Born on December 28?

Marcos Alonso Mendoza

Spanish international footballer who played for Chelsea and Real Madrid

Did you know? Both his father and grandfather were also professional footballers who represented the Spanish national team.

Marcos Alonso Mendoza (born 28 December 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays either as a left-back or centre-back for La Liga club Celta de Vigo. He started his career at Real Madrid but went on to make his name with Bolton Wanderers in England and later with Fiorentina in Italy.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Salvador Sobral

Portuguese singer who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017

Did you know? His victory marked the first time Portugal ever won the competition, and he performed a jazz-style ballad written by his sister.

Salvador Vilar Braamcamp Sobral (European Portuguese:; born 28 December 1989) is a Portuguese singer, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 for Portugal with the song "Amar pelos dois", written and composed by his sister, Luísa Sobral.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Jessie Buckley

Academy Award-nominated Irish actress and singer

Did you know? She first rose to prominence as a contestant on the television talent search I'd Do Anything.

Jessie Buckley (born 28 December 1989) is an Irish actress and singer. Her accolades include an Academy Award, two BAFTAs, an Actor Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Critics' Choice Award and a Laurence Olivier Award.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Sienna Miller

Actress known for her roles in Layer Cake and Alfie

Did you know? She rose to fame as a fashion icon for popularising the boho-chic look during the early 2000s.

Sienna Rose Diana Miller (born 28 December 1981) is a British actress. She began her career as a model, appearing in the pages of Italian Vogue and for the 2003 Pirelli Calendar.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Khalid Boulahrouz

Dutch defender nicknamed The Cannibal for his physical play

Did you know? He was once sent off in a notorious World Cup match against Portugal that saw a record number of cards issued.

Khalid Boulahrouz (Arabic: خالد بولحروز; born 28 December 1981) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender. Nicknamed "The Cannibal" for his ability to "eat up" the opposition, Boulahrouz was noted for his technical ability, tackling and versatility in defence.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Noomi Rapace

Swedish actress famous for playing Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium trilogy

Did you know? She and her former husband chose their new surname together, which means bird of prey in French and Latin.

Noomi Rapace (Swedish:; born Hilda Noomi Norén, 28 December 1979) is a Swedish actress.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

John Legend

American singer and songwriter known for the hit song All of Me

Did you know? Before his music career took off, he worked as a consultant for a major global management firm after graduating from university.

John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist and record producer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Linus Torvalds

Finnish-American software engineer who created the Linux kernel in 1991 and the Git version-control system

Did you know? He chose the name Linux for his operating system by combining his own first name with the word Unix.

Linus Benedict Torvalds (born 28 December 1969) is a Finnish and American software engineer who is the creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel since 1991. He also created the distributed version control system Git.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Kaliopi

Popular North Macedonian singer-songwriter and Eurovision representative

Did you know? She won a festival competition when she was only nine years old and went on to become a major Balkan pop star.

Kaliopi Bukle (Macedonian: Калиопи Букле, pronounced; born 28 December 1966 as Kaliopi Bukleska (Macedonian: Калиопи Буклеска)), known professionally as Kaliopi, is a Macedonian singer-songwriter.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Liu Xiaobo

Chinese writer and human-rights activist who co-wrote Charter 08 and won the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison

Did you know? He was represented by an empty chair at his Nobel ceremony because he was serving a prison sentence at the time.

Liu Xiaobo (Chinese: 刘晓波; pinyin: Liú Xiǎobō; 28 December 1955 – 13 July 2017) was a Chinese literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end Chinese Communist Party one-party rule in China.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Denzel Washington

powerful dramatic performances spanning four decades, from civil rights biopics to crime thrillers, and for anchoring prestige films with moral complexity

Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and film producer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Richard Clayderman

French pianist known for his recording of Ballade pour Adeline

Did you know? He was named the most successful pianist in the world by Guinness World Records due to his huge global record sales.

Richard Clayderman (French pronunciation:; born Philippe Pagès French pronunciation:, 28 December 1953 in Paris) is a French pianist who has released numerous albums including the compositions of Paul de Senneville, Olivier Toussaint and Marc Minier, instrumental renditions of popular music, rearrangements of movie…

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Birendra of Nepal

King of Nepal who introduced multi-party democracy to his country

Did you know? He was a highly educated monarch who attended Eton College in England and later studied at both Harvard and Tokyo universities.

Shree Panch Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev (Nepali: वीरेन्द्र वीर विक्रम शाह देव; 29 December 1945 – 1 June 2001) was King of Nepal from 1972 until his assassination in the 2001 Nepalese royal massacre. Birendra was the first son of King Mahendra and crown princess Indra.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Kary Mullis

Nobel Prize winner who invented the PCR DNA amplification technique

Did you know? He claimed the inspiration for his world-changing scientific discovery came to him while driving along a scenic California highway at night.

Kary Banks Mullis (December 28, 1944 – August 7, 2019) was an American biochemist. In recognition of his role in the invention of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and was awarded the Japan Prize in the same year.

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Maggie Smith

Dame Margaret Natalie Smith (28 December 1934 – 27 September 2024) was a British actress. Known for her wit in both comedic and dramatic roles, she had an extensive career on stage and screen spanning eight decades and was one of Britain's most recognisable and prolific actresses.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dhirubhai Ambani

Indian businessman who rose from humble beginnings to found Reliance Industries, India's largest private company, and popularise share ownership

Did you know? Before building his massive business empire, he worked as a petrol pump attendant in Yemen during the early 1950s.

Dhirajlal Hirachand "Dhirubhai" Ambani (28 December 1932 – 6 July 2002) was an Indian businessman who founded Reliance Industries in 1958. Ambani took Reliance public in 1977.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Guy Debord

French Marxist theorist and founder of the Situationist International

Did you know? He invented a strategy-based board game called the Game of War, intended to be a military simulation of his theories.

Guy-Ernest Debord ( də-BOR; French:; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Milton Obote

Ugandan politician who led the country to independence from Britain

Did you know? He spent several years in exile in Tanzania following a military coup led by Idi Amin in the early seventies.

Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan politician who served as the Prime Minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985. A Lango, Obote studied at the Busoga College and Makerere University.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Girma Wolde-Giorgis

Former President of Ethiopia and dedicated environmentalist

Did you know? Before entering politics, he was a trained pilot and served as the director general of Ethiopian civil aviation.

Girma Wolde-Giorgis (Amharic: ግርማ ወልደ ጊዮርጊስ; 28 December 1924 – 15 December 2018) was an Ethiopian politician who was the president of Ethiopia from 2001 to 2013. He was the second person to hold the office of president since the founding of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in 1995.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Stan Lee

Marvel Comics writer who co-created many popular superheroes

Did you know? He was known for making brief cameo appearances in almost every film within the Marvel Cinematic Universe until his death.

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics, which later became Marvel Comics.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

John von Neumann

Hungarian-American mathematician who designed the architecture of modern computers, founded game theory and worked on the atomic bomb

Did you know? He possessed an incredible memory and could reportedly recite entire chapters of books from memory years after reading them.

John von Neumann ( von NOY-mən; Hungarian: Neumann János Lajos; December 28, 1903 – February 8, 1957) was a Hungarian and American mathematician, physicist, computer scientist and engineer.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

F. W. Murnau

German film director who created the silent classic Nosferatu

Did you know? During the First World War, he served as a pilot in the German air force and survived several plane crashes.

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (né Plumpe; 28 December 1888 – 11 March 1931) was a German film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is regarded as one of cinema's most influential filmmakers for his work in the silent era.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Arthur Eddington

English astrophysicist who provided observational evidence for general relativity

Did you know? He led an expedition to Africa to photograph a solar eclipse, proving that gravity can bend the path of light.

Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astrophysicist and mathematician. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the luminosity of stars, or the radiation generated by accretion onto a compact object, is named in his honour.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Lili Elbe

Danish painter and pioneer of gender-affirming surgery

Did you know? Her life story inspired the best-selling novel and subsequent Academy Award-winning film The Danish Girl.

Lili Ilse Elvenes (28 December 1882 – 13 September 1931), better known as Lili Elbe, was a Danish painter, transgender woman, and one of the earliest recipients of sex reassignment surgery. Elbe was a painter under her male birth name.

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0