Did you know about Rashida Jones
In 2025, she was named one of Time's 100 most influential people in the world.
Famous Birthdays on February 25
February 25 has 157 recorded notable births across history, from 1259 to 2005. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.
1976 — Rashida Jones
American actress and writer
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Famous Birthdays
157 source records
1259 – 2005
Pisces
Today in history
Major events on February 25
See what else happened on this day in history.
- 1947 The formal abolition of Prussia is proclaimed by the Allied Control Council, the Prussian government having already been abolished by the Preußenschlag of 1932. Source
- 1986 People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines' first female president. Source
Did you know about Park Ji-sung
Born in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Park is regarded as one of the greatest and most successful Asian players in football history, having won 19 trophies in his career.
Did you know about S. Rajaratnam
S. Rajaratnam served as the first Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1965 until 1980, and subsequently as the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 1980 to 1985.
Did you know about Farokh Engineer
In first-class cricket, he played for Bombay from 1959/60 to 1974/75, for West Zone from 1961/62 to 1974/75, and for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1968 to 1976.
Did you know about Flavia Pennetta
Flavia Pennetta became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles, on 28 February 2011.
More major people born on February 25
Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.
1981
Park Ji-sung
South Korean footballer
Park Ji-sung is a South Korean former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in the South Korean capital of Seoul, Park is regarded as one of the greatest and most successful Asian players in football history, having won 19 trophies in his career. He is the first Asian footballer to win the UEFA Champions League, play in a UEFA Champions League final, and win the FIFA Club World Cup. Park was able to play anywhere across the midfield and was noted for his exceptional fitness level, discipline, work ethic and off-the-ball movement. His remarkable endurance levels earned him the nickname "Three-Lung" Park.
1915
S. Rajaratnam
Singaporean politician, 1st Senior Minister of Singapore (died 2006)
Sinnathamby Rajaratnam was a Singaporean statesman, journalist and diplomat. He served as the first Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1965 until 1980, and subsequently as the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 1980 to 1985. Rajaratnam was pivotal in shaping Singapore's foreign policy framework during its formative years of sovereignty, helping secure the nation's position on the global stage. Alongside his foreign affairs portfolio, he also served as Minister for Culture from 1959 to 1965, Minister for Labour from 1968 to 1971, Deputy Prime Minister from 1980 to 1985 and Senior Minister from 1985 to 1988. Throughout his entire political career, he represented the constituency of Kampong Glam. Rajaratnam is remembered for authoring the Singapore National Pledge in 1966. Rajaratnam is widely recognised as one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore and a key architect of ASEAN.
1938
Farokh Engineer
Indian cricketer
Farokh Maneksha Engineer is an Indian former cricketer. He was a wicket-keeper-batsman, usually an opening batsman, who represented India in 46 Test matches from 1961 to 1975. In first-class cricket, he played for Bombay from 1959/60 to 1974/75, for West Zone from 1961/62 to 1974/75, and for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1968 to 1976. He was the first-choice wicket-keeper for the Rest of the World team which toured England in 1970 and Australia in 1971–72. Engineer is the first Man of the Match for India in the Men's Cricket World Cup because of his performance against East Africa in the 1975 Cricket World Cup.
1982
Flavia Pennetta
Italian tennis player
Flavia Pennetta is an Italian former professional tennis player. She became Italy's first top-ten female singles player on 17 August 2009 and the first Italian to be ranked world No. 1 in doubles, on 28 February 2011. She is a Grand Slam champion in both doubles and singles, having won the 2011 Australian Open women's doubles title with Gisela Dulko, and the 2015 US Open singles title over childhood friend Roberta Vinci in the first all-Italian major final. Pennetta won ten other WTA singles titles, including the 2014 Indian Wells Open, where she defeated the top two seeds. She also was a mainstay in the Fed Cup team competition, helping Italy win four titles in 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2013. Her other highlights in doubles include winning the 2010 WTA Finals with Dulko and finishing runner-up at the 2005 and 2014 US Open tournaments, partnering respectively with Elena Dementieva and Martina Hingis.
1930
Wendy Beckett
British nun and art critic (died 2018)
Wendy Mary Beckett, better known as Sister Wendy, was a British Catholic religious sister and art historian who became known internationally during the 1990s when she presented a series of BBC television documentaries on the history of art. Her programmes, such as Sister Wendy's Odyssey and Sister Wendy's Grand Tour, often drew a 25 percent share of the British viewing audience. In 1997 she made her debut on US public television, with The New York Times describing her as "a sometime hermit who is fast on her way to becoming the most unlikely and famous art critic in the history of television."
1999
Rocky
South Korean singer, dancer and songwriter
Park Min-hyuk, known professionally as Rocky (라키), is a South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, actor and entrepreneur. He is a former member of the South Korean boy group Astro and its sub-unit Jinjin & Rocky. In 2023, he established and became the CEO of his own agency, Wonijin Entertainment, and debuted as a solo artist with the extended play (EP) Rockyst. Park made his acting debut in the web series To Be Continued (2015) and later gained recognition for his role in Broke Rookie Star (2022), for which he received multiple awards. He also starred in the Korean adaptation of the musical The Three Musketeers (2022).
1707
Carlo Goldoni
Italian playwright and composer (died 1793)
Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty. His plays offered his contemporaries images of themselves, often dramatizing the lives, values, and conflicts of the emerging middle classes. Though he wrote in French and Italian, his plays make rich use of the Venetian language, regional vernacular, and colloquialisms. Goldoni also wrote under the pen name and title Polisseno Fegeio, Pastor Arcade, which he claimed in his memoirs the "Arcadians of Rome" bestowed on him.
1540
Henry Howard
1st Earl of Northampton, English aristocrat and courtier (died 1614)
Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton was an English aristocrat and courtier. He was suspected throughout his life of being Roman Catholic, and went through periods of royal disfavour, in which his reputation suffered greatly. He was distinguished for learning, artistic culture and his public charities. He built Northumberland House in London and superintended the construction of the fine house of Audley End. He founded and planned several hospitals. Francis Bacon included three of his sayings in his Apophthegms, and chose him as "the learnedest councillor in the kingdom to present to the king his Advancement of Learning." After his death, it was discovered that he had been involved in the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.
1928
A. Leon Higginbotham
Jr., American civil rights advocate, historian, and judge (died 1998)
Aloyisus Leon Higginbotham Jr. was an American civil rights advocate, historian, presidential adviser, and federal court judge. From 1990 to 1991, he served as chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Originally nominated to the bench by President Kennedy in 1963, Higginbotham was the seventh African-American Article III judge appointed in the United States, and the first African-American United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He was elevated to the Third Circuit in 1977, serving as a federal judge for nearly 30 years in all. In 1995, President Bill Clinton awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Higginbotham used the name "Leon" informally.
1833
John St. John
American lawyer and politician, 8th Governor of Kansas (died 1916)
John Pierce St. John was an American politician who served as the eighth governor of Kansas. A Republican, St. John was a staunch supporter of Prohibition and later served as the Prohibition Party's nominee in the 1884 presidential election. Under his tenure as governor, Kansas became the third state to enact a statewide prohibition of alcohol which would last until 1948 and remain in some form until 1987. After leaving elected office he maintained his position in the Prohibition party and remained active in the party's presidential politics and was a major figure in the party schism during the 1896 presidential election.
1910
Millicent Fenwick
American journalist and politician (died 1992)
Millicent Vernon Fenwick was an American fashion model, Vogue magazine editor, socialite, Republican Party politician, and diplomat who represented New Jersey in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1983. She also served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 1970 to 1972 and as the first United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture from 1983 to 1987. She was famous for her energy and colorful enthusiasm and regarded as a political moderate or progressive within her party. She was outspoken in favor of civil rights and the women's movement.
1950
Néstor Kirchner
Argentine politician; 51st President of Argentina (died 2010)
Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoić was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the president of Argentina from 2003 to 2007. A member of the Justicialist Party, he previously served as Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, and mayor of Río Gallegos from 1987 to 1991. He later served as first gentleman of Argentina during the early tenure of his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the first person to serve in this role. Ideologically, he identified himself as a Peronist and a progressive, with his political approach called Kirchnerism.
1806
Emma Catherine Embury
American author and poet (died 1863)
Emma Catherine Embury was an American writer and poet. Under the pen name of "Ianthe", she contributed to the periodicals of the day, and may be considered among the pioneers of female literature in the United States. Her many poems and tales were afterwards collected and published in book form. Among these volumes are The Blind Girl and Other Tales, Glimpses of Home Life, Pictures of Early Life, Nature's Gems, or American Wild Flowers (1845), and The Waldorf Family, a fairy tale of Brittany, partly a translation and partly original (1848).
1937
Bob Schieffer
American political author, journalist and TV interviewer
Bob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist. He is known for his moderation of presidential debates, where he has been praised for his capability. Schieffer is one of the few journalists to have covered all four of the major Washington national assignments: the White House, the Pentagon, United States Department of State, and United States Congress. His career with CBS has almost exclusively dealt with national politics. He has interviewed every United States President since Richard Nixon, as well as most of those who sought the office.
1938
Herb Elliott
Australian athlete
Herbert James Elliott is a former Australian athlete and arguably the world's greatest middle-distance runner of his era. In August 1958 he set the world record in the mile run, clocking 3:54.5, 2.7 seconds under the record held by Derek Ibbotson; later in the month he set the 1500 metres world record, running 3:36.0, 2.1 seconds under the record held by Stanislav Jungwirth. In the 1500 metres at the 1960 Rome Olympics, he won the gold medal and bettered his own world record with a time of 3:35.6.
1913
Gert Fröbe
German actor (died 1988)
Karl Gerhart "Gert" Fröbe was a German actor who appeared in over 100, mostly German-produced films. He was best known in English-speaking countries for his work as the title character in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964). Other international films include his role as Baron Bomburst in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), as General Dietrich von Choltitz in Is Paris Burning? (1966), as Colonel Manfred von Holstein in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965), and as Inspector Bauer in Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg (1977).
1913
Jim Backus
American actor and screenwriter (died 1989)
James Gilmore Backus was an American actor. Among his most famous roles were Thurston Howell III on the 1960s sitcom Gilligan's Island, the father of James Dean's character in Rebel Without a Cause, the voice of the near-sighted cartoon character Mr. Magoo, the rich Hubert Updike III on the radio version of The Alan Young Show, and Joan Davis's character's husband on TV's I Married Joan. He also starred in his own show of one season, The Jim Backus Show, also known as Hot Off the Wire.
1883
Princess Alice
Countess of Athlone (died 1981)
Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, was a member of the British royal family. She was the longest-lived princess of the blood royal, and one of the longest-lived British royals. Princess Alice was the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, the sister-in-law of Queen Mary, and the first cousin of Queen Mary's husband, King George V, and was the sister of Charles Edward the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The Princess served as Viceregal Consort of both the Union of South Africa and of Canada.
1962
Birgit Fischer
German kayaker
Birgit Fischer is a German former kayaker, who has won eight gold medals over six different Olympic Games, a record she shares with Aladár Gerevich and Isabell Werth, spanning seven Olympiads: twice representing East Germany, then four times representing the reunited nation. After both the 1988 and 2000 games, she announced her retirement, only to return for the subsequent games. She has been both the youngest- and oldest-ever Olympic canoeing champion. In 2004, she was chosen as the German sportswoman of the year.