Famous people born on December 10th
December 10 brings together a striking range of creators and public figures, from poets and novelists to architects, athletes, and screen icons. The day is especially rich in literature and music, while also featuring major names in film and public life. Taken together, these birthdays reflect both quiet innovation and headline-making influence across centuries.
Notable highlights
- Emily Dickinson (1830) - A revolutionary American poet whose compact lines and slant rhyme reshaped modern lyric style, much of it published posthumously.
- George MacDonald (1824) - A pioneering fantasist whose storytelling and moral imagination influenced later writers including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
- Adolf Loos (1870) - A modernist architect and critic famous for arguing against ornament, helping push architecture toward functional minimalism.
- Olivier Messiaen (1908) - A composer who blended Catholic mysticism, birdsong transcription, and innovative rhythms into a uniquely vivid musical language.
- Michael Clarke Duncan (1957) - An actor whose breakout performance as John Coffey in The Green Mile earned an Academy Award nomination.
- Kenneth Branagh (1960) - A filmmaker-actor celebrated for bringing Shakespeare to wide audiences and for directing large-scale features across genres.
- Meg White (1974) - The drummer of The White Stripes, known for a stripped-down, driving style that became central to the band’s garage-rock sound.
- Jahangir Khan (1963) - A squash legend widely regarded among the sport’s greatest, famous for a record-setting streak of dominance.
- Cornelia Funke (1958) - A bestselling children’s author whose imaginative worlds and adventure plotting helped define contemporary European fantasy for young readers.
- Brian Molko (1972) - Placebo’s distinctive frontman, recognized for an androgynous stage persona and confessional alternative-rock songwriting.
On this day
- 1901 - The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, inaugurating what becomes one of the world’s most prestigious international honors.
- 1948 - The United Nations adopts the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a foundational statement of modern human-rights principles.
- 1963 - Zanzibar gains independence from British rule, a milestone that precedes later political union with Tanganyika.
- 1994 - The 1994 Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin for efforts toward peace in the Middle East.