Born on Sunday, 8th February – Famous Birthdays
On this day, 171 notable people were born on 8th February — spanning from 120 to 2001. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.
Eight February marks the birth of several notable figures across sport, entertainment and academia. Alessia Russo, the English footballer, was born on this date in 1999 and has become a key player for the Lionesses. Joshua Kimmich, the German footballer born in 1995, has established himself as one of Europe’s most versatile defenders during his career. Among the wider pool of those born on this day are figures such as James Dean, the American actor who became an cultural icon before his death in 1955, and John Grisham, the American lawyer and novelist who has become one of the world’s most widely read authors.
The list of notable births extends across centuries and disciplines. Jack Lemmon, born in 1925, became one of American cinema’s finest character actors, whilst Jules Verne, the French author born in 1828, pioneered the science fiction genre with works that explored technological possibilities long before they became reality. Dmitri Mendeleev, the Russian chemist born in 1834, created the periodic table of elements, a foundational tool in modern chemistry and physics. These figures represent the diversity of human achievement, from creative pursuits to scientific advancement.
On Sunday, eighth February 2026, temperatures are expected to be cool with overcast skies dominating the weather. The moon will be in its first quarter phase, providing moderate illumination during evening hours. Those born on this date fall under the zodiac sign of Aquarius, which is associated with innovation and independent thinking.
DayAtlas provides comprehensive information for any date and location, displaying weather patterns, significant historical events, and the births and deaths of notable individuals. Users can explore how conditions and milestones shaped particular days throughout history.
Discover who was born today 6th April.
08/02/2001
I.N, South Korean singer
Yang Jeong-in, known professionally as I.N, is a South Korean singer. He is a member of the South Korean boy band Stray Kids formed by JYP Entertainment in 2017.
08/02/1999
Alessia Russo, English footballer
Alessia Mia Teresa Russo is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for Women's Super League club Arsenal and the England national team. She is the current holder of FWA Women's Footballer of the Year for the season 2024-25. She previously played club football for Chelsea, Brighton & Hove Albion and Manchester United, as well as college soccer for North Carolina Tar Heels. At United, Russo won awards from the club including Player of the Year and Goal of the Season, and was twice top scorer. She has also been awarded Player of the Month and Goal of the Month in the WSL for Arsenal.
08/02/1998
Rui Hachimura, Japanese basketball player
Rui Hachimura is a Japanese professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs and has played for the Japan national team. He plays the power forward position. After being selected ninth overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2019 NBA draft, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2020.
08/02/1997
Kathryn Newton, American actress
Kathryn Love Newton is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Louise Brooks in the CBS comedy series Gary Unmarried (2008–2010), Abigail Carlson in the HBO mystery drama series Big Little Lies (2017–2019), and Allie Pressman in the Netflix teen drama series The Society (2019). She is also known for portraying the older versions of Claire Novak in The CW dark fantasy series Supernatural (2014–2018) and Joanie Clark in the AMC period drama series Halt and Catch Fire (2016–2017).
08/02/1996
Kenedy, Brazilian footballer
Robert Kenedy Nunes do Nascimento, known as Kenedy, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Liga MX club Pachuca, on loan from Segunda División side Valladolid.
Leighton Vander Esch, American football player
Leighton Vander Esch is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Boise State Broncos, and was selected by the Cowboys in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft. He spent six seasons with the team, earning Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors in his rookie season before neck injuries prematurely ended his playing career.
08/02/1995
Gabriel Deck, Argentine basketball player
Gabriel Alejandro "Gaby" Deck is an Argentine professional basketball player for Real Madrid of the Spanish Liga ACB and the EuroLeague. At a height of 1.98 m he can play at both the small forward and power forward positions.
Joshua Kimmich, German footballer
Joshua Walter Kimmich is a German professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or right-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and captains the Germany national team. Known for his versatility, aggression and playmaking ability, Kimmich has been compared with former Bayern Munich and Germany captain Philipp Lahm.
08/02/1994
Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Turkish footballer
Hakan Çalhanoğlu is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Inter Milan and captains the Turkey national team.
Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer-songwriter
Nicole Rachel Yanofsky is a Canadian jazz-pop singer from Montreal, Quebec. She sang the CTV Olympic broadcast theme song, "I Believe", which was also the theme song of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games hosted by Vancouver. She also performed at the opening and closing ceremonies for the Olympics and at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games. She has released four studio albums to date, including Nikki in 2010, Little Secret in 2014, Turn Down the Sound in 2020, and Nikki By Starlight in 2022.
08/02/1992
Bruno Martins Indi, Portuguese-Dutch footballer
Rolando Maximiliano "Bruno" Martins Indi is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender for Eredivisie club Sparta Rotterdam.
08/02/1991
Nam Woo-hyun, South Korean singer
Nam Woo-hyun, known mononymously as Woohyun, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, and actor. He is a vocalist of South Korean boy group Infinite.
08/02/1990
Bethany Hamilton, American surfer
Bethany Meilani Hamilton is an American professional surfer and writer. On October 31, 2003, she survived a shark attack in which her left arm was bitten off; ultimately, she returned to professional surfing and wrote about her experiences in the 2004 autobiography, Soul Surfer: A True Story of Faith, Family, and Fighting to Get Back on the Board. The book was adapted into the 2011 feature film, Soul Surfer. Hamilton attributes her strength to her Christian faith.
Klay Thompson, American basketball player
Klay Alexander Thompson is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played his first 13 seasons with the Golden State Warriors, where Thompson was part of the "Splash Brothers." He is widely regarded as one of the best three-point shooters of all time. Thompson is a four-time NBA champion, a five-time NBA All-Star, a two-time All-NBA Third Team honoree, and was once named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. He has also won gold medals with the United States national team on their 2014 World Cup team and 2016 Olympic team.
08/02/1989
Zac Guildford, New Zealand rugby player
Zachary Robert Guildford is a retired New Zealand professional rugby union player who played as a wing most notably for National Provincial Championship club Hawke's Bay and the New Zealand national team.
JaJuan Johnson, American basketball player
JaJuan Markeis Johnson is an American professional basketball player for Hapoel Eilat of the Israeli Basketball Premier League. He played college basketball for the Purdue Boilermakers. During his sophomore season, he was named a first-team All-Big Ten selection. As a junior, he was named a second-team All-Big Ten selection. As a senior, a first-team consensus All-American as well as the Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Julio Jones, American football player
Quintorris Lopez "Julio" Jones Jr. is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Atlanta Falcons. He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide where he won a national championship in 2009, and was selected by the Falcons in the first round of the 2011 NFL draft. He is regarded as one of the greatest receivers of the 2010s.
Brendan Smith, Canadian ice hockey player
Brendan Smith is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is a defenceman for the Columbus Blue Jackets of the National Hockey League (NHL). Although he is listed as a defenceman, Smith has also played forward professionally. Smith was drafted 27th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2007 NHL entry draft and was previously a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award.
Courtney Vandersloot, American-Hungarian basketball player
Courtney Vandersloot is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). She is a five-time WNBA All-Star and two-time WNBA champion. She has also played for UMMC Ekaterinburg in the Russian Premier League, Mist BC in Unrivaled, and teams in several other professional leagues. She is regarded as one of the greatest WNBA point guards of all time.
08/02/1988
Keegan Meth, Zimbabwean cricketer
Keegan Orry Meth is a former Zimbabwean cricketer. He played domestically for the Matabeleland Tuskers and represented Zimbabwe in international cricket. An all-rounder, he bowled right-arm medium-fast and generally batted in the lower middle order.
08/02/1987
Javi García, Spanish footballer
Francisco Javier "Javi" García Fernández is a Spanish former professional footballer. A defensive midfielder by nature, he could also play as a central defender.
Carolina Kostner, Italian figure skater
Carolina Kostner is an Italian figure skating coach and former competitive skater. She is the 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2012 World champion, a five-time European champion, and the 2011 Grand Prix Final champion. She is also a medalist at five other World Championships, six other European Championships, and three other Grand Prix Finals, the 2003 World Junior bronze medalist, and a nine-time Italian national champion. Kostner has won 11 medals at the European championships, most recently in 2018, and is the most decorated singles skater in the history of that competition.
08/02/1986
Anderson .Paak, American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer
Brandon Paak Anderson, known professionally as Anderson .Paak, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He released his debut mixtape, O.B.E. Vol. 1, in 2012 and went on to release his debut album, Venice, in 2014. In 2016, he followed up with his second album, Malibu, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album, followed by his third album, Oxnard (2018). At the 61st Grammy Awards, Paak won his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance with his 2018 non-album single "Bubblin". In 2020, he won two additional Grammy Awards for Best R&B Album with his fourth album Ventura, while a song from the album won Best R&B Performance with "Come Home".
08/02/1985
Petra Cetkovská, Czech tennis player
Petra Cetkovská is a Czech retired tennis player. Having turned professional in 2000, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 25, on 18 June 2012. Over her career, Cetkovská defeated top-ten players Marion Bartoli, Elena Dementieva, Angelique Kerber, Li Na, Agnieszka Radwańska, Caroline Wozniacki, and Vera Zvonareva.
Jeremy Davis, American bass player and songwriter
Jeremiah Clayton Davis, also known as Jerm, is an American musician, songwriter, and rapper. He was the bassist for the rock band Paramore from their inception in 2004 until his departure in December 2015.
Félix Pie, Dominican baseball player
Félix Pie Dofen is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles, and Pittsburgh Pirates. Pie also played in the KBO League for the Hanwha Eagles and in the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) for the Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions.
Brian Randle, American basketball player and coach
Brian Charles Randle is an American assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball at the University of Illinois. He is a former professional basketball player. He was a three-time Israeli Basketball Premier League Defensive Player of the Year, and was the 2010 Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP.
08/02/1984
Sean Bergenheim, Finnish ice hockey player
Sean Bergenheim is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Minnesota Wild.
Cecily Strong, American actress
Cecily Legler Strong is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2012 to 2022. She is the longest-tenured female cast member in the show's history.
Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, Greek basketball player
Panagiotis Vasilopoulos, commonly known as Panos Vasilopoulos is a Greek former professional basketball player who last served as an assistant coach for Peristeri of the Greek Basket League and the Basketball Champions League, under head coach Vassilis Spanoulis. He is 2.05 m tall. He played at both the small forward and power forward positions.
08/02/1983
Jermaine Anderson, Canadian basketball player
Jermaine Anderson is a Canadian retired professional basketball player. He is a veteran member of the Canadian national basketball team.
Cory Jane, New Zealand rugby player
Cory Steven Jane is a former New Zealand international rugby union player and current assistant coach. He was a part of the World Cup winning squad in the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
08/02/1981
Steve Gohouri, Ivorian footballer (died 2015)
Lohoré Steve Ulrich Gohouri was an Ivorian professional footballer who played as a defender.
Myriam Montemayor Cruz, Mexican singer
Myriam Montemayor Cruz, better known mononymously as Myriam, is a Mexican recording artist known for winning the first season of Mexican talent show La Academia.
Jim Parrack, American actor
Jim Parrack is an American actor best known for his role as Hoyt Fortenberry in HBO series True Blood. He has also appeared in the film Battle: Los Angeles and as "Slim" in the 2014 Broadway production of Of Mice and Men alongside James Franco, Chris O'Dowd and Leighton Meester. In 2020, he began starring in the Fox drama 9-1-1: Lone Star.
08/02/1980
William Jackson Harper, American actor
William Fitzgerald Harper, known professionally as William Jackson Harper, is an American actor and playwright. He gained acclaim for his role as Chidi Anagonye in the NBC comedy series The Good Place (2016–2020), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
08/02/1979
Aaron Cook, American baseball player
Aaron Lane Cook is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox. He won the Tony Conigliaro Award in 2005 and was an All-Star in 2008 with the Rockies.
08/02/1978
Ranveer Brar, Indian chef, author, restauranteur, and television personality
Ranveer Singh Brar is an Indian celebrity chef, television personality, author, restaurateur and actor. He is known as the host of several television food shows, and as a judge in MasterChef India, After graduating from a hospitality institute in Lucknow, Brar stepped into the culinary career, now spanning more than nearly three decades.
Mick de Brenni, Australian politician
Michael Christopher de Brenni, is an Australian politician currently serving as the Manager of Opposition Business in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland.
08/02/1977
Dave Farrell, American musician and songwriter
David Michael Farrell, also known by his stage name Phoenix, is an American musician, best known as the bassist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also a member of Tasty Snax, a ska punk band.
Roman Kostomarov, Russian ice dancer
Roman Sergeyevich Kostomarov is a Russian former ice dancer. With partner Tatiana Navka, he is the 2006 Olympic champion, two-time World champion (2004–05), three-time Grand Prix Final champion (2003–05), and three-time European champion (2004–06).
08/02/1976
Khaled Mashud, Bangladeshi cricketer
Khaled Mashud, popularly known as Khaled Mashud Pilot is a former Bangladeshi cricketer who was the country's Test and ODI captain. A wicketkeeper and middle-order batsman, he was a regular member of the national team between 1995 and 2007. Bangladeshi coach Dav Whatmore called Mashud the "best wicketkeeper in Asia." He contributed to Bangladesh's first ever ODI hat-trick by taking two catches off Shahadat Hossain's bowling. After his international retirement in 2008, he continued to play domestic cricket in Bangladesh as captain of the Rajshahi Division team. Mashud announced his retirement from domestic cricket after captaining his team to win the title in 2011. In 2025 he was elected as a director of Bangladesh Cricket Board.
Nicolas Vouilloz, French rally driver and mountain biker
Nicolas Vouilloz is a French professional mountain biker and former professional rally driver.
08/02/1974
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, French musician, singer, composer, and record producer
Guillaume Emmanuel "Guy-Manuel" de Homem-Christo is a French musician and record producer. He is known as one half of the former French house music duo Daft Punk, along with Thomas Bangalter. He has produced several works from his now-defunct record label Crydamoure with label co-owner Éric Chedeville.
Seth Green, American actor, voice artist, comedian, producer, writer, and director
Seth Benjamin Green is an American actor and producer. His film debut was The Hotel New Hampshire (1984), and he went on to have supporting roles in comedy films in the 1980s, including Radio Days (1987) and Big Business (1988).
Joshua Morrow, American actor
Joshua Jacob Morrow is an American television actor and musician. In 1994, he began his career when he was cast in the role of Nicholas Newman on The Young and the Restless. In 1998, he joined the soul-pop group 3Deep; the group disbanded in 2001.
Kimbo Slice, Bahamian-American mixed martial artist (died 2016)
Kevin Ferguson, better known as Kimbo Slice, was a Bahamian-American mixed martial artist, professional boxer, and actor. Originally a bare-knuckle boxer, he became noted for his role in mutual combat street fight videos in the 2000s which were spread online, leading Rolling Stone to call him "The King of the Web Brawlers".
08/02/1973
Michelle Brogan, Australian basketball player
Michelle Brogan is an Australian former basketball player who won the bronze medal with the Australia women's national basketball team at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Four years later she was on the side that claimed the silver medal in Sydney, Australia, when she was known as Michelle Griffiths. She attended the Australian Institute of Sport in 1988–1990.
08/02/1972
Big Show, American wrestler and actor
Paul Donald Wight II is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under his real name. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1995 to 1999 as (the) Giant and his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation/WWE from 1999 to 2021 under the ring name (the) Big Show.
08/02/1971
Aidy Boothroyd, English footballer and manager
Adrian Neil Boothroyd is an English former footballer who was most recently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur.
Mika Karppinen, Swedish-Finnish drummer and songwriter
Mika Kristian Karppinen, better known as Gas Lipstick, is a Swedish-Finnish musician, best known as the previous drummer of the Finnish gothic rock band HIM. He is also a drummer for other bands currently on hiatus, such as deathgrind group To Separate the Flesh from the Bones, heavy metal group Bendover, punk group Valvontakomissio, and punk group Ääritila.
Susan Misner, American actress
Susan Misner is an American actress and dancer. She has appeared in a number of TV series as a guest star, as well as several recurring roles.
08/02/1970
Stephanie Courtney, American actress and comedian
Stephanie Courtney is an American actress and comedian, best known for playing the advertising character Flo in television and radio commercials for Progressive Corporation beginning in 2008.
John Filan, Australian footballer and coach
John Richard Filan is an Australian football coach and former professional player.
Alonzo Mourning, American basketball player and executive
Alonzo Harding Mourning Jr. is an American former professional basketball player who has served as vice president of player programs and development for the Miami Heat since June 2009. Mourning played most of his 15-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career for the Heat.
08/02/1969
Pauly Fuemana, New Zealand-Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2010)
Paul Lawrence Fuemana was a New Zealand singer, songwriter and musician from Auckland. One of the first globally successful pioneers of his country's unique style of hip-hop, Fuemana was one of New Zealand's greatest popular music icons of the 1990s.
Mary Robinette Kowal, American puppeteer and author
Mary Robinette Kowal is an American author, translator, art director, and puppeteer. As an author, she is a four-time Hugo Award winner, a Nebula Award and Locus Award winner, and served as the president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America from 2019-2021. She has worked on puppetry for shows including Jim Henson Productions and the children's show LazyTown.
Mary McCormack, American actress and producer
Mary McCormack is an American actress.
08/02/1968
Gary Coleman, American actor (died 2010)
Gary Wayne Coleman was an American actor, known as a high-profile child star of the late 1970s and 1980s. Born in Zion, Illinois, Coleman grew up with his adoptive parents. Due to the corticosteroids and other medications used to treat a kidney disease, his growth was limited to 4 ft 8 in (142 cm). In the mid-1970s, he appeared in commercials and acted in an episode of Medical Center. He caught the attention of a producer after acting in a pilot for a revival of The Little Rascals (1977), who decided to cast him as Arnold Jackson in the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes (1978–1986), a role that launched Coleman into stardom. For playing the role of Arnold he received several accolades, which include two Young Artist Awards; in 1980 for Outstanding Contribution to Youth Through Entertainment and in 1982 for Best Young Actor in a Comedy Series; and three People's Choice Awards; consecutive three wins for Favorite Young TV Performer from 1980 to 1983; as well as nominations for two TV Land Awards. He was rated first on a list of VH1's "100 Greatest Kid Stars", and an influential child actor.
08/02/1967
Adelir Antônio de Carli, Brazilian priest and balloonist
Adelir Antônio de Carli, also known as Padre Baloeiro or Padre do Balão, was a Brazilian Catholic priest who died after a cluster-ballooning attempt on 20 April 2008. Carli undertook the exercise to raise money to fund a spiritual rest area for truck drivers in the port city of Paranaguá.
Michael Ansley, American basketball player
Michael Antonio Ansley is an American former professional basketball player. He played three seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and last played with Sportino Inowrocław of the Polish Dominet Bank Ekstraliga.
08/02/1966
Kirk Muller, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
Kirk Christopher Muller is a Canadian former professional ice hockey centre and current assistant coach with the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League (NHL). He played in the NHL for 19 seasons from 1984–85 until 2002–03 with the Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs and won the Stanley Cup in 1993 as member of the Montreal Canadiens. Muller also previously served as head coach of the Carolina Hurricanes from 2011 to 2014, and was an associate coach with the Canadiens from 2016 to 2021 following a previous stint as assistant coach with the team between 2006–2011.
Hristo Stoichkov, Bulgarian footballer and manager
Hristo Stoichkov is a Bulgarian former professional footballer and current football commentator for TUDN. A prolific forward, he is widely regarded as the greatest Bulgarian footballer of all time. He was the runner-up for the FIFA World Player of the Year award in 1992 and 1994 and received the Ballon d'Or in 1994. He was also named the BTA Best Balkan Athlete of the Year in 1994. In 2004, Stoichkov was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.
08/02/1964
Arlie Petters, Belizean-American mathematical physicist and academic
Arlie Oswald Petters, MBE is a Belizean-American mathematical physicist, who is the Benjamin Powell Professor of mathematics and a professor of physics and economics at Duke University. Petters became the provost at New York University Abu Dhabi effective September 1, 2020. Petters's research is focused on problems connected to the interplay of gravity and light and employing tools from astrophysics, cosmology, general relativity, high energy physics, differential geometry, singularities, and probability theory. His monograph "Singularity Theory and Gravitational Lensing" developed a mathematical theory of gravitational lensing. Petters was also the dean of academic affairs for Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and associate vice provost for undergraduate education at Duke University (2016-2019).
Santosh Sivan, Indian director, cinematographer, producer, and actor
Santosh Sivan ISC is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema. Santosh graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and has, to date, completed 55 feature films and 50 documentaries. He is regarded as one of India's finest and best cinematographers. He is the recipient of the Pierre Angénieux Excellens in Cinematography, twelve National Film Awards, six Filmfare Awards, four Kerala State Film Awards, and three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.
Trinny Woodall, English fashion designer and author
Sarah-Jane Duncanson "Trinny" Woodall is a British beauty entrepreneur, businesswoman, and the founder of cosmetics brand Trinny London.
08/02/1963
Mohammad Azharuddin, Indian cricketer and politician
Mohammad Azharuddin is an Indian politician and a former cricketer who also served as the Indian national cricket team's captain. He was a right-handed middle order batter and an occasional medium fast bowler. He played 99 Test matches and 334 One Day Internationals for India. As a captain, he led the team to wins in the 1990–91 and 1995 Asia Cups and reached the semi-finals of the 1996 Cricket World Cup. He was considered as one of the best ODI batsmen in the world and one of the greatest of his era. He captained India in three Cricket World Cups, the most by any Indian captain, all during the 1990s. He was also a part of the Indian squad which won the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.
08/02/1961
Vince Neil, American singer-songwriter and actor
Vincent Neil Wharton is an American musician and singer. He is the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, which he fronted from their 1981 formation until his departure in 1992. Neil reunited with the band in 1996 and continued with them until the band's 2015 retirement, and again from the band's 2018 reunion onwards. Outside of Mötley Crüe, Neil has also released three studio albums as a solo artist – the most recent of which, Tattoos & Tequila, was released in 2010. Neil's visual aesthetic and distinctive singing voice are considered synonymous with the American glam metal movement of the 1980s.
08/02/1960
Benigno Aquino III, Filipino politician, 15th President of the Philippines (died 2021)
Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" Aquino III, also known colloquially as PNoy, was the 15th president of the Philippines, serving from 2010 to 2016. A member of the Liberal Party, he was the son of assassinated politician Ninoy Aquino and 11th president Corazon Aquino, and a fourth-generation politician as part of the Aquino family of Tarlac.
Dino Ciccarelli, Canadian ice hockey player
Dino Ciccarelli is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1980 to 1999, primarily with the Minnesota North Stars, but also notably with the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he had his third-highest scoring season. He scored 1,200 points in his NHL career. His 608 career NHL goals are also the most goals scored by a draft-eligible player who was not drafted by an NHL team. Ciccarelli was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2010.
08/02/1959
Henry Czerny, Canadian actor
Henry Czerny is a Canadian stage, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in the films The Boys of St. Vincent, Clear and Present Danger, The Ice Storm, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Fido, Remember, Ready or Not, and Scream VI, in particular for his role as Eugene Kittridge in Mission: Impossible, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, as well as for numerous television programs in both guest and starring roles, including a regular role as Conrad Grayson on the ABC primetime soap opera Revenge, a loose adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo.
Heinz Gunthardt, Swiss tennis player
Heinz Peter Günthardt is a retired tennis player from Switzerland.
Andrew Hoy, Australian equestrian rider
Andrew James Hoy is an Australian equestrian rider. He has won six Olympic medals: three gold, two silvers and one bronze. He has competed in eight Olympic games, from 1984 to 2020 with the exception of 2008, which is an Australian record; and at the 2020 Summer Olympics he was 62 years old, making him Australia's oldest ever male Olympian. After winning two medals in Tokyo, he did not rule out trying for future Olympic teams.
Mauricio Macri, Argentinian businessman and politician, President of Argentina
Mauricio Macri is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously served as Chief of Government of Buenos Aires from 2007 to 2015, and was a member of the Chamber of Deputies representing Buenos Aires from 2005 to 2007. Ideologically, he identifies himself as a liberal conservative on the Argentine centre-right.
08/02/1958
Sherri Martel, American wrestler and manager (died 2007)
Sherry Lynn Schrull was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri.
Marina Silva, Brazilian environmentalist and politician
Maria Osmarina Marina da Silva Vaz de Lima, known as Marina Silva, is a Brazilian politician and environmentalist, currently serving as Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, a position she previously held from 2003 to 2008. She is the founder and former spokeswoman of the Sustainability Network (REDE). A former senator for the state of Acre between 1995 and 2011, she has been a federal deputy for the state of São Paulo since 2023. She ran unsuccessfully for president in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
08/02/1957
Karine Chemla, French historian of mathematics and sinologist
Karine Chemla is a French historian of mathematics and sinologist who works as a director of research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). She is also a senior fellow at the New York University Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. She was elected a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2019.
08/02/1956
Marques Johnson, American basketball player and sportscaster
Marques Kevin Johnson is an American former professional basketball player and character actor who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on FanDuel Sports Network Wisconsin. He played as a small forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1977 to 1989, where he was a five-time All-Star. He played the majority of his career with the Bucks.
08/02/1955
John Grisham, American lawyer and author
John Ray Grisham Jr. is an American writer, lawyer, and former politician, known for his best-selling legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 37 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three anglophone authors to have sold two million copies on the first printing.
Jim Neidhart, American wrestler (died 2018)
James Henry Neidhart was an American professional wrestler known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart, where he was a two-time WWF Tag Team Champion with his real-life brother-in-law Bret Hart in the Hart Foundation. He also won titles in Stampede Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, Mid-South Wrestling, Memphis Championship Wrestling and the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation. He was part of the Hart wrestling family through marriage to his wife Ellie Hart, teaming with various members throughout his career, and appearing with his daughter Natalya Neidhart on the reality television show Total Divas.
08/02/1953
Mary Steenburgen, American actress
Mary Nell Steenburgen is an American actress, comedian, singer, and songwriter. After studying at New York's Neighborhood Playhouse in the 1970s, she made her professional acting debut in the Western comedy film Goin' South (1978). Steenburgen went on to earn critical acclaim for her role in Time After Time (1979) and Jonathan Demme's comedy-drama film Melvin and Howard (1980), for which she received the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
08/02/1952
Marinho Chagas, Brazilian footballer and coach (died 2014)
Francisco das Chagas Marinho, generally known as Marinho Chagas or Francisco Marinho, was a Brazilian professional footballer. One of the best left-backs of his era, he is best known for his flowing curly blond hair and his performance at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, in which Brazil finished fourth. At club level he is mostly associated with Botafogo FR of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo FC, but he played for numerous other teams, as well as in the North American Soccer League, in a career which spanned from 1969 to 1987.
08/02/1949
Brooke Adams, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
Brooke Adams is an American actress, best known for her film roles in Days of Heaven (1978), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and The Dead Zone (1983).
Niels Arestrup, French actor, director, and screenwriter
Niels Arestrup was a French-Danish actor, film director and screenwriter.
08/02/1948
Dan Seals, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2009)
Danny Wayland Seals, also known as England Dan, was an American musician. The younger brother of Seals & Crofts member Jim Seals, he first gained fame as one half of the soft rock duo England Dan & John Ford Coley, who charted nine singles between 1976 and 1980, including the No. 2 Billboard Hot 100 hit "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight".
08/02/1944
Roger Lloyd-Pack, English actor (died 2014)
Roger Anthony Lloyd Pack was a British actor. He is best known for playing Trigger in Only Fools and Horses from 1981 to 2003, and Owen Newitt in The Vicar of Dibley from 1994 to 2007. He later starred as Tom in The Old Guys with Clive Swift. He is also well known for the role of Bartemius Crouch in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and for his appearances in Doctor Who as John Lumic in the episodes "Rise of the Cybermen" and "The Age of Steel".
Sebastião Salgado, Brazilian photographer and journalist (died 2025)
Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado Júnior was a Brazilian social documentary photographer and photojournalist.
08/02/1943
Creed Bratton, American actor and musician
Creed Bratton is an American actor and musician. A former member of the rock band the Grass Roots, he is best known for playing a fictionalized version of himself on the NBC comedy The Office (2005–2013), which earned him five nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series.
Valerie Thomas, American scientist and inventor
Valerie L. Thomas is an American data scientist and inventor. She invented the illusion transmitter, for which she received a patent in 1980. She was responsible for developing the digital media formats that image processing systems used in the early years of NASA's Landsat program.
08/02/1942
Robert Klein, American comedian, actor, and singer
Robert Klein is an American stand-up comedian, singer, and actor. He is known for his appearances on stage and screen. He has released four standup comedy albums: A Child of the 50s (1973), Mind Over Matter (1974), New Teeth (1975), and Let's Not Make Love (1990). The first two albums received Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album nominations. Klein hosted Saturday Night Live in its first season in 1975 and again in 1978. Klein made his Broadway debut in the 1966 production of The Apple Tree opposite Alan Alda. He earned a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical nomination for his performance in Neil Simon's musical comedy They're Playing Our Song (1979). He also starred on his own show, Robert Klein Time, which aired on USA Network from 1986 to 1988.
Terry Melcher, American singer-songwriter and producer (died 2004)
Terrence Paul Melcher was an American record producer, singer, and songwriter who was instrumental in shaping the mid-to-late 1960s California sound and folk rock movements. His best-known contributions were producing the Byrds' first two albums Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) and Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965) as well as most of the hit recordings of Paul Revere & the Raiders and Gentle Soul. He is also known for his collaboration with Bruce Johnston and for his association with the Manson Family.
08/02/1941
Nick Nolte, American actor and producer
Nicholas King Nolte is an American actor. Known for his leading man roles in both dramas and romances, he has received a Golden Globe Award as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. Nolte first came to prominence for his role in the ABC miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976) for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie nomination. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for The Prince of Tides (1991). He has received three Academy Award nominations for The Prince of Tides (1991), Affliction (1998), and Warrior (2011).
Tom Rush, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
Tom Rush is an American folk and blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose success helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and who has continued his own singing career for 60 years.
Jagjit Singh, Indian singer-songwriter (died 2011)
Jagjit Singh was an Indian composer, singer and musician. He composed and sang in numerous languages and is credited for the revival and popularity of ghazal, an Indian classical art form, by choosing poetry that was relevant to the masses and composing them in a way that laid more emphasis on the meaning of words and melody evoked by them. In terms of Indian classical music, his style of composing and gayaki (singing) is considered as Bol-pradhan, one that lays emphasis on words. He highlighted this in his music for films such as Prem Geet (1981), Arth (1982), and Saath Saath (1982), and TV serials Mirza Ghalib (1988) and Kahkashan (1991). Singh is considered to be among the most successful ghazal singers and composers of all time in terms of critical acclaim and commercial success. With a career spanning five decades and many albums, the range and breadth of his work has been regarded as genre-defining.
08/02/1940
Sophie Lihau-Kanza, Congolese politician (died 1999)
Sophie Lihau-Kanza or Zala Lusibu N'Kanza was a Congolese politician and sociologist. She was the first woman of her country to receive a secondary education, the first to graduate from a university, and the first to hold a government office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, serving as Minister of Social Affairs from 31 October 1966 to 6 December 1970. In her later life she held positions within the United Nations.
Ted Koppel, English-American journalist
Edward James Martin Koppel is an American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline, from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005.
08/02/1939
Jose Maria Sison, Filipino activist and theorist (died 2022)
Jose Maria Canlas Sison, also known as Joma, was a Filipino writer, poet, and activist who founded and led the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and added elements of Maoism to its philosophy—which would be known as National Democracy. His ideology was formed by applying Marxism–Leninism-Maoism to the history and circumstances of the Philippines.
08/02/1937
Joe Raposo, American pianist and composer (died 1989)
Joseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH was an American composer and songwriter. He is best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, and several notable songs, including "Bein' Green", "C Is For Cookie" and "Sing". He also wrote music for other television shows including The Electric Company, Shining Time Station and the sitcoms Three's Company and The Ropers, including their theme songs. Additionally, he composed scores for three Dr. Seuss television specials produced by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises: Halloween Is Grinch Night (1977), Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (1980), and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat (1982).
Harry Wu, Chinese human rights activist (died 2016)
Harry Wu was a Chinese-American human rights activist. Wu spent 19 years in Chinese labor camps, and he became a resident and citizen of the United States. In 1992, he founded the Laogai Research Foundation.
08/02/1933
Elly Ameling, Dutch soprano
Elisabeth Sara "Elly" Ameling is a Dutch soprano, who is particularly known for lieder recitals and for performing works by Johann Sebastian Bach. Performing with distinguished pianists and ensembles around the globe, she was awarded various honours and recording prizes.
08/02/1932
Cliff Allison, English racing driver and businessman (died 2005)
Henry Clifford Allison was a British racing driver from England, who participated in Formula One during seasons 1958 to 1961 for the Lotus, Scuderia Centro Sud, Ferrari and UDT Laystall teams. He was born and died in Brough, Westmorland.
John Williams, American pianist, composer, and conductor
John Towner Williams is an American composer and conductor. Over his seven-decade career, he has composed many of the best known scores in film history. His compositional style blends romanticism, impressionism, and atonal music with complex orchestration. Best known for his collaborations with George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, he has received numerous accolades, including 27 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. With a total of 54 Academy Award nominations, he is the second-most nominated person in the award's history, after Walt Disney. He is also the oldest Academy Award nominee in any category, receiving a nomination at 91 years old.
08/02/1931
James Dean, American actor (died 1955)
James Byron Dean was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, and his impact on cinema and popular culture was profound, although his career lasted only five years. He appeared in just three major films: Rebel Without a Cause (1955), in which he portrayed a disillusioned and rebellious teenager; East of Eden (1955), which showcased his intense emotional range; and Giant (1956), a sprawling drama. These have been preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for their "cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance". He was killed in a car accident at the age of 24 in 1955, leaving him a lasting symbol of rebellion, youthful defiance, and the restless spirit.
Shadia, Egyptian actress and singer (died 2017)
Fatma Ahmad Kamal Shaker, better known by her stage name Shadia, was an Egyptian actress and singer. She was famous for her roles in light comedies and drama in the 1950s and 1960s. She was the third wife of Salah Zulfikar. Shadia was one of the iconic actresses and singers in Egypt and the Middle East region and a symbol of the golden age of Egyptian cinema and is known of her many patriotic songs.
08/02/1930
Alejandro Rey, Argentinian-American actor and director (died 1987)
Alejandro Rey was an Argentine-American actor and television director.
08/02/1926
Neal Cassady, American author and poet (died 1968)
Neal Leon Cassady was an American writer who was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s.
Birgitte Reimer, Danish film actress (died 2021)
Birgitte Reimer was a Danish film actress. She appeared in 17 films between 1947 and 1964. Reimer died in April 2021 at the age of 95.
08/02/1925
Jack Lemmon, American actor (died 2001)
John Uhler Lemmon III was an American actor. Considered proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, he was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in comedy-drama films. He received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, three BAFTA Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards and one Volpi Cup. He also received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1988, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 1991, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1996. The Guardian labeled him as "the most successful tragi-comedian of his age".
08/02/1922
Audrey Meadows, American actress and banker (died 1996)
Audrey Meadows was an American actress who portrayed the deadpan housewife Alice Kramden on the 1950s American television comedy The Honeymooners. She was the younger sister of actress Jayne Meadows.
08/02/1921
Barney Danson, Canadian colonel and politician, 21st Canadian Minister of National Defence (died 2011)
Barnett Jerome "Barney" Danson was a Canadian politician and Cabinet minister.
Nexhmije Hoxha, Albanian politician (died 2020)
Nexhmije Hoxha was an Albanian communist politician. She was the wife of Enver Hoxha, the first leader of the Socialist People's Republic of Albania and the First Secretary of the Party of Labour of Albania. Very close to her husband, she attempted to remain politically influential after his death in 1985. She was one of the few spouses of a ruling communist party leader with a high political profile of her own.
Balram Singh Rai, Guyanese politician, 1st Minister of Home Affairs (died 2022)
Balram Singh Rai was a Guyanese politician. He served as Minister of Community Development and Education from 1959 to 1961, then the first Minister of Home Affairs from 1961 to 1962.
Lana Turner, American actress (died 1995)
Julia Jean "Lana" Turner was an American actress. Over a career spanning nearly five decades, she achieved fame as both a pin-up model and a film actress, as well as for her highly publicized personal life. In the mid-1940s, she was one of the highest-paid American actresses, and one of MGM's biggest stars, with her films earning over one billion dollars in 2026 currency for the studio during her 18-year contract with them. Turner is frequently cited as a popular culture icon due to her glamorous persona, and a screen legend of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
08/02/1918
Freddie Blassie, American wrestler and manager (died 2003)
Frederick Kenneth Blassie was an American professional wrestler and manager, known by the ring name "Classy" Freddie Blassie. His achievements in the ring included holding the Los Angeles-based World Wrestling Associates (WWA) world title four times. Renowned as "The Hollywood Fashion Plate", he was a one-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion and was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame in 1994. He is regarded as one of the greatest wrestling heels, or villains, of all time.
08/02/1915
Georges Guétary, Egyptian-French singer, dancer, and actor (died 1997)
Georges Guétary, born Lambros Vorloou was a French singer, dancer, cabaret performer and film actor, best known for his role in the 1951 musical An American in Paris.
08/02/1914
Bill Finger, American author and screenwriter, co-created Batman (died 1974)
Milton "Bill" Finger was an American comic book writer who is credited with co-creating the DC Comics character Batman with Bob Kane. Despite making major contributions as an innovative writer, visionary mythos/world builder and illustration architect, Finger was often given "ghostwriter" status on comics he created or co-created, including those featuring Batman and the original Green Lantern. In recent years, Finger's lost legacy has been restored.
08/02/1913
Betty Field, American actress (died 1973)
Betty Field was an American film and stage actress.
Danai Stratigopoulou, Greek singer-songwriter (died 2009)
Danai Stratigopoulou was a Greek singer, writer, and university academic. She acquired recognition in the literary world for translating the works of the Chilean nobel laureate Pablo Neruda into the Greek language.
08/02/1911
Elizabeth Bishop, American poet and author (died 1979)
Elizabeth Bishop was an American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Award winner in 1970, and the recipient of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1976. Dwight Garner argued in 2018 that she was perhaps "the most purely gifted poet of the 20th century". She was also a painter, and her poetry is noted for its careful attention to detail; Ernest Hilbert wrote “Bishop’s poetics is one distinguished by tranquil observation, craft-like accuracy, care for the small things of the world, a miniaturist’s discretion and attention."
08/02/1909
Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian philanthropist (died 2012)
Dame Elisabeth Joy Murdoch, Lady Murdoch, also known as Elisabeth, Lady Murdoch, was an Australian philanthropist and matriarch of the Murdoch family. She was the wife of Australian newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch and the mother of international media proprietor Rupert Murdoch. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1963 for her charity work in Australia and overseas.
08/02/1906
Chester Carlson, American physicist and lawyer, invented Xerography (died 1968)
Chester Floyd Carlson was an American physicist, inventor, and patent attorney born in Seattle, Washington.
08/02/1903
Greta Keller, Austrian-American singer and actress (died 1977)
Margaretha "Greta" Keller was an Austrian and American cabaret singer and actress, who worked in some Hollywood movies and television dramas.
Tunku Abdul Rahman, 1st Prime Minister of Malaysia (died 1990)
Tunku Abdul Rahman, widely known simply as Tunku, was a Malaysian statesman who served as the first prime minister of Malaysia from 1957 until 1970. He was also the only chief minister of the Federation of Malaya from 1955 to 1957, president of UMNO from 1951 to 1971, and leader of the Alliance Party from 1952 to 1971. As the leading advocate for self-governance, Tunku was central to the Malayan Declaration of Independence and the creation of Malaysia in 1963. He is widely recognised as the country's founding father and remains its second longest-serving prime minister.
08/02/1902
Demchugdongrub, Mongol prince and politician, head of state of Mengjiang (died 1966)
Demchugdongrub, also known as Prince De, courtesy name Xixian, was a Qing dynasty Chinese Mongol prince descended from the Borjigin imperial clan who lived during the 20th century and became the leader of an independence movement in Inner Mongolia. He was most notable for being the chairman of the pro-Japanese Mongol Military Government (1938–39) and later of the puppet state of Mengjiang (1939–45), during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In the modern day, some see Demchugdongrub as a Mongol nationalist promoting Pan-Mongolism, while others view him as a traitor and a pawn of the Japanese during World War II.
08/02/1899
Lonnie Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1970)
Alonzo "Lonnie" Johnson was an American blues and jazz singer, guitarist, violinist and songwriter. He was a pioneer of jazz guitar and jazz violin and is recognized as the first to play an electrically amplified violin.
08/02/1897
Zakir Husain, Indian academic and politician, 3rd president of India (died 1969)
Zakir Husain Khan was an Indian educationist and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1962 to 1967 and president of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969.
08/02/1895
Khorloogiin Choibalsan, Prime Minister of Mongolia (died 1952)
Khorloogiin Choibalsan was a Mongolian politician who served as the leader of the Mongolian People's Republic as the chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier) from 1939 until his death in 1952. He was also the commander-in-chief of the Mongolian People's Army from 1937, and the chairman of the Presidium of the State Little Khural from 1929 to 1930. His rule was maintained by a repressive state and cult of personality. Choibalsan led a dictatorship and organized Stalinist purges in Mongolia between 1937 and 1939 as head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
08/02/1894
King Vidor, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1982)
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, humane, and sympathetic depiction of contemporary social issues. Considered an auteur director, Vidor approached multiple genres and allowed the subject matter to determine the style, often pressing the limits of film-making conventions.
08/02/1893
Ba Maw, Burmese lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Burma (died 1977)
Ba Maw, known honorifically as Dr. Ba Maw, was a Burmese lawyer and politician, active during the interwar period and Second World War. He was the first Burma Premier (1937–1939) and head of State of Burma from 1943 to 1945.
08/02/1890
Claro M. Recto, Filipino lawyer, jurist, and politician (died 1960)
Claro Mayo Recto Jr. was a Filipino lawyer, jurist, writer, author, columnist, diplomat, and statesman who served as a senator of the Philippines from 1931 until his death in 1960. Recto was the primary author of the 1935 Philippine Constitution, one of the foremost figures in the Philippine Independence from the United States, and is remembered as the "Great Dissenter" and the "Great Academician", as a fierce opponent of U.S. neocolonialism in Asia in his later years, and a staunch Filipino nationalist throughout his career.
08/02/1888
Edith Evans, English actress (died 1976)
Dame Edith Mary Evans was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the West End stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was nominated for three Academy Awards.
08/02/1886
Charlie Ruggles, American actor (died 1970)
Charles Sherman Ruggles was an American comic character actor. In a career spanning six decades, Ruggles appeared in close to 100 feature films, often in mild-mannered and comic roles. He was also the elder brother of director, producer, and silent film actor Wesley Ruggles (1889–1972).
08/02/1884
Snowy Baker, Australian boxer, rugby player, and actor (died 1953)
Reginald Leslie "Snowy" Baker was an Australian athlete, sports promoter, and actor. Born in Surry Hills, an inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Baker excelled at a number of sports, winning New South Wales swimming and boxing championships while still a teenager. Playing rugby union for Eastern Suburbs, he played several games for New South Wales against Queensland, and in 1904 represented Australia in two Test matches against Great Britain. At the 1908 London Olympics, Baker represented Australasia in swimming and diving, as well as taking part in the middleweight boxing event, in which he won a silver medal. He also excelled in horsemanship, water polo, running, rowing and cricket. However, "His stature as an athlete depends largely upon the enormous range rather than the outstanding excellence of his activities; it was as an entrepreneur-showman, publicist and businessman that he seems in retrospect to have been most important."
08/02/1883
Isak Penttala, Finnish politician (died 1955)
Isak Penttala was a Finnish newspaper editor, politician and member of the Parliament of Finland, the national legislature of Finland. A member of the Social Democratic Party, he represented Vaasa Province South between March 1927 and July 1951. Prior to being elected, he was imprisoned for political reasons during and following the Finnish Civil War.
Joseph Schumpeter, Czech-American economist and political scientist (died 1950)
Joseph Alois Schumpeter was an Austrian political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at Harvard University, where he remained until the end of his career, and in 1939 obtained American citizenship.
08/02/1882
Thomas Selfridge, American lieutenant and pilot (died 1908)
Thomas Etholen Selfridge was an American first lieutenant in the U.S. Army and the first person to die in an airplane crash. He was also the first active-duty member of the U.S. military to die in a crash while on duty. He was killed while seated as a passenger in a Wright Flyer, on a demonstration flight piloted by Orville Wright.
08/02/1880
Franz Marc, German soldier and painter (died 1916)
Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter, a journal whose name later became synonymous with the circle of artists collaborating in it.
Viktor Schwanneke, German actor and director (died 1931)
Viktor Eduard Julius Schwanneke was a German stage director and actor, writer, and film actor whose acting career began at the turn of the 20th century.
08/02/1878
Martin Buber, Austrian-Israeli philosopher and academic (died 1965)
Martin Buber was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I–Thou relationship and the I–It relationship. Born in Vienna, Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in philosophy. He produced writings about Zionism and worked with various bodies within the Zionist movement extensively over a nearly 50-year period spanning his time in Europe and the Near East. In 1923, Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, Ich und Du, and in 1925 he began translating the Hebrew Bible into the German language.
08/02/1876
Paula Modersohn-Becker, German painter (died 1907)
Paula Modersohn-Becker was a German Expressionist painter and draftswoman of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She is noted for the many self-portraits, including nudes. She is considered one of the most important representatives of early expressionism, producing more than 700 paintings and over 1000 drawings during her active painting life. She is recognized both as the first known woman painter to paint nude self-portraits, and the first woman to have a museum devoted exclusively to her art. Additionally, she is believed to be the first woman artist to depict herself pregnant.
08/02/1866
Moses Gomberg, Ukrainian-American chemist and academic (died 1947)
Moses Gomberg was a chemistry professor at the University of Michigan. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and served as president of the American Chemical Society.
08/02/1860
Adella Brown Bailey, American politician and suffragist (died 1937)
Adella Brown Bailey (1860–1937) was an American politician and suffragist.
08/02/1850
Kate Chopin, American author (died 1904)
Kate Chopin was an American author of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. She is considered by scholars to have been a forerunner of American 20th-century feminist authors of Southern or Catholic background, such as Zelda Fitzgerald, and she is among the most frequently read and recognized writers of Louisiana Creole heritage. She is best known today for her 1899 novel The Awakening.
08/02/1834
Dmitri Mendeleev, Russian chemist and academic (died 1907)
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev was a Russian chemist known for formulating the periodic law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the periodic law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known elements, such as the valence and atomic weight of uranium, but also to predict the properties of three elements that were yet to be discovered. The synthetic element mendelevium is named in his honor.
08/02/1829
Vital-Justin Grandin, French-Canadian bishop and missionary (died 1902)
Vital-Justin Grandin was a Roman Catholic priest and bishop. He has been labelled as a key architect of the Canadian Indian residential school system by contemporary news sources, which has been considered an instrument of cultural genocide. In June 2021, this led to governments and private businesses to begin removing his name from institutions and infrastructure previously named for him. He served the Church in the western parts of what is now Canada both before and after Confederation. He is also the namesake or co-founder of various small communities and neighbourhoods in what is now Alberta, Canada, especially those of francophone residents.
08/02/1828
Jules Verne, French author, poet, and playwright (died 1905)
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French novelist, poet, and playwright.
08/02/1825
Henry Walter Bates, English geographer, biologist, and explorer (died 1892)
Henry Walter Bates was an English naturalist and explorer who gave the first scientific account of mimicry in animals. He was most famous for his expedition to the rainforests of the Amazon with Alfred Russel Wallace, starting in 1848. Wallace returned in 1852, but lost his collection on the return voyage when his ship caught fire. When Bates arrived home in 1859 after a full eleven years, he had sent back over 14,712 species of which 8,000 were new to science. Bates wrote up his findings in his best-known work, The Naturalist on the River Amazons (1863). Batesian mimicry is named in his honor.
08/02/1822
Maxime Du Camp, French photographer and journalist (died 1894)
Maxime Du Camp was a French writer and photographer.
08/02/1820
William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (died 1891)
William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognition for his command of military strategy but criticism for the harshness of his scorched-earth policies, which he implemented in his military campaign against the Confederate States. British military theorist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart declared that Sherman was "the most original genius of the American Civil War" and "the first modern general".
08/02/1819
John Ruskin, English author, critic, and academic (died 1900)
John Ruskin was an English polymath – a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, political economy, education, museology, geology, botany, ornithology, literature, history, and myth.
08/02/1817
Richard S. Ewell, American general (died 1872)
Richard Stoddert Ewell was an American military officer and a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He achieved fame as a senior commander under Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee and fought effectively through much of the war. Still, his legacy was clouded by controversies over his actions at the Battle of Gettysburg and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.
08/02/1807
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English sculptor and zoologist (died 1889)
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins was an English sculptor and natural history artist renowned for his work on the life-size models of dinosaurs in the Crystal Palace Park in south London. The models, accurately made using the latest scientific knowledge, created a sensation at the time. Hawkins was also a noted lecturer on zoological topics.
08/02/1798
Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia, Russian grand duke (died 1849)
Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia was a Russian grand duke, the tenth child and fourth son of Paul I of Russia and his second wife, Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, who took the name Maria Feodorovna. He was the younger brother of two Tsars, Alexander I and Nicholas I, and the disputed Tsar Konstantin I.
08/02/1792
Caroline Augusta of Bavaria, German princess (died 1873)
Princess Caroline Augusta of Bavaria was Empress of Austria by marriage to Francis I of Austria. She was the penultimate child and third daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. She firstly married to Crown Prince William of Württemberg in 1808, but they lived separately in 1814.
08/02/1764
Joseph Leopold Eybler, Austrian composer and conductor (died 1846)
Joseph Leopold Eybler was an Austrian composer and contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
08/02/1762
Gia Long, Vietnamese emperor (died 1820)
Gia Long, born Nguyễn Phúc Ánh (阮福暎) or Nguyễn Ánh (阮暎), was the founding emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty, the last dynasty of Vietnam, which would rule the unified territories that constitute modern-day Vietnam until 1945.
08/02/1741
André Grétry, Belgian-French organist and composer (died 1813)
André Ernest Modeste Grétry was a composer from the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, who worked from 1767 onwards in France and took French nationality. He is most famous for his opéras comiques. His music influenced Mozart and Beethoven both of whom wrote variations on his works.
08/02/1720
Emperor Sakuramachi, Japanese emperor (died 1750)
Teruhito , posthumously honored as Emperor Sakuramachi was the 115th emperor of Japan, according to the traditional order of succession. He was enthroned as Emperor in 1735, a reign that would last until 1747 with his abdication. As with previous Emperors during the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate had control over Japan.
08/02/1700
Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-Swiss mathematician and physicist (died 1782)
Daniel Bernoulli was a Swiss mathematician and physicist and was one of the many prominent mathematicians in the Bernoulli family from Basel. He is particularly remembered for his applications of mathematics to mechanics, especially fluid mechanics, and for his pioneering work in probability and statistics. His name is commemorated in the Bernoulli's principle, a particular example of the conservation of energy, which describes the mathematics of the mechanism underlying the operation of two important technologies of the 20th century: the carburetor and the aeroplane wing.
08/02/1685
Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian and author (died 1770)
Charles-Jean-François Hénault was a French writer and historian.
08/02/1591
Guercino, Italian painter (died 1666)
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, better known as (il) Guercino, was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vigorous naturalism of his early manner contrasts with the classical equilibrium of his later works. His many drawings are noted for their luminosity and lively style.
08/02/1577
Robert Burton, English priest, physician, and scholar (died 1640)
Robert Burton was an English author and fellow of Oxford University, known for his encyclopedic The Anatomy of Melancholy.
08/02/1552
Agrippa d'Aubigné, French poet and soldier (died 1630)
Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné was a French poet, soldier, propagandist and chronicler. His epic poem Les Tragiques (1616) is widely regarded as his masterpiece. In a book about his Catholic contemporary Jean de La Ceppède, the English poet Keith Bosley called d'Aubigné "the epic poet of the Protestant cause," during the French Wars of Religion. Bosley added, however, that after d'Aubigné's death, he "was forgotten until the Romantics rediscovered him."
08/02/1514
Daniele Barbaro, Venetian churchman, diplomat and scholar (died 1570)
Daniele Matteo Alvise Barbaro was an Italian cleric and diplomat. He was also an architect, writer on architecture, and translator of, and commentator on, Vitruvius.
08/02/1487
Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, German duke (died 1550)
Duke Ulrich of Württemberg succeeded his kinsman Eberhard II as Duke of Württemberg in 1498. He was declared of age in 1503. His volatile personality made him infamous, being called the "Swabian Henry VIII" by historians.
08/02/1405
Constantine XI Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (died 1453)
Constantine XI Dragases Palaiologos or Dragaš Palaeologus was the last reigning Byzantine emperor from 23 January 1449 until his death in battle at the fall of Constantinople on 29 May 1453. Constantine's death marked the definitive end of the Eastern Roman Empire, which traced its origin to Constantine the Great's foundation of Constantinople as the Roman Empire's new capital in 330.
08/02/1291
Afonso IV of Portugal, Portuguese king (died 1357)
Afonso IV, called the Brave, was King of Portugal from 1325 until his death in 1357. He was the only legitimate son of King Denis of Portugal and Elizabeth of Aragon.
08/02/1191
Yaroslav II of Vladimir (died 1246)
Yaroslav II Vsevolodovich, also transliterated as Iaroslav, was Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1238 to 1246. He collaborated with Batu Khan following the Mongol invasion, before he was ultimately poisoned.
08/02/0882
Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian commander and politician, Abbasid Governor of Egypt (died 946)
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Ṭughj ibn Juff ibn Yiltakīn ibn Fūrān ibn Fūrī ibn Khāqān, better known by the title al-Ikhshīd after 939, was an Abbasid commander and governor who became the autonomous ruler of Egypt and parts of Syria (Levant) from 935 until his death in 946. He was the founder of the Ikhshidid dynasty, which ruled the region until the Fatimid conquest of 969.
08/02/0412
Proclus, Greek mathematician and philosopher (died ~485)
Proclus Lycius, called Proclus the Successor, was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher, one of the last major classical philosophers of late antiquity. He set forth one of the most elaborate and fully developed systems of Neoplatonism and, through later interpreters and translators, exerted an influence on Byzantine philosophy, early Islamic philosophy, scholastic philosophy, and German idealism, especially G. W. F. Hegel, who called Proclus's Platonic Theology "the true turning point or transition from ancient to modern times, from ancient philosophy to Christianity."
08/02/0120
Vettius Valens, Greek astronomer, mathematician, and astrologer (died ~175)
Year 120 (CXX) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Fulvus. The denomination 120 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.