-
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
-
Catherine Zeta-Jones (/ˈziːtə/; born 25 September 1969) is a Welsh actress. Recognised for her versatility, she has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and a Tony Award. In 2010, she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her film and humanitarian work.
Born and raised in Swansea, Zeta-Jones aspired to be an actress from a young age. As a child, she played roles in the West End productions of the musicals Annie and Bugsy Malone. She studied musical theatre at the Arts Educational Schools, London, and made her stage breakthrough with a leading role in a 1987 production of 42nd Street. Her screen debut came in the unsuccessful French-Italian film 1001 Nights (1990), and went on to find greater success as a regular in the British television series The Darling Buds of May (1991–1993). Dismayed at being typecast as the token pretty girl in British films, Zeta-Jones relocated to Los Angeles. She established herself in Hollywood with roles that highlighted her sex appeal, such as in the action film The Mask of Zorro (1998) and the heist film Entrapment (1999). (Full article...) -
A page from Israel the Grammarian's commonplace book, commenting on Porphyry's Isagoge
Israel the Grammarian (c. 895 – c. 965) was one of the leading European scholars of the mid-tenth century. In the 930s, he was at the court of King Æthelstan of England (r. 924–39). After Æthelstan's death, Israel successfully sought the patronage of Archbishop Rotbert of Trier and became tutor to Bruno, later the Archbishop of Cologne. In the late 940s Israel is recorded as a bishop, and at the end of his life he was a monk at the Benedictine monastery of Saint-Maximin in Trier.
Israel was an accomplished poet, a disciple of the ninth-century Irish philosopher John Scottus Eriugena and one of the few Western scholars of his time to understand Greek. He wrote theological and grammatical tracts, and commentaries on the works of other philosophers and theologians. (Full article...) -
Sir Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British and American filmmaker. Known for blockbusters with complex storytelling produced for Hollywood studios, he is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. Nolan's films have earned over $6.6 billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing film director. His accolades include two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and two British Academy Film Awards. Nolan was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2019, and received a knighthood in 2024 for his contributions to film.
Nolan developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. After studying English literature at University College London, he made several short films before his feature film debut with Following (1998). Nolan gained international recognition with his second film, Memento (2000), and transitioned into studio filmmaking with Insomnia (2002). He became a high-profile director with The Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012), and found further success with The Prestige (2006), Inception (2010), Interstellar (2014), and Dunkirk (2017). After the release of Tenet (2020), Nolan parted ways with longtime distributor Warner Bros. Pictures, and signed with Universal Pictures for the biographical thriller Oppenheimer (2023), which won him Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture. (Full article...) -
Air Vice Marshal William Lloyd Hely, CB, CBE, AFC (24 August 1909 – 20 May 1970) was a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in 1930 before transferring to the RAAF as a cadet pilot. Hely came to public attention in 1936–37, first when he crashed on a survey flight in the Northern Territory, and later when he undertook two successful missions to locate missing aircraft in the same vicinity. His rescue efforts earned him the Air Force Cross. After occupying staff positions during the early years of World War II, Hely was appointed Officer Commanding No. 72 Wing in Dutch New Guinea in May 1944. Later that year he formed No. 84 (Army Cooperation) Wing, commanding it during the Bougainville campaign until the end of the Pacific War.
Hely spent the immediate post-war period on the staff of RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne. From 1951 to 1953 he served as Air Officer Commanding (AOC) Western Area Command in Perth, after which he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was Deputy Chief of the Air Staff from 1953 to 1956, AOC Training Command from 1956 to 1957, and Head of the Australian Joint Services Staff in Washington, D.C. from 1957 to 1960. He then served as Air Member for Personnel (AMP) for six years, his tenure coinciding with a significant increase in manpower to meet commitments in South East Asia and the demands of a major re-equipment program. Having been promoted acting air vice marshal in 1953 (substantive in 1956), he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1964 for his service as AMP. He retired from the Air Force in 1966 and made his home in Canberra, where he died in 1970 at the age of sixty. (Full article...) -
Sudirman (Old Spelling: Soedirman; 24 January 1916 – 29 January 1950) was an Indonesian military officer and revolutionary during the Indonesian National Revolution and the first commander of the Indonesian National Armed Forces.
Born in Purbalingga, Dutch East Indies, Sudirman moved to Cilacap in 1916 and was raised by his uncle. A diligent student at a Muhammadiyah-run school, he became respected within the community for his devotion to Islam. After dropping out of teacher's college, in 1936 he began working as a teacher, and later headmaster, at a Muhammadiyah-run elementary school. After the Japanese occupied the Indies in 1942, Sudirman continued to teach, before joining the Japanese-sponsored Defenders of the Homeland (PETA) as a battalion commander in Banyumas in 1944. In this position he put down a rebellion by his fellow soldiers, but was later interned in Bogor. After Indonesia proclaimed its independence on 17 August 1945, Sudirman led a break-out then went to Jakarta to meet President Sukarno. Tasked with overseeing the surrender of Japanese soldiers in Banyumas, he established a division of the People's Safety Body there. On 12 November 1945, at an election to decide the military's commander-in-chief in Yogyakarta, Sudirman was chosen over Oerip Soemohardjo in a close vote. While waiting to be confirmed, Sudirman ordered an assault on British and Dutch forces in Ambarawa. The ensuing battle and British withdrawal strengthened Sudirman's popular support, and he was ultimately confirmed on 18 December. (Full article...) -
Adam Michael Goldstein (March 30, 1973 – August 28, 2009), known professionally as DJ AM, was an American DJ. Born in Philadelphia, Goldstein became interested in deejaying as a child after watching Herbie Hancock perform his 1983 single "Rockit". Goldstein developed a drug addiction as a teenager and was sent to the controversial rehabilitation center Straight, Incorporated. After he left the center, his drug problems became worse; he was addicted to crack cocaine for several years in his early twenties. After he attempted suicide in 1997, Goldstein became sober and later sponsored other addicts through Alcoholics Anonymous.
Goldstein began deejaying in clubs in Los Angeles and joined the band Crazy Town in 1999. He left the group in 2001 and focused on a career as a solo DJ. After he began dating Nicole Richie in 2003, his career skyrocketed. In 2006, he accepted a $1 million contract to perform weekly at Caesars Palace on the Las Vegas strip and was also charging upwards of $10,000 for private events. In 2008, Goldstein and Travis Barker formed the duo TRV$DJAM. Barker and Goldstein were the only two survivors of the 2008 South Carolina Learjet 60 crash, which killed the other four people on board. (Full article...) -
Baron Munchausen (/ˈmʌntʃaʊzən, ˈmʊntʃ-/; German: [ˈmʏnçˌhaʊzn̩]) is a fictional German nobleman created by the German writer Rudolf Erich Raspe in his 1785 book Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia. The character is loosely based on baron Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen.
Born in Bodenwerder, Hanover, the real-life Münchhausen fought for the Russian Empire during the Russo-Turkish War of 1735–1739. After retiring in 1760, he became a minor celebrity within German aristocratic circles for telling outrageous tall tales based on his military career. After hearing some of Münchhausen's stories, Raspe adapted them anonymously into literary form, first in German as ephemeral magazine pieces and then in English as the 1785 book, which was first published in Oxford by a bookseller named Smith. The book was soon translated into other European languages, including a German version expanded by the poet Gottfried August Bürger. The real-life Münchhausen was deeply upset at the development of a fictional character bearing his name, and threatened legal proceedings against the book's publisher. Perhaps fearing a libel suit, Raspe never acknowledged his authorship of the work, which was only established posthumously. (Full article...) -
Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English football player and coach. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich Town.
Robson's professional playing career as an inside forward spanned nearly 20 years, during which he played for three clubs: Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, and, briefly, Vancouver Royals. He also made 20 appearances for England, scoring four goals. After his playing career, he found success as both a club and international manager, winning league championships in both the Netherlands and Portugal, earning trophies in England and Spain, and taking England to the semi-finals of the 1990 FIFA World Cup, which remained the national team's best run in a World Cup since 1966 until they reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup. His last management role was as a mentor to the manager of the Republic of Ireland national team, while his final official club job was at boyhood club Newcastle United, whom he left in 2004. He held several managerial positions outside of England, most notably one year at Barcelona in 1996–97, as well as stints at PSV, Sporting CP and Porto. (Full article...) -
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin (born June 9, 1961) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. As a writer for stage, television, and film, Sorkin is recognized for his trademark fast-paced dialogue and extended monologues, complemented by frequent use of the storytelling technique called the "walk and talk". Sorkin has earned numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards, and three Golden Globes.
Sorkin rose to prominence as a writer-creator and showrunner of the television series Sports Night (1998–2000), The West Wing (1999–2006), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006–07), and The Newsroom (2012–14). He is also known for his work on Broadway including the plays A Few Good Men (1989), The Farnsworth Invention (2007), To Kill a Mockingbird (2018), and the revival of Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot (2023). (Full article...) -
Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
Milk was born and raised in New York. He acknowledged his homosexuality in adolescence but secretly pursued sexual relationships well into adulthood. The counterculture of the 1960s caused him to shed many of his conservative views about individual freedom and sexual expression. Milk moved to San Francisco in 1972 and opened a camera store. Although he held an assortment of jobs and frequently changed addresses, he settled in the Castro, a neighborhood that was experiencing a mass immigration of gay men and lesbians. He ran for city supervisor in 1973 but the existing gay political establishment resisted him. Milk's campaign was compared to theater due to his personality, earning media attention and votes, although not enough to be elected. He campaigned again in the next two supervisor elections, dubbing himself the "Mayor of Castro Street". The voter response caused him to also run for the California State Assembly. Due to his growing popularity, he led the gay rights movement in battles against anti-gay initiatives. Milk was elected city supervisor in 1977 after San Francisco began to choose neighborhood representatives rather than city-wide ones. During Milk's almost eleven months in office, he sponsored a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations, housing, and employment. The Supervisors passed the bill by a vote of 11–1, and Mayor George Moscone signed it into law. On November 27, 1978, Milk and Moscone were assassinated by Dan White, a disgruntled former city supervisor who cast the sole vote against Milk's bill. (Full article...) -
Chagatai Khan (Mongolian: ᠴᠠᠭᠠᠲᠠᠶ; c. 1184 – 1242) was a son of Genghis Khan and a prominent figure in the early Mongol Empire. The second son of Genghis's wife Börte, Chagatai was renowned for his masterful knowledge of Mongol custom and law, which he scrupulously obeyed, and his harsh temperament. Because Genghis felt that he was too inflexible in character, most notably never accepting the legitimacy of his elder brother Jochi, he excluded Chagatai from succession to the Mongol throne. He was nevertheless a key figure in ensuring the stability of the empire after Genghis's death and during the reign of his younger brother Ögedei Khan.
Chagatai held military commands alongside his brothers during the Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty in 1211 and the invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire in 1219. During the latter, he was appointed to a key role in organising logistics in addition to battlefield responsibilities, but was censured after feuding with Jochi during the Siege of Gurganj. After the campaign, Chagatai was granted large tracts of conquered land in Central Asia, which he ruled until his death. He quarrelled with civil officials such as Mahmud Yalavach over matters of jurisdiction and advised Ögedei on questions of rulership. Chagatai died shortly after Ögedei in 1242; his descendants would rule his territories as the eponymous Chagatai Khanate. (Full article...) -
Pedro Álvares Cabral (European Portuguese: [ˈpeðɾu ˈalvɐɾɨʃ kɐˈβɾal]; born Pedro Álvares de Gouveia; c. 1467 or 1468 – c. 1520) was a Portuguese nobleman, military commander, navigator and explorer regarded as the European discoverer of Brazil. He was the first human in history to ever be on four continents, uniting all of them in his famous voyage of 1500, where he also conducted the first substantial exploration of the northeast coast of South America and claimed it for Portugal. While details of Cabral's early life remain unclear, it is known that he came from a minor noble family and received a good education. He was appointed to head an expedition to India in 1500, following Vasco da Gama's newly opened route around Africa. The undertaking had the aim of returning with valuable spices and of establishing trade relations in India—bypassing the monopoly on the spice trade then in the hands of Arab, Turkish and Italian merchants. Although the previous expedition of Vasco da Gama to India, on its sea route, had recorded signs of land west of the southern Atlantic Ocean (in 1497), Cabral led the first known expedition to have touched four continents: Europe, Africa, America, and Asia.
His fleet of 13 ships sailed far into the western Atlantic Ocean, perhaps intentionally, and made landfall (April 1500) on what he initially assumed to be a large island. As the new land was within the Portuguese sphere according to the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, Cabral claimed it for the Portuguese Crown. He explored the coast, realizing that the large land mass was probably a continent, and dispatched a ship to notify King Manuel I of the new territory. The continent was South America, and the land he had claimed for Portugal later came to be known as Brazil. The fleet reprovisioned and then turned eastward to resume the journey to India. (Full article...) -
Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan (born October 3, 1951) is an American geologist, oceanographer, and former NASA astronaut and US Navy officer. She was a crew member on three Space Shuttle missions.
A graduate of University of California, Santa Cruz, in the United States, and Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada—where she earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in geology in 1978—Sullivan was selected as one of the six women among the 35 astronaut candidate in NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first group to include women. During her training, she became the first woman to be certified to wear a United States Air Force pressure suit, and on July 1, 1979, she set an unofficial sustained American aviation altitude record for women. During her first mission, STS-41-G, Sullivan performed the first extra-vehicular activity (EVA) by an American woman. On her second, STS-31, she helped deploy the Hubble Space Telescope. On the third, STS-45, she served as Payload Commander on the first Spacelab mission dedicated to NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. (Full article...) -
Kurt Vonnegut (/ˈvɒnəɡət/ VON-ə-gət; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfiction works over fifty-plus years; further works have been published since his death.
Born and raised in Indianapolis, Vonnegut attended Cornell University, but withdrew in January 1943 and enlisted in the U.S. Army. As part of his training, he studied mechanical engineering at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee. He was then deployed to Europe to fight in World War II and was captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. He was interned in Dresden, where he survived the Allied bombing of the city in a meat locker of the slaughterhouse where he was imprisoned. After the war, he married Jane Marie Cox. He and his wife both attended the University of Chicago while he worked as a night reporter for the City News Bureau. (Full article...) -
John Barrymore (born John Sidney Blyth; February 14 or 15, 1882 – May 29, 1942) was an American actor on stage, screen, and radio. A member of the Drew and Barrymore theatrical families, he initially tried to avoid the stage, and briefly attempted a career as an artist, but appeared on stage together with his father Maurice in 1900, and then his sister Ethel the following year. He began his career in 1903 and first gained attention as a stage actor in light comedy, then high drama, culminating in productions of Justice (1916), Richard III (1920), and Hamlet (1922); his portrayal of Hamlet led to him being called the "greatest living American tragedian".
After a success as Hamlet in London in 1925, Barrymore left the stage for 14 years and instead focused entirely on films. In the silent film era, he was well received in such pictures as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920), Sherlock Holmes (1922) and The Sea Beast (1926). During this period, he gained his nickname, the Great Profile. His stage-trained voice proved an asset when sound films were introduced, and four of his works, Grand Hotel (1932), Dinner at Eight (1933), Twentieth Century (1934), and Midnight (1939), have been inducted into the National Film Registry. (Full article...)
Today anniversaries
Pre-1600
- 1259 – Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal and Urraca of Castile (d. 1321)
- 1337 – Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1383)
- 1475 – Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, last male member of the House of York (d. 1499)
- 1540 – Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton, English aristocrat and courtier (d. 1614)
- 1543 – Sharaf Khan Bidlisi, Emir of Bitlis (d. 1603)
- 1591 – Friedrich Spee, German poet and author (d. 1635)
1601–1900
- 1643 – Ahmed II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1695)
- 1663 – Peter Anthony Motteux, French-English author, playwright and translator (d. 1718)
- 1670 – Maria Margarethe Kirch, German astronomer and mathematician (d. 1720)
- 1682 – Giovanni Battista Morgagni, Italian anatomist and pathologist (d. 1771)
- 1707 – Carlo Goldoni, Italian playwright and composer (d. 1793)
- 1714 – René Nicolas Charles Augustin de Maupeou, French lawyer and politician, Lord Chancellor of France (d. 1792)
- 1728 – John Wood, the Younger, English architect, designed the Royal Crescent (d. 1782)
- 1752 – John Graves Simcoe, English-Canadian general and politician, 1st Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada (d. 1806)
- 1755 – François René Mallarmé, French lawyer and politician (d. 1835)
- 1778 – José de San Martín, Argentinian general and politician, 1st President of Peru (d. 1850)
- 1806 – Emma Catherine Embury, American author and poet (d. 1863)
- 1809 – John Hart, English-Australian politician, 10th Premier of South Australia (d. 1873)
- 1812 – Carl Christian Hall, Danish lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1888)
- 1816 – Giovanni Morelli, Italian historian and critic (d. 1891)
- 1833 – John St. John, American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Kansas (d. 1916)
- 1841 – Pierre-Auguste Renoir, French painter and sculptor (d. 1919)
- 1842 – Karl May, German author, poet, and playwright (d. 1912)
- 1845 – George Reid, Scottish-Australian lawyer and politician, 4th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1918)
- 1855 – Cesário Verde, Portuguese poet and author (d. 1886)
- 1856 – Karl Gotthard Lamprecht, German historian and academic (d. 1915)
- 1856 – Mathias Zdarsky, Czech-Austrian skier, painter, and sculptor (d. 1940)
- 1857 – Robert Bond, Canadian politician; first Prime Minister of Newfoundland (d. 1927)
- 1860 – William Ashley, English historian and academic (d. 1927)
- 1865 – Andranik, Armenian general (d. 1927)
- 1866 – Benedetto Croce, Italian philosopher and politician (d. 1952)
- 1869 – Phoebus Levene, Russian-American biochemist and physician (d. 1940)
- 1873 – Enrico Caruso, Italian-American tenor; the most popular operatic tenor of the early 20th century and the first great recording star. (d. 1921)
- 1877 – Erich von Hornbostel, Austrian musicologist and scholar (d. 1935)
- 1881 – William Z. Foster, American union leader and politician (d. 1961)
- 1881 – Alexei Rykov, Russian politician, Premier of Russia (d. 1938)
- 1883 – Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (d. 1981)
- 1885 – Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (d. 1969)
- 1888 – John Foster Dulles, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 52nd United States Secretary of State (d. 1959)
- 1890 – Myra Hess, English pianist and educator (d. 1965)
- 1894 – Meher Baba, Indian spiritual master (d. 1969)
- 1896 – Ida Noddack, German chemist and physicist (d. 1978)
- 1898 – William Astbury, physicist and molecular biologist (d. 1961)
1901–present
- 1901 – Vince Gair, Australian politician, 27th Premier of Queensland (d. 1980)
- 1901 – Zeppo Marx, American comedian and theatrical agent (d. 1979)
- 1903 – King Clancy, Canadian ice hockey player, referee, and coach (d. 1986)
- 1905 – Perry Miller, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1963)
- 1906 – Mary Coyle Chase, American journalist and playwright (d. 1981)
- 1907 – Sabahattin Ali, Turkish journalist, author, and poet (d. 1948)
- 1908 – Mary Locke Petermann, American cellular biochemist (d. 1975)
- 1908 – Frank G. Slaughter, American physician and author (d. 2001)
- 1910 – Millicent Fenwick, American journalist and politician (d. 1992)
- 1913 – Jim Backus, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1989)
- 1913 – Gert Fröbe, German actor (d. 1988)
- 1915 – S. Rajaratnam, Singaporean politician, 1st Senior Minister of Singapore (d. 2006)
- 1917 – Anthony Burgess, English author, playwright, and critic (d. 1993)
- 1918 – Bobby Riggs, American tennis player (d. 1995)
- 1919 – Monte Irvin, American baseball player and executive (d. 2016)
- 1920 – Philip Habib, American academic and diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (d. 1992)
- 1921 – Pierre Laporte, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician, Deputy Premier of Quebec (d. 1970)
- 1921 – Andy Pafko, American baseball player and manager (d. 2013)
- 1922 – Molly Reilly, Canadian aviator (d. 1980)
- 1924 – Hugh Huxley, English-American biologist and academic (d. 2013)
- 1925 – Lisa Kirk, American actress and singer (d. 1990)
- 1925 – Shehu Shagari, Nigerian politician, 6th President of Nigeria (d. 2018)
- 1926 – Masatoshi Gündüz Ikeda, Japanese-Turkish mathematician and academic (d. 2003)
- 1927 – Ralph Stanley, American singer and banjo player (d. 2016)
- 1928 – Paul Elvstrøm, Danish yachtsman (d. 2016)
- 1928 – Larry Gelbart, American author and screenwriter (d. 2009)
- 1928 – A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr., American civil rights advocate, historian, and judge (d. 1998)
- 1928 – Richard G. Stern, American author and academic (d. 2013)
- 1930 – Wendy Beckett, British nun and art critic (d. 2018)
- 1932 – Tony Brooks, English racing driver (d. 2022)
- 1932 – Faron Young, American country music singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1996)
- 1934 – Tony Lema, American golfer (d. 1966)
- 1935 – Tony Campolo, American sociologist and pastor (d. 2024)
- 1935 – Oktay Sinanoglu, Turkish physical chemist and molecular biophysicist (d. 2015)
- 1937 – Tom Courtenay, English actor
- 1937 – Bob Schieffer, American political author, journalist and TV interviewer
- 1938 – Diane Baker, American actress and producer
- 1938 – Herb Elliott, Australian athlete
- 1938 – Farokh Engineer, Indian cricketer
- 1940 – Ron Santo, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2010)
- 1941 – David Puttnam, English film producer and academic
- 1942 – Karen Grassle, American actress
- 1943 – George Harrison, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and film producer (d. 2001)
- 1944 – François Cevert, French racing driver (d. 1973)
- 1946 – Jean Todt, French racing driver and team manager
- 1947 – Lee Evans, American sprinter and athletics coach (d. 2021)
- 1949 – Ric Flair, American professional wrestler
- 1949 – Amin Maalouf, Lebanese-French journalist and author
- 1950 – Francisco Fernández Ochoa, Spanish skier (d. 2006)
- 1950 – Neil Jordan, Irish film director, screenwriter and author
- 1950 – Néstor Kirchner, Argentine politician; 51st President of Argentina (d. 2010)
- 1951 – Don Quarrie, Jamaican sprinter and coach
- 1952 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcyclist (d. 2000)
- 1953 – José María Aznar, Spanish politician; Prime Minister of Spain, 1996–2004
- 1953 – John Doe, American musician, singer-songwriter, actor, and poet
- 1957 – Raymond McCreesh, Irish Republican, hunger striker (d. 1981)
- 1957 – Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singaporean economist and politician; 5th Senior Minister and 9th President of Singapore
- 1958 – Kurt Rambis, Greek-American basketball player, coach, and executive
- 1962 – Birgit Fischer, German kayaker
- 1963 – Paul O'Neill, American baseball player and sportscaster
- 1965 – Carrot Top, American comedian
- 1965 – Veronica Webb, American model, actress, and writer
- 1966 – Alexis Denisof, American actor
- 1966 – Téa Leoni, American actress
- 1967 – Ed Balls, English politician; Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer
- 1968 – Lesley Boone, American actress and producer
- 1968 – Oumou Sangaré, Malian musician
- 1971 – Sean Astin, American actor, director and producer
- 1971 – Daniel Powter, Canadian singer-songwriter and musician
- 1973 – Anson Mount, American actor
- 1974 – Dominic Raab, English politician; First Secretary of State and Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
- 1975 – Chelsea Handler, American comedian, actress, author, and television host
- 1976 – Rashida Jones, American actress and writer
- 1976 – Samaki Walker, American basketball player
- 1979 – Napoleon Harris, American football player and politician
- 1980 – Kash Patel, American lawyer, former federal prosecutor and official
- 1981 – Park Ji-sung, South Korean footballer
- 1982 – Maria Kanellis, American professional wrestler, actress, and model
- 1982 – Flavia Pennetta, Italian tennis player
- 1982 – Anton Volchenkov, Russian ice hockey player
- 1985 – Joakim Noah, French-American basketball player
- 1986 – Justin Berfield, American actor, writer, and producer
- 1986 – Jameela Jamil, English actress and presenter
- 1986 – James Phelps, English actor
- 1986 – Oliver Phelps, English actor
- 1987 – Justin Abdelkader, American ice hockey player
- 1988 – Tom Marshall, English photo colouriser and artist
- 1988 – Gerald McCoy, American football player
- 1989 – Jimmer Fredette, American basketball player
- 1989 – Kana Hanazawa, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1989 – E'Twaun Moore, American basketball player
- 1990 – Félix Peña, Dominican baseball player
- 1992 – Joakim Nordström, Swedish ice hockey player
- 1992 – Jorge Soler, Cuban baseball player
- 1993 – Erick Fedde, American baseball player
- 1993 – Lukáš Sedlák, Czech ice hockey player
- 1994 – Fred VanVleet, American basketball player
- 1995 – Mario Hezonja, Croatian basketball player
- 1995 – Viktoriya Tomova, Bulgarian tennis player
- 1997 – Isabelle Fuhrman, American actress
- 1997 – Thon Maker, South Sudanese-Australian basketball player
- 1999 – Gianluigi Donnarumma, Italian footballer
- 1999 – Rocky, South Korean singer, dancer and songwriter
- 2000 – Bo Nix, American football player
- 2001 – Vernon Carey Jr., American basketball player
- 2003 – Brandin Podziemski, American basketball player
- 2005 – Noah Jupe, English actor (Full article...)
Get involved
- For editor resources and to collaborate with other editors on improving Wikipedia's Biography-related articles, see WikiProject Biography.
Featured articles
Did you know...
Featured pictures
- » subpages: artists and writers, business, entertainment, law, military, political, religious figures, royalty and nobility, science and engineering, sport, traditional dress, others
Categories
- » Categories: Category:Biography (genre), Category:People
Popular pages
- » subpages: Popular pages, Arts and entertainment, Military, Science and academia, Politics and government
Vital articles
- » subpages: Level 3 People Vital articles, Level 4 People Vital articles
- » subpages: Writers/journalists, Artists/musicians/composers, Entertainers/directors/producers/screenwriters, Philosophers/historians/social scientists, Religious figures, Politicians/leaders, Military leaders/revolutionaries/activists, Scientists/inventors/mathematicians, Sports figures, Miscellaneous
Discover Wikipedia using portals
