Famous Birthdays on January 4

Jasmine Paolini is an Italian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 4 in singles by the WTA, the joint-highest-ranked Italian woman in singles, and No. 3 in doubles. Paolini is a major champion in doubles at the 2025 French Open, partnering Sara Errani. Representing her country, Paolini won an Olympic gold medal in doubles at the 2024 Paris Olympics, also with Errani. On the WTA Tour, she has won three singles titles and ten in doubles, including two singles and five doubles WTA 1000 titles. She is also a three-time major finalist, contesting the singles and doubles finals of the 2024 French Open and the singles final of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships. Paolini led Italy to the 2024 and 2025 Billie Jean King Cup titles, winning the Heart Award for the 2024.

John McLaughlin, also previously known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. A pioneer of jazz fusion, his music combines elements of jazz with rock, world music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues. After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s, McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams' group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his 1969–72 electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner. His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Classical, Indian and other influences. In 1974, he helped found Shakti, a seminal Indian-Jazz rock fusion band with Indian violinist L. Shankar and percussionists Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram.

Patty Loveless is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first few releases were unsuccessful, she broke through by decade's end with a cover of George Jones's "If My Heart Had Windows". Loveless issued five albums on MCA before moving to Epic Records in 1993, where she released nine more albums. Four of her albums—Honky Tonk Angel, Only What I Feel, When Fallen Angels Fly, and The Trouble with the Truth—are certified platinum in the United States. Loveless has charted 44 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including five which reached number one: "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", "Chains", "Blame It on Your Heart", "You Can Feel Bad", and "Lonely Too Long".

Lenora Isabella Crichlow is an English actress. She became known for her starring roles as Maria "Sugar" Sweet in the Channel 4 comedy-drama series Sugar Rush, Annie Sawyer in the BBC Three supernatural drama series Being Human, and Shania Andrews in the 2012 sports drama film Fast Girls. In 2013, Crichlow portrayed Chen Sam in the television film Burton & Taylor and Victoria Skillane in the episode "White Bear" of the dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror. She has since had regular roles in the ABC sitcom Back in the Game and the NBC comedy series A to Z. In 2020, she was in the main cast of the HBO/Sky One comedy series Avenue 5, playing second engineer Billie McEvoy.

Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Sajjad, also known as Zayn al-Abidin was the great-grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the fourth Imam in Shia Islam, succeeding his father Husayn, his uncle Hasan, and his grandfather Ali. Born around 658 in Medina, al-Sajjad survived the Battle of Karbala in 680, in which Husayn and his small caravan were brutally massacred by the forces of the Umayyad caliph Yazid. After the battle, al-Sajjad and other survivors were treated poorly and taken to the Umayyad capital Damascus. Al-Sajjad was eventually allowed to return to his hometown of Medina, where he led a secluded life, without participating in the numerous pro-Alid uprisings against the Umayyads during the Second Fitna. Instead, he fully devoted his life to worship and learning, and was highly esteemed, even among proto-Sunnis, as a leading authority on hadith and Fiqh. He was known for his piety and virtuous character.

Clinton Jerome Hill was a United States Secret Service agent who served under five U.S. presidents, from Dwight D. Eisenhower to Gerald Ford. Hill is best known for his act of bravery on November 22, 1963, when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. During the assassination, Hill ran into the line of fire from the Secret Service follow-up car, leaped onto the back of the presidential car, and shielded the stricken president and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy with his own body as the car raced to Parkland Memorial Hospital. His act was documented in film footage by Abraham Zapruder. Hill was the last surviving person who was inside the presidential limousine on November 22, 1963.

Robert Deon Potasi Dillingham is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats. He was a five-star recruit who previously played professionally for the Cold Hearts and Blue Checks with Karter Knox in Overtime Elite during what would have been his senior year in high school. Dillingham became a guard for Kentucky during the 2023–24 season. Dillingham was selected in the 2024 NBA draft with the 8th overall pick by the San Antonio Spurs, but was immediately traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves on draft night. After nearly two seasons in Minnesota, Dillingham was traded to the Bulls in 2026.

Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician. A Republican, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 until his death in 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich bass voice, he delivered flamboyant speeches that caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".

Günter Schabowski was a German politician who served as an official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the ruling party during most of the existence of East Germany. After climbing up the party ladder, he became the regime's unofficial spokesman. He gained worldwide fame in November 1989 when he improvised a slightly mistaken answer to a press conference question about the future of the Berlin Wall, that seemed to announce the Wall's immediate end and raised popular expectations much more rapidly than the government planned. Massive crowds gathered at the Wall the same night, which forced its opening after 28 years. Soon afterward, the entire inner German border was opened; not much later, East Germany ceased to exist.

Nico Hischier is a Swiss professional ice hockey player who is a centre and captain for the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL). Hischier made his professional debut in his native Switzerland in 2015, spending time both in the top-tier National League A (NLA) and the second-tier National League B. He moved to North America for the 2016–17 season to play major junior hockey for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in hopes of furthering his hockey career; in his first season in the QMJHL, he was named rookie of the year, along with the award for best rookie in the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), the governing body for major junior hockey in Canada. Internationally Hischier has represented Switzerland at several junior tournaments, including two World Junior Championships. Regarded as a strong two-way forward and a top prospect for the 2017 NHL entry draft, Hischier was selected first overall by the Devils, the first time a Swiss player was selected first overall, and made his NHL debut in 2017. He was named captain of the Devils in 2021.

Paul Guy Desmarais Sr. was a Canadian financier and philanthropist, based in Montreal. With an estimated family net worth of US$4.5 billion, Desmarais was ranked by Forbes as the fourth wealthiest person in Canada, and 235th in the world in 2013. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Power Corporation of Canada until 1996, when he passed the reins of management of Power Corporation to his sons, Paul Jr. and André. He continued as a director and as chairman of the executive committee of the board, and remained the controlling shareholder. Power Corporation of Canada is a diversified international management and holding company with interests in companies in the financial services, asset management, sustainable and renewable energy, and other business sectors.

Graham McTavish is a Scottish actor and author. He is known for his roles as Dwalin in The Hobbit film trilogy, The Saint of Killers in the AMC series Preacher, Dougal MacKenzie and William Buccleigh MacKenzie in the Starz series Outlander, and Harrold Westerling in the HBO series House of the Dragon. He is also known for his roles in the video game franchise Uncharted as the main antagonist Zoran Lazarević in Uncharted 2: Among Thieves and Charlie Cutter in Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, as well as having voiced Dracula in the Netflix animated series adaptation of Castlevania and in the game Castlevania: Belmont's Curse (2026).

Derrick Lamar Henry Jr. is an American professional football running back for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Nicknamed "King Henry", he is known for his imposing style of play and larger build than the average running back. Noted for his success at every stage of his career, Henry is the only player to have rushed for at least 2,000 yards in a season at the high school, college, and professional levels. He also led the nation in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns at all three levels. Henry is widely considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time.

Jaeden Martell is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor, with roles in the comedy drama St. Vincent (2014) and science fiction film Midnight Special (2016). His performance in St. Vincent earned him a nomination for the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Young Performer. After playing the title character in the drama The Book of Henry (2017), Martell's breakthrough came with his portrayal of Bill Denbrough in the supernatural horror films It (2017) and It Chapter Two (2019). This led to further leading roles in horror films, such as The Lodge (2019) and Mr. Harrigan's Phone (2022).

Lola Emily Mary Young is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in South London, she attracted attention in 2016 when she won the under-16 category of Open Mic UK and reached the finals of Got What It Takes?. She released her debut single in October 2019 and then the EPs Intro, Renaissance, and After Midnight. In 2021, she recorded a version of Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey's "Together in Electric Dreams" for that year's John Lewis Christmas advert. Around this time, she was nominated for the Brit Award for Rising Star and came fourth on the BBC's Sound of.

Johann Georg Elser was a German carpenter who planned and carried out an elaborate assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler and other high-ranking Nazi leaders on 8 November 1939 at the Bürgerbräukeller in Munich. Elser constructed and placed a bomb near the platform from which Hitler was to deliver a speech. It did not kill Hitler, who left earlier than expected, but it did kill 8 people and injured 62 others. Elser was held as a prisoner for more than five years until he was executed at Dachau concentration camp less than a month before the surrender of Nazi Germany.

Barbara Rush was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. In 1954, she won the Golden Globe Award for most promising female newcomer for her role in the 1953 American science-fiction film It Came from Outer Space. Later in her career, Rush became a regular performer in the television series Peyton Place, and appeared in TV movies, miniseries, and a variety of other programs, including the soap opera All My Children and the family drama 7th Heaven, as well as starring in films such as The Young Philadelphians, The Young Lions, Robin and the 7 Hoods, and Hombre.

Julian Richard Morley Sands was an English actor. He had co-starring roles in Oxford Blues and The Killing Fields in 1984. The following year, Sands played George Emerson in A Room with a View; this became his breakout role. He then went on to appear in Gothic (1986); Warlock (1989); Arachnophobia (1990); Naked Lunch (1991); Leaving Las Vegas (1995); and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). His television roles included Nick Hardaway in Rose Red (2002), Vladimir Bierko in 24 (2006) and Jor-El in Smallville (2009–2010); he also voiced the character of Valmont in Jackie Chan Adventures (2000–2002).

George Pan Cosmatos was a Greek-Italian film director and screenwriter. Following early success in his home country with drama films such as Massacre in Rome with Richard Burton, Cosmatos retooled his career towards mainstream "blockbuster" action and adventure films, including The Cassandra Crossing and Escape to Athena, both of which were British-Italian co-productions. After relocating to North America, he directed the horror film Of Unknown Origin. This was followed by some of his best-known work, including the action films Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra, the science-fiction horror film Leviathan, and the critically acclaimed Western movie Tombstone.