Famous September Birthdays a to z

Billie Piper is a British actress and former pop singer best known for her role as Rose Tyler, companion to the Doctor, on the hit U.K. sci-fi TV series Doctor Who.

American author Robert Pirsig is best known for his philosophical novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974).

Amy Poehler is an actress and comedian famous for her work on Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation.

Politically minded first lady Sarah Polk led her husband James Polk’s successful campaign to become the 11th U.S. president in 1845.

Ferdinand Porsche founded the Porsche car company in 1931. In the early 1920s, he oversaw the development of the Mercedes compressor car, and later developed the first designs of the Volkswagen car with his son, Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche.

Thanks to the model 356, created in 1948 by Ferdinand Anton Ernst "Ferry" Porsche, the Porsche car company became known worldwide as a producer of successful sports and racing cars. Several years earlier, in 1934, Porsche worked with father Ferdinand Porsche on the first designs of the Volkswagen car.

William Sydney Porter was a prolific short story writer whose work appeared under the name O. Henry.

Lewis Powell was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1972 to 1987.

Prince Harry is the second son of Charles, Prince of Wales and Princess Diana. He known for his teenage escapades and his charitable work.

Sir Anthony Quayle was a revered actor of stage and screen known for work that included Hamlet, Lawrence of Arabia and Anne of the Thousand Days.

Elizabeth I was the long-ruling queen of England, governing with relative stability and prosperity for 44 years. The Elizabethan era is named for her.

Actor Christopher Reeve played Superman in the movie and its sequels. After a spinal cord injury, he started a foundation to help other paraplegics.

Actor Keanu Reeves starred in the movies Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, Speed and The Matrix and its sequels.

Max Reinhardt was one of the first theatrical directors to achieve international recognition. He helped found the annual Salzburg Festival.

French director Jean Renoir, son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, directed C'est la Revolution and wrote a biography of his father in the 1960s.

Hiram Revels is best known as the first African American to serve in the United States Senate.

Drummer Buddy Rich was known for his prodigious talent and fiery temper. His career saw him work with stars like Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey and Frank Sinatra.

Nicole Richie is the adopted daughter of Lionel Richie and the star of the 2003-2007 TV show The Simple Life.

Marty Robbins was an iconic country and Western singer.

Jimmie Rodgers was a country singer who became famous for his style of yodeling. He was one of the first country superstars, and is remembered as the father of country music.

Sonny Rollins is a jazz saxophonist and composer associated with the "hard bop" movement.

Mickey Rooney was a child star best known for his role as Andy Hardy in a long-running film series. He a starred in a number of musicals with Judy Garland.

Ethel Rosenberg and husband Julius Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage in 1951. They were both executed by the U.S. government in 1953.

Actress Emmy Rossum sang her heart out in the movie musical The Phantom of the Opera in 2004. She's made a name for herself on TV too, in the show Shameless.

Russian-born painter Mark Rothko was a pioneer of the Abstract Expressionist movement during the mid-20th century.

Mickey Rourke is an American actor who had great success and became a sex symbol in the 1980s. He left acting to box but has recently returned to the screen.

Ségolène Royal is a French politician who has run for president and worked as a prominent leader of the Socialist Party.

Kevin Rudd is an Australian politician who served as leader of the Australian Labor Party from 2006 to 1010 and as prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010.

Nipsey Russell was best known for his comic rhymes and his appearances on TV game shows.

Sonia Sanchez formed the Broadside Quartet. She was an activist for racial equality, pioneered black studies and has written poetry, plays and kids’ books.

Colonel Sanders is best known for creating a fried chicken recipe that would become the world's fast-food chicken chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Actor, comedian, and musician Adam Sandler was a cast member on Saturday Night Live and is the star of such films as Punch-Drunk Love and The Wedding Singer.

Margaret Sanger was an early feminist and women's rights activist who coined the term "birth control" and worked towards its legalization.

Army medic Clarence Eugene was awarded the Medal of Honor for treating wounded Vietnam soldiers amidst gunfire despite having been shot in both legs himself.

Elsa Schiaparelli was one of the world's leading fashion designers in the 1920s and '30s.

Max Schreck made film history with his creepy portrayal of a vampire in F.W. Murnau’s classic silent film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Terror (1922).

Junior Senator Tim Scott is the seventh African American to win election to the U.S. Senate. He is also a former U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st Congressional District.

Alice Sebold is an American writer and best-selling author of the book, The Lovely Bones, which has been hailed the most successful debut novel since Gone with the Wind.

British actor Peter Sellers was incredibly versatile, playing Chief Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther films with as much ease as Clare Quilty in Lolita.

Actor Charlie Sheen, star of such films as Platoon and of TV's Two and a Half Men, is the brother of actor Emilio Estévez and the son of actor Martin Sheen.

Shel Silverstein was a poet and musician known for children’s books such as The Giving Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Dame Edith Sitwell was an English poet was famous for her formidable personality, Elizabethan dress, and eccentric opinions.

Tavis Smiley is a talk show host, political commentator and philanthropist, well-known for work around diversity in journalism. He has hosted various shows on television and radio.

Susan Smith is best known for her murder of her two sons in order to carry on a relationship with a man.

Will Smith was on the TV show Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and has had a successful career as a film actor in several blockbusters since 1992.

Mira Sorvino is an Academy Award-winning actress who starred in Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite.

U.S. baseball player, executive, and sporting-goods manufacturer A.E. Spalding co-founded one of the premier American sporting-goods companies.

Bruce Springsteen is an arena rock star and a well-regarded singer-songwriter. His best known songs chronicle Springsteen's working-class roots in New Jersey.

Shawn Stockman has made a name for himself by harmonizing with Philadelphia's Boyz II Men, serving as a judge on television's The Sing-Off and raising awareness about autism.

Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Oliver Stone is responsible for the hit films Platoon, Scarface, Born on the Fourth of July and Natural Born Killers.

Ruben Studdard is a R&B, pop, and gospel singer. He rose to fame as winner of the second season of American Idol.

Jason Sudeikis is an American actor best known for his work as a cast member of Saturday Night Live.

Ed Sullivan was a journalist, producer and TV host known for his successful variety program The Ed Sullivan Show.

Louis H. Sullivan was an architect dubbed the "father of modern American architecture."

South Korean swimming champion Park Tae-Hwan became the first Korean to win a medal in swimming, as well as the first Asian swimmer to win a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle, at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

William Howard Taft, the 27th president of the United States, fulfilled a lifelong dream when he was appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court, becoming the only person to have served as both a U.S. chief justice and president.

Architect Kenzo Tange's best-known early work is the Hiroshima Peace Center. His later work includes the dramatic National Gymnasium for the 1964 Olympic Games.

Margaret Taylor was best known for her marriage to Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States.

Mary Church Terrell was a charter member of the NAACP and an early advocate for civil rights and the suffrage movement.

Henry Thomas played Elliott in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982, followed by roles in such widely acclaimed films as Legends of the Fall (1994), All the Pretty Horses (2000) and Gangs of New York (2002).

All-American model Cheryl Tiegs appeared in numerous photo shoots with high profile magazines like Vogue, Elle, and Sports Illustrated, in the 1970s.

Russian author Leo Tolstoy wrote the acclaimed novels War and Peace, Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and still ranks among the world's top writers.

Lily Tomlin is an actress and comedian known for roles on TV shows such as Laugh-In and films such as Nashville.

Actress Aida Turturro joined the award-winning dramatic series The Sopranos in 2000 as Janice Soprano, sister to crime boss Tony Soprano.

In the mid-1960s, Twiggy became one of the world's first supermodels and the face of London's "mod" scene.

Alexander Lucius Twilight is thought to be the first African American to graduate from an American university (Middlebury College, 1823).

Conway Twitty was a country singer who scored 55 No. 1 hits over the long expanse of his career.

Labor activist and later Polish president Lech Walesa helped form and lead communist Poland's first independent trade union, Solidarity and won a Nobel Prize.

David Walker was an African American abolitionist whose pamphlet was one of the most radical documents of the antislavery movement.

Paul Walker is an actor who made a splash with the movie Varsity Blues and found enduring success with The Fast and the Furious franchise.

Famed television journalist Barbara Walters is best known as the 11-year star of the Today show, and for being the first female co-anchor of a network evening news program.

Roger Waters was the singer, songwriter and bassist for the British rock band Pink Floyd. He also has had an extensive solo career.

Tom Watson is an American golfer and six-time PGA Player of the Year. He was one of the sport's dominant figures in the 1970s and '80s.

Actress Naomi Watts starred in Mulholland Drive and The Ring. She's also a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, and works on HIV/AIDS awareness programs.

Damon Wayans is an African-American comedian who appeared on the sketch comedy show In Living Color.

Former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner served New York's 9th Congressional District from 1999 to 2011, when he abruptly resigned over a sexting scandal.

Actress Raquel Welch was launched as a cinematic sex symbol in One Million Years BC (1966) and continues to be regarded as one of the world's great beauties.

H.G. Wells was a writer of science-fiction works—including The Time Machine and War of the Worlds—who had a great influence on our vision of the future.