Biography.com Editors

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.

Frederick Douglass was a leader in the abolitionist movement, an early champion of women’s rights, and the author of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

Carolyn Bessette Kennedy was a fashion publicist who married John F. Kennedy Jr. She was considered a trendsetter and style icon.

Garrett Morgan blazed a trail for Black inventors with his patents, including those for an improved traffic light and a breathing device that preceded the World War I gas mask.

Sidney Crosby is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 2007, he became the youngest captain of a National Hockey League team.

Madam C.J. Walker created a specialized line of Black hair care products and became the first female self-made millionaire in the United States.

One of the best alpine skiers in the history of the sport, Lindsey Vonn has won three Olympic medals and 82 World Cup titles.

Emmy-winning journalist and former attorney Savannah Guthrie is the main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show Today.

British serial killer Beverley Allitt, also known as the “Angel of Death,” was convicted of murdering four children while working as a nurse in Lincolnshire.

Grammy-winning pop singer and actor Sabrina Carpenter is known for the songs “Manchild,” “Please Please Please,” and “Espresso.”

Giorgio Armani was an iconic Italian fashion designer best known in America for his popular men’s suits.

The first African American Supreme Court justice was not afraid to speak his mind.

Grammy-winning singer Bad Bunny made the first all-Spanish record to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist minister and major leader of the Civil Rights Movement. After his assassination, he was memorialized by Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Tara Lipinski is an American figure skater who became the youngest Olympian to win gold in the ladies’ singles event in 1998. She now serves as a TV color commentator.

Rosa Parks was a pivotal civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking the transformational Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Former pro basketball player Kobe Bryant won five NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers while establishing himself as one of the game’s all-time greats. He died tragically in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020.

Kenneth Bianchi, known as the Hillside Strangler, is a serial killer who raped and murdered 12 girls and women, many with help from his cousin Angelo Buono.

Elizabeth Smart is a child safety activist who spent nine months in captivity after being abducted from her home at age 14 in 2002. She’s now telling her story in Netflix’s new ‘Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart’.