BirthMirror

Famous people born in 1956

The best-known people born in 1956, ranked by how many languages Wikipedia covers them in.

Best known

  1. Theresa May
    Theresa May

    Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2016 to 2019

    October 1

    Photo: Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0
  2. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
    Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

    6th President of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2005 to 2013

    October 28

    Photo: Majid Haghdoust, CC BY 4.0
  3. Tom Hanks
    Tom Hanks

    American actor and film producer (born 1956)

    July 9

    Photo: Eva Rinaldi from Abbotsford, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0
  4. Mel Gibson
    Mel Gibson

    American actor, director, producer and screenwriter (born 1956)

    January 3

    Photo: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0
  5. Frank-Walter Steinmeier
    Frank-Walter Steinmeier

    German politician, president of Germany since 2017

    January 5

    Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, CC BY 4.0
  6. Tsai Ing-wen
    Tsai Ing-wen

    14th and 15th President of Republic of China (Taiwan)

    August 31

    Photo: ​中華民國總統府, Attribution
  7. Carrie Fisher
    Carrie Fisher

    American actress, writer and screenwriter (1956–2016)

    October 21 · d. 2016

    Photo: By Riccardo Ghilardi - Crop of File:Actress Carrie Fisher © Riccardo Ghilardi photographer.jpg, CC B, CC BY-SA 3.0
  8. Martina Navratilova
    Martina Navratilova

    Czech-American tennis player

    October 18

    Photo: Hans van Dijk for Anefo, CC0
  9. Anthony Bourdain
    Anthony Bourdain

    American chef and television personality (1956-2018)

    June 25 · d. 2018

    Photo: Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0
  10. Christine Lagarde
    Christine Lagarde

    President of the European Central Bank

    January 1

    Photo: European Parliament from EU, CC BY 2.0
  11. Judith Butler
    Judith Butler

    American feminist gender studies philosopher (born 1956)

    February 24

    Photo: Miquel Taverna, CC BY-SA 4.0
  12. Bryan Cranston
    Bryan Cranston

    American actor (born 1956)

    March 7

    Photo: PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0
  13. José Manuel Durão Barroso
    José Manuel Durão Barroso

    Portuguese politician (born 1956)

    March 23

    Photo: State Chancellery of Latvia, CC BY-SA 2.0
  14. Dalia Grybauskaitė
    Dalia Grybauskaitė

    President of Lithuania fom 2009 to 2019 (born 1956)

    March 1

    Photo: Olaf Kosinsky, CC BY-SA 3.0 de
  15. Michel Houellebecq
    Michel Houellebecq

    French writer

    February 26

    Photo: Fronteiras do Pensamento, CC BY-SA 2.0
  16. Lars von Trier
    Lars von Trier

    Danish film director and screenwriter (born 1956)

    April 30

    Photo: Siebbi, CC BY 3.0
  17. Björn Borg
    Björn Borg

    Swedish tennis player (born 1956)

    June 6

    Photo: Michaël Bemelmans, CC BY-SA 4.0
  18. Larry Bird
    Larry Bird

    American basketball player and coach (born 1956)

    December 7

    Photo: Kurt Shimala, CC BY-SA 2.0
  19. Christoph Waltz
    Christoph Waltz

    Austrian-German actor (born 1956)

    October 4

    Photo: LucaFazPhoto, CC BY-SA 4.0
  20. Danny Boyle
    Danny Boyle

    English filmmaker

    October 20

    Photo: Montclair Film, CC BY 2.0
  21. Nikolai Noskov
    Nikolai Noskov

    Soviet and Russian singer and song writer

    January 12

    Photo: Schekinov Alexey Victorovich, CC BY-SA 3.0
  22. Frances Arnold
    Frances Arnold

    Nobel prize winning US scientist and engineer (born 1956)

    July 25

    Photo: Christopher Michel, CC BY-SA 4.0
  23. Geena Davis
    Geena Davis

    American actress (born 1956)

    January 21

    Photo: Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0
  24. Katerina Sakellaropoulou
    Katerina Sakellaropoulou

    Greek judge, former president of the Hellenic Republic

    May 30

    Photo: Office of the President of Ireland, Public domain
  25. David Copperfield
    David Copperfield

    American illusionist

    September 16

    Photo: Homer Liwag, CC0
  26. Steve Ballmer
    Steve Ballmer

    American businessman, former chief executive officer of Microsoft

    March 24

    Photo: Eric Garcetti, CC BY 2.0
  27. Almazbek Atambaev
    Almazbek Atambaev

    4th President of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan

    September 17

    Photo: Vyacheslav Oseledko / European Commission, CC BY 4.0
  28. Jan Peter Balkenende
    Jan Peter Balkenende

    Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 2002 to 2010

    May 7

    Photo: Rijksoverheid.nl, CC0
  29. Paolo Rossi
    Paolo Rossi

    Italian footballer (1956–2020)

    September 23 · d. 2020

    Photo: The original uploader was Snake90 at Italian Wikipedia ., Public domain
  30. Bob Saget
    Bob Saget

    American stand-up comedian (1957–2022)

    May 17 · d. 2022

    Photo: Behind The Velvet Rope TV, CC BY 3.0

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Month by month

January

  • January 9 · Imelda Staunton, British actress (born 1956)
  • January 20 · Bill Maher, American stand-up comedian and television host
  • January 27 · Susanne Blakeslee, American voice, stage and musical theatre actress
  • January 31 · John Lydon, British-born Irish-American singer and songwriter
  • January 31 · Guido van Rossum, Dutch programmer and creator of Python
  • January 31 · Artur Mas, Spanish politician (born 1956)

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

  • October 1 · Andrus Ansip, Estonian chemist and politician (born 1956)
  • October 10 · Taur Matan Ruak, Prime Minister of East Timor
  • October 12 · Trần Đại Quang, 8th President of Vietnam (1956–2018)
  • October 17 · Mae Jemison, American doctor and NASA astronaut
  • October 19 · Sunny Deol, Indian actor and politician (born 1957)
  • October 26 · Rita Wilson, American actress, singer and producer

November

December

People from Wikidata (CC0), photos from Wikimedia Commons; each photo shows its author and licence.