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People: Famous People born in 1961

People in chronological context: 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1961st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 961st year of the 2nd millennium, the 61st year of the 20th century, and the 2nd year of the 1960s decade. ()

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3,741 people found (page 1/125):

Woody Harrelson(62)

Actor | Midland, Texas (US)

Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Awards and four Golden Globe Awards.Harrelson first became known for his role as bartender Woody Boyd on the NBC sitcom Cheers (1985–1993), for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series from a total of five nominations. He went on to receive three Academy Award nominations: Best Actor for The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), and Best Supporting Actor for both The Messenger (2009) and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017). Harrelson was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Marty Hart in the crime anthology series True Detective (2014).

* 07/23/1961

Dylan McDermott(62)

Actor | Waterbury, Connecticut (US)

Dylan McDermott (born Mark Anthony McDermott; October 26, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his role as lawyer and law firm head Bobby Donnell on the legal drama series The Practice, which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama and a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. McDermott is also known for his roles in four seasons (first, second, eighth and ninth) of the FX horror anthology series American Horror Story, subtitled Murder House, Asylum, Apocalypse, and 1984 portraying Ben Harmon, Johnny Morgan and Bruce, respectively. He also starred as narcotics crime lord Richard Wheatley on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit spinoff Law & Order: Organized Crime; Lt. Carter Shaw on the TNT series Dark Blue; in two short-lived CBS dramas, Hostages and Stalker; and in the 1994 remake of the film Miracle on 34th Street. In 2022, he joined FBI: Most Wanted as the new lead, replacing the departing Julian McMahon.

* 10/26/1961

Jennifer Coolidge(62)

Actress | Boston, Massachusetts (US)

Jennifer Audrey Coolidge (born August 28, 1961) is an American actress. Primarily noted for her roles in comedic film and television, she may be best known for her roles as Jeanine "Stifler's Mom" Stifler in the American Pie film series (1999–2012) and as Paulette Bonafonté Parcelle in the Legally Blonde film series (2001–2003). She is a regular actor in Christopher Guest's mockumentary films, such as Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), For Your Consideration (2006), and Mascots (2016). Coolidge is an alumna of The Groundlings, an improv and sketch comedy troupe based in Los Angeles.Coolidge also appeared in the films A Cinderella Story (2004), Robots (2005), Click (2006), Date Movie (2006), American Dreamz (2006), Epic Movie (2007), Igor (2008), Soul Men (2008), Gentlemen Broncos (2009), Austenland (2013), Like a Boss (2020), Promising Young Woman (2020), and Single All the Way (2021). On television, she is known for her roles as Roberta "Bobbie" Morganstern in the NBC sitcom Joey (2004–2006), Betty in the ABC Family teen drama series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–2012), Zofia "Sophie" Kaczyński in the CBS sitcom 2 Broke Girls (2011–2017), and Tanya McQuoid in the HBO anthology series The White Lotus (2021), the latter of which earned her critical acclaim, winning a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics' Choice Television Award, and receiving nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

* 08/28/1961

Eddie Murphy(62)

Actor | Brooklyn, New York (US)

Edward "Eddie" Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, voice actor, film director, producer, comedian, and singer.He is the second-highest grossing actor in motion picture history. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian. He was ranked #10 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. He has received Golden Globe Award nominations for Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actor for his performance in 48 Hrs and best actor in a comedy or musical for his performances in Beverly Hills Cop, Trading Places, and The Nutty Professor. In 2007, he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of soul singer James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls, and received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the same role. Murphy's work as a voice actor includes Thurgood Stubbs in The PJs, Donkey in the Shrek series and the dragon Mushu in Disney's Mulan. In some of his films, he plays multiple roles in addition to his main character, intended as a tribute to one of his idols Peter Sellers, who played multiple roles in Dr. Strangelove and elsewhere. Murphy has played multiple roles in Coming to America, Wes Craven's Vampire In Brooklyn, the Nutty Professor films (where he played the title role in two incarnations, plus his father, brother, mother, and grandmother), Bowfinger, and 2007's Norbit.

* 04/03/1961

Samantha Bond(62)

Actress | Kensington, London, England (GB)

Samantha Jane Bond (born 27 November 1961) is an English actress. She played Miss Moneypenny in four James Bond films during the Pierce Brosnan era, and appeared in Downton Abbey as the wealthy widow Lady Rosamund Painswick, sister of Robert Crawley, the Earl of Grantham. On television, she played "Auntie Angela" in the sitcom Outnumbered and the villain Mrs Wormwood in the CBBC Doctor Who spin-off, The Sarah Jane Adventures. She also originated the role of "Miz Liz" Probert in the Rumpole of the Bailey series. She is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

* 11/27/1961

Kasi Lemmons(63)

Actress | St. Louis, Missouri (US)

Kasi Lemmons (born Karen Lemmons, February 24, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with Eve's Bayou (1997), followed by Talk to Me (2007), Black Nativity (2013), Harriet (2019), and Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022). She also directed the Netflix limited series Self Made (2020), and an episode of ABC's Women of the Movement (2022). She is also known as an actress having started her career with roles in commercials with McDonald's and Levi's. She made her film debut in Spike Lee's School Daze (1988). She continued acting in Vampire's Kiss (1989), The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and Candyman (1992). She was described by film scholar Wheeler Winston Dixon as "an ongoing testament to the creative possibilities of film".

* 02/24/1961

Laurence Fishburne(62)

Actor | Augusta, Georgia (US)

Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor and producer. He has been critically hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative characters in his films. He is known for playing Morpheus in the first three films of The Matrix series (1999–2003), Jason "Furious" Styles in the John Singleton drama film Boyz n the Hood (1991), Tyrone "Mr. Clean" Miller in Francis Ford Coppola's war film Apocalypse Now (1979), and "The Bowery King" in the John Wick film series (2017–present).For his portrayal of Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It (1993), Fishburne was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Two Trains Running (1992), and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in TriBeCa (1993). Fishburne became the first African American to portray Othello in a motion picture by a major studio when he appeared in Oliver Parker's 1995 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play.Other film credits of Fishburne include The Color Purple (1985), School Daze (1988), King of New York (1990), Deep Cover (1992), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), Event Horizon (1997), Mystic River (2003), Akeelah and the Bee (2006), Contagion (2011), Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). On television, he starred as Dr. Raymond Langston on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008–2011), as Special Agent Jack Crawford in the NBC thriller series Hannibal (2013–2015), and as Earl "Pops" Johnson in the ABC sitcom Black-ish (2014–present).

* 07/30/1961

Gary Valentine(62)

Actor | New York City, New York (US)

Gary Joseph Knipfing (born November 22, 1961), known professionally as Gary Valentine, is an American actor and comedian. Valentine is the older brother of actor Kevin James. He starred as Kevin James' (Doug Heffernan's) cousin Danny Heffernan in The King of Queens (1998–2007) and as Kevin James' (Kevin Gable's) older brother Kyle Gable in Kevin Can Wait (2016-2018), and has appeared in numerous Happy Madison Productions.

* 11/22/1961

Vicki Pepperdine(63)

Actress | London (GB)

Vicki Pepperdine (born 24 July 1961) is an English comedy actress and writer. She was nominated for two BAFTA TV Awards for co-writing the BBC sitcom Getting On (2009–12), and was also nominated for a British Comedy Award for her portrayal of Pippa Moore in the series.

* 1961

Andy Lau(62)

Actor | Tai Po, Hong Kong, British Crown Colony (now China)

Andy Lau Tak-wah(born 27 September 1961) is a Hong KongCantopopsinger, actor, presenter, and film producer. Lau has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maintaining a successful singing career at the same time.For his contributions, a wax figure of Lau was unveiled on 1 June 2005 at theMadame Tussauds Hong Kong. He also entered intoGuinness World Recordsfor "Most Awards Won by a Cantopop Male Artist". By April 2000, he had already won a total unprecedented 292 awards.

* 09/27/1961

Tooru Yoshida(63)

Crew | Kagawa (JP)

Tooru Yoshida (吉田 徹, Yoshida Tōru, February 7, 1961) is an animator, mechanic designer, and anime director from Ayagawa town, Ayauta district, Kagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Osaka Designers' College, he studied under Moriyasu Taniguchi and then joined AnimeR 1st Studio. He is a lecturer at Osaka Amusement Media Academy and member of the Japanese Animation Creators Association (JAniCA).

 
* 02/07/1961

Akiyuki Simbo(62)

Crew | Fukushima Prefecture (JP)

Akiyuki Simbo (新房 昭之) is a Japanese animator, director, producer and storyboard artist who started his career in 1981 at Studio One Pattern. He then made his directorial debut with Metal Fighter Miku in 1994. He is most notable for his involvement in a number of Shaft works since 2004. He has received the 11th Tokyo Anime Award as well as the 2011 Newtype Anime Award for Best director for his work on the acclaimed anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica. When working on the ero OVAs he uses the name Minamizawa Juuhachi (Juuhachi means 18 in Japanese).

* 09/27/1961
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Titus Welliver(63)

Actor | New Haven, Connecticut (US)

Titus Welliver is an American painter, stage and screen actor, best known for his leading role as Harry Bosch in the Amazon series "Bosch".

* 03/12/1961

Elizabeth McGovern(62)

Actress | Evanston, Illinois (US)

Elizabeth McGovern (born July 18, 1961) is an American film, television, and theater actor.In 1980, while studying at Juilliard, McGovern was offered a part in her first film, Ordinary People, in which she played the girlfriend of troubled teenager Timothy Hutton.The following year she completed her education as an actress at the American Conservatory Theatre and at The Juilliard School, and began to appear in plays, first Off-Broadway and later in famous theaters.In 1981, she earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Evelyn Nesbit in the film Ragtime.In 1984, she starred in Sergio Leone's gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America as Robert De Niro's romantic interest, Deborah Gelly. In 1989, she played Mickey Rourke's girlfriend in Johnny Handsome, directed by Walter Hill, and the same year she appeared as a rebellious lesbian in Volker Schlöndorff's thriller The Handmaid's Tale.

* 07/18/1961

Dale Dickey(62)

Actress | Knoxville, Tennessee (US)

Diana Dale Dickey (born September 29, 1961) is an American character actress who has worked in theater, film, and television. She began her career on stage, performing in the 1989 Broadway version of The Merchant of Venice, before appearing in popular revivals of A Streetcar Named Desire, Sweeney Todd and more off-Broadway and in regional theaters. She's the recipient of two Ovation Awards for her stage work in Los Angeles. Known as a "consummate character actor," Dickey made her screen debut in 1995. She won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female for her breakthrough performance as Merab in the 2010 independent drama film Winter's Bone. Over her career, she has appeared in more than 60 movies, most notably Changeling (2008), Super 8 (2011), Iron Man 3 (2013), Regression (2015), Hell or High Water (2016), Leave No Trace (2018) and Bloodline (2018). Her television credits including recurring roles on My Name Is Earl (2005–09), Breaking Bad (2009), True Blood (2012–13), Justified (2014), and Claws (2017–22). She also was a regular cast member on the second season of the HBO comedy series Vice Principals (2017), co-starred in the Netflix miniseries Unbelievable (2019), and featured in Amazon's 2022 comedy-series reboot of A League of Their Own. Dickey received widespread acclaim from critics for her lead performance in the 2022 romantic drama film A Love Song, for which she received Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Performance and the Gotham Independent Film Award for Outstanding Lead Performance.

* 09/29/1961

Saskia Reeves(62)

Actress | Paddington, London, England (GB)

Saskia Reeves (born 16 August 1961) is an English actress, best known for her roles in the films Close My Eyes (1991) and I.D. (1995), the 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert's Dune, the 2016 film Our Kind of Traitor and the Apple TV series Slow Horses (2022–2023).

* 08/16/1961

Elias Koteas(63)

Actor | Montreal, Quebec (CA)

Elias Koteas(born March 11, 1961) is a Canadian actor, known for his roles as Alvin "Al" Olinsky on theseries ChicagoP.D.,Tom True on Goliath, Lionel Shrike in Now You See Me (2013), Col. Marks on Combat Hospital, James Skinner on The Killing, Laeddis in Shutter Island (2010), Monsieur Gateau in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Jack Payne in the film Shooter (2007), Peter Brandt in Collateral Damage (2002), Capt. James Stars in The Thin Red Line (1998), Edgar Reese in Fallen (1998), Antonio Freeman in Gattaca (1997), and Casey Jonesin two of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfilms.He won theCanadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actorfor his role in the filmArarat(2002). He has appeared in many films includingSome Kind of Wonderful (1987), The Adjuster (1991),Exotica(1994),The Prophecy (1995), Crash (1996), Living Out Loud(1998),Harrison's Flowers (2002), Zodiac(2007), and Skinwalkers (2007).

* 03/11/1961

Tim Meadows(63)

Actor | Highland Park, Michigan (US)

Tim Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Meadows was one of the longest-running cast members on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live, where he appeared for 10 seasons from 1991 to 2000. For his work on SNL, he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series in 1993. He played main character John Glascott on the ABC sitcom Schooled for its two-season run after playing the same character in a recurring role for six seasons on The Goldbergs. Meadows is also known for his role as Principal Duvall in the 2004 film Mean Girls, and reprised the role in Mean Girls 2 and the film's 2024 musical adaptation in 2024.

* 02/05/1961

Al Jean(63)

Crew | Detroit / Motor City (US)

Alfred Ernest Jean III (born January 9, 1961) is an American writer, animator, and producer. Jean is well known for his work on The Simpsons. He was born and raised near Detroit, Michigan, and graduated from Harvard University in 1981. Jean began his writing career in the 1980s with fellow Harvard alum Mike Reiss. Together, they worked as writers and producers on television shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, ALF and It's Garry Shandling's Show.Jean was offered a job as a writer on the animated sitcom The Simpsons in 1989, alongside Reiss, and together they became the first members of the original writing staff of the show. They served as showrunners during the show's third (1991–92) and fourth (1992–93) seasons, though they left The Simpsons after season four to create The Critic, an animated show about film critic Jay Sherman. It was first broadcast on ABC in January 1994 (then aired its second season on Fox in March 1995) and was well received by critics, but did not catch on with viewers and only lasted for two seasons.In 1994, Jean and Reiss signed a three-year deal with The Walt Disney Company to produce other television shows for ABC, and the duo created and executive-produced Teen Angel, which was canceled in its first season. Jean returned full-time to The Simpsons during the tenth season (1998–99). He became showrunner again with the start of the thirteenth season in 2001, without Reiss, and has held that position since. Jean was also one of the writers and producers who worked on The Simpsons Movie, a feature-length film based on the series, released in 2007.

* 01/09/1961

Richard Cetrone(63)

Actor | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (US)

- No description / details available yet. -

* 1961

Rob Stewart(62)

Actor | Toronto, Ontario (CA)

Rob Stewart (born 23 July 1961) is a Canadian actor, known for the lead role of Nick Slaughter in the action-comedy television series Tropical Heat, and his recurring roles as Roan in Nikita and Khlyen in Killjoys.

* 07/23/1961

Jared Harris(62)

Actor | London, England (GB)

Jared Francis Harris (born 24 August 1961) is a British actor. His roles include Lane Pryce in the drama series Mad Men (2009–2012), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series; King George VI in the historical drama series The Crown (2016–2017); and Valery Legasov in the miniseries Chernobyl (2019), for which he won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Harris also had roles as David Robert Jones in the science fiction series Fringe (2008–2012), Anderson Dawes on the science fiction series The Expanse (2015–2017) and Captain Francis Crozier in the series The Terror (2018). He is also known for his significant supporting roles in films such as Mr. Deeds (2002), The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), Lincoln (2012), as well as Allied (2016). In 2021, he took the role of Hari Seldon, a leading character in the science fiction series Foundation.

* 08/24/1961

Robert Peters(62)

Actor | Tulsa, Oklahoma (US)

Robert Peters was born on July 20, 1961 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. Robert is an actor and director, known for Ocean's Eleven (2001), Lincoln (2012) and In the Line of Fire (1993).

* 07/20/1961

Koichi Yamadera(62)

Actor | Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture (JP)

Koichi Yamadera is a Japanese voice actor and radio personality, known for voicing Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy in the Japanese language releases of their respective films. In 2006, he divorced voice actress Mika Kanai.

* 06/17/1961

George Clooney(62)

Actor | Lexington, Kentucky (US)

George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, four Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards. Clooney has been honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2015, the Honorary César in 2017, AFI Life Achievement Award in 2018, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2022. Clooney started his career in television, gaining wide recognition in his role as Dr. Doug Ross on the NBC medical drama ER from 1994 to 1999, for which he received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He expanded to leading roles in films, with his breakthrough role in From Dusk till Dawn (1996) followed by Batman & Robin (1997), Out of Sight (1998), Three Kings (1999), The Perfect Storm (2000) and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Greater stardom came from his starring role in Soderbergh's Ocean's film series from 2001 to 2007. Clooney made his directorial debut with the spy drama Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), and has since directed the historical drama Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), the political drama The Ides of March (2011), the war film The Monuments Men (2014), the science fiction film The Midnight Sky (2020) and the biographical sports drama The Boys in the Boat (2023). Clooney won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the thriller Syriana (2005), and earned Best Actor nominations for the legal thriller Michael Clayton (2007), and the comedy-dramas Up in the Air (2009) and The Descendants (2011). He received the Academy Award for Best Picture for co-producing the political thriller Argo (2012). He has also starred in Burn After Reading (2008), The American (2010), Gravity (2013), Hail, Caesar! (2016) and Ticket to Paradise (2022). As of 2023, Clooney is one of four people to have been nominated for Academy Awards in six different categories (a distinction shared with Walt Disney, Alfonso Cuarón and Kenneth Branagh). Clooney was included on Time's annual Time 100 list, which identifies the most influential people in the world, every year from 2006 to 2009. He is also noted for his political and economic activism, and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since 2008. Clooney is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is married to human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

* 05/06/1961

Laura Soltis(62)

Actress | Joliet, Illinois (US)

- No description / details available yet. -

* 07/31/1961

John Corbett(62)

Actor | Wheeling, West Virginia (US)

John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on Northern Exposure (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on Sex and the City (2000–2003), Max Gregson on United States of Tara (2009–2011), and Seth Holt on Parenthood (2011–2015). In film, he is known for roles in the My Big Fat Greek Wedding franchise, Raising Helen (2004), The Messengers (2007), Sex and the City 2 (2010), Ramona & Beezus (2010), and the To All the Boys film trilogy (2018–2021). In addition to acting, Corbett has pursued a career in country music, releasing the studio albums John Corbett (2006) and Leaving Nothin' Behind (2013) with the former reaching number 45 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.

* 05/09/1961

Colin McFarlane(62)

Actor | Upper Clapton, London

Colin Andrew Ignatius Peter McFarlane (born 15 September 1961) is a British actor and voice actor. He is best known for his role as Gillian B. Loeb in two films of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy, Ulysses in the STARZ television drama series Outlander and as the voice of Bulgy in the children's television series Thomas & Friends.

* 09/15/1961

Kate Vernon(62)

Actress | Canada (CA)

Katherine Elizabeth Vernon(born April 21, 1961)is a Canadian-born American actress. She is known for her roles asLorraine Prescotton theCBSprimetimesoap operaFalcon Crest(from 1984–1985), the stuck-up and popular Benny Hanson in thecomedy filmPretty in Pink(1986), Sophia in the 1992Spike Leefilm,Malcolm X, andEllen Tighin the 2004SyfyseriesBattlestar Galactica.

* 04/21/1961

Andrew Airlie(62)

Actor | Glasgow, Scotland (GB)

Andrew Airlie (born September 18, 1961) is a Scottish-born Canadian actor.

* 09/18/1961
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