Famous August Birthdays a to z

Regis Philbin is a well-known TV personality who co-hosted his own daytime talk show for almost three decades, also working in prime time and writing several books.

River Phoenix was an Academy Award nominee and promising young actor who died at the young age of 23 from a drug overdose.

Psychologist Jean Piaget identified stages of mental development, called Schema, and established the fields of cognitive theory and developmental psychology.

Chris Pine is an American actor who portrayed a young Captain James Kirk in the 2009 remake of Star Trek and its 2013 sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness.

Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish-born detective and founder of a famous American private detective agency, the Pinkerton National Detective Agency.

Robert Plant is a British rock singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin.

Janie Porter Barrett was a social worker and reformer who established a school for previously incarcerated African-American girls.

Jason Priestley is a Canadian-American actor best known for his role as Brandon Walsh on the hit TV series Beverly Hills, 90210.

Prince Albert married his first cousin, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, at the age of 20, and after his untimely death at age 42, the queen's memory of him guided her for the next 40 years.

American journalist Ernie Pyle was one of the most famous war correspondents of World War II. He won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting in 1944.

Queen Elizabeth was the Queen consort of King George VI until his death in 1952. She is best known for her moral support to the British people during WWII and her longevity.

Queen Noor of Jordan, who was the consort of King Hussein, was trained as an urban planner and works as a philanthropist/world activist.

Manuel Quezon was leader of the Filipino independence movement and first president of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1935.

Robin Quivers is a radio broadcaster best known for co-hosting The Howard Stern Show for more than three decades.

Hashemi Rafsanjani, an ally of Ayatollah Khomeini during the Iranian Revolution, served as president of Iran from 1989 to 1997 before his defeat by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

JonBenet Ramsey was a 6-year-old beauty queen who was found murdered in her parents' Boulder, Colorado, home on December 26, 1996.

Magician James Randi, known as "The Amazing Randi," has spent much of his career debunking the claims of self-proclaimed psychics and paranormalists.

Queen Rania of Jordan is best known for her advocacy work in public health, education and as an outspoken opponent of the practice of "honor killings."

Man Ray was primarily known for his photography, which spanned both the Dada and Surrealism movements.

Robert Redford is a Hollywood legend, starring in several blockbuster films in his day, and producing and directing many others. He also helped start the Sundance Film Festival in the late 1970s.

Alma Reville, also known as "Lady Hitchcock," was Alfred Hitchcock's lifetime partner, assistant director and closest collaborator.

Basebally player Cal Ripken, Jr. played 21 seasons for the Baltimore Orioles. By the time he retired in 2001, he set a new record by playing in 2,632 consecutive games.

Retired NBA basketball player David Robinson spent his entire14-year pro career with the San Antonio Spurs. He’s widely considered one of the game’s all-time great centers.

Baseball player Frank Robinson was the first Major League African-American manager. In 1982, he joined the Baseball Hall of Fame.

American writer and producer Gene Rodenberry created the immensely influential Star Trek television series in the 1960s.

Andy Roddick is a retired champion tennis player who, in 2003, held both the grand slam title and the world's No. 1 ranking.

Al Roker is a television personality, a weatherman for NBC's Today show, and a nine-time Emmy winner.

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin was an American community leader and women's rights activist who focused particularly on issues affecting African-American women.

David O. Russell is an Oscar-nominated director, writer and producer known for films like Three Kings, The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook.

Physicist Ernest Rutherford was the central figure in the study of radioactivity who led the exploration of nuclear physics.

Yves Saint Laurent was best known as an influential European fashion designer who impacted fashion in the 1960s to the present day.

Andy Samberg is a comedian, actor, singer and a star of Saturday Night Live. His comedy troupe "The Lonely Island" is known for its humorous digital shorts.

Tennis player Pete Sampras is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. In 2002 he set the career mark for most Grand Slam victories with 14 titles.

Republican Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval is the first Hispanic to hold statewide office, as well as the youngest chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission.

Supermodel Claudia Schiffer starred in a campaign for Guess jeans, and appeared on the covers of more than 500 magazines, including Vogue and Rolling Stone.

Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schrödinger contributed to the wave theory of matter and to other fundamentals of quantum mechanics.

John Scopes is best known as the Tennessee teacher found guilty of breaking the law for teaching evolution in his class room.

Actress Kyra Sedgwick's career took a new turn when she was cast as the lead in the TNT crime drama The Closer, which premiered in 2005.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was an activist and advocate for the poor in the 18th to 19th centuries who established the group Sisters of Charity.

Mike Shanahan is a highly effective NFL football coach who led John Elway and the Broncos to two consecutive Superbowl wins.

Actress Norma Shearer, married Hollywood producer Irving G. Thalberg, received an Academy Award for her role in The Divorcee.

Martin Sheen is an American actor best known for his roles in films Badlands (1973) and Apocalypse Now (1979). He has won numerous awards for his role as President Bartlet on the TV series The West Wing.

English writer Mary Shelley is best known for her horror novel Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus (1818). She was married to poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Known for his lyrical and long-form verse, Percy Bysshe Shelley is one of the most highly regarded English Romantic poets of the 19th century. His works include The Masque of Anarchy and Queen Mab.

M. Night Shyamalan is best known for directing The Sixth Sense, which was released in 1999 to wide acclaim, including six Oscar nominations.

Gene Simmons is best known as the frontman for KISS, the rock band he co-founded in the early 1970s, as well as for his TV show Gene Simmons Family Jewels.

At the age of 26, U.S. golfer Webb Simpson won the 2012 U.S. Open—his first major tournament victory—with a final score of 1-over par.

Actor John Slattery played Julia Roberts's love interest in the film Mona Lisa Smile, and a government official in the World War II drama Flags of Our Fathers.

George Soros is a self-made billionaire known for his investment savvy and his vast body of philanthropic work.

Ronnie Spector became famous in the 1960s as the lead singer of the Ronettes, whose hits include "Be My Baby" and "Walking in the Rain".

Roger W. Sperry was a 20th century scientist who won the Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking research on brain hemispheres.

Reeva Steenkamp was a South African model and television personality who was shot and killed on February 14, 2013, by her boyfriend, paralympian and Olympian Oscar Pistorius.

British fashion icon John Stephen is considered the leader of the 1960s male "peacock revolution."

Martha Stewart is an American media mogul best known for her television show and magazine, Martha Stewart Living.

Lucy Stone was a leading activist and pioneer of the abolition and women's rights movements.

Joe Strummer was a British singer, songwriter and guitarist best known as the co-founder and member of the punk rock band The Clash.

Preston Sturges is regarded as the first Hollywood figure to successfully move from screenwriting to directing his own scripts.

NFL quarterback Tim Tebow won both the Heisman Trophy and the BCS National Championship while playing for the Florida Gators in college. He was drafted by the NFL’s Denver Broncos in 2010 and joined the New York Jets in 2012.

Charlize Theron is a South African-born actress, best known for her roles in such films as North Country and Monster, for which she won an Academy Award.

American actor and director Justin Theroux is known for his role on the TV series Strangers with Candy, as well as film roles in Tropic Thunder, Your Highness and Wanderlust, among several other productions.

Helen Thomas was the first female member of the White House press corps and the United Press International’s first female White House bureau chief.