Famous January Birthdays a to z

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles L. Dodgson, author of the children's classics "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass."

Nick Carter from the pop group the Backstreet Boys is also known for once dating Paris Hilton, starring in a reality TV show and overcoming drug and alcohol addiction.

George Washington Carver was a prominent African-American scientist and inventor. Carver is best known for the many uses he devised for the peanut.

Cat Power is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose music fuses folk, country and blues, as heard on albums like Moon Pix and The Greatest.

Nicolae Ceausescu was the leader of Communist Romania for more than two decades until his execution in 1989.

Carol Channing starred as Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes on Broadway in 1949. She received a Tony lifetime achievement award in 1995.

Charo is a singer, musician and actress best known for her Latin sassiness, sexy outfits and signature phrase during the 1970s, "Cuchi-cuchi."

As Secretary of the Treasury under Lincoln, Salmon P. Chase implemented the National Banking Act and was the sixth chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Broadway playwright Pddy Chayefsky picked up two Academy Awards for his films The Hospital and Network.

Anton Chekhov is best known for his short stories and plays, including The Proposal, The Wedding and The Anniversary.

Dick Cheney served four Republican presidents and spent six terms in the House. The former Vice President specialized in defense, energy, and the Middle East.

Melanie Chisholm, also known as "Sporty Spice" and "Mel C," became famous in the mid-1990s with the all-girl British pop group the Spice Girls.

Student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 30 people on Virginia Tech's campus in 2007. The mass murder ended when he turned the gun and shot himself in the head.

In 1922, aviator Bessie Coleman became the first African American woman to stage a public flight in America. Her high-flying skills always wowed her audience.

Phil Collins was one of the most successful musicians in the world during the 1980s, releasing thirteen U.S. Top Ten hits between 1984 and 1990.

Olivia Colman is a British actress best known for playing Carol Thatcher, the daughter of Margaret Thatcher, in the 2011 biopic The Iron Lady.

French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857) greatly advanced the field of social science, giving it the name "sociology" and influenced many 19th-century social intellectuals.

Sam Cooke, commonly known as the King of Soul, was an African-American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer and songwriter. He had 29 top-40 hits from 1957-1964.

Hip-hop artist and actor LL Cool J made it big with Def Jam Records in the late 1980s and '90s with albums like Mama Said Knock You Out.

Bradley Cooper is an actor who first made a name for himself on the TV series Alias and has since become a successful film actor.

Film actor and director Kevin Costner directed and starred in the epic film Dances With Wolves (1990), which won seven Oscars.

Television journalist Katie Couric, formerly of the Today show, signed a deal with CBS in 2006 to become the first woman to anchor CBS Evening News alone.

Grammy Award-winning musician Wayne Coyne has been the frontman of the Flaming Lips since 1983.

Jim Croce was an American folk singer and songwriter. He released five studio albums between 1966 and 1973, before his untimely death in 1973.

Alan Cumming is a Scottish actor known for a range of work, from Shakespeare to Cabaret to X-Men, to the television series The Good Wife.

Post-Impressionist French painter Paul Cézanne is best known for his incredibly varied painting style which greatly affected 20th century abstract art.

Rubén Darío was an acclaimed Nicaraguan poet, essayist and journalist who introduced the style known as modernism to Spanish literature.

Angela Davis is an activist, scholar and writer who advocates for the oppressed. She has authored several books, including Women, Culture & Politics.

Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis played Thelma in the 1991 cult classic Thelma & Louise, starring opposite Susan Sarandon.

French writer Simone de Beauvoir laid the foundation for the modern feminist movement. Also an existentialist philosopher, she had a romance with Sartre.

Actress Drea de Matteo played mob girlfriend Adriana La Cerva for five seasons on HBO's The Sopranos.

Portia de Rossi, wife of Ellen DeGeneres, played the cold and calculating Nelle Porter in Ally McBeal and Jason Bateman's twin sister in Arrested Development.

Deadmau5 is a Grammy Award-nominated and Juno Award-winning electronic DJ/dance artist known for his trademark helmet and popular live shows. He's released albums like 4x4=12 and >album title goes here<.

Dizzy Dean was a Major League Baseball pitcher who led the St. Louis Cardinals to World Series victory in 1937.

Paula Deen is best known for her Food Network shows on Southern cooking, including Paula's Home Cooking, Paula's Party and Paula's Best Dishes. 

With her own talk show, Ellen DeGeneres is one of America's most well-known comedians, also serving as a prominent gay/lesbian role model.

American actor & high school dropout Patrick Dempsey is best known for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd on the hit medical drama Grey's Anatomy.

Bob Denver played the title role on the goofy 1960s TV sitcom Gilligan's Island.

Actress Zooey Deschanel has appeared in such films as (500) Days of Summer, and on the hit TV sitcom New Girl.

French bicyclist Henri Desgrange is best known for organizing the first Tour de France.

Dustin Diamond is a former child actor known for his role as Screech on Saved by the Bell. He later appeared in a sex video and on reality TV.

Singer and songwriter Neil Diamond wrote "I'm A Believer" for The Monkees, and peformed his own pop hits, including "Heartlight" and "Sweet Caroline."

Taye Diggs is an American actor best known for his role as the opportunistic landlord Benny in the Jonathan Larson's groundbreaking musical Rent.

Christian Dior was a French fashion designer whose post–World War II creations were wildly popular, and whose legacy continues to influence the fashion industry.

Theodosius Dobzhansky was a 20th century scientist, professor and author who did pioneering work in genetics and evolution.

Writer E.L. Doctorow is the author of novels such as Ragtime, Billy Bathgate and The Book of Daniel.

British actress Minnie Driver made her film debut in Circle of Friends, followed by roles in Grosse Pointe Blank and Good Will Hunting.

Faye Dunaway is a revered Oscar-winning actress known for her work in films like Bonnie and Clyde, The Thomas Crown Affair, Chinatown and Network.

Actor Robert Duvall has been in some of the most acclaimed films of all time, including To Kill A Mockingbird, Apocalypse Now, Lonesome Dove and The Godfather.

Esther Dyson, named by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful women in American business, is regarded as one of the most influential voices in technology.

Steve Earle is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter whose albums seamlessly blend rock, folk and country. He has also appeared on the HBO series The Wire and Treme.

At the Summer Games in London, Ashton Eaton—the youngest to member of the U.S. decathlon team that year, at age 24—took home the decathlon gold medal.

First a child star on Charles in Charge, Actress Nicole Eggert is best known for her role as lifeguard Summer Quinn on Baywatch.

American biochemist and pharmacologist Gertrude B. Elion helped develop drugs to treat leukemia and prevent kidney transplant rejection. She won a Nobel Prize for medicine in 1988.

British track and field star Jessica Ennis won a gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

Joey Fatone sang in the hit boy band 'N Sync. He also hosts a cooking show, and has competed on Dancing with the Stars.

Italian film director Federico Fellini was one of the most celebrated and distinctive filmmakers of the period after World War II.

A winner of Next Food Network Star, Guy Fieri now hosts several television shows, including Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Millard Fillmore is best known for assuming the presidency after the death of Zachary Taylor, becoming the 13th U.S. president.

Sandford Fleming was a civil engineer and scientist best known as the chief railway engineer of Canada in the 19th century.

Dave Foley was a founding member of the comedy troupe Kids in the Hall and was one of the leads on the TV sitcom NewsRadio.

George Foreman is a retired American boxer who twice won boxing's heavyweight championship. After retiring, he became a popular pitchman.

Writer and critic E.M. Forster is the author of Howards End, A Passage to India and A Room With a View.

John Forsythe was a theater, film and TV actor. He won Golden Globes for playing Blake Carrington in Aaron Spelling’s long-running prime-time drama Dynasty.

Dian Fossey was a zoologist best known for researching the endangered gorillas of the Rwandan mountain forest from the 1960s to the '80s, and for her mysterious murder.

Benjamin Franklin is best known as one of the Founding Fathers who drafted the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

Bonnie Franklin is best known for playing Ann Romano, a loving but tough divorced mother on the hit television show One Day at a Time.

Joe Frazier was the world heavyweight boxing champion from February 1970 until January 1973 and fought in the famous "Thrilla in Manila" in 1975.

Frederick II, known as Frederick the Great, was Prussia's king from 1740 to 1786. By winning wars and expanding territories, he established Prussia as a strong military power.

Jorge Eliécer Gaitán was a political leader who was considered a champion of the Colombian people and was revered as a martyr after his assassination.

Philosophical essayist, novelist, poet and artist Khalil Gibran wrote The Prophet, a book of poetic essays that achieved cult status among American youth.

Mel Gibson is a well-known film actor, director and producer, having starred in Braveheart, Hamlet, Maverick and both the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series.

Sara Gilbert is an actress best known for her role as Darlene Conner-Healy from in the sitcom Roseanne and the creator of the series The Talk.