Famous Birthdays on December 29

Mekhi Phifer is an American actor. Beginning his career in the mid-1990s, Phifer was known for a few notable roles in films including Clockers, Soul Food, High School High and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. He also appeared in the 1998 music video for "The Boy Is Mine" by Brandy and Monica. In 2002, he had a co-starring role opposite rapper Eminem in the feature film 8 Mile. His most notable television role is that of Dr. Greg Pratt, whom he portrayed from 2002 to 2008 on NBC's long-running medical drama ER (1994–2009). From July to October 2011, he played the role of CIA officer Rex Matheson in the British–American science fiction television show, Torchwood: Miracle Day. In 2013, he became a recurring cast member during season three on the Showtime drama House of Lies. Phifer starred in the action feature film Long Gone Heroes, with Frank Grillo and Andy Garcia, in 2024.

Yvonne Marianne Elliman is an American singer, songwriter, and actress who performed for four years in the first cast of the stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar. She scored a number of hits in the 1970s and achieved a U.S. No. 1 hit with "If I Can't Have You". The song also reached No. 9 on the Adult Contemporary chart and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. Her cover of Barbara Lewis's "Hello Stranger" went to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and "Love Me" was No. 5; at the time she had three top-ten singles. After a long hiatus in the 1980s and 1990s, during which she left music to be with her family, she made a comeback album as a singer-songwriter in 2004.

Paula Poundstone is an American stand-up comedian, author, actress, interviewer, and commentator. In the late 1980s, she performed the first of several HBO comedy specials. She provided backstage commentary during the 1992 presidential election on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She is the host of the podcast Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone, which is the successor to the National Public Radio program Live from the Poundstone Institute. She is a frequent panelist on NPR's weekly news quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me, and was a recurring guest on the network's A Prairie Home Companion variety program during Garrison Keillor's years as host.

Jon Raymond Polito was an American actor. In a film and television career spanning 35 years, he amassed over 220 credits. His television roles included Detective Steve Crosetti in the first two seasons of Homicide: Life on the Street and Phil Bartoli on the first season of Crime Story. He also appeared in several films including The Rocketeer, The Crow and Gangster Squad, as well as his work with the Coen brothers. He appeared in five of their films, including Miller's Crossing, Barton Fink and The Big Lebowski. Polito also portrayed hungry i nightclub impresario Enrico Banducci in a large supporting role in Tim Burton's 2014 film Big Eyes starring Amy Adams and Christoph Waltz.

Allan McNish is a British former racing driver, commentator and team principal from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, for Porsche in 1998 and for Audi in 2008 and 2013. He is also a three-time American Le Mans Series champion, and won the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2013. Previously, he raced for Toyota in Formula One in 2002. He has been a co-commentator and pundit for BBC Formula One coverage on TV, radio and online. He was team principal of the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler Formula E team, and is now racing director of the Audi F1 Team.

Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee was an Indian independence activist and barrister who practised in England. He was a secretary of the London Indian Society founded by Dadabhai Naoroji in 1865. He was one of the founders and the first president of Indian National Congress in 1885 at Bombay, serving again as president in 1892 at Allahabad. Bonnerjee financed the British Committee of Congress and its journals in London. Along with Naoroji, Eardley Norton and William Digby he started the Congress Political Agency, a branch of Congress in London. He unsuccessfully contested the 1892 United Kingdom general election as a Liberal party candidate for the Barrow and Furness seat. In 1893, Naoroji, Bonnerjee and Badruddin Tyabji founded the Indian Parliamentary Committee in England.

Jessica Danielle Andrews Chagnon is an American country music singer. At age 15 in mid-1999, she made her debut on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts with the single "I Will Be There for You", from her debut album Heart Shaped World, released in 1999 on DreamWorks Records Nashville. Andrews had her biggest chart success in 2001 with the song "Who I Am", a No. 1 country hit and the title track of her second studio album, which was certified gold in the United States. A third album, Now was released in 2003 to lower sales, while a fourth album was never released due to DreamWorks' closure. In late 2008, Andrews signed to Carolwood Records, an imprint of Lyric Street Records, however, she was dropped from the label in 2009 without issuing an album. Andrews has been married to Marcel, a singer-songwriter and music video director, since 2011.

Juliana Huxtable is an American artist, writer, performer, DJ, and co-founder of the New York–based nightlife project Shock Value. Huxtable has exhibited and performed at a number of venues including Reena Spaulings Fine Art, Project Native Informant, Artists Space, the New Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, and Institute of Contemporary Arts. Huxtable's multidisciplinary art practice explores a number of projects, such as the internet, the body, history, and text, often through a process she calls "conditioning." Huxtable is a published author of two books and a member of the New York City–based collective House of Ladosha. She is on the roster of the talent agency Discwoman, a New York based collective and talent agency that books DJs for parties and events around the world. She previously lived and worked in New York City, and has been based in Berlin since 2020.

Zainul Abedin, also known as Shilpacharya was a Bangladeshi painter. He became well known in 1944 through his series of paintings depicting some of the great famines in Bengal during its British colonial period. After the Partition of Indian subcontinent he moved to East Pakistan. In 1948, he helped to establish the Institute of Arts and Crafts at the University of Dhaka. The Indian Express has described him as a legendary Bangladeshi painter and activist. Like many of his contemporaries, his paintings on the Bengal famine of 1943 are viewed as his most characteristic works. His homeland honored him with the title "Shilpacharya" "Great teacher of the arts" for his artistic and visionary attributes. He was the pioneer of the modern art movement that took place in Bangladesh and was rightly considered by Syed Manzoorul Islam as the founding father of Bangladeshi modern arts, soon after Bangladesh became an independent republic.

Rina Ikoma is a Japanese actress and former idol singer best recognized as the "Face of Nogizaka46". She was a first generation member of the girl group Nogizaka46 and AKB48's Team B, also known as the former's eternal ace and original center, being appointed the position for an A-side six times in total for Nogizaka46's first five singles, "Guruguru Curtain", "Oide Shampoo", "Hashire! Bicycle", "Seifuku no Mannequin", and "Kimi no Na wa Kibō", as well as their 12th Single "Taiyō Nokku", which was the record highest at the time for the group, and is still the most for solo centers. Yasushi Akimoto originally made it to be so that Ikoma's graduation single "Synchronicity" was for her as center, but she declined.

Michael V. deGruy was an American documentary filmmaker specializing in underwater cinematography. His credits include Life in the Freezer, Trials of Life, The Blue Planet and Pacific Abyss. He was also known for his storytelling, including a passionate TED talk about his love of the ocean on the Mission Blue Voyage. His company, Film Crew Inc., specialized in underwater cinematography, filming for the BBC, PBS, National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel. His notable accomplishments include diving beneath thermal vents in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He was a member of many deep sea expeditions and was a part of the team that first filmed the vampire squid and the nautilus.

William Ewart Gladstone was a four-time prime minister of the United Kingdom. He began in politics as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Newark and ended as the face of the Liberal Party. His four non-consecutive terms — the most of any British prime minister — took place between 1868 and 1894. He also served four times as Chancellor of the Exchequer, five times as Leader of the House of Commons, and MP for over 60 years, from 1832 to 1846 and from 1847 to 1895, representing a total of five constituencies. His political career thus spanned nearly the entire Victorian era.

Harvey John Smith is a retired British show jumping champion. He stood out from the ranks of showjumpers because of his broad accent and blunt manner. His career was often controversial: in 1971 he was disciplined after he gave a "V sign" to the judges following a near-perfect round which won him the British Show Jumping Derby for the second year in succession; this act also earned him a 'tongue-in-cheek' part in an advertisement for Victory V sweets with the slogan 'They've got a kick like a mule!' The expression "Doing a Harvey Smith" entered the English language for giving a V sign.

Angelo F. Taylor is an American track and field athlete, winner of 400-meter hurdles at the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics. His personal record for the hurdles event is 47.25 seconds. His time puts him in a tie with Félix Sánchez for the #14 performer of all time. Sánchez also won two Olympic gold medals, in 2004 between Taylor's two golds and 2012, immediately following. Taylor also has a 400-meter dash best of 44.05 seconds, ranking him as the joint 29th performer of all time. He won the bronze medal in the 400 m at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics.

LaToya Renee London is an American R&B and soul singer and stage actress who was fourth-place finalist on the third season of American Idol. Her debut album, Love & Life, was released in September 2005 and spawned a number of moderate R&B chart hits. She has concentrated on stage work, including originating and performing the role of Nettie in the national tour of the Broadway musical The Color Purple from 2007 to 2010, for which she won an Ovation Award. She was the lead in the U.S. regional debut of The Bodyguard, a musical based on the 1992 film.

Jason Clarence Kreis is an American soccer coach and former player who is the director of operations and special projects for Major League Soccer side Real Salt Lake and the former head coach of the United States under-23 team. From 2021 to 2023, he also served as an assistant coach for MLS club Inter Miami. He coached Orlando City SC in Major League Soccer and was previously an assistant coach under Jürgen Klinsmann for the United States men's national soccer team. Prior to that he was the head coach of New York City FC and Real Salt Lake.

Joshua Jordan Harris is an American investor and sports team owner. Harris is a co-founder of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and managing partner of the NBA team Philadelphia 76ers, the NHL team New Jersey Devils, and the NFL team Washington Commanders. He is also a general partner of the English football club Crystal Palace and holds a minority stake in Joe Gibbs Racing. He left Apollo in 2022 to focus on Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which he formed with David Blitzer in 2017 as a holding company for their shared sports properties.

Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski are American film and television directors, writers and producers. Together known as the Wachowskis, the sisters are both trans women and have worked as a writing and directing team throughout most of their careers. They made their directing debut with Bound (1996), and achieved fame with The Matrix (1999), a major box-office success for which they won the Saturn Award for Best Director. They wrote and directed two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, and were involved in the writing and production of other works in the Matrix franchise.

Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist, atomic spy, and communist who supplied information from the American, British, and Canadian Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union during and shortly after World War II. While at the Los Alamos Laboratory, Fuchs was responsible for many significant theoretical calculations relating to the first nuclear weapons and, later, early models of the hydrogen bomb. After his conviction in 1950, he served nine years in prison in the United Kingdom, then migrated to East Germany where he resumed his career as a physicist and scientific leader.