Famous Virgoans a to z

American track-and-field athlete Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. His long jump world record stood for 25 years.

German composer Johann Pachelbel was known for his works for organ, and was considered one of the great organ masters of the generation before J.S. Bach.

Arnold Palmer, nicknamed "The King," is a former champion golfer and is considered one of the sport's all-time greats.

Keke Palmer is an actress and singer who made her first splash in Barbershop 2: Back in Business. She's gone on to star in several films and made for TV movies.

Scottish explorer Mungo Park (1771–1806) wrote Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa about his expeditions to find the source of the Niger River.

Charlie Parker was a legendary Grammy Award–winning jazz saxophonist who with Dizzy Gillespie invented the musical style called bop or bebop.

Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov studied "conditioned reflex" through an experiment that made hungry dogs salivate at the sound of a dinner bell.

J.C. Penney was best known as an American businessman who founded a retail chain under the same name. His stores today sell general merchandise for the home.

Israeli classical violinist Itzhak Perlman is one of the 20th century's premier musicians, despite having lost the use of his legs at age 4 due to polio.

Writer, actor, producer, and director Tyler Perry has built an entertainment empire that consists of successful films, plays, and a best-selling book.

American actress Cassandra Peterson became famous in the 1980s for her television role as the vampy Elvira, Mistress of the Dark.

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.

Olympic medalist Mark Phillips is renowned as the commoner who married Princess Anne.

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

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.

Filipino Arnel Pineda is best known as the new lead singer for the rock group Journey.

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

Jada Pinkett Smith is an American actress, is married to Will Smith, and is the mother of Jaden and Willow Smith.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.