Biography.com Editors

NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers and previously won four MVP awards and Super Bowl XLV with the Green Bay Packers.

Former U.S. Representative Barney Frank was the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as gay.

American basketball player Jason Collins was the first active male athlete in major North American professional sports to come out as gay.

Kevin Hart is an actor and comedian known for his upbeat standup comedy and starring roles in Get Hard, Central Intelligence, and the Jumanji movies.

George Washington was a Founding Father and the first president of the United States. He led the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War.

Ted Turner was a television pioneer and media mogul who founded CNN, the first 24-hour news network.

William Golding was a Nobel Prize-winning author best known for his critically acclaimed classic Lord of the Flies.

Mixed martial artist Ronda Rousey is a UFC women’s champion, plus an actor and WWE star.

Katherine Jackson is the mother of pop music legend Michael Jackson and the rest of the famous Jackson family.

Michael Jackson was a multitalented singer and dancer who enjoyed a chart-topping career both with the Jackson 5 and as a solo artist.

Warren Jeffs is the imprisoned leader of the polygamist sect Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Olivia Rodrigo is a Grammy-winning singer and actor who rose to fame following the success of her hit song “Drivers License.”

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American actor during Hollywood’s Golden Age and a skilled inventor who co-developed an early technique for spread spectrum communications.

One of America's most beloved comedians, Lucille Ball is best known for her iconic sitcom I Love Lucy.

Amelia Earhart, the first person to fly across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, disappeared while flying over the Pacific in 1937.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chuck Norris appeared in action films such as Return of the Dragon and Missing in Action. He also starred on the hit TV series Walker, Texas Ranger.

Scientist Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and is known for her research on radioactivity.

Michael B. Jordan is an Oscar-winning actor known for his critically acclaimed roles in Sinners, Fruitvale Station, Creed, and Black Panther.

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey is known for her popular talk show and an Academy Award-nominated actor.

Painter Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist known for her activism, now admired as a feminist icon.

Ian Huntley, a caretaker for a British college, was convicted of the 2002 Soham murders in England and later died in a prison attack.

Bruno Mars is a Grammy-winning singer known for the hit songs “Just the Way You Are,” “Uptown Funk,” and “That’s What I Like.”

Retired professional tennis player Serena Williams has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles and several Olympic gold medals.

Learn about how the beloved children's book came to be and the hidden political message in its story.

British singer Harry Styles rose to fame with the boy band One Direction and has acted in movies including Dunkirk and Don’t Worry Darling.

Maya Angelou was a multitalented poet and author known for her acclaimed 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Mae Jemison is a scientist and former astronaut who became the first Black woman in space, flying aboard the Endeavour in 1992.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has restaurants around the world and hosts the TV shows Hell’s Kitchen and MasterChef.

Singer and actor Hilary Duff is best known for her roles in Lizzie McGuire, A Cinderella Story, and Younger.

Jesse Jackson was a civil rights leader, minister, and politician who twice ran for U.S. president.

Scientist and educator George Washington Carver was born into slavery and became an internationally famous botanist known for his many inventions, including more than 300 uses for the peanut.