Famous Birthdays on January 28

Anna Ruby Gaye was an American businesswoman, composer and songwriter. An elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, she became a record executive in the mid-to-late 1950s distributing records released on Checker and Gone Records before forming the Anna label with Billy Davis and her sister Gwen Gordy Fuqua. Gordy later became known as a songwriter for several hits including the Originals' "Baby, I'm for Real", and "God Is Love" from Marvin Gaye's What's Going On album. The first wife of Gaye, their turbulent marriage later served as inspiration for Gaye's 14th studio album, Here, My Dear.

Tabyana Ali is an American actress and author. She was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, but later moved to California with her mother to begin a career in the entertainment industry. She appeared in guest roles in various television shows, including New Girl (2015), Shimmer and Shine (2019) and The Big Show Show (2020), in addition to the Black horror film Horror Noire (2021). In 2022, she took over the role of Trina Robinson in the soap opera General Hospital. She became popular with viewers partly as a result of Trina's supercouple romance with Spencer Cassadine, with the two appearing on the cover of People and the characters being compared to the original General Hospital supercouple Luke and Laura. Ali has released her first book, My Flower Child, in 2020, and her second, My Super B, was published in 2023. In January 2024, San Antonio declared January 13 as "Tabyana Ali Day" in honor of her achievements.

Sir Roy Clarke is an English comedy writer, best known for creating and writing the sitcoms Last of the Summer Wine (1973–2010), Keeping Up Appearances (1990–1995), Open All Hours (1976–1985) and its sequel series, Still Open All Hours (2013–2019).

David Valentine Lawrence was an English cricketer, who mainly played for Gloucestershire and briefly featured for England, becoming the first British-born black player to represent the country. He picked up 625 wickets in 280 matches for Gloucestershire, where he appeared in a bowling attack alongside Courtney Walsh and Kevin Curran. Lawrence later suffered a severe knee injury, on international duty, which curtailed his playing days. In 2022, he became the first black president of Gloucestershire County Cricket Club. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2025 Birthday Honours for services to cricket. He was popularly nicknamed "Syd" after the British bandleader of that name.

Mike Holoway is a British musician and actor. He was the drummer and percussionist in Flintlock and at the same time became an actor, notably featuring in the TV series The Tomorrow People.

Anthony William Brownless is a former Australian rules footballer and radio and television media personality who represented Geelong in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s.

Harry Corbett OBE was an English magician, puppeteer and television presenter. He was best known as the creator of the glove puppet character Sooty in 1952.

Liam Öhgren is a Swedish professional ice hockey player who is a left winger for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted 19th overall by the Minnesota Wild in the 2022 NHL entry draft.

Ernest Lee "Junior" Spivey Jr. is an American former second baseman in Major League Baseball. In his five-year major league career, Spivey batted .270 with 48 home runs and 201 runs batted in in 457 games. He made the National League All-Star team in 2002. He batted and threw right-handed.

Naila Kabeer is an Indian-born British Bangladeshi social economist, research fellow, writer and professor at the London School of Economics. She was also president of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) from 2018 to 2019. She is on the editorial committee of journals such as Feminist Economist, Development and Change, Gender and Development, Third World Quarterly and the Canadian Journal of Development Studies. She works primarily on poverty, gender and social policy issues. Her research interests include gender, poverty, social exclusion, labour markets and livelihoods, social protection, focused on South and South East Asia.

Seiji Mizushima is a Japanese anime director who is known for such series as Shaman King, Fullmetal Alchemist, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Un-Go, Concrete Revolutio, and Beatless. His first directorial film project, Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa, won the 60th Mainichi Film Award for Best Animation Film. In 2015, he won the Individual Award at the 20th Animation Kobe Awards.

Giorgio Lamberti is an Italian former swimmer. In 1991 he became the first swimmer of Italy to win a world title, and gold medal, at a FINA World Aquatics Championships. He formerly held world records in the short course and long course 200 metre freestyle as well as in the short course 400 metre freestyle.

Jim Wong-Chu was a Canadian activist, community organizer, poet, author, editor, and historian. Wong-Chu is one of Canada's most celebrated literary pioneers. He was a community organizer known for his work in establishing organizations that contributed to highlighting Asian arts and culture in Canada. He also co-edited several anthologies featuring Asian Canadian writers.

Gregor Joseph Werner was an Austrian composer of the Baroque period, best known as the predecessor of Joseph Haydn as the Kapellmeister of the Hungarian Esterházy family. Few of Werner's works survive to the present day, and he is mostly remembered for his troubled relationship with Haydn.

Richard Danielpour is an American composer and academic, currently affiliated with the Curtis Institute of Music and the University of California, Los Angeles. Danielpour received a nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards for his piece The Passion of Yeshua.

John Normington was an English actor primarily known for his work on television. Normington was also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, performing in more than 20 RSC productions. He performed widely in the West End and at the National Theatre.

Sandis Buškevics is a Latvian professional basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head coach for BC Telšiai of the Nacionalinė krepšinio lyga (NKL). Buškevics was also a member of the Latvia national basketball team.

Vera Baker Williams was an American children's writer and illustrator. Her best known work, A Chair for My Mother, has won multiple awards and was featured on the children's television show Reading Rainbow.

Mark Regan MBE is an English former rugby union player. Nicknamed 'Ronnie', he played as a hooker for Bristol, Bath, Leeds Tykes as well as England and the British and Irish Lions.

Karel Čáslavský was a Czech film historian and television host. Čáslavský worked as a historian for the National Film Archive of the Czech Republic from 1963 until his death in 2013.

Sir Trevor Herbert Harry Skeet was a New Zealand-born lawyer and a British Conservative Party politician.

Nikolai Ivanovich Parshin was a Soviet football player and manager. He was born in Moscow.

Richard Glatzer was an American writer and director.

Keith Hamilton Cobb is an American actor.

Kathryn Susan Morris is an American actress, best known for her lead role as Detective Lilly Rush in the CBS series Cold Case.

Miltiadis Sapanis is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Nathan James Outteridge is an Australian sailor, a resident of Lake Macquarie. He was inducted into the Australian Sailing Hall of Fame in 2025.

Paul Nicholas Henry is an English footballer who plays for Marine. He previously played in the Football League for Tranmere Rovers.