Famous People Born Today

The first person to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong was an astronaut and aeronautical engineer. Prior to his trip to the Moon, he became NASA's first civilian astronaut to fly in space. After resigning from NASA, he taught in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Cincinnati. He was a Presidential Medal of Freedom awardee.

Maureen McCormick is an American actress, author, and singer. She achieved popularity for playing Marcia Brady in the popular TV series The Brady Bunch. She then went on to reprise her role as Marcia Brady in several Brady Bunch spin-offs and films. McCormick's reputation as a bankable actress has suffered due to her own struggles with drug addiction and depression.

At the age of 12, James Gunn started making 8 mm zombie films in the woods near his home along with his brothers. What started as a fun activity, eventually helped Gunn establish a career in filmmaking. Apart from filmmaking and acting, he is also interested in music and writing; he founded a band in 1989 and wrote a novel in 2000.

Patrick Ewing is a Jamaican-American former basketball player who played for popular NBA teams like New York Knicks and Seattle SuperSonics. He also won gold medals at the 1984 and 1992 Olympic Games as part of the US men's national basketball teams. In 2008, Patrick Ewing was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for his individual career.

Director/screenwriter John Huston is known for making his films with nominal editing and featuring novel adaptations and themes of religion, colonialism, and war. He is known for his Academy Award-winning direction in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and also appeared as an actor in films such as The Cardinal.

David Chang revolutionized the culinary world with his brand Momofuku, which owns several noodle bars across the world, including a 2-Michelin-star restaurant. He has produced the Netflix shows Ugly Delicious and Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. Several issues of his food magazine Lucky Peach have been NYT bestsellers.

American actor and martial artist, John Saxon was best known for the film Enter the Dragon where he co-starred with the legendary Bruce Lee. The famous character actor of Western and horror films, in his extensive career spanning six decades, worked in more than 200 films and television shows including three Nightmare on Elm Street movies, The Appaloosa and Dynasty.

Harold Holt was an Australian politician and the 17th prime minister of Australia. On 17 December 1967, Holt disappeared while swimming in rough conditions at Cheviot Beach. Following his disappearance, which gave rise to several conspiracy theories, Harold Holt was presumed dead. The Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre in Melbourne is named in his honor.

While she believes missing out on the gold medal at the 100m hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was her most painful experience, American hurdler and bobsledder Lolo Jones is still quite a star. She has penned a memoir and has also appeared on shows such as Celebrity Big Brother.

Rapper and bass guitarist Adam Yauch, better known by his pseudonym, “MCA,” was a founding member of the hip-hop and rap rock Beastie Boys. He also owned a film distributing company and was a practicing Buddhist who supported the Tibetan independence movement. He died of parotid cancer.

Louis Walsh is an Irish TV personality and music manager. In the 1990s and 2000s, Walsh managed three of Ireland's most prominent pop acts— Westlife, Boyzone, and Johnny Logan. A controversial personality, Louis Walsh has been accused of sexual harassment and making homophobic comments in the past.

Sophie Winkleman is an English actress who is known for her work across all three major acting mediums: films, television and stage. After her wedding with Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince Michael of Kent, Sophie Winkleman became part of the British royal family. In 2020, she was made the Royal Patron of the Children's Surgery Foundation.

Guy de Maupassant was a French author who wrote 300 short stories during his illustrious career. Widely regarded as the father of the modern short story, Maupassant's stories are characterized by economy of style and depicted human lives in pessimistic terms,

Helene Fischer is a German singer, dancer, actress, and TV presenter. She attended the Frankfurt Stage & Musical School to study singing and acting. She made her debut in 2005 and found immediate success. Eventually, she started singing in English as well. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including 17 Echo awards and four "Krone der Volksmusik" prizes. 

Tom Thomson was a Canadian artist best remembered for producing some of Canada's most iconic works, namely The West Wind and The Jack Pine. Thomson's work has had a profound influence on Canadian art and he is often regarded as an unofficial member of the famous Group of Seven as he died shortly before the establishment of the iconic group.

Hun Sen is a Cambodian politician and the current prime minister of Cambodia. Having assumed office in 1985, Hun Sen is one of the world's longest-serving leaders and the longest-serving Cambodian head of government. Over the years, he has been accused of abusing power as a number of activists, environmentalists, and politicians have been arrested and murdered under his government.

Terri Clark is a Canadian country music artist who is popular in both Canada and USA. Born into a family of music lovers, she began her career playing gigs at bars. Her first single was a moderate success and helped her get a footing in the music industry. She has since released numerous hit albums and has won many awards. 

Dead or Alive lead vocalist Pete Burns was a legendary musician of the 1980s. The son of a Holocaust survivor mother, he had a troubled childhood and quit school. He made his androgynous looks and his bisexuality his signature style. Plagued with surgery-related health issues, he died of a cardiac arrest at 57.

Born to a pastor, Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel first showcased his mathematical skills in his cathedral school and later became a pioneer of various mathematical concepts. He died of tuberculosis, amid poverty, before he could learn that he had been appointed to teach at the University of Berlin.

Danielle van de Donk is a Dutch football player who plays for the Netherlands women's national football team. She played a major role in her team's gold medal finish at the UEFA European Women's Championship in 2017. In 2019, Danielle van de Donk helped her team win the runner-up trophy at the FIFA Women's World Cup.

Dutch-born Stefanie Joosten initially studied Japanese language and culture at Leiden. Her interest later took her to Japan, where she began modeling. She voiced the character Quiet in a Metal Gear game in both its English and Japanese versions. She has also appeared in TV series, short films, and feature films.

Rocky Fielding is a British boxer who held the WBA super-middleweight title in 2018. Fielding held the Commonwealth super-middleweight titles on two occasions between 2013 and 2017. In 2017, he also held the British super-middleweight title.