4th January — World Braille Day

On this day, 196 notable people were born on 4th January — spanning from 659 to 2006. From world leaders to artists and scientists, discover who shares this birthday.

04/01/2006

Marc Guiu, Spanish footballer

Marc Guiu Paz is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Chelsea.

---

04/01/2005

Rob Dillingham, American basketball player

Robert Deon Potasi Dillingham is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. He was a five-star recruit who previously played professionally for the Cold Hearts and Blue Checks with Karter Knox in Overtime Elite during what would have been his senior year in high school. Dillingham became a guard for Kentucky during the 2023–24 season. Dillingham was selected in the 2024 NBA draft with the 8th overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs, but was immediately traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on draft night. After nearly two seasons in Minnesota, Dillingham was traded to the Bulls in 2026.

---

Emil Højlund, Danish footballer

Emil Winther Højlund is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a forward for 2. Bundesliga club Schalke 04.

---

Oscar Højlund, Danish footballer

Oscar Winther Højlund is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for German Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt.

---

Dafne Keen, British-Spanish actress

Dafne Keen Fernández is a Spanish and British actress. She became known for playing Laura in the X-Men films Logan (2017) and Deadpool & Wolverine (2024), earning nominations at the Critics' Choice Awards, the Saturn Awards, and nods from numerous critics associations. She also played Lyra Belacqua in the television series His Dark Materials (2019–2022), receiving a nomination for a British Academy Cymru Award.

---

04/01/2004

Victor Wembanyama, French basketball player

Victor Wembanyama, nicknamed "Wemby" and "the Alien", is a French professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected first overall by the Spurs in the 2023 NBA draft and is considered one of the best basketball prospects ever due to his rare combination of height, agility, and skills.

---

04/01/2003

Jaeden Martell, American actor

Jaeden Martell is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor, with roles in the comedy drama St. Vincent (2014) and science fiction film Midnight Special (2016). His performance in St. Vincent earned him a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer. After playing the title character in the drama The Book of Henry (2017), Martell's breakthrough came with his portrayal of Bill Denbrough in the supernatural horror films It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019). This led to further leading roles in horror films, such as The Lodge (2019) and Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022).

---

Kevin, Brazilian footballer

Kevin Santos Lopes de Macedo, simply known as Kevin, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Fulham.

---

04/01/2002

Vladyslav Vanat, Ukrainian footballer

Vladyslav Andriyovych Vanat is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Girona and the Ukraine national team.

---

04/01/2001

Odilon Kossounou, Ivorian footballer

Kouakou Odilon Dorgeless Kossounou, better known as Odilon Kossounou, is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club Atalanta and the Ivory Coast national team.

---

Lola Young, English singer and songwriter

Lola Emily Mary Young is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in South London, she attracted attention in 2016 when she won the under-16 category of Open Mic UK and reached the finals of Got What It Takes?. She released her debut single in October 2019 and then the EPs Intro, Renaissance, and After Midnight. In 2021, she recorded a version of Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey's "Together in Electric Dreams" for that year's John Lewis Christmas advert. Around this time, she was nominated for the Brit Award for Rising Star and came fourth on the BBC's Sound of....

---

04/01/2000

Max Aarons, English footballer

Maximillian James Aarons is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Scottish Premiership club Rangers, on loan from Premier League club Bournemouth.

---

Facundo Colidio, Argentine footballer

Facundo Colidio is an Argentine footballer who plays as a forward for Argentine Primera División club River Plate.

---

04/01/1999

Wessam Abou Ali, Palestinian footballer

Wessam Haitham Mohammed Abou Ali is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club Columbus Crew. Born in Denmark, he plays for the Palestine national team.

---

Daniel Arzani, Iranian-Australian footballer

Daniel Arzani is a professional soccer player who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Nemzeti Bajnokság I club Ferencváros. Born in Iran, he represents the Australia national team.

---

Jan-Niklas Beste, German footballer

Jan-Niklas Beste is a German professional footballer who plays as a left-back or winger for Bundesliga club SC Freiburg.

---

Nico Hischier, Swiss ice hockey player

Nico Hischier is a Swiss professional ice hockey player who is a centre and captain for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hischier made his professional debut in his native Switzerland in 2015, spending time both in the top-tier National League A (NLA) and the second-tier National League B. He moved to North America for the 2016–17 season to play major junior hockey for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in hopes of furthering his hockey career; in his first season in the QMJHL, he was named rookie of the year, along with the award for best rookie in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), the governing body for major junior hockey in Canada. Internationally Hischier has represented Switzerland at several junior tournaments, including two World Junior Championships. Regarded as a strong two-way forward and a top prospect for the 2017 NHL entry draft, Hischier was selected first overall by the Devils, the first time a Swiss player was selected first overall, and made his NHL debut in 2017. He was named captain of the Devils in 2021.

---

Jaeman Salmon, Australian rugby league player

Jaeman Salmon is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a lock or second-row forward for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL).

---

Collin Sexton, American basketball player

Collin Darnell Sexton is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Alabama Crimson Tide. In January 2017, Sexton was selected as a McDonald's All-American. Nicknamed the "Young Bull", he was selected with the 8th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. After spending his first 4 seasons with the team, he was traded to the Utah Jazz via sign-and-trade in the 2022 offseason. Sexton has also played for the Charlotte Hornets.

---

04/01/1998

Coco Jones, American singer-songwriter and actress

Courtney Michaela Ann "Coco" Jones is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She first appeared on the competition series Radio Disney's Next Big Thing (2010–2011), which led to her signing with the company's Hollywood Records and being cast in several Disney Channel properties — including the sketch comedy So Random! (2011–2012) and the sitcom Good Luck Charlie (2012–2013). She had her breakthrough role as Roxanne "Roxy" Andrews in the 2012 television musical Disney Channel Original Movie Let It Shine, where she co-starred with Tyler James Williams and lent her vocals to the soundtrack for the network.

---

Arnoldas Kulboka, Lithuanian basketball player

Arnoldas Kulboka is a Lithuanian professional basketball player for Aris of the Greek Basketball League. He was selected by the Charlotte Hornets with the 55th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft. At 2.06 m, he can play at both forward positions.

---

Rodrigo Garro, Argentine footballer

Rodrigo Garro is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Corinthians.

---

Liza Soberano, Filipina actress

Hope Elizabeth Soberano is a Filipino and American actress. Known for playing supporting characters in dramas and comedies as a teenager, she has since expanded her repertoire to leading roles in television and film. She has received several major accolades, including a FAMAS Award, a PMPC Star Award, and six Box Office Entertainment Awards. Tatler Asia named her one of the most influential people in Asia in 2022 and 2023.

---

04/01/1997

Angeliño, Spanish footballer

José Ángel Esmorís Tasende, known by the diminutive Angeliño, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Serie A club Roma.

---

Ante Žižić, Croatian basketball player

Ante Toni Žižić is a Croatian professional basketball player for Beşiktaş Gain of the Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He was selected 23rd overall by the Boston Celtics in the 2016 NBA draft. He played in the NBA Finals as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018.

---

04/01/1996

Michael Dickson, Australian gridiron football player

Michael Dickson is an Australian professional American football punter, holder and occasional placekicker for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Texas Longhorns and was selected by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL draft.

---

Jackson Hastings, Australian rugby league player

Jackson Hastings is a Great Britain international rugby league footballer who plays as a scrum-half or stand-off for St Helens in the Super League.

---

Marcus Ingvartsen, Danish footballer

Marcus Højriis Ingvartsen is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Major League Soccer club San Diego FC. He is a former Denmark international.

---

Jasmine Paolini, Italian tennis player

Jasmine Paolini is an Italian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 4 in singles by the WTA, the joint-highest-ranked Italian woman in singles, and No. 3 in doubles. Paolini is a major champion in doubles at the 2025 French Open, partnering Sara Errani. Representing her country, she won an Olympic gold medal in doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, also with Errani. On the WTA Tour, Paolini has won three singles titles and ten in doubles, including two singles and five doubles WTA 1000 titles. She is also a three-time major finalist, contesting the singles and doubles finals of the 2024 French Open and the singles final of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Paolini led Italy to the 2024 and 2025 Billie Jean King Cup titles, winning the Heart Award for the 2024.

---

04/01/1995

Sarah Nurse, Canadian ice hockey player

Sarah Nurse is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and alternate captain for the Vancouver Goldeneyes of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) and Canada women's national ice hockey team. Nurse won Olympic gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics—where she broke the single-tournament Olympic point record with 18 and became the first Black woman to win a gold medal in Olympic ice-hockey—and silver at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She has competed in six IIHF World Women's Championships, securing three golds, two silvers, and one bronze (2019).

---

Adam Webster, English footballer

Adam Harry Webster is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion. Webster is a product of Portsmouth's youth academy and made his first-team debut for the club in 2012.

---

04/01/1994

Derrick Henry, American football player

Derrick Lamar Henry Jr. is an American professional football running back for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "King Henry", he is known for his imposing style of play and larger build than the average running back. Noted for his success at every stage of his career, Henry is the only player to have rushed for at least 2,000 yards in a season at the high school, college, and professional levels. He also led the nation in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns at all three levels.

---

04/01/1993

James Michael McAdoo, American basketball player

James Michael Ray McAdoo is an American professional basketball player for the Shimane Susanoo Magic of the B.League in Japan. He played college basketball for the North Carolina Tar Heels, and twice earned second-team all-conference honors in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). McAdoo won two NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors. He has also played in various international leagues, including the EuroCup, Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL), and ABA League.

---

Mahmoud Metwalli, Egyptian footballer

Mahmoud El-Metwalli Mohamed Mansour, commonly known as Mahmoud Metwalli, is an Egyptian-born footballer as a midfielder and centre back.

---

04/01/1992

Kris Bryant, American baseball player

Kristopher Lee Bryant, nicknamed "KB", is an American professional baseball third baseman, outfielder, and designated hitter for the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants.

---

Quincy Promes, Dutch footballer

Quincy Anton Promes is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a winger or forward. He is currently imprisoned while appealing convictions for aggravated assault and drug trafficking.

---

04/01/1991

Charles Melton, American actor

Charles Michael Melton is an American actor. After working as a fashion model, Melton ventured to acting with guest roles on the television series Glee (2014) and American Horror Story: Hotel (2015–2016). His breakthrough came with his portrayal of Reggie Mantle in the CW series Riverdale (2017–2023).

---

04/01/1990

Iago Falque, Spanish footballer

Iago Falque Silva is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward.

---

Raisel Iglesias, Cuban baseball player

Raisel Enrique Iglesias is a Cuban professional baseball pitcher for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the Cincinnati Reds and Los Angeles Angels. He signed with the Reds as an international free agent in 2014 after defecting from Cuba.

---

Toni Kroos, German footballer

Toni Kroos is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, he was known for his vision and pinpoint precision passing. Kroos played mainly as a central midfielder and occasionally played as a defensive midfielder. Having won 34 trophies over his 17 year career, he is the second most decorated German footballer after Thomas Müller.

---

Alberto Paloschi, Italian footballer

Alberto Paloschi is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for ChievoVerona.

---

04/01/1989

Kevin Pillar, American baseball player

Kevin Andrew Pillar is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Angels, and Texas Rangers.

---

Graham Rahal, American race car driver

Graham Robert Rahal is an American racing driver and businessman. He currently races in the IndyCar Series for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner of the 1986 Indianapolis 500.

---

04/01/1988

Anestis Argyriou, Greek footballer

Anestis Argyriou is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a right-back.

---

Maximilian Riedmüller, German footballer

Maximilian Riedmüller is a German footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for TuS Holzkirchen.

---

04/01/1987

Marissa Coleman, American basketball player

Marissa Coleman is an American former professional basketball player.

---

Przemysław Tytoń, Polish footballer

Przemysław Tytoń is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Eredivisie club Twente.

---

Danny Simpson, English footballer

Daniel Peter Simpson is an English footballer who plays as a right-back for Stretford Paddock. He started his career at Manchester United in the Premier League, later loaned for Royal Antwerp, Sunderland, Ipswich Town, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United during his professional development.

---

Kay Voser, Swiss footballer

Kay Voser is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as defender, mainly as left back. He now works as sports journalist.

---

04/01/1986

Younès Kaboul, French footballer

Younes Kaboul is a French former professional footballer who played as a centre-back for Auxerre, Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth, Sunderland and Watford. For France, Kaboul played for the under-21 team and went on to play five matches and scored one goal for the senior national team in 2011.

---

Andrei Krauchanka, Belarusian decathlete

Andrei Sergeyevich Krauchanka is a Belarusian decathlete. He was the silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His personal best score of 8617 points is the Belarusian record for the event. He also holds the national indoor record in the heptathlon with 6282 points.

---

Russell Martin, English footballer and manager

Russell Kenneth Alexander Martin is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of EFL League One club Leicester City. Born in England, he represented Scotland at international level.

---

James Milner, English footballer

James Philip Milner is an English former professional footballer. A versatile player, Milner played in multiple positions, including wing, in midfield and at full-back. He holds the record for the most Premier League appearances (658) and the longest continuous career in the Premier League. He is also one of only five outfield players to have made a Premier League appearance at the age of 40 or older, joining Teddy Sheringham, Ryan Giggs, Gordon Strachan, and Kevin Phillips.

---

Charlyne Yi, American actor, comedian, musician, and writer

Lo Mutuc is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer, known for their role as Dr. Chi Park in the Fox medical drama House (2011–2012), and for providing the voices of the Rubies in the Cartoon Network animated series Steven Universe (2015–2018) and its epilogue series Steven Universe Future (2019–2020), Chloe Park in We Bare Bears (2015–2019), Alice in Summer Camp Island (2018–2023), Mai in Next Gen (2018), and Larry in StuGo (2025).

---

04/01/1985

Lenora Crichlow, British actress

Lenora Isabella Crichlow is an English actress. She became known for her starring roles as Maria "Sugar" Sweet in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series Sugar Rush, Annie Sawyer in the BBC Three supernatural drama series Being Human, and Shania Andrews in the 2012 sports drama film Fast Girls. In 2013, Crichlow portrayed Chen Sam in the television film Burton & Taylor and Victoria Skillane in the episode "White Bear" of the dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror. She has since had regular roles in the ABC sitcom Back in the Game and the NBC comedy series A to Z. In 2020, she was in the main cast of the HBO/Sky One comedy series Avenue 5, playing second engineer Billie McEvoy.

---

Kari Aalvik Grimsbø, Norwegian handball player

Kari Aalvik Grimsbø is a former Norwegian handball player who last played for Győri ETO KC and the Norwegian national team. She is both an Olympic, European and World Champion. Since her retirement she is the goalkeeping coach at Byåsen HE.

---

Gökhan Gönül, Turkish footballer

Gökhan Gönül is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a right back.

---

Al Jefferson, American basketball player

Al Ricardo Jefferson is an American former professional basketball player. A center/power forward, he was a high school All-American for Prentiss High School in Mississippi before skipping college to enter the 2004 NBA draft, where he was drafted 15th overall by the Boston Celtics. He played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets and Indiana Pacers, earning third-team All-NBA honors in 2014 with the Hornets.

---

Jung Sung-ryong, South Korean footballer

Jung Sung-ryong is a South Korean professional footballer who currently plays as a goalkeeper for J3 League club Fukushima United.

---

Ross Turnbull, English footballer and coach

Ross Turnbull is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Between 2002 and 2015 he made 148 league appearances, mostly for Middlesbrough, Chelsea, Crewe Alexandra, Doncaster Rovers and Barnsley. He also played for England at youth level up to the under-19s.

---

04/01/1984

Javi Fuego, Spanish footballer

Javier "Javi" Fuego Martínez is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

---

Jiří Hudler, Czech ice hockey player

Jiří Hudler is a Czech former professional ice hockey forward. He played with the Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames, Florida Panthers and the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League (NHL). After beginning his career in the Czech Extraliga with HC Vsetín, Hudler was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the 2002 NHL entry draft and won the Stanley Cup with the club in 2008. Hudler also played for Dynamo Moscow in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) for one season before the team was merged to form UHC Dynamo.

---

04/01/1983

Will Bynum, American basketball player

William Bynum is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach of the Birmingham Squadron of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the University of Arizona and Georgia Tech before going undrafted in the 2005 NBA draft. He was the 2007 Israeli Basketball Premier League Finals MVP.

---

Richard Rankin, Scottish film, television and theatre actor

Richard Rankin is a Scottish actor. He is best known for the Scottish sketch show Burnistoun, for playing Roger Wakefield MacKenzie in the Starz drama Outlander and for portraying John Rebus in the BBC crime series Rebus, adapted from the Inspector Rebus novels by Ian Rankin.

---

04/01/1982

Richard Logan, English footballer

Richard James Logan is an English former footballer.

---

Danny Sullivan, Australian rugby league player

Danny Sullivan is an Australian former rugby league footballer. His position of preference was in the Second Row.

---

Kang Hye-jung, South Korean actress

Kang Hye-jung is a South Korean actress. Making her film debut in arthouse film Nabi (2001), she rose to stardom and critical acclaim in Park Chan-wook's 2003 revenge thriller Oldboy. A rising star early in her career, she gained acting awards for Han Jae-rim's relationship drama Rules of Dating (2005), and Park Kwang-hyun's Korean War comedy Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005).

---

04/01/1980

D'Arcy Carden, American actress and comedian

D'Arcy Beth Carden is an American actress and comedian. She is best known for portraying Janet in the NBC sitcom The Good Place (2016–2020), for which she earned a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, and Greta Gill in the Prime series A League of Their Own (2022). She also played Gemma in Broad City (2014–2019) and Natalie Greer in the HBO dark comedy series Barry (2018–2023).

---

Miguel Monteiro, Portuguese footballer

Luís Miguel Brito Garcia Monteiro, known simply as Miguel, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a right-back or a winger.

---

Justin Ontong, South African cricketer

Justin Lee Ontong is a former South African cricketer, who played domestic cricket for the Cape Cobras. He has played two Test matches, 26 One Day Internationals and twelve Twenty20 Internationals as an all-rounder.

---

04/01/1979

Shergo Biran, German footballer

Shergo Biran is a German former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was born in West Berlin.

---

Tristan Gommendy, French racing driver

Tristan Emmanuel Benoît Gommendy is a French professional racing driver who last competed in the European Le Mans Series with Duqueine Team.

---

04/01/1978

Dominik Hrbatý, Slovak tennis player

Dominik Hrbatý is a Slovak former professional tennis player. Hrbatý reached the semifinals of the 1999 French Open, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in October 2005. Hrbatý is one of only three players, alongside Nick Kyrgios and Lleyton Hewitt, to have beaten each member of the Big Three the first time he played them.

---

04/01/1976

Ted Lilly, American baseball player

Theodore Roosevelt Lilly III is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Lilly attended Yosemite High School in Oakhurst, California, and Fresno City College. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1999 to 2013 for the Montreal Expos, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a two-time MLB All-Star.

---

04/01/1975

Shane Carwin, American mixed martial artist and wrestler

Shane Bannister Carwin is an American former mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. He is considered to be one of the hardest hitting athletes to ever fight in the UFC.

---

Paul Watson, English footballer

Paul Douglas Watson is an English former footballer who played as a full-back.

---

04/01/1974

Danilo Hondo, German cyclist

Danilo Hondo is a German former professional road bicycle racer. He won the German National Road Race in 2002. He competed in the men's team pursuit at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

---

04/01/1973

Frank Høj, Danish cyclist

Frank Høj is a Danish retired professional road bicycle racer. Høj started as a stagiaire for the Zetelhallen–Vosschemie team in 1994, and became professional in 1995 for Collstrop–Lystex. His first win as a professional came the year after. In a live interview with Danish media station TV2 during the coverage of Tour de France 2015, Høj admitted to have used EPO in the early periods of his career, namely 1995–1998. He also competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics.

---

04/01/1971

Shane Walker, Australian rugby league player

Shane Walker, is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and early 2000s. Walker played for the St. George Dragons in 1990 and 1992, the Eastern Suburbs Roosters in 1993 and 1994, the Balmain Tigers between 1995 and 1999, the Wests Tigers in 2000 and 2001 and finally the Melbourne Storm in 2002.

---

Colin Ward, Australian rugby league player

Colin Ward is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s.

---

04/01/1970

Josh Stamberg, American actor

Joshua Collins Stamberg is an American actor. He was regular cast member in the Lifetime comedy-drama series Drop Dead Diva from 2009 to 2012, and later had recurring roles on Parenthood, The Affair, and WandaVision.

---

04/01/1969

Corie Blount, American basketball player

Corie Kasoun Blount is an American former professional basketball player born in Monrovia, California. He played eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

---

Kees van Wonderen, Dutch footballer and manager

Cornelis "Kees" Hendricus van Wonderen is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who last coached Schalke 04. During his playing career, he was mostly utilised as a centre back.

---

04/01/1967

Johnny Nelson, English boxer and sportscaster

Ivanson Ranny "Johnny" Nelson is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 2005. He held the World Boxing Organization (WBO) cruiserweight title from 1999 to 2006, and remains the longest reigning cruiserweight world champion of all time. Nelson defended the title against thirteen different opponents, more than any other cruiserweight in history, and holds a joint-record of most consecutive cruiserweight title defences. He also never lost the title in the ring. At regional level, he held the British cruiserweight title twice between 1989 and 1997, and the European cruiserweight title twice between 1990 and 1998.

---

David Toms, American golfer and philanthropist

David Wayne Toms is an American professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. From 1992 to 2017, Toms was a member of the PGA Tour, where he won 13 events, including one major, the 2001 PGA Championship. He was in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking for 175 weeks between 2001 and 2006, and ranked as high as fifth in 2002 and 2003.

---

David Wilson, Australian rugby player

David John Wilson is a former Australian rugby union footballer who played on the openside flank 79 times, and who captained the Wallabies 9 times.

---

04/01/1966

Deana Carter, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Deana Kay Carter is an American country music singer-songwriter who broke through in 1996 with the release of her debut album Did I Shave My Legs for This?, which was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in the United States for sales of over 5 million. It was followed by 1998's Everything's Gonna Be Alright, 2003's I'm Just a Girl, 2005's The Story of My Life, and 2007's The Chain. Overall, Carter's albums have accounted for 14 singles, including three which reached Number One on the Billboard country charts: "Strawberry Wine", "We Danced Anyway", and "How Do I Get There".

---

04/01/1965

Guy Forget, French tennis player

Guy Forget is a French tennis administrator and retired professional player. During his career, he helped France win the Davis Cup in both 1991 and 1996. Since retiring as a player, he has served as France's Davis Cup team captain.

---

Beth Gibbons, English singer and songwriter

Beth Gibbons is an English singer and songwriter. She is the singer and lyricist for the band Portishead, who have released three albums. She released an album with fellow English musician Rustin Man, Out of Season, in 2002, and a recording of contemporary Polish composer Górecki's Symphony No. 3 in 2019 with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, she released her first solo album without collaboration, Lives Outgrown. The album received critical acclaim and was nominated for the 2024 Mercury Prize.

---

Craig Revel Horwood, Australian-English dancer, choreographer, and director

Craig Revel Horwood is an Australian–British dancer, choreographer, theatre director, author and former drag queen in the United Kingdom. He has twice been nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer, for his work on Spend Spend Spend (1999–2000) and the musical My One and Only (2001–2002).

---

Julia Ormond, English actress and producer

Julia Karin Ormond is an English actress. She rose to prominence during the 1990s by appearing in Legends of the Fall (1994), First Knight (1995) and Sabrina (1995). She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for her role in the HBO film Temple Grandin (2010). She is also known for her role in The Walking Dead: World Beyond (2020) as a main antagonist.

---

04/01/1964

Susan Devoy, New Zealand squash player

Dame Susan Elizabeth Anne Devoy is a New Zealand former squash player and senior public servant. As a squash player, she was dominant in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning the World Open on four occasions. She served as New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner from 2013 to 2018.

---

Dot-Marie Jones, American actress and athlete

Dot-Marie Jones is an American actress and retired athlete who has had multiple roles in television. She attended California State University, Fresno, where she set records for shot put. Jones is also a 15-time world arm wrestling champion. She was a recurring guest star starting in the second season of the musical television series Glee as Coach Beiste, and appeared through the show's sixth and final season, when she was promoted to starring status. She was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series in 2011, 2012, and 2013 for her portrayal of Coach Beiste. She is also known for her roles as Coach Kelly in Lizzie McGuire and as Butch Brenda in Material Girls.

---

Adrian Shelford, New Zealand rugby league player (died 2003)

Adrian Tremain Shelford was a New Zealand rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for New Zealand, and at club level for Wigan and Wakefield Trinity in the Championship as well as the Newcastle Knights and Manly Sea Eagles in the NSWRL Premiership, as a prop.

---

04/01/1963

Dave Foley, Canadian comedian, actor, director, and producer

David Scott Foley is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, director, producer, and writer. He is known as a co-founder of the comedy group The Kids in the Hall, who have appeared together in a number of television, stage and film productions, most notably the 1988–1995 TV sketch comedy show of the same name, as well as the 1996 film Brain Candy.

---

Till Lindemann, German singer, songwriter, and poet

Till Lindemann is a German singer-songwriter and poet, best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist of the Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein. Renowned for his theatrical stage performances, poetic lyrics, and distinctive bass-baritone voice, he is a central figure in the band’s international success. He was also part of the musical project Lindemann before beginning to release music under his own name. He has appeared in several films in minor roles and has published three books of poetry.

---

Martina Proeber, German diver

Martina Proeber is a German diver. She won a silver medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in the 3 metre springboard event.

---

04/01/1962

Joe Kleine, American basketball player and coach

Joseph William Kleine is an American former professional basketball player who played fifteen seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and for the US national team. He won a gold medal as a member of the United States men's basketball team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1998, he won the NBA championship as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Kleine is now a restaurant proprietor, owning a number of successful Corky's Ribs & BBQ restaurants.

---

04/01/1961

Sidney Green, American basketball player and coach

Sidney Green is an American former professional basketball player and former coach. He played college basketball for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels and was drafted into the National Basketball Association (NBA) by the Chicago Bulls in 1983. After a ten-year career in the NBA he went into college coaching. He now works as a Chicago Bulls team ambassador.

---

Cliff Levingston, American basketball player and coach

Clifford Eugene Levingston is an American professional basketball coach and former player.

---

Graham McTavish, Scottish actor and author

Graham McTavish is a Scottish actor and author. He is known for his roles as Dwalin in The Hobbit film trilogy, The Saint of Killers in the AMC series Preacher, Dougal MacKenzie and William Buccleigh MacKenzie in the Starz series Outlander, and Harrold Westerling in the HBO series House of the Dragon. He is also known for his roles in the video game franchise Uncharted as the main antagonist Zoran Lazarević in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Charlie Cutter in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.

---

04/01/1960

Gavin Miller, Australian rugby league player

Gavin John Miller is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative forward, he played the majority of his club football for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, and is an Immortal of the club. He earned two successive Dally M Player of the Year awards in 1988 and 1989.

---

Michael Stipe, American singer-songwriter and producer

John Michael Stipe is an American singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.

---

04/01/1958

Matt Frewer, American-Canadian actor

Matthew George Frewer is an American-Canadian actor and comedian. He portrayed the 1980s icon Max Headroom in the 1985 TV film and 1987 television series of the same name.

---

Julian Sands, English actor (died 2023)

Julian Richard Morley Sands was an English actor. He had co-starring roles in Oxford Blues and The Killing Fields in 1984. The following year, Sands played George Emerson in A Room with a View; this role became his breakout role. He then went on to appear in Gothic (1986); Warlock (1989); Arachnophobia (1990); Naked Lunch (1991); Leaving Las Vegas (1995); and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). His television roles included Nick Hardaway in Rose Red (2002), Vladimir Bierko in 24 (2006), Jor-El in Smallville (2009–2010); he also voiced the character of Valmont in Jackie Chan Adventures (2000–2002).

---

04/01/1957

Patty Loveless, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Patty Loveless is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first few releases were unsuccessful, she broke through by decade's end with a cover of George Jones's "If My Heart Had Windows". Loveless issued five albums on MCA before moving to Epic Records in 1993, where she released nine more albums. Four of her albums—Honky Tonk Angel, Only What I Feel, When Fallen Angels Fly, and The Trouble with the Truth—are certified platinum in the United States. Loveless has charted 44 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including five which reached number one: "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", "Chains", "Blame It on Your Heart", "You Can Feel Bad", and "Lonely Too Long".

---

04/01/1956

Tom Borton, American jazz saxophonist, songwriter and composer (died 2011)

Thomas William Borton was an American jazz saxophonist, songwriter and composer, and was the founder and CEO of Los Angeles Post Music, Inc.

---

Zehava Gal-On, Israeli politician

Zehava Galon, is an Israeli politician, the president of the research institute ZULAT for Equality and Human Rights and former leader of Meretz.

---

Ann Magnuson, American actress and performance artist

Ann Magnuson is an American actress, performance artist, and nightclub performer. She was described by The New York Times in 1990 as "An endearing theatrical chameleon who has as many characters at her fingertips as Lily Tomlin does".

---

Bernard Sumner, English singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Bernard Sumner is an English musician. He is a founding member of the bands Joy Division, New Order, Electronic, and Bad Lieutenant. Sumner was an early force in several areas, including the post-punk, synth-pop, and techno music scenes, as well as their various related genres, and was an early influence on the Manchester music scene that presaged the Madchester movement of the late 1980s centred on Factory Records and The Haçienda club in Manchester. He and drummer Stephen Morris are the only two continuous members of New Order, who have also appeared on all the band's albums.

---

04/01/1954

Rob Kerin, Australian politician, 43rd Premier of South Australia

Robert Gerard Kerin is a former South Australian politician who was the Premier of South Australia from 22 October 2001 to 5 March 2002, representing the South Australian Division of the Liberal Party of Australia. He was also Deputy Premier of South Australia from 7 July 1998 until he became Premier and, after losing government, leader of the opposition until after the 2006 election.

---

Tina Knowles, American fashion designer, founded House of Deréon

Celestine Ann "Tina" Beyoncé Knowles is an American businesswoman, fashion designer, author, and philanthropist known for establishing the brands House of Deréon and Miss Tina by Tina Knowles. She is the mother of singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles and was married until 2011 to their father Mathew Knowles, the manager of Destiny's Child. For her contribution to the fashion business, Knowles was honored at the Accessories Council Excellence Awards in 2001.

---

04/01/1953

Norberto Alonso, Argentinian footballer

Norberto Osvaldo Alonso, better known as Beto Alonso is a former Argentine football midfielder who spent most of his career at River Plate, where he won 9 titles. He remains one of their most notable players. Alonso was regularly regarded as one of the best South American players in the world during the 1970s.

---

04/01/1950

Khondakar Ashraf Hossain, Bangladesh poet and academic (died 2013)

Khondakar Ashraf Hossain was a leading postmodernist poet, essayist, translator, and editor from Bangladesh. He wrote more than eighteen titles.

---

04/01/1949

Mick Mills, English footballer and manager

Michael Dennis Mills is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich Town's record number of appearances and captained England at the 1982 World Cup. He is 7th on the list of all-time appearances in the top-flight of English football with 658 league appearances, and fourth for outfield players.

---

Bwanga Tshimen, Congolese footballer

Raymond Bwanga Tshimenu is a former footballer from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Bwanga won the 1973 African Footballer of the Year while with TP Mazembe in Lubumbashi. During his playing days in the early and mid 1970s he was nicknamed "Black Beckenbauer" by the African and French press due to his playing style.

---

04/01/1948

Kostas Davourlis, Greek footballer (died 1992)

Konstantinos Davourlis born in Agyia, Patras, popularly nicknamed The Black Prince, was a former Greek footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. A gifted and talented player, he was voted by the Greek sports magazine "Ethnosport" as one of the 50 best Greek football players ever.

---

Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé, Malian civil servant and politician, Prime Minister of Mali (died 2021)

Cissé Mariam Kaïdama Sidibé was a Malian politician and the Prime Minister of Mali at the time of the 2012 Malian coup d'état. She was the first female prime minister in the country's history. She was announced to the position by decree on 3 April 2011, replacing Modibo Sidibé. She held the position for slightly less than a year under the presidency of Amadou Toumani Touré before she was removed from office in the 22 March 2012 coup.

---

04/01/1947

Chris Cutler, English percussionist, lyricist and music theorist

Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and (briefly) Gong/Mothergong. He has collaborated with many musicians and groups, including Fred Frith, Lindsay Cooper, Zeena Parkins, Peter Blegvad, Telectu, and The Residents, and has appeared on over 100 recordings. Cutler's career spans over four decades and he still performs actively throughout the world.

---

Marie-Thérèse Letablier, French sociologist and academic

Marie-Thérèse Letablier, is a French sociologist. Her major sociological works concern work, family and gender issues. She is Research director in the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and a senior research fellow in the Paris Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne (CES).

---

04/01/1946

Arthur Conley, American singer-songwriter (died 2003)

Arthur Lee Conley, also known in later years as Lee Roberts, was an American soul singer, best known for the 1967 hit "Sweet Soul Music".

---

04/01/1945

Vesa-Matti Loiri, Finnish actor, musician and comedian (died 2022)

Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri was a Finnish actor, musician and comedian, best known for his role as Uuno Turhapuro, whom he portrayed in a total of 20 movies between the years 1973 and 2004.

---

Richard R. Schrock, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Richard Royce Schrock is an American chemist and Nobel laureate recognized for his contributions to the olefin metathesis reaction used in organic chemistry.

---

04/01/1944

Gary Stevens, Australian rugby league player (died 2025)

Gary Stevens was an Australian rugby league footballer, a hard tackling second-row forward, of the 1960s and 1970s for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and the Australian national representative side. He is the grandson of Souths club great Arthur Oxford.

---

Alan Sutherland, New Zealand rugby player (died 2020)

Alan Richard Sutherland was a New Zealand rugby union player. A number 8 and lock, Sutherland represented Marlborough at a provincial level, and was a member of the New Zealand national side, the All Blacks, from 1968 to 1976. He played 64 matches for the All Blacks, of which three were as captain, including 10 internationals.

---

04/01/1943

Doris Kearns Goodwin, American historian and author

Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of numerous U.S. presidents. Goodwin's book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1995. Goodwin produced the American television miniseries Washington. She was also executive producer of Abraham Lincoln, a 2022 docudrama on the History Channel. This latter series was based on Goodwin's Leadership in Turbulent Times.

---

Hwang Sok-yong, South Korean author and educator

Hwang Sok-yong is a South Korean novelist.

---

04/01/1942

Bolaji Akinyemi, Nigerian political scientist, academic, and politician

Akinwande Bolaji Akinyemi is a Nigerian professor of political science who was Nigeria External Affairs Minister from 1985 to late 1987. He is the chairman of the National Think Tank.

---

Jim Downing, American race car driver and inventor

James Downing is an American former professional race car driver, he is a five-time IMSA Championship winner, owner/driver of Downing/Atlanta Racing, and was principal in the development of the HANS device.

---

John McLaughlin, English guitarist and songwriter

John McLaughlin, also previously known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. A pioneer of jazz fusion, his music combines elements of jazz with rock, world music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams' group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his 1969–72 electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Classical, Indian and other influences. In 1974, he helped found Shakti, a seminal Indian-Jazz rock fusion band with Indian violinist L. Shankar and percussionists Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram.

---

04/01/1941

George P. Cosmatos, Italian-Canadian director and screenwriter (died 2005)

George Pan Cosmatos was a Greek-Italian film director and screenwriter. Following early success in his home country with drama films such as Massacre in Rome with Richard Burton, Cosmatos retooled his career towards mainstream "blockbuster" action and adventure films, including The Cassandra Crossing and Escape to Athena, both of which were British-Italian co-productions. After relocating to North America, he directed the horror film Of Unknown Origin. This was followed by some of his best-known work, including the action films Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra, the science-fiction horror film Leviathan, and the critically acclaimed Western movie Tombstone.

---

Kalpnath Rai, Indian politician (died 1999)

Kalpnath Rai was an Indian politician. He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha between 1974–80, 1980–86, and 1986–92, as well as being elected on four term occasions to the Lok Sabha from the Ghosi constituency in the state of Uttar Pradesh. 1989-1991-1996-1998. He was a minister in various national Congress (I) governments.

---

04/01/1940

Brian Josephson, Welsh physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Brian David Josephson is a British theoretical physicist and emeritus professor at the University of Cambridge. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics with Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever for his discovery of the Josephson effect, made in 1962 when he was a Ph.D. student at Cambridge.

---

Gao Xingjian, Chinese novelist, playwright, and critic, Nobel Prize laureate

Gao Xingjian is a Chinese émigré and later French naturalized novelist, playwright, critic, painter, photographer, film director, and translator who in 2000 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for an oeuvre of universal validity, bitter insights and linguistic ingenuity." He is also a noted translator, screenwriter, stage director, and a celebrated painter.

---

04/01/1938

Jim Norton, Irish stage, film and television actor

Jim Norton is an Irish stage, film and television character actor, known for his work in the theatre, most notably in Conor McPherson's The Seafarer, and on television as Bishop Brennan in the sitcom Father Ted.

---

Eberhard Wagner, German academic, linguist and author

Eberhard Wagner is a German regional dialect researcher, poet, playwright, and actor who focuses on local dialects. He is well-known for writing and publishing in the dialect of Upper Franconia.

---

04/01/1937

Grace Bumbry, American operatic soprano (died 2023)

Grace Melzia Bumbry was an American opera singer, considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, who also ventured to soprano roles. A pioneer among African-American classical singers, she gained international acclaim as Venus in Tannhäuser at the 1961 Bayreuth Festival, the first black singer to appear there.

---

Dyan Cannon, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter

Dyan Cannon is an American actress, filmmaker, and editor. Her accolades include a Saturn Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Academy Award nominations, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was named Female Star of the Year by the National Association of Theatre Owners in 1973 and the Hollywood Women's Press Club in 1979.

---

04/01/1935

Floyd Patterson, American boxer (died 2006)

Floyd Patterson was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics. He has been named among the top 15 heavyweights of all time.

---

04/01/1934

Rudolf Schuster, Slovak politician, 2nd President of Slovakia

Rudolf Schuster is a Slovak politician who served as the second president of Slovakia from 1999 to 2004. He was elected on 29 May 1999 and inaugurated on 15 June. In the presidential elections of April 2004, in which he sought re-election, Schuster was defeated. He received only 7.4% of the vote, with three other candidates receiving more than that. He was succeeded by Ivan Gašparovič.

---

04/01/1932

Carlos Saura, Spanish director and screenwriter (died 2023)

Carlos Saura Atarés was a Spanish film director, photographer and writer. With Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, he is considered to be among Spain's great filmmakers. He had a long and prolific career that spanned over half a century, and his films won many international awards.

---

Clint Hill, American Secret Service agent (died 2025)

Clinton Jerome Hill was a United States Secret Service agent who served under five U.S. presidents, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gerald Ford. Hill is best known for his act of bravery on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. During the assassination, Hill ran into the line of fire from the Secret Service follow-up car, leaped onto the back of the presidential car, and shielded the stricken president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy with his own body as the car raced to Parkland Memorial Hospital. His act was documented in film footage by Abraham Zapruder. Hill was the last surviving person who was inside the presidential limousine on November 22, 1963.

---

04/01/1931

William Deane, Australian judge and politician, 22nd Governor-General of Australia

Sir William Patrick Deane is an Australian barrister and jurist who served as the 22nd governor-general of Australia from 1996 to 2001. He was previously a Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1982 to 1995, during which time he was one of the judges who decided in favour of Eddie Mabo in the Mabo case.

---

Nora Iuga, Romanian poet, writer and translator

Nora Iuga is a Romanian poet, writer and translator.

---

04/01/1930

Sorrell Booke, American actor and director (died 1994)

Sorrell Booke was an American actor. He appeared in over 130 film, television, and stage productions, and was best known for his role as "Boss" Hogg, the principal antagonist of the television series The Dukes of Hazzard (1979–1985).

---

Don Shula, American football player and coach (died 2020)

Donald Francis Shula was an American football defensive back and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1963 to 1995. The head coach of the Miami Dolphins for most of his career, Shula is the NFL's winningest head coach at 347 career victories and 328 regular season victories. He is regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time.

---

04/01/1929

Günter Schabowski, German journalist and politician (died 2015)

Günter Schabowski was a German politician who served as an official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the ruling party during most of the existence of East Germany. After climbing up the party ladder, he became the regime's unofficial spokesman. He gained worldwide fame in November 1989 when he improvised a slightly mistaken answer to a press conference question about the future of the Berlin Wall, that seemed to announce the Wall's immediate end and raised popular expectations much more rapidly than the government planned. Massive crowds gathered at the Wall the same night, which forced its opening after 28 years. Soon afterward, the entire inner German border was opened; not much later, East Germany ceased to exist.

---

04/01/1927

Paul Desmarais, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (died 2013)

Paul Guy Desmarais Sr. was a Canadian financier and philanthropist, based in Montreal. With an estimated family net worth of US$4.5 billion, Desmarais was ranked by Forbes as the fourth wealthiest person in Canada, and 235th in the world in 2013. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Power Corporation of Canada until 1996, when he passed the reins of management of Power Corporation to his sons, Paul Jr. and André. He continued as a director and as chairman of the executive committee of the board, and remained the controlling shareholder. Power Corporation of Canada is a diversified international management and holding company with interests in companies in the financial services, asset management, sustainable and renewable energy, and other business sectors.

---

Barbara Rush, American actress (died 2024)

Barbara Rush was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. In 1954, she won the Golden Globe Award for most promising female newcomer for her role in the 1953 American science-fiction film It Came from Outer Space. Later in her career, Rush became a regular performer in the television series Peyton Place, and appeared in TV movies, miniseries, and a variety of other programs, including the soap opera All My Children and the family drama 7th Heaven, as well as starring in films such as The Young Philadelphians, The Young Lions, Robin and the 7 Hoods, and Hombre.

---

04/01/1925

Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish skier and technician (died 2003)

Veikko Johannes Hakulinen was a Finnish cross-country skier, triple champion in both the Olympics and World Championships. He also competed in biathlon, orienteering, ski-orienteering, cross-country running, and rowing at a national level.

---

04/01/1924

Marianne Werner, German shot putter (died 2023)

Marianne Werner was a West German athlete who specialized in throwing events. She competed in the shot put and discus throw at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics and earned two medals in the shot put. Werner won the European title in this event in 1958 and finished fifth in 1954.

---

04/01/1920

William Colby, American intelligence officer, 10th Director of Central Intelligence (died 1996)

William Egan Colby was an American intelligence officer who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from September 1973 to January 1976. During World War II, Colby served with the Office of Strategic Services. After the war, he joined the newly created Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

---

Rosalie Crutchley, British actress (died 1997)

Rosalie Sylvia Crutchley was a British actress. Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, she was perhaps best known for her television performances, but had a long and successful career in theatre and films, making her stage debut in 1932 and her screen debut in 1947.

---

04/01/1916

Lionel Newman, American pianist and composer (died 1989)

Lionel Newman was an American conductor, pianist, and film and television composer. He won the Academy Award for Best Score of a Musical Picture for Hello Dolly! with Lennie Hayton in 1969. He is the brother of Alfred Newman and Emil Newman, uncle of composers Randy Newman, David Newman, Thomas Newman, Maria Newman, and grandfather of Joey Newman. His 11 nominations contribute to the Newmans being the most nominated Academy Award extended family, with a collective 92 nominations in various music categories.

---

Robert Parrish, American actor and director (died 1995)

Robert Reese Parrish was an American film editor, director, and former child actor. He won an Academy Award for Best Film Editing for his work on Body and Soul (1947).

---

04/01/1913

Malietoa Tanumafili II, Samoan ruler (died 2007)

Malietoa Tanumafili II was a Samoan paramount chief and politician who was O le Ao o le Malo of Samoa from its independence in 1962, and the Malietoa titleholder from 1940, until his death in 2007.

---

04/01/1903

Georg Elser, German carpenter and attempted assassin of Adolf Hitler (died 1945)

Johann Georg Elser was a German carpenter who planned and carried out an elaborate assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi leaders on 8 November 1939 at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. Elser constructed and placed a bomb near the platform from which Hitler was to deliver a speech. It did not kill Hitler, who left earlier than expected, but it did kill 8 people and injured 62 others. Elser was held as a prisoner for more than five years until he was executed at Dachau concentration camp less than a month before the surrender of Nazi Germany.

---

04/01/1902

John A. McCone, American businessman and politician, 6th Director of Central Intelligence (died 1991)

John Alexander McCone was an American businessman and government official who served as Director of Central Intelligence from 1961 to 1965, during the height of the Cold War.

---

04/01/1901

C. L. R. James, Trinidadian journalist and theorist (died 1989)

Cyril Lionel Robert James, who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J. R. Johnson, was a Trinidadian historian, journalist, Trotskyist activist, and Marxist writer. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts. His work is a staple of Marxism, and he figures as a pioneering and influential voice in postcolonial literature. A tireless political activist, James is the author of the 1937 work World Revolution outlining the history of the Communist International, which stirred debate in Trotskyist circles, and in 1938 he wrote on the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins.

---

04/01/1900

James Bond, American ornithologist and zoologist (died 1989)

James Bond was an American ornithologist and expert on the birds of the Caribbean, having written the definitive book on the subject: Birds of the West Indies, first published in 1936. He served as a curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Writer Ian Fleming adopted his name for his fictional British spy; references to the ornithologist permeate the resulting media franchise.

---

04/01/1897

Chen Cheng, Chinese politician, Vice President of the Republic of China (died 1965)

Chen Cheng, courtesy name Tsi-siou, was a Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese politician, military leader, revolutionary, and well as the leader of Tsotanhui Clique. He is widely regarded as the chief architect of Taiwan's post-war land reform and economic modernization programs during the 1950s.

---

04/01/1896

Everett Dirksen, American politician (died 1969)

Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician. A Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 until his death in 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich bass voice, he delivered flamboyant speeches that caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".

---

André Masson, French painter and illustrator (died 1987)

André-Aimé-René Masson was a French artist. He was a leading figure in the Surrealist movement and an influence on Abstract Expressionism. He served in the French Army from 1914 to 1915, when he was discharged due to injuries sustained in battle. During his exile in the United States during World War II, his work influenced the development of the New York School, where he influenced young American artists, most notably Jackson Pollock and Arshile Gorky.

---

04/01/1895

Leroy Grumman, American engineer and businessman, co-founded Grumman Aeronautical Engineering Co. (died 1982)

Leroy Randle "Roy" Grumman was an American aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and industrialist. In 1929, he co-founded Grumman Aircraft Engineering Co., later renamed Grumman Aerospace Corporation, and now part of Northrop Grumman.

---

04/01/1891

Edward Brooker, English-Australian sergeant and politician, 31st Premier of Tasmania (died 1948)

William Edward Brooker was a Labor Party politician. He became the interim Premier of Tasmania on 19 December 1947 while Robert Cosgrove was facing corruption charges. He died on 18 June 1948, shortly after returning the premiership to Cosgrove on 24 February 1948.

---

04/01/1889

M. Patanjali Sastri, Indian lawyer and jurist, 2nd Chief Justice of India (died 1963)

Mandakolathur Patanjali Sastri was the second Chief Justice of India, serving in the post from 7 November 1951 to 3 January 1954.

---

04/01/1884

Guy Pène du Bois, American painter, critic, and educator (died 1958)

Guy Pène du Bois was a 20th-century American painter, art critic, and educator. Born in the U.S. to a French family, his work depicted the culture and society around him: cafes, theatres, and in the twenties, flappers.

---

04/01/1883

Max Eastman, American author and poet (died 1969)

Max Forrester Eastman was an American writer on literature, philosophy, and society, a poet, and a prominent political activist. Moving to New York City for graduate school, Eastman became involved with radical circles in Greenwich Village. He supported socialism and became a leading patron of the Harlem Renaissance and an activist for a number of liberal and radical causes. For several years, he edited The Masses. With his sister Crystal Eastman, he co-founded in 1917 The Liberator, a radical magazine of politics and the arts.

---

Johanna Westerdijk, Dutch pathologist and academic (died 1961)

Johanna Westerdijk was a Dutch plant pathologist and the first female professor in the Netherlands.

---

04/01/1881

Wilhelm Lehmbruck, German sculptor (died 1919)

Wilhelm Lehmbruck was a German sculptor. One of the most important of his generation, he was influenced by realism and expressionism.

---

04/01/1878

A. E. Coppard, English poet and short story writer (died 1957)

Alfred Edgar Coppard was an English author, noted for his short stories, many of which had rural settings. Largely self-taught, he was championed by Ford Madox Ford and Arnold Bennett, among others, in his lifetime, and more recently by Frank O’Connor, Doris Lessing and Russell Banks. Some of his stories were dramatised for British television in the 1960s and 1970s.

---

Augustus John, Welsh painter and illustrator (died 1961)

Augustus Edwin John was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sargent and Charles Wellington Furse "... was over. The age of Augustus John was dawning." In the second volume of BLAST, Percy Wyndham Lewis wrote, referring to John, that the ten years up to 1914 had been "the Augustan decade." He was the younger brother of the painter Gwen John.

---

04/01/1877

Gibson Gowland, English film actor (died 1951)

Gibson Gowland was an English film actor.

---

Marsden Hartley, American painter and poet (died 1943)

Marsden Hartley was an American Modernist painter, poet, and essayist. Hartley developed his painting abilities by observing Cubist artists in Paris and Berlin.

---

04/01/1874

Josef Suk, Czech violinist and composer (died 1935)

Josef Suk was a Czech composer, violinist, and Olympic silver medalist. He studied under Antonín Dvořák, whose daughter he married.

---

04/01/1869

Tommy Corcoran, American baseball player and umpire (died 1960)

Thomas William Corcoran was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop from 1890 to 1907 for the Pittsburgh Burghers (1890), Philadelphia Athletics (1891), Brooklyn Grooms/Brooklyn Bridegrooms (1892–1896), Cincinnati Reds (1897–1906) and the New York Giants (1907). The 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Connecticut native occasionally played second base later in his career. He batted and threw right-handed.

---

04/01/1864

Clara Emilia Smitt, Swedish doctor and author (died 1928)

Clara Emilia Smitt was a Swedish medical doctor and writer. Between 1896 and 1902 she ran Saltsjöbadens sanatorium in Saltsjöbaden.

---

04/01/1858

Carter Glass, American publisher and politician, 47th United States Secretary of the Treasury (died 1946)

Carter Glass was an American newspaper publisher and Democratic politician from Lynchburg, Virginia. He represented Virginia in both houses of Congress and served as the United States secretary of the treasury under President Woodrow Wilson. He played a major role in the establishment of the U.S. financial regulatory system, helping to establish the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

---

04/01/1848

Katsura Tarō, Japanese general and politician, 6th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1913)

Prince Katsura Tarō was a Japanese statesman and general who served as prime minister of Japan from 1901 to 1906, from 1908 to 1911, and from 1912 to 1913. He was a genrō, or senior statesman who helped dictate policy during the Meiji era, and is the second-longest serving Japanese prime minister after Shinzo Abe, serving for a combined total of 7 years and 330 days.

---

04/01/1839

Carl Humann, German archaeologist, architect, and engineer (died 1896)

Carl Humann was a German engineer, architect and archaeologist. He found and excavated the Pergamon Altar.

---

04/01/1838

General Tom Thumb, American circus performer (died 1883)

Charles Sherwood Stratton, better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American with dwarfism who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum.

---

04/01/1832

George Tryon, English admiral (died 1893)

Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, was a Royal Navy officer who died when his flagship HMS Victoria collided with HMS Camperdown during manoeuvres off Tripoli, Lebanon.

---

04/01/1813

Isaac Pitman, English linguist and educator (died 1897)

Sir Isaac Pitman was an English publisher and teacher of the English language who developed the most widely used system of shorthand, known now as Pitman shorthand. He first proposed this in Stenographic Soundhand in 1837. He was vice-president of the Vegetarian Society. Pitman was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894.

---

04/01/1809

Louis Braille, French educator, invented Braille (died 1852)

Louis Braille was a French educator and the inventor of a reading and writing system named after him, braille, intended for use by visually impaired people. His system is used worldwide and remains virtually unchanged to this day.

---

04/01/1785

Jacob Grimm, German philologist and mythologist (died 1863)

Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm, also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He formulated Grimm's law of linguistics, and was the co-author of the Deutsches Wörterbuch, the author of Deutsche Mythologie, and the editor of Grimms' Fairy Tales. He was the older brother of Wilhelm Grimm; together, they were the literary duo known as the Brothers Grimm.

---

04/01/1737

Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, chemist (died 1816)

Louis-Bernard Guyton, Baron de Morveau was a French chemist, politician, and aeronaut. He is credited with producing the first systematic method of chemical nomenclature.

---

04/01/1731

Karl Abraham Zedlitz, Prussian minister of education (died 1793)

Karl Abraham Freiherr von Zedlitz und Leipe was a Prussian minister of education who was instrumental in establishing mandatory education in Prussia, which served as a model for the public education system in the United States.

---

04/01/1720

Johann Friedrich Agricola, German organist and composer (died 1774)

Johann Friedrich Agricola was a German composer, organist, singer, pedagogue, and writer on music. He sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Flavio Anicio Olibrio.

---

04/01/1710

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer, violinist, and organist (died 1736)

Giovanni Battista Draghi, usually referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist, and organist, leading exponent of the Baroque; he is considered one of the greatest Italian musicians of the first half of the 18th century and one of the most important representatives of the Neapolitan school.

---

04/01/1672

Hugh Boulter, English-Irish archbishop (died 1742)

Hugh Boulter was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, the Primate of All Ireland, from 1724 until his death. He also served as the chaplain to George I from 1719.

---

04/01/1654

Lars Roberg, Swedish physician and academic (died 1742)

Lars Roberg was a Swedish physician and natural science researcher. He served as a professor of anatomy and medicine at Uppsala University.

---

04/01/1581

James Ussher, Irish archbishop and historian (died 1656)

James Ussher was the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625 and 1656. He was a prolific Irish scholar and church leader, who today is most famous for his identification of the genuine letters of the church father, Ignatius of Antioch, and for his chronology that sought to establish the time and date of the creation as "the entrance of the night preceding the 23rd day of October ... the year before Christ 4004"; that is, around 6 pm on 22 October 4004 BC, per the proleptic Julian calendar.

---

04/01/1467

Bodo VIII, Count of Stolberg-Wernigerode (died 1538)

Count Bodo III of Stolberg-Wernigerode, nicknamed "the Blissful", was Count of Stolberg and Hohnstein and Lord of Wernigerode from 1511 until his death.

---

04/01/1334

Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy (died 1383)

Amadeus VI, nicknamed the Green Count was Count of Savoy from 1343 to 1383. He was the eldest son of Aymon, Count of Savoy and Yolande Palaeologina of Montferrat. Though he began his rule under a regency, Amadeus quickly proved to be a decisive and capable leader, further advancing Savoy's rise as a political and military force in Europe. His most notable achievement was leading and personally financing the Savoyard Crusade against the Turks, during which he successfully aided the Byzantine emperor and extended Savoy's influence through both warfare and diplomacy.

---

04/01/1077

Emperor Zhezong of China (died 1100)

Emperor Zhezong of Song, personal name Zhao Xu, was the seventh emperor of the Song dynasty of China. His original personal name was Zhao Yong but he changed it to "Zhao Xu" after his coronation. He reigned from 1085 until his death in 1100, and was succeeded by his younger half-brother, Emperor Huizong, because his son died prematurely.

---

04/01/0659

Ali ibn Husayn Zayn al-Abidin (died 680)

Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Sajjad, also known as Zayn al-Abidin was the great-grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and the fourth Imam in Shia Islam, succeeding his father, Husayn ibn Ali, his uncle, Hasan ibn Ali, and his grandfather, Ali ibn Abi Talib.

---