer and politician
1950 – Jeffrey Katzenberg, American screenwriter and producer, co-founded DreamWorks Animation
1950 – Max Maven, American magician and mentalist (d. 2022)
1950 – Lillebjørn Nilsen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2024)
1951 – Steve Perryman, English footballer and manager
1952 – Joaquín Andújar, Dominican baseball player (d. 2015)
1952 – Dennis Boutsikaris, American actor
1952 – Steve Furniss, American swimmer
1953 – András Schiff, Hungarian-English pianist and conductor
1953 – Betty Wright, American singer-songwriter (d. 2020)
1954 – Chris Evert, American tennis player and coach
1955 – Jane Kaczmarek, American actress
1955 – Kazuyuki Sekiguchi, Japanese singer-songwriter and bass player
1956 – Dave Laut, American shot putter (d. 2009)
1957 – Ray Romano, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1957 – Tony Lewis, English singer and songwriter (d. 2020)
1958 – Tamara Bykova, Russian high jumper
1959 – Florence Griffith Joyner, American sprinter and actress (d. 1998)
1959 – Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Indian cricketer
1960 – Sherry Rehman, Pakistani journalist, politician, and diplomat, 25th Pakistan Ambassador to the United States
1961 – Ryuji Sasai, Japanese bass player and composer
1963 – Govinda, Indian actor, singer, and politician
1964 – Kunihiko Ikuhara, Japanese director and illustrator
1964 – Joe Kocur, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1965 – Glenn Coleman, Australian rugby league player
1965 – Andy Dick, American actor and comedian
1965 – Anke Engelke, Canadian-German actress, director, and screenwriter
1966 – Michelle Hurd, American actress
1966 – William Ruto, 5th President of Kenya
1966 – Kiefer Sutherland, British-Canadian actor, director, and producer
1967 – Terry Mills, American basketball player and coach
1967 – Mikheil Saakashvili, Georgian lawyer and politician, 3rd President of Georgia
1969 – Julie Delpy, French model, actress, director, and screenwriter
1969 – Mihails Zemļinskis, Latvian footballer, coach, and manager
1971 – Matthieu Chedid, French singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – Natalie Grant, American singer-songwriter and author
1972 – Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Indian Politician, 17th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh
1973 – Irakli Alasania, Georgian colonel and politician, Georgian Minister of Defense
1973 – Matías Almeyda, Argentine footballer and manager
1974 – Karrie Webb, Australian golfer
1975 – Paloma Herrera, Argentine ballerina
1977 – Buddy Carlyle, American baseball player
1977 – Corey Collymore, Barbadian cricketer
1977 – Leon MacDonald, New Zealand rugby player
1977 – Emmanuel Macron, French politician, 25th President of France
1977 – Freddy Sanchez, American baseball player
1978 – Emiliano Brembilla, Italian swimmer
1978 – Charles Dera, American pornographic actor, dancer, model, and mixed martial arts fighter
1978 – Shaun Morgan, South African musician, singer, and guitarist
1978 – Rutina Wesley, American actress
1979 – Steve Montador, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1981 – Marta Fernández, Spanish basketball player
1981 – Cristian Zaccardo, Italian footballer
1982 – Primo Colón, Puerto Rican wrestler
1982 – Philip Humber, American baseball player
1982 – Tom Payne, English actor
1983 – Taylor Teagarden, American baseball player
1983 – Steven Yeun, American actor
1985 – Tom Sturridge, English actor
1987 – Khris Davis, American baseball player
1988 – Danny Duffy, American baseball player
1988 – Perri Shakes-Drayton, English sprinter and hurdler
1989 – Mark Ingram II, American football player
1989 – Tamannaah, Indian actress
1991 – Nic Maddinson, Australian cricketer
1991 – Otis, American wrestler
1991 – Riccardo Saponara, Italian footballer
1992 – Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, American football player
1992 – Jamie Oleksiak, Canadian ice hockey player
1994 – Luke Brooks, Australian rugby league player
1996 – Ben Chilwell, English footballer
1996 – Kaitlyn Dever, American actress
1997 – Madelyn Cline, American actress and model
1997 – Charlie McAvoy, American ice hockey player
2002 – Clara Tauson, Danish tennis player
2006 – Cooper Flagg, American basketball player (Full article...)

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