Famous people born on May 16th
May 16 gathers an unusually wide range of talent, from global pop and film icons to influential writers, scholars, and public figures. The date is notable for its blend of entertainment star power and big-idea thinkers who shaped how people read, listen, learn, and debate. Across 33 notable birthdays, May 16 shows how creativity and public life often evolve side by side.
Notable highlights
- Megan Fox (1986) - Rose to blockbuster visibility in the late 2000s and became a defining pop-culture presence of that era.
- Janet Jackson (1966) - Helped set the modern template for dance-pop performance, combining chart dominance with tightly choreographed visual storytelling.
- Pierce Brosnan (1953) - Brought a polished, modern edge to James Bond in the 1990s and remained a versatile lead across genres.
- Adrienne Rich (1929) - A major American poet and essayist whose work reshaped conversations about voice, power, and identity in literature.
- Liberace (1919) - Turned virtuoso piano into spectacle, pioneering a flamboyant, TV-friendly style of celebrity entertainment.
- Olga Korbut (1955) - A gymnastics trailblazer whose daring routines helped popularize the sport worldwide during the 1970s.
- Gabriela Sabatini (1970) - One of Argentina's most celebrated tennis champions, known for elegant power and sustained elite-level success.
- Krist Novoselic (1965) - Bassist and co-founder of Nirvana, central to the band that propelled grunge into the mainstream.
- Studs Terkel (1912) - A master of oral history who amplified everyday voices and documented the texture of American life.
- William H. Seward (1801) - U.S. statesman remembered for steering American diplomacy and championing policies that reshaped the nation's trajectory.
On this day
- 1770 - Marie Antoinette marries the future King Louis XVI, a dynastic union that later became a symbol of the era's political tensions.
- 1868 - U.S. President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his Senate impeachment trial by a single vote, setting a lasting precedent for presidential accountability.
- 1929 - The first Academy Awards ceremony is held in Hollywood, launching what would become the film industry's most watched honors.
- 1966 - The Communist Party of China issues the "May 16 Notification", a key step in the escalation toward the Cultural Revolution.