Famous Birthdays on May 20

Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran, commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan Tamil cinematographer, director, screenwriter, actor and film editor who worked in various Indian film industries, primarily in Tamil and Malayalam cinema. Born in Sri Lanka, Mahendran developed a passion for photography and literature at a young age, after witnessing the shoot of David Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) during a school trip in Sri Lanka, he was drawn towards filmmaking. After graduation he joined as an Aerial photographer in the Sri Lankan Government. In 1966, he moved to India and gained admission to the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to pursue a course in motion picture photography. Upon completion of his diploma, he started working in Malayalam cinema as a cinematographer in the early 1970s.

David Lee Wells is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams, most notably the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Boomer", Wells was considered one of the league's top left-handed pitchers during his career and made three All-Star appearances. In 1998, he pitched the 15th perfect game in baseball history. Wells also appeared in the postseason as a member of six teams, tied for the most with Kenny Lofton, and won two World Series titles. Following his 2007 retirement, Wells served as a broadcaster for MLB on TBS and was the host of The Cheap Seats on FOXSports.com.

Albano Antonio Carrisi, better known as Al Bano, is an Italian singer and actor. Having sold over 25 million records globally and career spanning seven decades, he is one of the most recognisable Italian singers in the world. He has gained worldwide notability due to his four and a half octave vocal range as well as his personal and professional association with Romina Power, daughter of Hollywood actor Tyrone Power, lasting until the 1990s. Carrisi is acclaimed for singing with operatic affinity in pop, rock and italo disco repertoires with extensive head voice and minimal usage of falsetto vocal register. As of 2023, he has participated in 15 editions of the Sanremo Music Festival, tying the record for most participations with Anna Oxa, Milva, Peppino di Capri and Toto Cutugno; this includes a victory in 1984 duetting with Power. He additionally took part in the Sanremo Giovani selection in 1965.

Rachel Ashley Platten is an American singer-songwriter and author. After releasing two albums independently in 2003 and 2011, she signed with Columbia Records in 2015. Platten is best known for her diamond-certified single "Fight Song", which peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100, topped charts in the UK, and peaked within the top ten of multiple charts worldwide. Platten won a Daytime Emmy Award for a live performance of the song on Good Morning America. Her major-label debut studio album, Wildfire (2016), was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and featured the follow-up singles "Stand by You" and "Better Place". Her second major-label album, Waves (2017), came out a year later.

Edward Reese Allen is an American author and television personality. He was the food and wine connoisseur on the Bravo network's television program Queer Eye, and has been the host of the TV cooking competition series Chopped since its launch in 2009, as well as Chopped Junior, which began in mid-2015. On April 13, 2014, he became the host of another Food Network show, originally called America's Best Cook. A retooled version of that show, retitled All-Star Academy, debuted on March 1, 2015. In early 2015, he also hosted a four-part special, Best. Ever., which scoured America for its best burgers, pizza, breakfast, and barbecue. He is a longtime contributing writer to Esquire magazine, an author of two cookbooks, and regularly appears on the Food Network show Beat Bobby Flay and other television cooking shows.

Angela Bethany Goethals is an American film, television and stage actress. Goethals made her acting debut as a child actor in the 1987 Broadway production of Coastal Disturbances, and was 14-years-old when she won the Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress, for her portrayal of Edna Arkins in the 1991 Off-Broadway production of The Good Times Are Killing Me. She played the sister of Macaulay Culkin's character in Home Alone (1990), and went on to star in several independent films and television shows, including the title role on the short-lived sitcom Phenom (1993), as well as a small role in Jerry Maguire (1996).

Pietro Bembo, O.S.I.H. was a Venetian scholar, poet, and literary theorist who also was a member of the Knights Hospitaller and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. As an intellectual of the Italian Renaissance, Pietro Bembo greatly influenced the development of the Tuscan dialect as a literary language for poetry and prose, which, by later codification into a standard language, became the modern Italian language. In the 16th century, Bembo's poetry, essays and books proved crucial to reviving interest in the literary works of Petrarch. In the field of music, Bembo's literary writing techniques helped composers develop the techniques of musical composition that made the madrigal the most important secular music of 16th-century Italy.

Kōichirō Genba is a Japanese politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2011 to 2012. He is a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet, and was a member to the Democratic Party of Japan and its successor Democratic Party until its merger in 2018. He left the party briefly before the merger, and joined the Group of Independents House of Representatives caucus of other former Democrats a few days later. A native of Tamura, Fukushima and graduate of Sophia University, he was later accepted into the prestigious Matsushita Institute of Government and Management, an institution founded by Panasonic founder Konosuke Matsushita which grooms future civic leaders of Japan. Genba was elected to the House of Representatives for the first time in 1993 after serving in the assembly of Fukushima Prefecture for one term. In September 2011 he was chosen as Minister for Foreign Affairs in the cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Edith Marilyn Fellows was an American actress who became a child star in the 1930s. Best known for playing orphans and street urchins, Fellows was an expressive actress with a good singing voice. She made her screen debut at the age of five in Charley Chase's film short Movie Night (1929). Her first credited role in a feature film was The Rider of Death Valley (1932). By 1935, she had appeared in over twenty films. Her performance opposite Claudette Colbert and Melvyn Douglas in She Married Her Boss (1935) won her a seven-year contract with Columbia Pictures, the first such contract offered to a child.

Sinesio Baudillo García Fernández, commonly known by his pseudonym Diego Abad de Santillán, was a Spanish Argentine anarcho-syndicalist economist. Born in León, his family moved to Argentina while he was young. He returned to Spain for his higher education and became involved in the Spanish anarchist movement. After his studies, he went back to Argentina and became involved with the Argentine Regional Workers' Federation (FORA), co-founding the International Workers' Association (IWA). Following the 1930 Argentine coup d'état and the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic, he again went to Spain, becoming involved in the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI). During the Spanish Civil War, he served in the Catalan government as Minister of Economy. After the war, he returned to Argentina and largely ceased political activities, going back to Spain only after the Spanish transition to democracy.

Wolfgang Borchert was a German author and playwright whose work was strongly influenced by his experience of dictatorship and his service in the Wehrmacht during the Second World War. His work is among the best-known examples of the Trümmerliteratur movement in post-World War II Germany. His most famous work is the drama Draußen vor der Tür (The Man Outside), which he wrote soon after the end of World War II. His works are uncompromising on the issues of humanity and humanism. He is one of the most popular authors of the German postwar period; his work continues to be studied in German schools.

Iker Casillas Fernández is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Dubbed "San Iker", he is considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is known for his athleticism, quick reactions and outstanding shot-stopping ability. Having spent the majority of his career at Real Madrid, Casillas is one of the few players to achieve over 1,000 professional career matches, and also holds the record for the most clean sheets for the Spain national team. Currently, he works for RTVE, Movistar Plus+ and Azteca Deportes.

José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordano was a Uruguayan politician, revolutionary and farmer who served as the 40th president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015. A former guerrilla with the Tupamaros, he was tortured and imprisoned for 14 years during the military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. A member of the Broad Front coalition of left-wing parties, Mujica was the minister of Livestock, Agriculture, and Fisheries from 2005 to 2008 and a senator afterwards. As the candidate of the Broad Front, he won the 2009 presidential election and took office as president on 1 March 2010.

Gabriele Muccino is an Italian film director and screenwriter. He has worked his way from making short films only aired on Italian television to become a well-known and successful American filmmaker. He is the elder brother of actor Silvio Muccino, who often appears in his brother's films. Muccino has directed 12 films and is best known for his first American film The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith. Muccino has been nominated for and won several awards including the David di Donatello Award for Best Director in 2001 for his film The Last Kiss.

Harold Newhouser, nicknamed "Prince Hal" and "Hurricane Hal," was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a pitcher from 1939 to 1955, most notably for the Detroit Tigers, where he was selected for seven straight All-Star Games from 1942 to 1948. He became the first pitcher to win the Most Valuable Player Award twice in consecutive years, winning in 1944 and 1945. Newhouser was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1992 and his number 16 was retired by the Detroit Tigers in 1997.

Jamie Laura Chadwick is a British racing driver who competes for IDEC Sport in the European Le Mans Series, and previously raced for Andretti Global in Indy NXT. She won the inaugural W Series season in 2019, before retaining her title in 2021 and 2022. She has also competed in the Race of Champions for Great Britain alongside David Coulthard, and raced in Extreme E. She is a Williams Racing ambassador and also a Williams Driver Academy adviser for F1 Academy. She also is a test driver for the Jaguar Formula E team.

Bonne of Luxemburg or Jutta of Luxemburg, was born Jutta (Judith), the second daughter of King John of Bohemia, and his first wife, Elisabeth of Bohemia. She was the first wife of King John II of France; however, as she died a year prior to his accession, she was never a French queen. Jutta was referred to in French historiography as Bonne de Luxembourg, since she was a member of the House of Luxembourg. Among her children were Charles V of France, Philip II, Duke of Burgundy, and Joan, Queen of Navarre.

John Stuart Mill was an English philosopher, political economist, and politician. He was a paradigmatic philosopher of liberalism and has been described as "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century" by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He conceived of liberty as justifying the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control, and formulated the Harm principle. He also advocated proportional representation, the emancipation of women, and the development of labour organisations and farm cooperatives, and has been classified as both a classical liberal and social liberal.

James Maitland Stewart was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart appeared in 80 films from 1935 to 1991. His films are considered among the greatest of all time. In 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male actors; he received numerous honors including the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1980, the Kennedy Center Honor in 1983, as well as the Academy Honorary Award and Presidential Medal of Freedom, both in 1985.