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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Edwin Porch Morrow (November 28, 1877 – June 15, 1935) was an American politician, who served as the 40th Governor of Kentucky from 1919 to 1923. He was the only Republican elected to this office between 1907 and 1927. He championed the typical Republican causes of his day, namely equal rights for African-Americans and the use of force to quell violence. Morrow had been schooled in his party's principles by his father, Thomas Z. Morrow, who was its candidate for governor in 1883, and his uncle, William O. Bradley, who was elected governor in 1895. Both men were founding members of the Republican Party in Kentucky.

After rendering non-combat service in the Spanish–American War, Morrow graduated from the University of Cincinnati Law School in 1902 and opened his practice in Lexington, Kentucky. He made a name for himself almost immediately by securing the acquittal of a black man charged with murder based on an extorted confession and perjured testimony. He was appointed U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky by President William Howard Taft in 1910 and served until he was removed from office in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson. In 1915, he ran for governor against his good friend, Augustus O. Stanley. Stanley won the election by 471 votes, making the 1915 contest the closest gubernatorial race in the state's history. (Full article...)
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Portrait by Rembrandt Peale

Benjamin Franklin Peale (born Aldrovand Peale; October 15, 1795 – May 5, 1870) was an American officer of the Philadelphia Mint from 1833 to 1854. Although Peale introduced many innovations to the Mint of the United States, he was eventually dismissed amid allegations he had used his position for personal gain.

Peale was a son of painter Charles Willson Peale, and was born in the Philadelphia Museum, a museum of curiosities which his father ran in Philadelphia. For the most part, Franklin Peale's education was informal, though he took some classes at the University of Pennsylvania. He became adept in machine making. In 1820, he became an assistant to his father at the museum, and managed it after Charles Peale's death in 1827. (Full article...)
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The Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque in Homs, Syria

Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn al-Mughira al-Makhzumi (Arabic: خالد بن الوليد بن المغيرة المخزومي, romanized: Khālid ibn al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīra al-Makhzūmī; died 642) was a 7th-century Arab military commander. He initially led campaigns against Muhammad on behalf of the Quraysh. He later became a Muslim and spent the remainder of his career serving Muhammad and the first two Rashidun caliphs: Abu Bakr and Umar. Khalid played leading command roles in the Ridda Wars against rebel tribes in Arabia in 632–633, the initial campaigns in Sasanian Iraq in 633–634, and the conquest of Byzantine Syria in 634–638.

As a horseman of the Quraysh's aristocratic Banu Makhzum clan, which ardently opposed Muhammad, Khalid played an instrumental role in defeating Muhammad and his followers during the Battle of Uhud in 625. In 627 or 629, he converted to Islam in the presence of Muhammad, who inducted him as an official military commander among the Muslims and gave him the title of Sayf Allah (lit. 'Sword of God'). During the Battle of Mu'ta, Khalid coordinated the safe withdrawal of Muslim troops against the Byzantines. He also led the Bedouins under the Muslim army during the Muslim conquest of Mecca in 629–630 and the Battle of Hunayn in 630. After Muhammad's death, Khalid was appointed to Najd and al-Yamama to suppress or subjugate the Arab tribes opposed to the nascent Muslim state; this campaign culminated in Khalid's victory over rebel leaders Tulayha and Musaylima at the Battle of Buzakha in 632 and the Battle of Yamama in 633, respectively. (Full article...)
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King in around 1905

John Barton "Bart" King (October 19, 1873 – October 17, 1965) was an American cricketer, active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. King was part of the Philadelphia team that played from the end of the 19th century until the outbreak of World War I. This period of cricket in the United States was dominated by "gentlemen cricketers"—men of independent wealth who did not need to work. King, an amateur from a middle-class family, was able to devote time to cricket thanks to a job set up by his teammates.

A skilled batsman who proved his worth as a bowler, King set numerous records in the continent of North America during his career and led the first-class bowling averages in England in 1908. He successfully competed against the best cricketers from England and Australia. King was the dominant bowler on his team when it toured England in 1897, 1903, and 1908. He dismissed batsmen with his unique delivery, which he called the "angler", and helped develop the art of swing bowling in the sport. Sir Pelham Warner described Bart King as "one of the finest bowlers of all time", and Donald Bradman called him "America's greatest cricketing son." (Full article...)
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Gielgud as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, 1959

Sir Arthur John Gielgud (/ˈɡiːlɡʊd/ GHEEL-guud; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the British stage for much of the 20th century. A member of the Terry family theatrical dynasty, he gained his first paid acting work as a junior member of his cousin Phyllis Neilson-Terry's company in 1922. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), he worked in repertory theatre and in the West End before establishing himself at the Old Vic as an exponent of Shakespeare in 1929–31.

During the 1930s Gielgud was a stage star in the West End and on Broadway, appearing in new works and classics. He began a parallel career as a director, and set up his own company at the Queen's Theatre, London. He was regarded by many as the finest Hamlet of his era, and was also known for high comedy roles such as John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest. In the 1950s Gielgud feared that his career was threatened when he was convicted and fined for a homosexual offence, but his colleagues and the public supported him loyally. When avant-garde plays began to supersede traditional West End productions in the later 1950s he found no new suitable stage roles, and for several years he was best known in the theatre for his one-man Shakespeare show The Ages of Man. From the late 1960s he found new plays that suited him, by authors including Alan Bennett, David Storey and Harold Pinter. (Full article...)
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Adams in 2016

Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received various accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, and has been nominated for six Academy Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

Adams began her career as a dancer in dinner theater, which she pursued from 1994 to 1998, and made her film debut with a supporting part in the dark comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999). She made guest appearances in television and took on "mean girl" parts in low-budget feature films. Her first major role was in Steven Spielberg's biopic Catch Me If You Can (2002), but she was unemployed for a year afterward. Her breakthrough came when she portrayed a loquacious pregnant woman in the independent comedy-drama Junebug (2005), for which she received her first Academy Award nomination. (Full article...)
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Portrait of Offa on a silver penny struck during his reign
Legend: offa rex

Offa (died 29 July 796 AD) was King of Mercia, a kingdom of Anglo-Saxon England, from 757 until his death in 796. The son of Thingfrith and a descendant of Eowa, Offa came to the throne after a period of civil war following the assassination of Æthelbald. Offa defeated the other claimant, Beornred. In the early years of Offa's reign, it is likely that he consolidated his control of Midland peoples such as the Hwicce and the Magonsæte. Taking advantage of instability in the kingdom of Kent to establish himself as overlord, Offa also controlled Sussex by 771, though his authority did not remain unchallenged in either territory. In the 780s he extended Mercian Supremacy over most of southern England, allying with Beorhtric of Wessex, who married Offa's daughter Eadburh, and regained complete control of the southeast. He also became the overlord of East Anglia and had King Æthelberht II of East Anglia beheaded in 794, perhaps for rebelling against him.

Offa was a Christian king who came into conflict with the Church, particularly with Jænberht, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Offa persuaded Pope Adrian I to divide the archdiocese of Canterbury in two, creating a new archdiocese of Lichfield. This reduction in the power of Canterbury may have been motivated by Offa's desire to have an archbishop consecrate his son Ecgfrith as king, since it is possible Jænberht refused to perform the ceremony, which took place in 787. Offa had a dispute with the Bishop of Worcester, which was settled at the Council of Brentford in 781. (Full article...)
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Love in 2014

Courtney Michelle Love (née Harrison; born July 9, 1964) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, and actress. A figure in the alternative and grunge scenes of the 1990s, her career has spanned four decades. She rose to prominence as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989. Love has drawn public attention for her uninhibited live performances and confrontational lyrics, as well as her highly publicized personal life following her marriage to Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. In 2020, NME named her one of the most influential singers in alternative culture of the last 30 years.

Love had an itinerant childhood, but was primarily raised in Portland, Oregon, where she played in a series of short-lived bands and was active in the local punk scene. After briefly being in a juvenile hall, she spent a year living in Dublin and Liverpool before returning to the United States and pursuing an acting career. She appeared in supporting roles in the Alex Cox films Sid and Nancy (1986) and Straight to Hell (1987) before forming the band Hole in Los Angeles with guitarist Eric Erlandson. The group received critical acclaim from underground rock press for their 1991 debut album Pretty on the Inside, produced by Kim Gordon, while their second release, Live Through This (1994), was met with critical accolades and multi-platinum sales. In 1995, Love returned to acting, earning a Golden Globe Award nomination for her performance as Althea Leasure in Miloš Forman's The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), which established her as a mainstream actress. The following year, Hole's third album, Celebrity Skin (1998), was nominated for three Grammy Awards. (Full article...)
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Austin in 1933

Arthur Oswin Austin (December 28, 1879 – June 7, 1964) was an American electrical engineer and inventor. He is the inventor of the Austin transformer, a double-ring toroidal transformer used to supply power for lighting circuits on radio towers. Austin's research included improvements to radio transmission equipment and the effects of lightning on high-voltage transmission lines and aircraft. He was a fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and of the Institute of Radio Engineers, and was an expert in high-voltage insulators and fittings. His work on transmitting antennas included both military and civilian projects.

A native of California, Austin graduated from Leland Stanford University with a degree in electrical engineering. He lived for a few years in New York, where he worked for General Electric and the Lima Insulator Company, but spent most of his adult life in Ohio where he married, worked for the Ohio Brass Company and founded the Austin Insulator Company. He bought a large estate in Barberton, Ohio, lived in the mansion, and built an extensive outdoor electrical laboratory on the grounds. (Full article...)
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1926 portrait by Douglas Gordon Shields

Sir Charles Edward Inglis, (/ˈɪŋɡəlz/; 31 July 1875 – 19 April 1952) was a British civil engineer. The son of a medical doctor, he was educated at Cheltenham College and won a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge, where he would later forge a career as an academic. Inglis spent a two-year period with the engineering firm run by John Wolfe-Barry before he returned to King's College as a lecturer. Working with Professors James Alfred Ewing and Bertram Hopkinson, he made several important studies into the effects of vibration on structures and defects on the strength of plate steel.

Inglis served in the Royal Engineers during the First World War and invented the Inglis Bridge, a reusable steel bridging system – the precursor to the more famous Bailey bridge of the Second World War. In 1916 he was placed in charge of bridge design and supply at the War Office and, with Giffard Le Quesne Martel, pioneered the use of temporary bridges with tanks. Inglis retired from military service in 1919 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. He returned to Cambridge University after the war as a professor and head of the Engineering Department. Under his leadership, the department became the largest in the university and one of the best regarded engineering schools in the world. Inglis retired from the department in 1943. (Full article...)
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Floyd, 1980

George Floyd Jr. (born December 21, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive back for two seasons with the New York Jets in the National Football League. Growing up in Brooksville, Florida, Floyd attended Hernando High School, where he was selected for The Tampa Tribune's all-area football team in all three of his varsity years. Floyd played college football for the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) Colonels, and won the 1979 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-AA football championship.

Over his collegiate career, Floyd won numerous awards, including Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Athlete of the Year after the 1981 regular season, an award given to the best male overall athlete in the conference regardless of sport. Kodak and Associated Press named Floyd to their All-America teams in 1980 and 1981, honors given annually to the best college football players in the United States at their respective positions. (Full article...)
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Powderfinger performing "These Days" on the Across the Great Divide tour, September 2007, Sydney.

Left to right: Lachlan Doley (auxiliary musician), Jon Coghill, Darren Middleton, Bernard Fanning, John Collins (obscured), Ian Haug.

Powderfinger were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their break-up in 2010, the line-up consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bass guitarist John Collins and drummer Jon Coghill. The group's third studio album Internationalist peaked at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in September 1998. They followed with four more number-one studio albums in a row: Odyssey Number Five (September 2000), Vulture Street (July 2003), Dream Days at the Hotel Existence (June 2007) and Golden Rule (November 2009). Their top-ten hit singles are "My Happiness" (2000), "(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind" (2003) and "Lost and Running" (2007). Powderfinger earned a total of eighteen ARIA Awards, making them the second-most-awarded band, behind Silverchair. Ten Powderfinger albums and DVDs certified multiple-platinum, with Odyssey Number Five—their most successful album—achieving eightfold platinum certification for shipment of over 560,000 units.

After the release of their first DVD, These Days: Live in Concert (September 2004), and the compilation album Fingerprints: The Best of Powderfinger, 1994–2000 (November 2004), the group announced a hiatus in 2005. The June 2007 announcement of a two-month-long nationwide tour with Silverchair, Across the Great Divide tour, followed the release of Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. Powderfinger were also involved in various philanthropic causes. In 2005, they performed at a WaveAid concert in Sydney, to help raise funds for areas affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Another performance at the Sydney Opera House in October 2007 raised funds for breast cancer victims and their families. One aim of their Across the Great Divide Tour was to promote the efforts of Reconciliation Australia, and awareness of the gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. In April 2010, Powderfinger announced that they would be breaking up after their Sunsets Farewell Tour, declaring it would be their last, as they had musically said everything they wanted to say. On 13 November 2010, they played their last concert, signifying their disbandment. In November the following year, rock music journalist Dino Scatena and Powderfinger published a biography, Footprints: the inside story of Australia's best loved band. (Full article...)
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Sledd, c. 1933

Andrew Warren Sledd (November 7, 1870 – March 16, 1939) was an American theologian, university professor and university president. A native of Virginia, he was the son of a prominent Methodist minister, and was himself ordained as a minister after earning his bachelor's and master's degrees. He later earned a second master's degree and his doctorate.

After teaching for several years, Sledd was chosen to be the last president of the University of Florida at Lake City, from 1904 to 1905, and the first president of the modern University of Florida (first known as the "University of the State of Florida"), from 1905 to 1909. He was also president of Southern University from 1910 to 1914, and later became a professor and an influential biblical scholar at Emory University's Candler School of Theology from 1914 to 1939. (Full article...)
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McAdoo in 1946

Benjamin Franklin McAdoo Jr. (October 29, 1920 – June 18, 1981) was an American architect. McAdoo designed a number of residential, civic, and commercial structures in the Seattle area in a modernist aesthetic influenced by the Northwest Regional style. Born in Pasadena, California, he attended school in Southern California, where he was inspired by the work of Paul R. Williams and began to pursue architectural training. After working as a draftsman for local architectural firms and the Army Corps of Engineers, he pursued his Bachelor of Architecture at the University of Washington in Seattle, graduating in 1946. He became the first licensed African-American architect in the state of Washington, and after a brief period designing remodels and alterations, he began to receive commissions to design private residences.

Favorable coverage in The Seattle Times by architecture journalist Margery Phillips boosted his career. A residence designed by McAdoo in Burien was declared the "Home of the Year" by The Seattle Times in association with the American Institute of Architects. After designing a number of low-income houses and apartments throughout the 1950s, including around eighty of his single-family "Houses of Merit", he was hired by the Agency for International Development to design modular houses in Jamaica. He returned to the United States after eighteen months in Jamaica and briefly worked for the Department of State and the General Services Administration in Washington, D.C., where he aided Edward Durell Stone in designing the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He returned to Seattle in 1964, where he pursued public and civic architectural commissions. In addition to his architectural work, he participated in the NAACP, hosted a weekly radio show on racial issues for several years, and unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Washington House of Representatives. (Full article...)
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Alexis Bachelot, SS.CC., (born Jean-Augustin Bachelot; 22 February 1796 – 5 December 1837) was a Catholic priest best known for his tenure as the first Prefect Apostolic of the Sandwich Islands. In that role, he led the first permanent Catholic mission to the Kingdom of Hawaii. Bachelot was raised in France, where he attended the Irish College in Paris, and was ordained a priest in 1820. He led the first Catholic mission to Hawaii, arriving in 1827. Although he had expected the approval of then Hawaiian King Kamehameha II, he learned upon arrival that Kamehameha II had died and a new government that was hostile towards Catholic missionaries had been installed. Bachelot, however, was able to convert a small group of Hawaiians and quietly minister to them for four years before being deported in 1831 on the orders of Kaʻahumanu, the Kuhina Nui (a position similar to queen regent) of Hawaii.

Bachelot then traveled to California, where he served as an assistant minister while pastoring and teaching. In 1837, having learned of Queen Kaʻahumanu's death and King Kamehameha III's willingness to allow Catholic priests on the island, Bachelot returned to Hawaii, intending to continue his missionary work. However, by Bachelot's arrival, Kamehameha III had again changed his mind and Bachelot was removed from the island and confined to a ship for several months. He was freed only after the French and British navies imposed a naval blockade on the Honolulu harbor. Although he was later able to secure passage on a ship to Micronesia, he died en route and was buried on an islet near Pohnpei. His treatment in Hawaii prompted the government of France to dispatch a frigate to the island; the resulting intervention is known as the French Incident and led to the emancipation of Catholics in Hawaii. (Full article...)

Today anniversaries

Pre-1600

1194 – Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1250)
1446 – Charles de Valois, Duke de Berry, French noble (d. 1472)
1526 – Rose Lok, businesswoman and Protestant exile (d. 1613)
1532 – Wilhelm Xylander, German scholar and academic (d. 1576)
1536 – Yi I, Korean philosopher and scholar (d. 1584)
1537 – Albert, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (d. 1593)
1581 – Philip III, Landgrave of Hesse-Butzbach (d. 1643)

1601–1900

1618 – Elisabeth of the Palatinate, German princess, philosopher, and Calvinist (d. 1680)
1628 – John Page, English Colonial politician (d. 1692)
1646 – Robert Bolling, English/English Colonial merchant and planter (d. 1709)
1687 – Johann Georg Pisendel, German violinist and composer (d. 1755)
1716 – Thomas Gray, English poet and scholar (d. 1771)
1716 – Jean François de Saint-Lambert, French soldier and philosopher (d. 1803)
1723 – Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, German-French author and playwright (d. 1807)
1737 – Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (d. 1815)
1751 – Lord George Gordon, English lieutenant and politician (d. 1793)
1751 – Clemens Maria Hofbauer, Austrian priest, missionary, and saint (d. 1820)
1769 – Ernst Moritz Arndt, German writer and poet (d. 1860)
1780 – Mary Somerville, Scottish mathematician, astronomer, and author (d. 1872)
1785 – Étienne Constantin de Gerlache, Belgian lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Belgium (d. 1871)
1782 – Philaret Drozdov, Russian metropolitan and saint (d. 1867)
1791 – Charles Babbage, English mathematician and engineer, invented the Difference engine (d. 1871)
1803 – Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Estonian physician and author (d. 1882)
1819 – E. D. E. N. Southworth, American author and educator (d. 1899)
1820 – Dion Boucicault, Irish actor and playwright (d. 1890)
1837 – Morgan Bulkeley, American soldier and politician, 54th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1922)
1837 – George Dewey, American admiral (d. 1917)
1852 – Johannes François Snelleman, Dutch zoologist, orientalist, and ethnographer (d. 1938)
1853 – René Bazin, French author and academic (d. 1932)
1854 – José Yves Limantour, Mexican financier and politician, Mexican Secretary of Finance (d. 1935)
1859 – William Stephens, American lawyer and politician, 24th Governor of California (d. 1944)
1863 – Charles Pathé, French record producer, co-founded Pathé Records (d. 1957)
1864 – Yun Chi-ho, Korean activist and politician (d. 1945)
1867 – Phan Bội Châu, Vietnamese activist (d. 1940)
1869 – Mathieu Cordang, Dutch cyclist (d. 1942)
1870 – Virginia Bolten, Argentine feminist and trade unionist (d. 1960)
1872 – Norman Angell, English journalist, academic, and politician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1967)
1873 – Thomas Wass, English cricketer (d. 1953)
1874 – Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah, Bangladeshi theologian and academic (d. 1965)
1883 – Maurice Utrillo, French painter (d. 1955)
1885 – Bazoline Estelle Usher, African-American educator (d. 1992)
1887 – Arthur Percival, English general (d. 1966)
1888 – Marius Canard, French orientalist and historian (d. 1982)
1889 – Ragnhild Kaarbø, Norwegian painter (d. 1949)
1890 – Konstantinos Georgakopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1973)
1890 – Percy Hodge, English runner (d. 1967)
1891 – Henry Miller, American author and painter (d. 1980)
1892 – Don Barclay, American actor and illustrator (d. 1975)
1893 – Mao Zedong, Chinese politician, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (d. 1976)
1894 – Jean Toomer, American author and poet (d. 1967)
1900 – Evelyn Bark, leading member of the British Red Cross, first female recipient of the CMG (d. 1993)

1901–present

1901 – Elmar Muuk, Estonian linguist and author (d. 1941)
1902 – Anatoli Lvovich Kaplan, Russian painter and sculptor (d. 1980)
1903 – Elisha Cook, Jr., American actor (d. 1995)
1904 – Alejo Carpentier, Swiss-Cuban musicologist and author (d. 1980)
1905 – William Loeb III, American publisher (d. 1981)
1907 – Albert Gore, Sr., American lawyer and politician (d. 1998)
1908 – Ralph Hill, American runner (d. 1994)
1909 – Matt Gordy, American pole vaulter (d. 1989)
1910 – Imperio Argentina, Argentine-Spanish actress and singer (d. 2003)
1910 – Marguerite Churchill, American actress (d. 2000)
1912 – Arsenio Lacson, Filipino journalist and politician, Mayor of Manila (d. 1962)
1913 – Frank Swift, English footballer and journalist (d. 1958)
1914 – Richard Widmark, American actor (d. 2008)
1915 – Rolf Botvid, Swedish actor and screenwriter (d. 1998)
1918 – Olga Lopes-Seale, Guyanese-Barbadian singer and radio host (d. 2011)
1918 – Georgios Rallis, Greek lieutenant and politician, 173rd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2006)
1921 – Steve Allen, American actor, singer, talk show host, and screenwriter (d. 2000)
1921 – John Severin, American illustrator (d. 2012)
1922 – Richard Mayes, English actor (d. 2006)
1923 – Richard Artschwager, American painter, illustrator, and sculptor (d. 2013)
1924 – Frank Broyles, American football player, coach, and sportscaster (d. 2017)
1926 – Earle Brown, American composer (d. 2002)
1927 – Denis Gifford, English journalist and historian (d. 2000)
1927 – Alan King, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2004)
1927 – Stu Miller, American baseball player (d. 2015)
1927 – Denis Quilley, English actor (d. 2003)
1928 – Martin Cooper, American engineer, invented the mobile phone
1929 – Kathleen Crowley, American actress (d. 2017)
1929 – Régine Zylberberg, Belgian-French singer and actress (d. 2022)
1930 – Jean Ferrat, French singer-songwriter and poet (d. 2010)
1930 – Harry Gamble, American football player, coach, and manager (d. 2014)
1930 – Donald Moffat, English-American actor (d. 2018)
1933 – Caroll Spinney, American puppeteer and voice actor (d. 2019)
1935 – Rohan Kanhai, Guyanese cricketer
1935 – Norm Ullman, Canadian ice hockey player
1936 – Peep Jänes, Estonian architect
1936 – Trevor Taylor, English race car driver (d. 2010)
1937 – John Horton Conway, English mathematician, known for Conway's Game of Life (d. 2020)
1938 – Bahram Beyzai, Iranian director, producer, and screenwriter
1938 – Robert Hamerton-Kelly, South African-American pastor, scholar, and author (d. 2013)
1938 – Alamgir Kabir, Bangladeshi director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1989)
1938 – Mirko Kovač, Yugoslav-Croatian author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2013)
1939 – Fred Schepisi, Australian director and screenwriter
1939 – Phil Spector, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2021)
1940 – Edward C. Prescott, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2022)
1940 – Ray Sadecki, American baseball player (d. 2014)
1941 – Daniel Schmid, Swiss actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1942 – Vinicio Cerezo, Guatemalan politician, 28th President of Guatemala
1942 – Catherine Coulter, American author
1942 – Gray Davis, American captain, lawyer, and politician, 37th Governor of California
1944 – William Ayers, American academic and activist
1945 – John Walsh, American television host, producer, and activist, created America's Most Wanted
1946 – Alan Frumin, American lawyer and politician
1946 – Tiit Rosenberg, Estonian historian and academic
1947 – James T. Conway, American general
1947 – Jean Echenoz, French author
1947 – Carlton Fisk, American baseball player
1947 – Josef Janíček, Czech singer-songwriter, guitarist, and keyboard player
1947 – Liz Lochhead, Scottish poet and playwright
1947 – Richard Levis McCormick, American historian and academic
1948 – Candy Crowley, American journalist
1949 – José Ramos-Horta, East Timorese lawyer and politician, 2nd President of East Timor, Nobel Prize laureate
1950 – Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Pakistani businessman and politician, 17th Prime Minister of Pakistan
1950 – Mario Mendoza, Mexican baseball player and manager
1953 – Leonel Fernández, Dominican lawyer and politician, 51st President of the Dominican Republic
1953 – Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Swedish-Estonian journalist and politician, 4th President of Estonia
1953 – Makis Katsavakis, Greek footballer and manager
1953 – Henning Schmitz, German drummer
1954 – Peter Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist
1954 – Ozzie Smith, American baseball player and sportscaster
1955 – Evan Bayh, American lawyer and politician, 46th Governor of Indiana
1956 – David Sedaris, American comedian, author, and radio host
1957 – Dermot Murnaghan, English-Northern Irish journalist and game show host
1958 – Adrian Newey, English aerodynamicist and engineer
1959 – Wang Lijun, Chinese police officer and politician
1959 – Kōji Morimoto, Japanese animator and director
1959 – Hans Nielsen, Danish motorcycle racer
1960 – Keith Martin Ball, American mathematician and academic
1960 – Ruud Kaiser, Dutch footballer and manager
1960 – Cem Uzan, Turkish businessman and politician
1961 – Andrew Lock, Australian mountaineer
1962 – James Kottak, American drummer (d. 2024)
1962 – Mark Starr, English wrestler (d. 2013)
1963 – Craig Teitzel, Australian rugby league player
1963 – Lars Ulrich, Danish-American drummer, songwriter, and producer
1964 – Elizabeth Kostova, American author
1966 – Jay Farrar, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Tim Legler, American basketball player and sportscaster
1968 – Matt Zoller Seitz, American film critic and author
1969 – Isaac Viciosa, Spanish runner
1970 – James Mercer, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1971 – Jared Leto, American actor and musician
1971 – Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer
1971 – Tatiana Sorokko, Russian-American model and journalist
1972 – Gaby Colebunders, Belgian politician
1972 – Esteban Fuertes, Argentinian footballer
1972 – Robert Muchamore, English author
1973 – Paulo Frederico Benevenute, Brazilian footballer
1973 – Gianluca Faliva, Italian rugby player
1973 – Nobuhiko Matsunaka, Japanese baseball player
1973 – Steve Prescott, English rugby player (d. 2013)
1974 – Joshua John Miller, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1975 – Chris Calaguio, Filipino basketball player
1975 – Marcelo Ríos, Chilean tennis player
1975 – María Vasco, Spanish race walker
1976 – Simon Goodwin, Australian footballer and coach
1977 – Fatih Akyel, Turkish footballer and manager
1977 – Adrienn Hegedűs, Hungarian tennis player
1978 – Karel Rüütli, Estonian lawyer and politician
1978 – Kaoru Sugayama, Japanese volleyball player
1979 – Fabián Carini, Uruguayan footballer
1979 – Chris Daughtry, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Dimitry Vassiliev, Russian ski jumper
1979 – Craig Wing, Australian rugby player
1980 – Todd Dunivant, American soccer player
1980 – Ceylan Ertem, Turkish singer
1981 – Pablo Canavosio, Argentine-Italian rugby player
1981 – Omar Infante, Venezuelan baseball player
1982 – Kenneth Darby, American football player
1982 – Noel Hunt, Irish footballer
1982 – Aksel Lund Svindal, Norwegian skier
1983 – Jeroen Soete, Belgian politician
1983 – Yu Takahashi, Japanese singer-songwriter
1983 – Alexander Wang, American fashion designer
1984 – Ahmed Barusso, Ghanaian footballer
1984 – Leonardo Ghiraldini, Italian rugby player
1984 – Alex Schwazer, Italian race walker
1985 – Damir Markota, Croatian basketball player
1986 – Joe Alexander, American-Israeli basketball player
1986 – Kit Harington, English actor
1986 – Hugo Lloris, French footballer
1986 – Selen Soyder, Turkish actress and beauty queen
1987 – Oskar Osala, Finnish ice hockey player
1989 – Yohan Blake, Jamaican sprinter
1989 – Tomáš Kundrátek, Czech ice hockey player
1990 – Denis Cheryshev, Russian footballer
1990 – Cory Jefferson, American basketball player
1990 – Aaron Ramsey, Welsh footballer
1991 – Brandon Scherff, American football player
1991 – Eden Sher, American actress
1991 – Trevor Siemian, American football player
1992 – Cecilia Costa Melgar, Chilean tennis player
1992 – Jade Thirlwall, English singer
1994 – Colby Cave, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2020)
1994 – Souleymane Coulibaly, Ivorian footballer
1997 – Tamara Zidanšek, Slovenian tennis player
2001 – Aleksej Pokuševski, Serbian basketball player (Full article...)

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