Portal:Biography

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  A page from the first edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, published in 1563
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  Third Volume of a 1727 edition of Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans printed by Jacob Tonson
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  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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  Gold dinar minted in Aleppo in the name of Salih ibn Mirdas and recognizing the suzerainty of Fatimid caliph az-Zahir, 1028/29 CE

  
  Abu Ali Salih ibn Mirdas (Arabic: ابو علي صالح بن مرداس, romanized: Abū ʿAlī Ṣāliḥ ibn Mirdās), also known by his laqab (honorific epithet) Asad al-Dawla ('Lion of the State'), was the founder of the Mirdasid dynasty and emir of Aleppo from 1025 until his death in May 1029. At its peak, his emirate (principality) encompassed much of the western Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia), northern Syria and several central Syrian towns. With occasional interruption, Salih's descendants ruled Aleppo for the next five decades.
  
  Salih launched his career in 1008, when he seized the Euphrates river fortress of al-Rahba. In 1012, he was imprisoned and tortured by the emir of Aleppo, Mansur ibn Lu'lu'. Two years later he escaped, capturing Mansur in battle and releasing him for numerous concessions, including half of Aleppo's revenues. This cemented Salih as the paramount emir of his tribe, the Banu Kilab, many of whose chieftains had died in Mansur's dungeons. With his Bedouin warriors, Salih captured a string of fortresses along the Euphrates, including Manbij and Raqqa, by 1022. He later formed an alliance with the Banu Kalb and Banu Tayy tribes and supported their struggle against the Fatimids of Egypt. During this tribal rebellion, Salih annexed the central Syrian towns of Homs, Baalbek and Sidon, before conquering Fatimid-held Aleppo in 1025, bringing "to success the plan which guided his [Banu Kilab] forebears for a century", according to historian Thierry Bianquis. (Full article...)
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  Rossini as a young man, c. 1810–1815

  
  
  Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity.
  
  Born in Pesaro to parents who were both musicians (his father a trumpeter, his mother a singer), Rossini began to compose by the age of twelve and was educated at music school in Bologna. His first opera was performed in Venice in 1810 when he was 18 years old. In 1815 he was engaged to write operas and manage theatres in Naples. In the period 1810–1823, he wrote 34 operas for the Italian stage that were performed in Venice, Milan, Ferrara, Naples and elsewhere; this productivity necessitated an almost formulaic approach for some components (such as overtures) and a certain amount of self-borrowing. During this period he produced his most popular works, including the comic operas L'italiana in Algeri, Il barbiere di Siviglia (known in English as The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola, which brought to a peak the opera buffa tradition he inherited from masters such as Domenico Cimarosa and Giovanni Paisiello. He also composed opera seria works such as Tancredi, Otello and Semiramide. All of these attracted admiration for their innovation in melody, harmonic and instrumental colour, and dramatic form. In 1824 he was contracted by the Opéra in Paris, for which he produced an opera to celebrate the coronation of Charles X, Il viaggio a Reims (later cannibalised for his first opera in French, Le comte Ory), revisions of two of his Italian operas, Le siège de Corinthe and Moïse, and in 1829 his last opera, Guillaume Tell. (Full article...)
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  Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, 1973

  
  Sumitro Djojohadikusumo (EVO: Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo; 29 May 1917 – 9 March 2001) was an Indonesian statesman and one of the country's most influential economists. He held ministerial positions under Presidents Sukarno and Suharto intermittently between 1950 and 1978. During his career in government, Sumitro served as Minister of Industry and Trade, Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Research in five different cabinets. He was also the Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Indonesia.
  
  Born into a Javanese family, he studied economics at the Netherlands School of Economics in Rotterdam in the Netherlands and remained there throughout World War II. Returning to Indonesia after the war, he was assigned to the country's diplomatic mission in the United States, where he sought to raise funds and garner international attention in the struggle against Dutch colonialism. After the handover of sovereignty as a result of the 1949 Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference, in which he took part, he joined the Socialist Party and became Minister for Trade and Industry in the Natsir Cabinet. He implemented the protectionist Benteng program, and developed an economic plan which aimed for national industrialization. Sumitro further served as finance minister in the cabinets of Prime Ministers Wilopo and Burhanuddin Harahap during the Sukarno era. During the 1950s, Sumitro favoured foreign investment, an unpopular position at that time which brought him into conflict with Nationalists and Communists. (Full article...)
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  Adams circa 1870

  
  Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams (November 1, 1814 – January 3, 1899) was an American baseball player and executive who is regarded by historians as an important figure in the sport's early years. For most of his career he was a member of the New York Knickerbockers. He first played for the New York Base Ball Club in 1840 and started his Knickerbockers career five years later, continuing to play for the club into his forties and to take part in inter-squad practice games and matches against opposing teams. Researchers have called Adams the creator of the shortstop position, which he used to field short throws from outfielders. In addition to his playing career, Adams manufactured baseballs and oversaw bat production; he also occasionally acted as an umpire.
  
  From 1847 to 1861, the Knickerbockers selected Adams as their president six times, and as a vice president, treasurer, or director in six other years. As president of the club, Adams was an advocate of rule changes in baseball that resulted in nine-man teams and nine-inning games. When the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP) was formed in 1858, he led the rules and regulations committee of the new organization. In his role, Adams ruled that the fields' bases should be 90 feet (27 m) apart, the modern distance, and supported the elimination of the "bound rule", which allowed for balls caught after one bounce to be recorded as outs. He resigned from his positions with the Knickerbockers and NABBP in 1862. Adams' contributions in creating baseball's rules went largely unrecognized for decades after his 1899 death, but in 1980 a letter about him appeared in The New York Times; by 1993, researcher John Thorn had written about Adams' role. Other historians have given him credit for helping to develop the sport, and Thorn has called Adams "first among the Fathers of Baseball". (Full article...)
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  Clarence 13X, also known as Allah the Father (born Clarence Edward Smith) (February 22, 1928 – June 13, 1969), was an American religious leader and the founder of the Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to as the Nation of Gods and Earths (NGE/NOGE). He was born in Virginia and moved to New York City as a young man, before serving in the United States Army during the Korean War. After returning to New York, he learned that his wife had joined the Nation of Islam (NOI). He followed her, taking the name Clarence 13X. He served in the group as a security officer, martial arts instructor, and student minister before leaving for an unclear reason in 1963. He enjoyed gambling, which was condemned by the NOI, and disagreed with their teachings that Wallace Fard Muhammad was a divine messenger.
  
  After leaving the NOI, Clarence 13X formed a new group with other former members. He concluded that all black men were divine and took the name Allah to symbolize this status. He rejected the belief in an invisible God, teaching that God could be found within each black man. In his view, women were "earths" that complemented and nurtured men. He believed that they should be submissive to men. He and a few assistants retained some NOI teachings and pioneered novel interpretations of them. They ascribed teachings to the meaning of letters and numerals: understanding the meaning of each letter and number was said to provide deep truths about God and the universe. Clarence 13X referred to his new movement as the Five Percenters, referencing a NOI teaching that only five percent of the population knew and promoted the truth about God. One way that he distinguished his group from his previous faith, was by rejecting dress codes or strict behavioral guidelines—he allowed the consumption of alcohol, and at times, the use of illegal drugs. (Full article...)
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  Meeker in 1921

  
  Ezra Morgan Meeker (December 29, 1830 – December 3, 1928) was an American pioneer who traveled the Oregon Trail by ox-drawn wagon as a young man, migrating from Iowa to the Pacific Coast. Later in life he worked to memorialize the Trail, repeatedly retracing the trip of his youth. Once known as the "Hop King of the World", he was the first mayor of Puyallup, Washington.
  
  Meeker was born in Butler County, Ohio, to Jacob and Phoebe Meeker. His family relocated to Indiana when he was a boy. He married Eliza Jane Sumner in 1851; the following year the couple, with their newborn son and Ezra's brother, set out for the Oregon Territory, where land could be claimed and settled on. Although they endured hardships on the Trail in the journey of nearly six months, the entire party survived the trek. Meeker and his family briefly stayed near Portland, then journeyed north to live in the Puget Sound region. They settled at what is now Puyallup in 1862, where Meeker grew hops for use in brewing beer. By 1887, his business had made him wealthy, and his wife built a large mansion for the family. In 1891, an infestation of hop aphids destroyed his crops and took much of his fortune. He later tried his hand at a number of ventures, and made four largely unsuccessful trips to the Klondike, taking groceries and hoping to profit from the gold rush. (Full article...)
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  Oppenheimer in 1944

  
  J. Robert Oppenheimer (born Julius Robert Oppenheimer; /ˈɒpənhaɪmər/ OP-ən-hy-mər; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist who served as the director of the Manhattan Project's Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II. He is often called the "father of the atomic bomb" for his role in overseeing the development of the first nuclear weapons.
  
  Born in New York City, Oppenheimer obtained a degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1925 and a doctorate in physics from the University of Göttingen in Germany in 1927, studying under Max Born. After research at other institutions, he joined the physics faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was made a full professor in 1936. Oppenheimer made significant contributions to physics in the fields of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics, including the Born–Oppenheimer approximation for molecular wave functions; work on the theory of positrons, quantum electrodynamics, and quantum field theory; and the Oppenheimer–Phillips process in nuclear fusion. With his students, he also made major contributions to astrophysics, including the theory of cosmic ray showers, and the theory of neutron stars and black holes. (Full article...)
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  Bizet photographed by Étienne Carjat (1875)

  
  
  
  Georges Bizet (né Alexandre César Léopold Bizet; 25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire.
  
  During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others. Restless for success, he began many theatrical projects during the 1860s, most of which were abandoned. Neither of his two operas that reached the stage in this time—Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth—were immediately successful. (Full article...)
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  Smith visiting the Artek pioneer camp in 1983

  
  Samantha Reed Smith (June 29, 1972 – August 25, 1985) was an American peace activist and child actress from Manchester, Maine, who became famous for her anti-war outreaches during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In 1982, Smith wrote a letter to the newly appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Yuri Andropov, and received a personal reply with an invitation to visit the Soviet Union, which she accepted.
  
  Smith attracted extensive media attention in both countries as a "Goodwill Ambassador", becoming known as America's Youngest Ambassador and subsequently participating in peacemaking activities in Japan. With the assistance of her father, Arthur (an academic), she wrote a book titled Journey to the Soviet Union, which chronicled her visit to the country. She later became a child actress, hosting a child-oriented special on the 1984 United States presidential election for The Disney Channel and playing a co-starring role in the television series Lime Street. Smith died at the age of 13 in 1985, onboard Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808, which crashed short of the runway on final approach to the Auburn/Lewiston Municipal Airport in Maine. (Full article...)
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  The Pixies performing in 2023. From left: Joey Santiago, Black Francis, Paz Lenchantin, David Lovering

  
  The Pixies are an American alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts formed in 1986 by Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals) and David Lovering (drums).
  
  The Pixies are associated with the 1990s alternative rock boom, and draw on elements including punk rock and surf rock. Their music is known for dynamic "loud-quiet-loud" shifts and song structures. Francis is the primary songwriter; his often surreal lyrics cover offbeat subjects such as extraterrestrials, incest, and biblical violence. Their jarring pop sound influenced acts such as Nirvana, Radiohead, Modest Mouse, the Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer. (Full article...)
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  Larson in 2018

  
  Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers (born October 1, 1989), known professionally as Brie Larson, is an American actress. She played supporting roles in comedies as a teenager, and has since expanded to leading roles in independent films and blockbusters. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.
  
  At age six, Larson was the youngest student admitted to a training program at the American Conservatory Theater, and she began her acting career in 1998 with a comedy sketch on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She appeared as a regular in the 2001 sitcom Raising Dad and briefly dabbled with a music career, releasing the album Finally Out of P.E. in 2005. She subsequently had supporting roles in the comedy films Hoot (2006), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), and 21 Jump Street (2012), and appeared as a sardonic teenager in the television series United States of Tara (2009–2011). (Full article...)
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  Marie Sophie Hingst (20 October 1987 – 17 July 2019) was a German historian and blogger who falsely claimed to be descended from Holocaust survivors. Born in Wittenberg to a Protestant family, she fabricated a Jewish background and sent documentation for 22 misrepresented or non-existent relatives, who she claimed were Holocaust victims, to the official Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem.
  
  Hingst maintained the blog Read On, My Dear, Read On, writing about her supposed Jewish background and identity, along with her experiences as a German expatriate in Ireland, where she moved in 2013. The blog received hundreds of thousands of views, and she was awarded "Blogger of the Year" in 2017 by Die Goldenen Blogger (The Golden Bloggers). (Full article...)
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  Queen Isabella receiving Christine de Pizan's Le Livre de la Cité des Dames, c. 1410–1414. Illumination on parchment, British Library

  
  Isabeau of Bavaria (or Isabelle; also Elisabeth of Bavaria-Ingolstadt; 28 April 1370 – 24 September 1435) was Queen of France as the wife of King Charles VI from 1385 to 1422. She was born into the House of Wittelsbach as the only daughter of Duke Stephen III of Bavaria-Ingolstadt and Taddea Visconti of Milan. At age 15 or 16, Isabella was sent to France to marry the young Charles VI; the couple wed three days after their first meeting. Isabella was honored in 1389 with a lavish coronation ceremony and entry into Paris.
  
  In 1392, Charles suffered the first attack of what was to become a lifelong and progressive mental illness, resulting in periodic withdrawal from government. The episodes occurred with increasing frequency, leaving a court both divided by political factions and steeped in social extravagances. A 1393 masque for one of Isabeau's ladies-in-waiting—an event later known as Bal des Ardents—ended in disaster with Charles almost burning to death. Although the King demanded Isabeau's removal from his presence during his illness, he consistently allowed her to act on his behalf. In this way she became regent to the Dauphin of France (heir apparent), and sat on the regency council, allowing her far more power than was usual for a medieval queen. (Full article...)
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  Hill in Stavanger 2015

  
  Carolynn Marie Hill (born January 3, 1961) is an American rock climber. Widely regarded as one of the leading competition climbers, traditional climbers (and particularly big wall climbers), sport climbers, and boulderers in the world during the late 1980s and early 1990s, she is famous for making the first free ascent of the difficult sheer rock face of The Nose on El Capitan in Yosemite Valley, and for repeating it the next year in less than 24 hours. She has been described as both one of the best female climbers in the world and one of the best climbers in the history of the sport. Hill was the first-ever female in history to redpoint a 5.12d (7c), 5.13a (7c+) and 5.14a (8b+) graded sport climbing route. Hill shaped rock climbing for women and became a public spokesperson, helping it gain wider popularity and arguing for sex equality. Hill has publicized climbing by appearing on television shows and documentaries and writing an autobiography, Climbing Free: My Life in the Vertical World.
  
  Hill was a gymnast early in life, nearly broke a world record lifting weights, and ran competitively. She took to climbing at a young age, showing a natural aptitude for the activity, and became a part of the climbing community in Southern California and Camp 4 in Yosemite Valley. She traveled around the United States during the early 1980s climbing increasingly difficult routes and setting records for first female ascents and for first ascents. From 1986 to 1992 Hill was one of the world's most accomplished competition climbers, winning over thirty international titles, including five victories at the Arco Rock Master. This coincided with the era when the leading female climbers caught up with the leading men. In 1992, Hill left competitive climbing and returned to traditional climbing. She set for herself the challenge of free climbing The Nose of El Capitan, her greatest climbing feat. Hill continues to climb and has not stopped taking on ambitious climbs. As of 2013, she was a sponsored athlete for the Patagonia gear and clothing company and owned a small business that offered climbing courses. (Full article...)
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  Wihtred (Latin: Wihtredus) (c. 670 – 23 April 725) was king of Kent from about 690 or 691 until his death. He was a son of Ecgberht I and a brother of Eadric. Wihtred ascended to the throne after a confused period in the 680s, which included a brief conquest of Kent by Cædwalla of Wessex, and subsequent dynastic conflicts. His immediate predecessor was Oswine, who was probably descended from Eadbald, though not through the same line as Wihtred. Shortly after the start of his reign, Wihtred issued a code of laws—the Law of Wihtred—that has been preserved in a manuscript known as the Textus Roffensis. The laws pay a great deal of attention to the rights of the Church (of the time period), including punishment for irregular marriages and for pagan worship. Wihtred's long reign had few incidents recorded in the annals of the day. He was succeeded in 725 by his sons, Æthelberht II, Eadberht I, and Alric. (Full article...)

Today anniversaries

Pre-1600

• 1343 – William I, Margrave of Meissen (d. 1407)
• 1498 – Andreas Osiander, German Protestant theologian (d. 1552)
• 1554 – Philip William, Prince of Orange (d. 1618)
• 1587 – Dorothea Sophia, Abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 1645)

1601–1900

• 1683 – Philip V of Spain (d. 1746)
• 1699 – William Bowyer, English printer (d. 1777)
• 1714 – John Winthrop, American astronomer and educator (d. 1779)
• 1778 – Marie Thérèse of France (d. 1851)
• 1796 – Manuel Bretón de los Herreros, Spanish poet, playwright, and critic (d. 1873)
• 1797 – Antoine Louis Dugès, French obstetrician and naturalist (d. 1838)
• 1817 – James J. Archer, American lawyer and general (d. 1864)
• 1820 – Mary Livermore, American journalist and activist (d. 1905)
• 1825 – George Frederick Bristow, American violinist and composer (d. 1898)
• 1831 – Bernice Pauahi Bishop, American philanthropist (d. 1884)
• 1849 – Henry Clay Frick, American businessman and financier (d. 1919)
• 1852 – Albert Abraham Michelson, Prussian-American physicist, chemist, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
• 1853 – Charles Fitzpatrick, Canadian lawyer and politician, 12th Lieutenant-Governor of Quebec (d. 1942)
• 1861 – Italo Svevo, Italian author and playwright (d. 1928)
• 1863 – Wallace Bryant, American archer (d. 1953)
• 1865 – Minnie Maddern Fiske, American actress and playwright (d. 1932)
• 1873 – Alphonse Kirchhoffer, French fencer (d. 1913)
• 1875 – Mileva Marić, Serbian physicist (d. 1948)
• 1875 – Carter G. Woodson, American historian and author, founded Black History Month (d. 1950)
• 1875 – Grace Marie Bareis, American mathematician (d. 1962)
• 1876 – Bernard Friedberg, Austrian-Israeli scholar and author (d. 1961)
• 1884 – Antonín Zápotocký, Czech politician, President of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (d. 1957)
• 1888 – Fritz Reiner, Hungarian-American conductor (d. 1963)
• 1891 – Edward Bernard Raczyński, Polish politician and diplomat, 4th President-in-exile of Poland (d. 1993)
• 1894 – Ford C. Frick, American journalist and businessman (d. 1978)
• 1895 – Ingeborg Refling Hagen, Norwegian author and educator (d. 1989)
• 1899 – Martin Luther King Sr., American pastor, missionary, and activist (d. 1984)

1901–present

• 1901 – Rudolf Hell, German engineer, invented the Hellschreiber (d. 2002)
• 1901 – Oliver La Farge, American anthropologist and author (d. 1963)
• 1901 – Fritz Mauruschat, German footballer and manager (d. 1974)
• 1902 – Ralph Richardson, English actor (d. 1983)
• 1903 – George Davis Snell, American geneticist and immunologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
• 1905 – Irving Kahn, American businessman (d. 2015)
• 1905 – Giovanni Lurani, Italian race car driver, engineer, and journalist (d. 1995)
• 1906 – Leonid Brezhnev, Ukrainian-Russian marshal, engineer, and politician, 4th Head of State of the Soviet Union (d. 1982)
• 1907 – Jimmy McLarnin, Irish-American boxer, actor, and golfer (d. 2004)
• 1909 – W. A. Criswell, American pastor and author (d. 2002)
• 1910 – Jean Genet, French novelist, playwright, and poet (d. 1986)
• 1914 – Mel Shaw, American animator and screenwriter (d. 2012)
• 1915 – Édith Piaf, French singer-songwriter and actress (d. 1963)
• 1915 – Claudia Testoni, Italian hurdler, sprinter, and long jumper (d. 1998)
• 1916 – Roy Ward Baker, English director and producer (d. 2010)
• 1916 – Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, German political scientist, journalist, and academic (d. 2010)
• 1918 – Professor Longhair, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1980)
• 1918 – Lee Rich, American producer and production manager (d. 2012)
• 1920 – Little Jimmy Dickens, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2015)
• 1920 – David Susskind, American talk show host and producer (d. 1987)
• 1922 – Eamonn Andrews, Irish radio and television host (d. 1987)
• 1923 – Robert V. Bruce, American historian and author (d. 2008)
• 1923 – Gordon Jackson, Scottish-English actor and singer (d. 1990)
• 1924 – Carlo Chiti, Italian engineer (d. 1994)
• 1924 – Doug Harvey, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1989)
• 1924 – Gary Morton, American comedian and producer (d. 1999)
• 1924 – Edmund Purdom, British-Italian actor (d. 2009)
• 1924 – Michel Tournier, French journalist and author (d. 2016)
• 1924 – Cicely Tyson, American actress (d. 2021)
• 1925 – Tankred Dorst, German author and playwright (d. 2017)
• 1925 – William Schutz, American psychologist and academic (d. 2002)
• 1925 – Robert B. Sherman, American songwriter and screenwriter (d. 2012)
• 1926 – Bobby Layne, American football player and coach (d. 1986)
• 1926 – Fikret Otyam, Turkish painter and journalist (d. 2015)
• 1927 – James Booth, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2005)
• 1928 – Eve Bunting, Irish-American author and academic (d. 2023)
• 1928 – Nathan Oliveira, American painter and sculptor (d. 2010)
• 1929 – Bob Brookmeyer, American trombonist, pianist, and composer (d. 2011)
• 1929 – Gregory Carroll, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2013)
• 1929 – David Douglas, 12th Marquess of Queensberry, Scottish potter
• 1929 – Howard Sackler, American playwright and screenwriter (d. 1982)
• 1930 – Knut Helle, Norwegian historian and professor (d. 2015)
• 1930 – Wally Olins, English businessman and academic (d. 2014)
• 1931 – Ginger Stanley, American model, actress and stunt woman (d. 2023)
• 1932 – Salvador Elizondo, Mexican author, poet, playwright, and critic (d. 2006)
• 1932 – Lola Hendricks, African American civil rights activist (d. 2013)
• 1932 – Wayne Tippit, American actor (d. 2009)
• 1933 – Kevan Gosper, Australian runner and politician (d. 2024)
• 1933 – Christopher Smout, Scottish historian and academic
• 1934 – Al Kaline, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2020)
• 1934 – Pratibha Patil, Indian lawyer and politician, 12th President of India
• 1934 – Casper R. Taylor, Jr., American lawyer and politician (d. 2023)
• 1935 – Tony Taylor, Cuban baseball player and coach (d. 2020)
• 1935 – Bobby Timmons, American pianist and composer (d. 1974)
• 1935 – Joanne Weaver, American baseball player (d. 2000)
• 1938 – Jay Arnette, American basketball player
• 1940 – Phil Ochs, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1976)
• 1941 – Lee Myung-bak, South Korean businessman and politician, 10th President of South Korea
• 1941 – Maurice White, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2016)
• 1942 – Cornell Dupree, American guitarist (d. 2011)
• 1942 – Gene Okerlund, American sports announcer (d. 2019)
• 1943 – James L. Jones, American general and politician, 22nd United States National Security Advisor
• 1943 – Elaine Joyce, American actress, singer, and dancer
• 1943 – Ross M. Lence, American political scientist and academic (d. 2006)
• 1944 – William Christie, American-French harpsichord player and conductor
• 1944 – Mitchell Feigenbaum, American physicist and mathematician (d. 2019)
• 1944 – Martin Hume Johnson, English physiologist and academic
• 1944 – Richard Leakey, Kenyan paleontologist and politician (d. 2022)
• 1944 – Alvin Lee, English singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2013)
• 1944 – Tim Reid, American actor and director
• 1944 – Steve Tyrell, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1944 – Zal Yanovsky, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2002)
• 1945 – John McEuen, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1946 – Rosemary Conley, English businesswoman, author, and broadcaster
• 1946 – Robert Urich, American actor and producer (d. 2002)
• 1947 – Jimmy Bain, Scottish bass player and songwriter (d. 2016)
• 1948 – Ken Brown, Canadian ice hockey player and sportscaster (d. 2022)
• 1949 – Orna Berry, Israeli computer scientist and businesswoman
• 1949 – Claudia Kolb, American swimmer
• 1949 – Sebastian, Danish singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1949 – Lenny White, American musician
• 1950 – Eleanor J. Hill, American lawyer and diplomat
• 1951 – Mohammad Reza Aref, Iranian engineer and politician, 2nd Vice President of Iran
• 1951 – Alan Rouse, English mountaineer and author (d. 1986)
• 1952 – Walter Murphy, American pianist and composer
• 1954 – Jeff Allam, English race car driver
• 1954 – Tim Parks, English author and translator
• 1955 – Lincoln Hall, Australian mountaineer and author (d. 2012)
• 1955 – Rob Portman, American lawyer and politician
• 1956 – Phil Harris, American captain and fisherman (d. 2010)
• 1956 – Tom Lawless, American baseball player and manager
• 1956 – Shane McEntee, Irish farmer and politician, Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (d. 2012)
• 1956 – Merzbow, Japanese noise musician
• 1957 – Cyril Collard, French actor, director, and composer (d. 1993)
• 1957 – Kevin McHale, American basketball player, coach, and manager
• 1958 – Steven Isserlis, English cellist and author
• 1958 – Limahl, English pop singer
• 1959 – Iván Vallejo, Ecuadorian mountaineer
• 1959 – Lisa Wilkinson, Australian television host and journalist
• 1960 – Derrick Jensen, American author and activist
• 1960 – Michelangelo Signorile, American journalist and author
• 1961 – Scott Cohen, American actor
• 1961 – Eric Allin Cornell, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1961 – Matthew Waterhouse, English actor and author
• 1961 – Reggie White, American football player and wrestler (d. 2004)
• 1962 – Gary Fleder, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1963 – Jennifer Beals, American model and actress
• 1963 – Til Schweiger, German actor, director, and producer
• 1964 – Béatrice Dalle, French actress
• 1964 – Lorie Kane, Canadian golfer
• 1964 – Randall McDaniel, American football player
• 1964 – Arvydas Sabonis, Lithuanian basketball player
• 1965 – Chito Martínez, Belizean-American baseball player
• 1966 – Chuckii Booker, American singer-songwriter and producer
• 1966 – Rajesh Chauhan, Indian cricketer
• 1966 – Robert MacNaughton, American actor
• 1966 – Alberto Tomba, Italian skier
• 1966 – Eric Weinrich, American ice hockey player and coach
• 1967 – Criss Angel, American magician
• 1967 – Charles Austin, American high jumper
• 1968 – Kristina Keneally, American-Australian politician, 42nd Premier of New South Wales
• 1968 – Ken Marino, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1969 – Michael Bates, American sprinter and football player
• 1969 – Tom Gugliotta, American basketball player
• 1969 – Richard Hammond, English journalist and producer
• 1969 – Nayan Mongia, Indian cricketer
• 1969 – Aziza Mustafa Zadeh, Azerbaijani composer, pianist, and singer
• 1969 – Kristy Swanson, American actress
• 1970 – Tyson Beckford, American model and actor
• 1970 – Robert Lang, Czech ice hockey player
• 1971 – Amy Locane, American actress
• 1971 – Karen Pickering, English swimmer
• 1972 – Rosa Blasi, American actress
• 1972 – Alyssa Milano, American actress, television personality, and activist
• 1972 – Warren Sapp, American football player and analyst
• 1973 – Michalis Grigoriou, Greek footballer and coach
• 1973 – Erick Wainaina, Kenyan runner
• 1973 – Zulfiya Zabirova, Russian cyclist
• 1973 – Takashi Sorimachi, Japanese actor and singer
• 1974 – Eduard Ivakdalam, Indonesian footballer
• 1974 – Joe Jurevicius, American football player
• 1974 – Felipe Lopez, Dominican-American basketball player
• 1974 – Jake Plummer, American football player and sportscaster
• 1974 – Ricky Ponting, Australian cricketer and sportscaster
• 1975 – Makis Belevonis, Greek footballer
• 1975 – Brandon Sanderson, American author and academic
• 1975 – Jeremy Soule, American composer
• 1975 – Olivier Tébily, Ivorian-French footballer
• 1975 – Dean Treister, Australian rugby league player
• 1977 – Jorge Garbajosa, Spanish basketball player
• 1977 – LaTasha Jenkins, American sprinter
• 1977 – Irina Voronina, Russian model
• 1978 – Patrick Casey, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
• 1979 – Kevin Devine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1979 – Rafael Soriano, Dominican baseball player
• 1980 – Jake Gyllenhaal, American actor and producer
• 1980 – Marla Sokoloff, American actress and musician
• 1981 – Grégory Dufer, Belgian footballer
• 1982 – Mo Williams, American basketball player
• 1983 – Nektarios Alexandrou, Cypriot footballer
• 1983 – Casey Crescenzo, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1983 – Bridget Phillipson, English politician
• 1983 – Laura Pomeroy, Canadian swimmer
• 1983 – Matt Stajan, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1984 – Ian Kennedy, American baseball player
• 1985 – Andrea Baldini, Italian fencer
• 1985 – Gary Cahill, English footballer
• 1985 – Neil Kilkenny, English-Australian footballer
• 1985 – Sally Kipyego, Kenyan runner
• 1985 – Dan Logan, English bass player
• 1985 – Lady Sovereign, English rapper
• 1986 – Calvin Andrew, English footballer
• 1986 – Ryan Babel, Dutch footballer
• 1986 – Ingrid Burley, American rapper and songwriter
• 1986 – Lazaros Christodoulopoulos, Greek footballer
• 1986 – Zuzana Hejnová, Czech hurdler
• 1986 – Miguel Lopes, Portuguese footballer
• 1986 – Annie Murphy, Canadian actress
• 1987 – Cédric Baseya, French-Congolese footballer
• 1987 – Karim Benzema, French footballer
• 1987 – Ronan Farrow, American activist, journalist, and lawyer
• 1988 – Alexis Sánchez, Chilean footballer
• 1988 – Peter Winn, English footballer
• 1989 – Yong Jun-hyung, South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper and producer
• 1989 – Michał Masłowski, Polish footballer
• 1989 – Kousei Miura, Japanese jockey
• 1989 – Hamza Riazuddin, English cricketer
• 1990 – Greg Bretz, American snowboarder
• 1990 – Torrey Craig, American basketball player
• 1991 – Steven Berghuis, Dutch footballer
• 1991 – Declan Galbraith, English singer-songwriter
• 1991 – Josh Huestis, American basketball player
• 1991 – Keiynan Lonsdale, Australian actor, singer-songwriter, and dancer
• 1991 – Sumire Uesaka, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1992 – Iker Muniain, Spanish footballer
• 1992 – Raphael Spiegel, Swiss footballer
• 1993 – Young K, South Korean singer-songwriter
• 1993 – Isiah Koech, Kenyan runner
• 1994 – Maudy Ayunda, Indonesian actress and singer-songwriter
• 1994 – M'Baye Niang, French footballer
• 1996 – Franck Kessié, Ivorian footballer
• 1997 – Gabriel Magalhães, Brazilian footballer
• 1997 – Fikayo Tomori, English footballer
• 1998 – King Princess, American singer-songwriter and musician (Full article...)

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