Famous people born on November 23rd
November 23 gathers an unusually wide-ranging set of figures, spanning pop stardom, political power, avant-garde art, and literary imagination. The date links modern entertainment icons with thinkers and leaders who shaped cultural and civic life across centuries. From chart-topping music to philosophy and statecraft, these birthdays reflect global influence and sharply different kinds of fame.
Notable highlights
- Miley Cyrus (1992) - Pop chameleon who evolved from Disney fame into a boundary-pushing singer-songwriter with multiple era-defining hits.
- Steve Harvey (1956) - Comedian-turned-TV mainstay who became one of America’s most recognizable hosts through long-running game and talk shows.
- El Lissitzky (1890) - Revolutionary modernist who helped define the visual language of Constructivism through bold typography, design, and propaganda art.
- Franklin Pierce (1804) - 14th U.S. president whose term was dominated by sectional conflict and debates that accelerated tensions before the Civil War.
- Charles Schumer (1950) - Influential U.S. senator known for sharp legislative strategy and leadership roles at the center of modern congressional politics.
- Harpo Marx (1888) - Silent, harp-playing comic whose physical humor became a defining element of the Marx Brothers’ classic film style.
- Paul Celan (1920) - Intensely lyrical poet whose postwar German-language work grappled with memory, trauma, and the limits of speech.
- Miguel de Icaza (1972) - Open-source developer and entrepreneur associated with major projects that broadened access to cross-platform software tools.
- Edward Teach (1675) - Better known as Blackbeard, the pirate captain whose legend shaped popular images of the Golden Age of Piracy.
- Alfonso X (1221) - "Alfonso the Wise", a medieval king celebrated for patronage of learning and cultural projects that strengthened Iberian scholarship.
On this day
- 1963 - The first episode of Doctor Who airs on the BBC, launching a long-running science-fiction institution.
- 1996 - A hijacked Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 crashes into the Indian Ocean near the Comoros, killing many onboard.
- 2005 - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wins Liberia’s presidential election, becoming Africa’s first elected female head of state.
- 2012 - A fire at a garment factory near Dhaka, Bangladesh, kills more than 100 people and intensifies global scrutiny of supply-chain safety.