Famous Birthdays on March 20

March 20 has 255 recorded notable births across history, from 43 BC to 2004. This focused page highlights 20 people with the strongest available profile context.

Michael Rapaport

1970 — Michael Rapaport

American actor and comedian

By · — Wikipedia

Famous Birthdays 255 source records 43 BC – 2004 Pisces

Major events on March 20

See what else happened on this day in history.

  1. 1903 The first of a series of auctions of sheep farming land in southern Patagonia takes place impacting established settlers. Source
  2. 1888 The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia. Source

Did you know about Michael Rapaport

Michael Rapaport's film roles include Zebrahead (1992), True Romance (1993), Higher Learning (1995), Metro (1997), Cop Land (1997), Deep Blue Sea (1999), The 6th Day (2000), Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001), Big Fan (2009), and The Heat (2013).

Did you know about Sting

Prior to WCW, he wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)—which became WCW in 1988—the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA).

Did you know about Ovid

Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly organized province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or 10 years of his life.

Did you know about Kathy Ireland

The brand became ranked number 15 in the world and Ireland entered the Licensing Hall of Fame.

Did you know about Bobby Orr

Bobby Orr played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 12 seasons, the first 10 with the Boston Bruins, followed by two with the Chicago Black Hawks.

More major people born on March 20

Notable people are ranked by substantive profile depth and public notability.

1959 Sting

Sting

American wrestler
Steve Borden, better known by the ring name Sting, is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), with which he continues to make sporadic appearances since his retirement. Borden is best known for his lengthy runs in two major American professional wrestling promotions: World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1988 to 2001 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2003 to 2014, as well as his retirement run in AEW from 2020 to 2024. Although the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW in 2001, Borden did not sign with them at the time; he would later work in WWE from 2014 to 2020. Prior to WCW, he wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance's (NWA) Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP)—which became WCW in 1988—the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), and the Continental Wrestling Association (CWA). Borden wore face-paint throughout his career, and in 1996, changed from the multi-colored paint of his "Surfer" persona to the monochromatic paint of the "Crow" gimmick.
Wikipedia source
-43 Ovid

Ovid

Roman poet (died 17)
Publius Ovidius Naso, known in English as Ovid, was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the three canonical poets of Latin literature. The Imperial scholar Quintilian considered him to be the last of the Latin love elegists. Although Ovid enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime, the emperor Augustus exiled him to Tomis, the capital of the newly organized province of Moesia, on the Black Sea, where he remained for the last nine or 10 years of his life. Ovid himself attributed his banishment to a carmen et error, but his reluctance to disclose specifics has resulted in much speculation among scholars.
Wikipedia source
1963 Kathy Ireland

Kathy Ireland

American model, actress and businessowoman
Kathleen Marie Ireland is an American actress, author, entrepreneur, fashion designer, philanthropist, and former fashion model. Ireland was a supermodel in the 1980s and 1990s, initially known for appearing in 13 consecutive Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues, including three covers. In 1993, she founded a brand licensing company, Kathy Ireland Worldwide (KIWW), which has made her one of the wealthiest former models in the world. As a result of her career in business, she earned a $420 million personal fortune by 2015. In 2021 alone, her company generated retail sales of $3.1 billion. The brand became ranked number 15 in the world and Ireland entered the Licensing Hall of Fame.
Wikipedia source
1948 Bobby Orr

Bobby Orr

Canadian ice hockey player
Robert Gordon Orr is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest players of all time. Orr used his skating speed, scoring, and play-making abilities to revolutionize the position of defenceman. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 12 seasons, the first 10 with the Boston Bruins, followed by two with the Chicago Black Hawks. Orr remains the only defenceman to have won the league scoring title with two Art Ross Trophies. He holds the record for most points and assists in a single season by a defenceman. Orr won a record eight consecutive Norris Trophies as the NHL's best defenceman and three consecutive Hart Trophies as the league's most valuable player (MVP). Orr was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1979 at age 31, the youngest to be inducted at that time. In 2017, Orr was named by the National Hockey League as one of the "100 Greatest NHL Players" in history.
Wikipedia source
1917 Vera Lynn

Vera Lynn

English singer and actress (died 2020)
Dame Vera Margaret Lewis, known professionally as Vera Lynn, was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the "Forces' Sweetheart", having given outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India, and Burma during the war as part of the Entertainments National Service Association. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography wrote of Lynn, "Her reassuring voice and mastery of radio made her the forces' sweetheart in the Second World War—a connection she fostered with her ongoing commitment to veterans and memory of the war." The songs most associated with her include "We'll Meet Again", "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover" and "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square".
Wikipedia source
1856 Frederick Winslow Taylor

Frederick Winslow Taylor

American tennis player and engineer (died 1915)
Frederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consultants. In 1909, Taylor summed up his efficiency techniques in his book The Principles of Scientific Management which, in 2001, Fellows of the Academy of Management voted the most influential management book of the twentieth century. His pioneering work in applying engineering principles to the work done on the factory floor was instrumental in the creation and development of the branch of engineering that is now known as industrial engineering. Taylor made his name, and was most proud of his work, in scientific management; as a result, scientific management is sometimes referred to as Taylorism. His main source of income came from patenting improvements to steelmaking.
Wikipedia source
1639 Ivan Mazepa

Ivan Mazepa

Ukrainian diplomat, Hetman of Ukraine (died 1709)
Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa was a Ukrainian military, political and civic leader who served as hetman of the Cossack Hetmanate in 1687–1709. His long and stable rule was marked by economical and political recovery from the Ruin. A loyal subject of Russia during most of his rule, Mazepa's close relationship with Tsar Peter I deteriorated as a result of the latter's administrative reforms, which increasingly deprived Mazepa and the Hetmanate of their autonomy. In 1708, Mazepa abandoned his alliance with Peter I and sided with Charles XII of Sweden after the Tsar refused to protect the Hetmanate against the advancing Swedes, instead ordering that much of Ukraine be burned to prevent the Swedes from gaining access to supplies and winter quarters.
Wikipedia source
1955 Ian Moss

Ian Moss

Australian guitarist and singer-songwriter
Ian Richard Moss is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs. He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial eleven year phase from 1973 to 1984, Moss was recorded on all five studio albums, three of which reached number one on the national Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In August 1989 he released his debut solo album, Matchbook, which peaked at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was preceded by his debut single, "Tucker's Daughter", which reached number two on the related ARIA Singles Chart in March. The track was co-written by Moss with Don Walker, also from Cold Chisel. Moss had another top ten hit with "Telephone Booth" in June 1989.
Wikipedia source
1928 James P. Gordon

James P. Gordon

American physicist and engineer (died 2013)
James Power Gordon was an American physicist known for his work in the fields of optics and quantum electronics. His contributions include the design, analysis and construction of the first maser in 1954 as a doctoral student at Columbia University under the supervision of C. H. Townes, development of the quantal equivalent of Shannon's information capacity formula in 1962, development of the theory for the diffusion of atoms in an optical trap in 1980, and the discovery of what is now known as the Gordon-Haus effect in soliton transmission, together with H. A. Haus in 1986. Gordon was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences.
Wikipedia source
1938 John Barnhill

John Barnhill

American basketball player and coach (died 2013)
John Anthony "Rabbit" Barnhill was an American professional basketball player. He played for the St. Louis Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Baltimore Bullets and San Diego Rockets in the National Basketball Association (NBA); and the Indianapolis Pacers and Denver Rockets in the American Basketball Association (ABA). Barnhill attended Tennessee A & I State College where he was the starting point guard on three consecutive NAIA national men's basketball championship teams from 1956 to 1959, playing under Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame coach John McClendon. These three teams were collectively inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2019. He was named to the first or second all-tournament teams in each of those seasons.
Wikipedia source
1995 Kei

Kei

South Korean singer
Kim Ji-yeon , known professionally as Kei (케이), is a South Korean singer and musical actress. She rose to fame as a member of South Korean girl group Lovelyz in November 2014. Kei officially made her solo debut with the EP, Over and Over on October 8, 2019. On November 16, 2021, she left Woollim Entertainment, although she remains as a member of Lovelyz. She joined Palm Tree Island in January 2022 to focus on her musical career, before moving to A2Z Entertainment later that year. In 2023, Kei participated in Mnet reality competition show Queendom Puzzle, debuting with the resulting project supergroup El7z Up in September of that year.
Wikipedia source
1915 Sister Rosetta Tharpe

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1973)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and electric guitar. She was rooted in a pentecostal church and became the first great recording star of gospel music, and was among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm and blues and rock and roll audiences, later being referred to as "the original soul sister" and "the Godmother of Rock and Roll". She influenced early rock-and-roll musicians, including Tina Turner, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Wikipedia source
1828 Henrik Ibsen

Henrik Ibsen

Norwegian poet, playwright, and director (died 1906)
Henrik Johan Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright. He is considered one of the world's pre-eminent writers of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama". He pioneered theatrical realism but also wrote lyrical epic works. His major works include Brand, Peer Gynt, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, Hedda Gabler, The Master Builder, and When We Dead Awaken. In 2014, Ibsen was considered the most frequently performed dramatist in the world after Shakespeare. Store norske leksikon describes him as "the center of the Norwegian literary canon".
Wikipedia source
1927 John Joubert

John Joubert

South African-English composer and academic (died 2019)
John Pierre Herman Joubert was a British composer of South African birth, particularly of choral works. He lived in Moseley, a suburb of Birmingham, England, for over 50 years. A music academic in the universities of Hull and Birmingham for 36 years, Joubert took early retirement in 1986 to concentrate on composing and remained active into his eighties. Though perhaps best known for his choral music, particularly the carols Torches and There is No Rose of Such Virtue and the anthem O Lorde, the Maker of Al Thing, Joubert composed over 160 works including three symphonies, four concertos and seven operas.
Wikipedia source
1970 Edoardo Ballerini

Edoardo Ballerini

American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
Edoardo Ballerini is an American actor, narrator, writer, and film director. On screen he is best known for his work as junkie Corky Caporale in The Sopranos and the hotheaded chef in the indie film Dinner Rush (2001). Ballerini is a two-time winner of the Audio Publishers Association's Best Male Narrator Audie Award (2013), Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter; 2019 Watchers by Dean Koontz) and is the co-author of the story "The Angel Of Rome" in the 2021 collection of stories The Angel of Rome, by Jess Walter. His directorial debut, Good Night Valentino, premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
Wikipedia source
1957 Chris Wedge

Chris Wedge

American animator, producer, screenwriter, and voice actor
John Christian Wedge is an American filmmaker, animator, and voice actor. He is best known for being the lead animator of the sci-fi action film Tron (1982), co-founding Blue Sky Studios, and directing the short film Bunny (1998) and the feature films Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005) and Epic (2013). He also directed the live-action film Monster Trucks (2016). Wedge has received two Academy Awards nominations: one for Bunny, for which he won Best Animated Short; and Ice Age, nominated for Best Animated Feature. He also created and voiced the character Scrat in the Ice Age franchise (2002–present).
Wikipedia source
1865 Mike Griffin

Mike Griffin

American baseball player (died 1908)
Michael Joseph Griffin was an American Major League Baseball center fielder who was born in Utica, New York. He played in 1,511 games over 12 seasons for teams in the American Association, Players' League, and National League. He had 1,755 hits, resulting in a .296 batting average, and was a prolific base stealer who swiped 473 bases during his career. In his last year in the majors, he was also a player-manager for the Brooklyn Bridegrooms. He scored 1,406 runs in his career; only Billy Hamilton recorded more runs than Griffin in the span of his career.
Wikipedia source
1916 Pierre Messmer

Pierre Messmer

French lieutenant and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 2007)
Pierre Joseph Auguste Messmer was a French Gaullist politician. He served as Minister of Armies under Charles de Gaulle from 1960 to 1969 – the longest serving since Étienne François, duc de Choiseul under Louis XV – and then as Prime Minister under Georges Pompidou from 1972 to 1974. A member of the French Foreign Legion, he was considered one of the historical Gaullists, and died aged 91 in the military hospital of the Val-de-Grâce in August 2007. He was elected a member of the Académie française in 1999; his seat was taken over by Simone Veil.
Wikipedia source
1969 Yvette Cooper

Yvette Cooper

English economist and politician, former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
Yvette Cooper is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since July 2026. She previously served as Foreign Secretary from September 2025 to July 2026 and as Home Secretary from 2024 to 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Cooper has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pontefract, Castleford and Knottingley, formerly Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, since 1997. She previously held various ministerial positions under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown from 1999 to 2010, lastly as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2009 to 2010.
Wikipedia source

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