Famous People Born On December 31st

Highly renowned Welsh actor, Anthony Hopkins is best known for his portrayal of a cannibalistic serial killer in the movie The Silence of the Lambs. The portrayal earned him prestigious awards and also a place in the list of best villains of all time. Other notable films of the celebrated character actor include Remains of the Day, Nixon and Amistad.

John Denver was one of the highest-selling and most popular singers during the 1970s. He was known for folk, pop and country music. Some of his greatest songs are Take Me Home Country Roads, Leaving on a Jet Plane, Rocky Mountain High, Sunshine on My Shoulders and Annie's Song. He died when a plane he was piloting crashed in California.

Retired artistic gymnast Gabby Douglas became an all-around Olympic champion in 2012, becoming the first African-American to achieve the feat. She is also the first American to win gold in both the individual and team competitions at the same Olympic event. She inspired the biopic The Gabby Douglas Story.

Ben Kingsley is one of the most respected and decorated English actors of his generation. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Kingsley has played iconic characters in popular films, such as Gandhi. In 2002, he was appointed Knight Bachelor for services to the film industry. 

Henri Matisse was a French artist. Although he was known for his skills as a painter, Matisse was also a renowned sculptor, printmaker, and draughtsman. Along with Picasso, Matisse is regarded as one of the artists who contributed immensely to the revolutionary developments in visual arts. His works also influenced other painters who would adopt a technique called intense colorism.

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been reigning as the King of Saudi Arabia since 23 January 2015. An important political figure, Salman also served as the Minister of Defense from 5 November 2011 to 23 January 2015. Salman also served as the Governor of Riyadh Province on two occasions; from 1956 to 1960 and again from 1963 to 2011.

South Korean singer, rapper, and songwriter, Psy, is known internationally for his hit single Gangnam Style. The music video for the song became the first video to exceed one billion views on YouTube and continues to be one of the most viewed videos on the platform. Psy is credited to have popularized K-Pop in the Western music industry.

James Remar is an American actor best known for playing Harry Morgan in the popular crime drama mystery TV series Dexter, for which he received nominations at the Saturn Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards. In 2012, his contribution to the American entertainment industry was honored with the Saturn Award for Lifetime Achievement.

George Marshall was an American statesman and soldier who played a key role in the Allied victory during the Second World War. Marshall served as the third US Secretary of Defense from 1950 to 1951. As Secretary of State, George Marshall advocated economic recovery programs to aid post-war European countries, for which he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jaime Escalante  was a Bolivian-American educator. He is best remembered for teaching calculus to students at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles from 1974 to 1991. He had an illustrious career and was a much-respected figure in teaching.  The film Stand and Deliver is based on his life. He received Presidential Medal for Excellence in Education in 1988. 

Richie McCaw is a New Zealand retired rugby union player who captained the national team in 110 test matches. One of the most successful captains of the All Blacks team, McCaw helped New Zealand win two Rugby World Cups in 2011 and 2015. In 2019, Richie McCaw was made an inductee of the World Rugby Hall of Fame.

Renaissance physician Andreas Vesalius is credited with illustrating the first anatomy textbook. Born into a family of physicians, he studied at the University of Paris medical school and often dissected corpses retrieved from cemeteries. He was the first to reject Galenic anatomy and to introduce human dissection in anatomy.

Tim Considine is an American actor, photographer, automotive historian, and writer. He is best known for his performance in films like The Shaggy Dog and Sunrise at Campobello. He is credited with writing many books, namely The Photographic Dictionary of Soccer, The Language of Sport, and American Grand Prix Racing: A Century of Drivers and Cars.

George Meade was a civil engineer and United States Army officer best remembered for decisively defeating Robert E. Lee in the American Civil War. After the war, he played an important role during the Reconstruction era. As a civil engineer, George Meade was involved in the construction of many lighthouses. 

Burton Cummings is a Canadian musician and singer-songwriter. He was the frontman of the rock band The Guess Who from 1966 to 1975. He also enjoyed a highly successful solo career and has been cited as one of the most influential performers in Canadian rock music. He was named an officer of the Order of Canada, in 2009. 

Part of the popular musical YouTuber duo Max and Harvey, Max Mills is the identical twin brother of his musical partner and brother, Harvey Mills. They stepped into the entertainment world as toddlers and have since been part of commercials, theater productions, and TV shows. They are also popular on Spotify and TikTok.

A major figure of The Parachute Regiment, which was operational during World War II, British Army airborne officer John Frost was also a two-time Distinguished Service Order awardee. He led campaigns and operations in places such as Malta, Libya, Sicily, and Italy, before retiring to focus on farming.

Junot Díaz is a Dominican-American writer who works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a creative writing professor. He is also known for his association with the quarterly political and literary magazine Boston Review, where he works as a fiction editor. In 2017, he was made an inductee of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.