Famous Birthdays on January 25

Jamesetta Hawkins, known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer and songwriter. Starting her career in 1954, James frequently performed in Nashville's R&B clubs, collectively known in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as the Chitlin' Circuit. She sang in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll and soul and gained fame with hits such as "The Wallflower" (1955), "At Last" (1960), "Something's Got a Hold on Me" (1962), "Tell Mama" and "I'd Rather Go Blind". She faced a number of personal problems, including heroin addiction, severe physical abuse and incarceration, before making a musical comeback in the late 1980s with the album Seven Year Itch (1988).

Lee Jun-ho, known mononymously as Junho, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and actor. He rose to prominence as a member of the South Korean boy band 2PM. Lee made his acting debut in the film Cold Eyes (2013) and has since appeared in films such as Twenty (2015), as well as notable television series such as Good Manager (2017), Rain or Shine (2017–2018), Confession (2019), King the Land (2023), Typhoon Family (2025), and Cashero (2025). His performance in The Red Sleeve (2021) earned him the Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor. As a solo artist, Lee has released two studio albums, one compilation album and eight extended plays, achieving significant success in Japan.

Geoffrey Johns is an American comic book writer, screenwriter, and film and television producer. Johns's work on the DC Comics characters Green Lantern, Aquaman, The Flash, and Superman has drawn critical acclaim. His critically acclaimed work includes Sinestro Corps War, Blackest Night, Infinite Crisis, Throne of Atlantis, Flashpoint, Doomsday Clock, Superman: Last Son, and Superman: Brainiac. He co-created the DC character Courtney Whitmore based on his deceased sister. He also expanded the Green Lantern mythology, adding in new concepts and co-creating numerous characters. Among the DC characters and concepts he co-created are the Sinestro Corps, the Indigo Tribe, the Red Lantern Corps, the Black Lantern Corps, Larfleeze, Atrocitus, Bleez, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, Hunter Zolomon, Tar Pit, Miss Martian, and Christopher Kent.

James Marion Sims was an American physician in the field of surgery. His most famous work was the development of a surgical technique for the repair of vesicovaginal fistula, a severe complication of obstructed childbirth. He developed this technique via non-consensual and unanesthetized surgeries on enslaved black women Anarcha Westcott, Lucy and Betsey and impoverished Irish women. He is also remembered for inventing the Sims speculum, the Sims sigmoid catheter, and Sims' position. Against significant opposition, he established, in New York, the first hospital in the United States specifically for women. He was forced out of the hospital he founded because he insisted on treating cancer patients; he played a small role in the creation of the nation's first cancer hospital, which opened after his death.

Lathan Moses Stanley Echols, known professionally as Lil Mosey, is an American rapper and singer-songwriter. His 2017 single, "Pull Up", received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and led him to sign with Interscope Records. His 2018 single, "Noticed", became his first Billboard Hot 100 entry and preceded his debut studio album, Northsbest (2018). His second studio album, Certified Hitmaker (2019), peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the single "Stuck in a Dream". The album's 2020 re-issue spawned the single "Blueberry Faygo", which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and yielded Mosey's furthest commercial success.

Louis Roy Groza, nicknamed "the Toe", was an American professional football player. An offensive tackle and placekicker, he spent his entire career for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Groza was professional football's career kicking and points leader when he retired after the 1967 season. He played in 21 seasons for the Browns, helping the team to win eight league championships in that span. Groza's accuracy and strength as a kicker influenced the development of place-kicking as a specialty; he could kick field goals from beyond 50 yards (46 m) at a time when attempts from that distance were a rarity. He set numerous records for distance and number of field goals kicked during his career.

Maria Yuryevna Kirilenko is a Russian former professional tennis player. A junior Grand Slam champion at the 2002 US Open at the age of 15, she went on to become a top-ten player in both singles and doubles. Kirilenko won six WTA Tour singles titles and 12 doubles titles. She was a three-time major singles quarterfinalist, a semifinalist at the 2012 London Olympics, and reached a career-high ranking of world No. 10, on 10 June 2013. In women's doubles, she became ranked as high as No. 5 in the world on 24 October 2011, and reached two major finals, at the 2011 Australian Open with Azarenka and the 2012 French Open with compatriot Nadia Petrova. Along with Petrova, Kirilenko won the 2012 WTA Tour Championships in doubles and was a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics.

Robert Faurisson was a British-born French academic who became best known for Holocaust denial. Faurisson generated much controversy with several articles published in the Journal of Historical Review and elsewhere, and by letters to French newspapers, especially Le Monde, which contradicted the history of the Holocaust by denying the existence of gas chambers in Nazi death camps, the systematic killing of European Jews using gas during the Second World War, and the authenticity of The Diary of Anne Frank. After the passing of the Gayssot Act against Holocaust denial in 1990, Faurisson was prosecuted and fined, and in 1991 he was dismissed from his academic post.

Acie Law IV is an American former professional basketball player and the Chicago Bulls vice president of player personnel. In his four seasons at Texas A&M University, Law scored 1,653 points and was credited with 540 assists. Nicknamed "Captain Clutch" for his ability to take over the game late, Law is well known among Texas A&M Aggie basketball fans for "The Shot," his buzzer-beating 3-pointer to beat the arch-rival Texas Longhorns at Reed Arena on March 1, 2006, as well as for his play in the Aggies' 69–66 upset win against Kansas on February 3, 2007. Due to his contributions to Texas A&M, the Texas A&M athletic department hung Law's No. 1 jersey on the rafters in Reed Arena. He became the first Aggie in any sport to have the honor.

Aino Maria Marsio-Aalto was a Finnish architect and a pioneer of Scandinavian design. She is known as the design partner of architect Alvar Aalto, with whom she worked for 25 years, and as a co-founder with him, Maire Gullichsen, and Nils-Gustav Hahl of the design company Artek, collaborating on many its most well-known designs. As Artek's first artistic director, her creative output spanned textiles, lamps, glassware, and buildings. Her work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, and MoMA has included her work in nine exhibitions, the first of which was Aalto: Architecture and Furniture in 1938. Other major exhibitions were at the Barbican Art Gallery in London and Chelsea Space in London. Aino Aalto has been exhibited with Pablo Picasso.

Anna Gardner was an American abolitionist and teacher, as well as an ardent reformer, a staunch supporter of women's rights, and the author of several volumes in prose and verse. In 1841, she published the call for the first antislavery meeting in Nantucket, at which Frederick Douglass made his first public speech and electrified his audience. She delivered many lectures during the years immediately preceding the American Civil War, and after the war, she taught in freedmen's schools in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. In 1878, she returned to New York, where soon afterward, she was severely injured in a carriage accident. After many weeks of suffering and a partial recovery, she returned to her old home in Nantucket. She lectured several times before the Nantucket Athenaeum. Gardner was a fluent writer, and in 1881, she published her best work in a volume of prose and verse entitled Harvest Gleanings.

Shotaro Ishinomori , né Onodera , was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist, writer and director. Known as the "King of Manga", he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential manga artists of all time. Outside of manga he is also one of the most prolific creators in the history of anime, tokusatsu, and Japanese superhero fiction, creating several immensely popular long-running series such as Cyborg 009, the Super Sentai series, and the Kamen Rider series. He was twice awarded by the Shogakukan Manga Awards, in 1968 for Sabu to Ichi Torimono Hikae and in 1988 for Hotel and Manga Nihon Keizai Nyumon.

Denis Nikolayevich Menshov is a former professional Russian road bicycle racer, who rode as a professional between 2000 and 2013. He was best known as a general classification rider, a climber and an accomplished time trialist. In 2005 he finished second in the Vuelta a España and in 2007 he finished as the champion. He also won the centenary Giro d'Italia in 2009 and finished second in the Tour de France in 2010 becoming the first Russian to do so. He was later disqualified from that Tour de France, as well as the 2009 and 2012 editions, owing to adverse biological passport findings.

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira, nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "o Rei", was a Portuguese footballer who played as a striker. He is considered one of the greatest players of all time as well as Benfica's best player ever. He was known for his speed, technique, athleticism and right-footed shot, making him a prolific goalscorer, accumulating 733 goals in 745 matches. Eusébio was the first ever player to win European Golden Boot, World Cup Golden Boot and UCL Golden Boot. In the UEFA Champions League, he ranks second for the all-time Portuguese top goalscorers, scoring 47 goals.

Jenifer Jeanette Lewis is an American actress and singer. She began her career appearing in Broadway musicals and worked as a back-up singer for Bette Midler before appearing in films Beaches (1988) and Sister Act (1992). Lewis is known for playing roles of mothers in the films What's Love Got to Do With It (1993), Poetic Justice (1993), The Preacher's Wife (1996), The Brothers (2001), The Cookout (2004), Think Like a Man (2012) and in the sequel Think Like a Man Too (2014), Baggage Claim (2013) and The Wedding Ringer (2015), as well as in The Temptations miniseries (1998).

Leo IV the Khazar was Byzantine emperor from 775 to 780 AD. He was born to Emperor Constantine V and Empress Tzitzak in 750. He was elevated to co-emperor in the next year, in 751, and married to Irene of Athens in 769. When Constantine V died in September 775, while campaigning against the Bulgars, Leo IV became senior emperor. In 778 Leo raided Abbasid Syria, decisively defeating the Abbasid army outside of Germanikeia. Leo died on 8 September 780, of tuberculosis. He was succeeded by his underage son Constantine VI, with Irene serving as regent.

Mark Fremont Schlereth is an American former professional football player who is a television and radio sportscaster. Schlereth played guard in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons (1989–2000) with the Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos. He is currently a football analyst for Fox Sports, appearing on FS1, and other programs. He also co-hosted Sedano & Stink with Jorge Sedano from 7–10 p.m. ET on ESPN Radio until late March 2015 when he left the program to pursue other broadcast opportunities. He also appeared on the soap opera Guiding Light, and 2012's Red Dawn remake.

Xavier Hernández Creus, commonly known as Xavi Hernández or simply Xavi, is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Xavi was renowned for his exceptional passing and vision. He is the all-time Spanish top assist provider in the UEFA Champions League with 30 assists. He spent most of his playing career at Barcelona and is one of the few players to make over 1,000 professional career appearances.

Witold Roman Lutosławski was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szymanowski, and possibly the greatest Polish composer since Chopin". His compositions—of which he was a notable conductor—include representatives of most traditional genres, aside from opera: symphonies, concertos, orchestral song cycles, other orchestral works, and chamber works. Among his best known works are his four symphonies, the Variations on a Theme by Paganini (1941), the Concerto for Orchestra (1954), and his cello concerto (1970).