Famous People Born On June 29th

A four-time All-Star and six-time All-Defensive Team member, Kawhi Leonard has helped two teams win NBA championships while earning the Finals Most Valuable Player award on both THE occasions. In 2015 and 2016, he was named Defensive Player of the Year. Nicknamed the Claw for his amazing ball-hawking skills, Leonard is known for his quiet demeanor off-court.

Hawaiian born singer, dancer and television personality, Nicole Scherzinger grabbed attention with TV show Popstars and later as the lead singer of the popular girl’s band, The Pussycat Dolls. She further created a place for herself with her solo albums, acting assignments, participation in reality singing and dancing shows and finally by becoming a judge on various reality shows.

A comedian, actor, and writer, Colin Jost has played a major role in the success of the popular TV show, Saturday Night Live; he is the writer of the show since 2005. Colin Jost has won many awards for his contribution to the famous show and has had a major impact in the show's overall success for many years now.

The daughter of retired actress Diane and actor Jerry Hardin, Melora Hardin is herself an actress and singer. She was introduced to the entertainment industry at an early age and began her career when she was ten. She has since appeared in many TV shows and films. She has also directed a couple of projects.

French writer, poet, aristocrat, and journalist, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, is best remembered for his novella, The Little Prince. He was a pioneering aviator as a young man. A successful commercial pilot before World War II, he joined the French Air Force at the start of the war. Equally successful as a writer, he won several of France's highest literary awards.

Actress Addison Timlin is best known for her role as Colleen Lunsford in the film Little Sister. She started acting as a teenager and took up a challenging role in her very first film, impressing the audience. In the ensuing years, she went on to build a successful career, appearing in numerous films and TV shows.

Richard Lewis is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Well-known for his self-deprecating humor, Lewis was named in Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Standups of All Time list. He has also written comic articles for popular publications like Playboy. As an actor, Richard Lewis is best known for playing Marty Gold in the popular sitcom, Anything But Love.

While Classic FM named her The Biggest Selling Classical Artist of the Century, Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins released 13 number-1 albums by age 23. Initially a singing teacher, Jenkins had also worked as a tour guide and a model. Her $10 million record deal with Warner Bros. was the biggest-ever in classical music.

Bret McKenzie is a New Zealand actor, comedian, musician, and producer. Along with Jemaine Clement, he is one-half of the musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords. He is a former member of the musical group The Black Seeds. As an actor, he appeared in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. 

Samantha Smith was an American schoolgirl, child actress, and peace activist. She achieved popularity during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States of America; she visited the Soviet Union as a goodwill ambassador which attracted extensive media attention. She also took part in peacemaking activities in Japan before dying in an airplane crash at age 13.

Best known for conceptualizing the Mahalanobis distance, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis was a renowned Padma Vibhushan-winning Indian statistician who played a major role in his country’s industrialization policies of the Second Five-Year Plan. He also taught at his alma, Presidency College, and was one of the founders of the Indian Statistical Institute.

Colin Hay is an Australian-American musician, actor, singer, and songwriter. Known for his work with popular bands like Men at Work, Hay's music has been immortalized by actor-director Zach Braff, who has used his music in many of his own works. In 2020, Hay was honored at the APRA Awards with the Distinguished Services Award for his contribution to music.

Anne-Sophie Mutter had started learning the piano at age 5 but later switched to the violin. A prodigy, she first played for the Berlin Philharmonic at 13 and became a Royal Academy of Music fellow at 22. She is known for wearing custom-made designer strapless gowns while playing.

Chandrika Kumaratunga is a Sri Lankan politician who became the first female president when she was elected as the president of Sri Lanka in 1994. Having served as the president from 1994 to 2005, Kumaratunga is the only female Sri Lankan president to date. She also served as the head of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party from 1994 to 2006. 

Giacomo Leopardi was one of the greatest lyric poets of the 19th century. Born into a noble family, he mastered several languages and wrote many works by 16, in spite of suffering from a cerebrospinal ailment. Remembered for his iconic works such as A Silvia, he died during a cholera epidemic.