Famous Birthdays on May 14

Amber Rose Tamblyn is an American actress and author. She first came to national attention at the age of 11 for her role as Emily Quartermaine on the soap opera General Hospital. From 2003 to 2005 she starred in the prime-time series Joan of Arcadia, portraying the title character, Joan Girardi, for which she received Primetime Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Her feature film work includes roles such as Tibby Rollins from the first two The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants films and Megan McBride in 127 Hours (2010), as well as appearing opposite Tilda Swinton in Stephanie Daley, which debuted at The Sundance Film Festival and for which Tamblyn won Best Actress at The Locarno International Film Festival and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. In 2016, she made her directorial debut with the film Paint It Black starring Alia Shawkat, based on Janet Fitch's 2006 novel of the same name. In 2021, she starred opposite Diane Lane in FX's Y: The Last Man.

David Christopher Kelly was a Welsh scientist and authority on biological warfare (BW). A former head of the Defence Microbiology Division working at Porton Down, Kelly was part of a joint US-UK team that inspected civilian biotechnology facilities in Russia in the early 1990s and concluded they were running a covert and illegal BW programme. He was appointed to the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) in 1991 as one of its chief weapons inspectors in Iraq and led ten of the organisation's missions between May 1991 and December 1998. He also worked with UNSCOM's successor, the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) and led several of their missions into Iraq. During his time with UNMOVIC he was key in uncovering the anthrax production programme at the Salman Pak facility, and a BW programme run at Al Hakum.

Harry Leroy Halladay III was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Toronto Blue Jays and Philadelphia Phillies between 1998 and 2013. His nickname, "Doc", coined by Toronto Blue Jays announcer Tom Cheek, was a reference to Wild West gunslinger Doc Holliday. His lasting durability allowed him to lead the league in complete games seven times, the most of any pitcher whose career began after 1945. He also led the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio five times and innings pitched four times. An eight-time All-Star, Halladay was one of the most dominant pitchers of his era and is regarded as one of the greatest pitchers of all time.

Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to prominence as a vocalist and bassist for the R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné!, which he formed with his brother D'Wayne and cousin Timothy Christian Riley in 1986. Originally, the band went by the name "Tony, Toni, Toné" as a joke, until they realized it "had a nice ring to it". Along with his groupwork and solo career, he has produced and written songs for other R&B artists, including Erykah Badu, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Total, Earth, Wind & Fire, Joss Stone, TLC, En Vogue, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Ledisi, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles and John Legend.

Martine Kimberley Sherrie McCutcheon is an English former actress and singer. She began appearing in television commercials at an early age and made her television debut in the children's television drama Bluebirds in 1989. In the early 1990s, she had minor success as one third of the pop group Milan, but it was her role as Tiffany Mitchell in the BBC's soap opera EastEnders and her role in the 2003 romantic comedy Love Actually that brought her stardom. For the former she won the National Television Award, while the latter earned her the Empire and MTV Movie awards. She was written out of EastEnders at the end of 1998 and then embarked on a pop career, this time as a solo artist.

Anahí Giovanna Puente Portilla, known mononymously as Anahí, is a Mexican singer, songwriter and actress. In 1986, she started her acting career when she was cast on Chiquilladas. After working on many successful telenovelas produced by Televisa, including Alondra (1995), Vivo por Elena (1998), El Diario de Daniela (1998) and Mujeres Engañadas (1999), her first leading role was in Pedro Damián's production, Primer Amor... A Mil por Hora (2000). In 2003, she joined the cast of Clase 406. Anahí reached international success in 2004 after starring in Rebelde and being part of the twice-Latin Grammy Award-nominated group RBD, which has sold over 15 million records worldwide. In 2011, she starred in Dos Hogares, her last telenovela to date.

Marcel Junod was a Swiss medical doctor and one of the most accomplished field delegates in the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). After medical school and a short position as a surgeon in Mulhouse, France, he became an ICRC delegate and was deployed in Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and in Europe as well as in Japan during World War II. In 1947, he wrote a book with the title Warrior without Weapons about his experiences. After the war, he worked for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as chief representative in China, and settled back in Europe in 1950. He founded the anaesthesiology department of the Cantonal Hospital in Geneva and became the first professor in this discipline at the University of Geneva. In 1952, he was appointed a member of the ICRC and, after many more missions for this institution, was Vice-President from 1959 until his death in 1961.

Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer, music critic, music theorist, painter, and creator of unique musical instruments. Harrison initially wrote in a dissonant, ultramodernist style similar to his former teacher and contemporary, Henry Cowell, but later moved toward incorporating elements of non-Western cultures into his work. Notable examples include a number of pieces written for Javanese style gamelan instruments, inspired after his introduction to noted gamelan musician Kanjeng Notoprojo. Harrison would create his own musical ensembles and instruments with his partner, William Colvig, who are now both considered founders of the American gamelan movement and world music; along with composers Harry Partch and Claude Vivier, and ethnomusicologist Colin McPhee.

Alain Vigneault is a Canadian former professional ice hockey coach. Vigneault has previously coached the Montreal Canadiens, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers for 19 seasons in the NHL, as well as in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). During his career with the Canucks, he won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's top coach of the year in 2006–07 and became the team's record holder for wins as a coach. Under Vigneault, Vancouver won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies and made one appearance in the Stanley Cup Final (2011). In his first season with New York, he led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance (2014) in 20 years and a Presidents' Trophy in 2015.

Herbert W. Franke was an Austrian scientist and writer. Die Zeit calls him "the most prominent German writing Science Fiction author". He is also one of the important early computer artists, creating computer graphics and early digital art since the late 1950s. Franke was also active in the fields of future research as well as speleology. He used his pen name Sergius Both as this Avatar name in Active Worlds and Opensimulator grids. The Sergius Both Award is given for creative scripting in Immersionskunst by Stiftung Kunstinformatik, first time issued at Amerika Art 2022. On November 2, 2025 the Sergius Both Award was given to RSquared and Herzstein for immersive scripting in AI LAND, being part of The Wrong Biennale.

Edward Robert Low was a New Zealand country singer and musician, with a career spanning over 60 years. Low released a number of successful country albums and singles throughout the 1970s and 80s and performed in a number of groups since the 1960s including The Quin Tikis and the New Zealand Highwaymen. Low continued to record and release music throughout his life, enjoying a second wave of success in the 2010s after releasing his career overview album The Voice In A Million (2011) which went platinum. He was awarded Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to music in the 2006 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Peder [Nielsen] Horrebow (Horrebov) was a Danish astronomer. Born in Løgstør, Jutland to a poor family of fishermen, Horrebow entered the University of Copenhagen in 1703. He worked his way through grammar school and university by virtue of his technical knowledge: he repaired mechanical and musical instruments and cut seals. He received his MA from the university in 1716, and his MD in 1725. From 1703 to 1707, he served as an assistant to Ole Rømer and lived in Rømer's home. He worked as a household tutor from 1707 to 1711 to a Danish baron, and entered the governmental bureaucracy as an excise writer in 1711.

Dame Jane Elizabeth Ailwên Phillips, known professionally as Siân Phillips, is a Welsh actress. Her early career consisted primarily of stage roles, including the title roles in Ibsen's Hedda Gabler and George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan. In the 1960s, she started taking on more roles in television and film. She is particularly known for her performance as Livia in the 1976 BBC television series I, Claudius, for which she was awarded a BAFTA and a Royal Television Society award. She was nominated for a Tony Award and Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Marlene Dietrich in Marlene.

Charles Frederick Beyer was a German-British locomotive designer and builder, and co-founder of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He was the co-founder and head engineer of Beyer, Peacock and Company in Gorton, Manchester. A philanthropist and deeply religious, he founded three parish churches in Gorton, was a governor of The Manchester Grammar School, and remains the single biggest donor to what is today the University of Manchester. He is buried in the graveyard of Llantysilio Church, Llantysilio, Llangollen, Denbighshire, North Wales. Llantysilio Church is within the grounds of his former 700 acre Llantysilio Hall estate. His mansion house, built 1872–1874, is nearby.

Gary Robert Ablett Jr. is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and Gold Coast Suns in the Australian Football League (AFL). The eldest son of Australian Football Hall of Fame member and former Hawthorn and Geelong player Gary Ablett Sr., Ablett was drafted to Geelong under the father–son rule in the 2001 national draft and has since become recognised as one of the all-time great midfielders. Ablett is a dual premiership player, dual Brownlow Medallist, five-time Leigh Matthews Trophy winner, three-time AFLCA champion player of the year award winner and eight-time All-Australian.

Hans Joachim von Zieten, sometimes spelled Johann Joachim von Ziethen,, also known as Zieten aus dem Busch, was a cavalry general in the Prussian Army. He served in four wars and was instrumental in several victories during the reign of Frederick the Great, most particularly at Hohenfriedberg and Torgau. He is also well known for a raid into the Habsburg territories during the Second Silesian War, known as Zieten's Ride. After engaging in a reputed 74 duels, and fighting in four wars, he died in his bed at the age of 86.

Robert Ritter was a German racial scientist doctor of psychology and medicine, with a background in child psychiatry and the biology of criminality. In 1936, Ritter was appointed head of the Racial Hygiene and Demographic Biology Research Unit of Nazi Germany's Criminal Police, to establish the genealogical histories of the German "Gypsies", both Roma and Sinti, and became the "architect of the experiments Roma and Sinti were subjected to." His pseudo-scientific "research" in classifying these populations of Germany aided the Nazi government in their systematic persecution toward a goal of "racial purity".

Ian Robert Astbury is a British singer, best known as the lead vocalist, frontman and a founding member of the rock band The Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury fronted the short-lived band Holy Barbarians in 1996, and later from 2002 to 2007 served as the lead singer of Doors of the 21st century, a Doors tribute band that also featured original Doors members Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger. Astbury replaced Rob Tyner during an MC5 reunion in 2003, and has contributed guest vocals on several recordings by other artists.

Christine Brennan is an American sports columnist for USA Today, a commentator on ABC News, CNN, PBS NewsHour and NPR, and an author. She was the first female sports reporter for the Miami Herald in 1981, the first woman at the Washington Post on the Washington Redskins beat in 1985, and the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media in 1988. Brennan won the 2020 Red Smith Award, presented annually by the Associated Press Sports Editors to a person who has made "major contributions to sports journalism."