Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1981
Born in 1981? Meet the well-known people who share your birth year, from the biggest names to the ones you might not expect, month by month.
Turning 45 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Rooster
The 1980s
The most famous people born in 1981109
b. 1981Serena Williams
American tennis champion who won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most in the Open era, and four Olympic gold medals
SportsAge 45
Photo: AndrewHenkelman · CC BY-SA 4.0
b. 1981Beyoncé
MusicAge 45
Photo: Raph_PH · CC BY 2.0
b. 1981Roger Federer
Swiss tennis champion who won 20 major singles titles and held world No. 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks
SportsAge 45
Photo: si.robi · CC BY-SA 2.0
b. 1981Britney Spears
American pop singer known as the Princess of Pop for hits such as ...Baby One More Time, Toxic and Oops!... I Did It Again
MusicAge 44
Photo: Jen from USA. · CC BY 2.0
b. 1981Natalie Portman
Israeli-American actress of Léon, the Star Wars prequels and V for Vendetta who won an Oscar for Black Swan
FilmAge 45
Photo: Colleen Sturtevant · CC BY 4.0
b. 1981Fernando Alonso
Spanish racing driver who won Formula One world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006 and still races into his forties
Notable PeopleAge 45
Photo: Off The Track Media · CC BY 2.0
b. 1981Zlatan Ibrahimović
Swedish striker famous for acrobatic goals and swagger who won league titles in four countries and is Sweden's record scorer
SportsAge 45
Photo: Colleen Sturtevant · CC BY-SA 4.0
b. 1981Jessica Alba
American actress of Dark Angel, Sin City and Fantastic Four who co-founded the Honest Company
BusinessAge 45
Photo: Kevin Paul · CC BY 4.0
Born in 1981, month by month
- January
- Maxi Rodriguez (January 2) · Argentine footballer who played for Liverpool and Atletico Madrid
- Alicia Garza (January 4)
- Deadmau5 (January 5) · Canadian electronic producer behind Strobe and Ghosts 'n' Stuff who performs in a giant glowing mouse-head helmet
- Jared Kushner (January 10) · American businessman and former senior advisor to the US President
- Pitbull (January 15) · Miami rapper known as Mr. Worldwide, whose bilingual party anthems such as Give Me Everything and Timber filled dance floors worldwide
- Owen Hargreaves (January 20) · Midfielder who won the Champions League with Bayern Munich and Manchester United
- Alicia Keys (January 24) · classical piano foundation and soulful voice that produced hits like 'Fallin'' and 'No One', plus humanitarian work with Keep a Child Alive
- Maria Elena Boschi (January 24) · Italian politician and former Minister for Constitutional Reforms
- Toše Proeski (January 25) · Macedonian singer adored across the former Yugoslavia, often called the Elvis of the Balkans, who died in a car crash at 26
- Elijah Wood (January 28) · Actor best known for playing Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings
- Dimitar Berbatov (January 30) · Bulgarian striker who played for Tottenham and Manchester United
- Peter Crouch (January 30) · Tall English striker known for his robot dance goal celebration
- Justin Timberlake (January 31)
- February
- Tom Hiddleston (February 9) · British actor best known for playing Loki in Marvel films
- Kelly Rowland (February 11) · Grammy-winning singer and founding member of Destiny's Child
- Paris Hilton (February 17) · American hotel heiress and star of The Simple Life who turned celebrity into a business and campaigns against abusive youth facilities
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt (February 17) · Actor and filmmaker known for Inception and 500 Days of Summer
- Floor Jansen (February 21) · Dutch singer with a huge vocal range who fronts the Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish after founding After Forever
- Élodie Yung (February 22) · Paris-born actress and karate black belt who played Elektra in Daredevil and leads The Cleaning Lady
- Gareth Barry (February 23) · English footballer who made a record number of Premier League appearances
- Lleyton Hewitt (February 24) · Australian tennis player and former world number one
- Park Ji-Sung (February 25) · South Korean midfielder who won numerous titles with Manchester United
- Shahid Kapoor (February 25) · Indian film star known for his diverse roles in Hindi cinema
- Josh Groban (February 27) · American singer and actor known for his baritone voice
- March
- Bryce Dallas Howard (March 2) · American actress known for Jurassic World and The Help
- Samuel Eto'o (March 10) · Record-breaking Cameroonian footballer and four-time African Player of the Year
- Péter Magyar (March 16) · Hungarian politician and leader of the opposition Tisza Party
- LP (March 18) · American singer-songwriter with a soaring voice who wrote for Rihanna before her own song Lost on You became a European smash
- Kolo Touré (March 19) · Ivorian footballer who won the Premier League with two different clubs
- Cacau (March 27) · Brazilian-born professional footballer who played for the German national team
- Julia Stiles (March 28) · American actress known for 10 Things I Hate About You
- April
- Alessandra Ambrosio (April 11) · Brazilian model and former long-serving Victoria's Secret Angel
- Tulsi Gabbard (April 12) · First Hindu member of the United States Congress
- Hayden Christensen (April 19) · Canadian actor who played Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars films
- Dmytro Kuleba (April 19) · Ukrainian diplomat and politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Catalina Sandino Moreno (April 19) · Colombian actress who earned an Oscar nomination for her very first film role, as a teenage drug mule in Maria Full of Grace
- Marcus Tulio Tanaka (April 24) · Professional footballer who played for Japan after being born in Brazil
- Felipe Massa (April 25) · Brazilian racing driver who won eleven Formula One Grands Prix
- Jessica Alba (April 28) · American actress of Dark Angel, Sin City and Fantastic Four who co-founded the Honest Company
- John O'Shea (April 30) · Versatile Irish footballer who won many trophies with Manchester United
- May
- Aliaksandr Hleb (May 1) · Professional footballer known for playing for Arsenal and Barcelona
- Ruth Negga (May 4) · Oscar-nominated actress known for the film Loving
- Craig David (May 5) · British singer known for the album Born to Do It
- Andrea Barzagli (May 8) · World Cup-winning Italian defender who played for Juventus
- Stephen Amell (May 8) · Canadian actor who played Oliver Queen in the series Arrow
- Denis Pushilin (May 9) · Pro-Russian politician leading the separatist Donetsk People's Republic
- Daisuke Matsui (May 11) · Japanese footballer who played for the national team and in Europe
- Rami Malek (May 12) · Oscar-winning actor known for Bohemian Rhapsody and Mr. Robot
- Sunny Leone (May 13) · Former adult film star who became a leading Bollywood actress
- Patrice Evra (May 15) · Footballer who captained Manchester United and the French national team
- Zara Tindall (May 15) · Princess Anne's daughter and Elizabeth II's granddaughter who became world eventing champion and won Olympic silver at London 2012
- Iker Casillas (May 20) · World Cup-winning Spanish goalkeeper who played for Real Madrid
- Inga Ruginienė (May 24) · Lithuanian politician and prominent trade union leader
- Andrey Arshavin (May 29) · Russian footballer who played for Arsenal and Zenit Saint Petersburg
- June
- T. J. Miller (June 4) · Denver-born comedian and actor who played Erlich Bachman in Silicon Valley and Weasel in Deadpool
- Anna Kournikova (June 7) · Russian tennis player and global celebrity
- Natalie Portman (June 9) · Israeli-American actress of Léon, the Star Wars prequels and V for Vendetta who won an Oscar for Black Swan
- Adriana Lima (June 12) · Brazilian fashion model and long-serving Victoria's Secret Angel
- Chris Evans (June 13)
- Samar Badawi (June 28)
- July
- joaquin-sanchez (July 21) · Spanish winger who made record appearances in La Liga
- Nayib Bukele (July 24) · President of El Salvador known for his high-profile security policies
- Summer Glau (July 24) · American actress known for science fiction roles in Firefly
- Yūichi Komano (July 25) · Japanese defender who made over seventy international appearances
- Michael Carrick (July 28) · Former Manchester United midfielder and current manager of Middlesbrough
- Fernando Alonso (July 29) · Spanish racing driver who won Formula One world titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006 and still races into his forties
- August
- Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (August 4) · American actress and member of the British royal family
- Roger Federer (August 8) · Swiss tennis champion who won 20 major singles titles and held world No. 1 for a record 237 consecutive weeks
- Djibril Cissé (August 12) · French striker who won the Champions League with Liverpool
- Roque Santa Cruz (August 16) · Paraguayan striker and his country's all-time leading goalscorer
- Chad Michael Murray (August 24) · American actor best known for the teen drama series One Tree Hill
- September
- Beyoncé (September 4)
- Yuki Abe (September 6) · Japanese international footballer who played for Leicester City
- Vladimir Kara-Murza (September 7)
- Jennifer Hudson (September 12) · Award-winning American singer and actress known for the film Dreamgirls
- Fan Bingbing (September 16) · Chinese actress and singer known for both domestic and international films
- Alexis Bledel (September 16) · Actress known for Gilmore Girls and The Handmaid's Tale
- Nicole Richie (September 21)
- Serdar Berdimuhamedow (September 22) · The current President of Turkmenistan who succeeded his father
- Serena Williams (September 26) · American tennis champion who won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most in the Open era, and four Olympic gold medals
- October
- Zlatan Ibrahimović (October 3) · Swedish striker famous for acrobatic goals and swagger who won league titles in four countries and is Sweden's record scorer
- Ryoichi Maeda (October 9) · Prolific Japanese footballer who was a top scorer in the J.League
- Elena Dementieva (October 14) · Olympic gold medal-winning professional tennis player from Russia
- Heikki Kovalainen (October 19) · Finnish racing driver who won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Nemanja Vidić (October 21) · Serbian defender and former captain of Manchester United
- Shaun Wright-Phillips (October 25) · English international footballer known for playing for Manchester City
- Volkan Demirel (October 27) · Long-serving goalkeeper for Fenerbahçe and the Turkish national team
- Jenni Väänänen (October 27)
- Milan Baroš (October 28) · Czech footballer who won the Golden Boot at Euro 2004
- Ivanka Trump (October 30) · American businesswoman and former advisor to President Donald Trump
- Jun Ji-hyun (October 30) · South Korean actress known for the romantic comedy My Sassy Girl
- November
- Lee Dong-wook (November 6) · South Korean actor who played the melancholy Grim Reaper in Goblin and a nine-tailed fox in Tale of the Nine Tailed
- Joe Cole (November 8) · English midfielder who won three Premier League titles with Chelsea
- Natalie Glebova (November 11)
- Alaa Abd El-Fatah (November 18)
- Park Hae-soo (November 21) · Stage-trained South Korean actor who played the ambitious Cho Sang-woo in Squid Game and Berlin in Money Heist: Korea
- Song Hye-kyo (November 22) · South Korean actress and Korean Wave pioneer known for Autumn in My Heart, Descendants of the Sun and The Glory
- Xabi Alonso (November 25) · Spanish football manager and former midfielder for Liverpool and Real Madrid
- Barbara Bush (November 25)
- Bruno Alves (November 27) · Portuguese centre-back who won league titles with Porto and Zenit and was part of Portugal's Euro 2016-winning squad
- December
- Britney Spears (December 2) · American pop singer known as the Princess of Pop for hits such as ...Baby One More Time, Toxic and Oops!... I Did It Again
- David Villa (December 3) · All-time leading goalscorer for the Spanish national football team
- Javier Saviola (December 11) · Prolific Argentine striker who played for River Plate and Barcelona
- Amy Lee (December 13) · American singer, pianist and songwriter who co-founded Evanescence and fronted hits such as Bring Me to Life and My Immortal
- Roman Pavlyuchenko (December 15) · Russian footballer who played as a striker for Tottenham Hotspur
- Dima Bilan (December 24) · Russian pop singer who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 with Believe, giving Russia its first victory in the contest
- Emilie de Ravin (December 27) · Australian actress known for the television series Lost
- Sienna Miller (December 28) · Actress known for her roles in Layer Cake and Alfie
- Khalid Boulahrouz (December 28) · Dutch defender nicknamed The Cannibal for his physical play