Famous Birthdays on September 29

Patricia Hodge is an English actress. She is known on-screen for playing Phyllida Erskine-Brown in Rumpole of the Bailey (1978–1992), Jemima Shore in Jemima Shore Investigates (1983), Penny in Miranda (2009–2015) and Mrs Pumphrey in All Creatures Great and Small (2021–present).

Emily Alice Lloyd-Pack, known as Emily Lloyd, is a British retired actress. At the age of 16, she starred in her debut and breakthrough role in the 1987 film Wish You Were Here, for which she received critical acclaim and Best Actress awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the Evening Standard British Film Awards. She subsequently relocated to Manhattan at 17, received numerous film offers, and starred in the 1989 films Cookie and In Country.

Benjamin Charles Miles is an English actor. He gained recognition after starring in the television comedy sitcom Coupling (2000–2004) and the drama serial The Forsyte Saga (2002–2003). He also had recurring roles in Lark Rise to Candleford (2008), The Crown (2016–2017) as Peter Townsend, and Andor (2022–2025).

Roger Bart is an American actor. He won a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his performance as Snoopy in the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

Mohammad Yusuf Dahlan is a Palestinian politician. Arrested by Israel for being involved with the Fatah Hawks—the Fatah youth movement—he subsequently helped in negotiations for the Oslo Accords, later becoming a critic of Yasser Arafat. The former leader of Fatah in the Gaza Strip, Dahlan's power there as head of the Preventive Security Force was at one time so substantial that the territory was nicknamed "Dahlanistan". Seen as a favorite by the George W. Bush administration to be Mahmoud Abbas' second-in-command, Dahlan was appointed by the latter to head the Palestinian National Security Council. An antagonist of Hamas, he participated in the Fatah–Hamas Mecca Agreement before his power began to decline after the latter gained the upper hand in the Battle of Gaza. He was elected to the Central Committee of Fatah amid allegations of fraud. Living in exile in Abu Dhabi, Dahlan has, according to Foreign Policy, had a hand in facilitating the Abraham Accords.

Mark Charles Jefford Nicholas is an English cricket commentator and former cricketer and broadcaster. He played for Hampshire from 1978 to 1995, captaining them from 1985 to his retirement. On 1 October 2023, he succeeded Stephen Fry as president of Marylebone Cricket Club on a one-year term.

Alexis Cruz is an American actor, known for his performances as Rafael in Touched by an Angel and as Skaara in Stargate and Stargate SG-1.

Mark Mitchell is an Australian actor, comedian and contemporary artist, best known for his roles in the sketch comedy series The Comedy Company, most especially his character of Greek Australian greengrocer Con the Fruiterer, as well as his role in Round the Twist as greedy real estate agent Mr. Gribble.

Hersey R. Hawkins Jr. is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). After starring at George Westinghouse College Prep, the 6-foot-3-inch (1.91 m) shooting guard played college basketball for the Bradley Braves. Hawkins played for four teams throughout his 12-year NBA career.

Andy Straka is a Shamus Award-winning American crime novelist. Born and raised in upstate New York and a graduate of Williams College, he worked in publishing and medical sales for nearly fifteen years before turning to writing in the late 1990s. His debut private-eye novel, A Witness Above, garnered Shamus, Anthony, and Agatha Award nominations for Best First Novel in 2002. A Killing Sky received an Anthony Award nomination in 2003, and Straka's third book, Cold Quarry, won a 2004 Shamus Award. His series of six Frank Pavlicek novels features a former New York City police detective who also spends much of his time flying various hawks to help inspire him to solve criminal cases. The fourth novel in the Pavlicek series, Kitty Hitter, was called a "great read" by Library Journal. Kitty Hitter was re-released with a new title, The Night Falconer, as an e-book and paperback. A fifth book featuring Pavlicek is the novella Flightfall. Another full-length novel, The K Street Hunting Society, was released as book 6 in the Pavlicek series in 2014.

Shyima Hall, from South Alexandria, Egypt, is known for advocating against human trafficking by sharing her personal experiences as a child slave. At eight years old, she was sold into slavery by her parents to a rich family in Cairo. Hall was given to the family in order to repay her older sister's debt of about thirty dollars. She worked for Abdel Nasser Eid Youssef and Amal Admed Ewis-Abd El Motelib for two years among other slaves. The family moved to Irvine, California where Hall was forced to live in a small room in the family's garage and do chores for the parents and their five children. A neighbor reported their suspicions to child protective services. In 2002, immigration officers came into her captors' home and took her away. She was put into foster care and lived with three foster families until she was 18. In 2014, she and Lisa Wysocky published Hidden Girl, which detailed her childhood as a slave. She now lives in Banning, California with her boyfriend and four-year-old daughter, campaigning against human trafficking by sharing her story of captivity and rescue.

Susanne Antonetta is the pen name of Suzanne Paola, an American poet and author who is most widely known for her book Body Toxic: An Environmental Memoir. In 2001, Body Toxic was named by The New York Times as a "Notable Book". An excerpt of "Body Toxic" was published as a stand-alone essay which was recognized as a "Notable Essay" in the 1998 Best American Essays 1998 anthology. She has published several prize-winning collections of poems, including Bardo, a Brittingham Prize in Poetry winner, and the poetry books Petitioner, Glass, and most recently The Lives of The Saints. She currently resides in Washington with her husband and adopted son. She is widely published both in newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, as well as in literary journals including Orion, Brevity, JuxtaProse Literary Magazine, Seneca Review, and Image. She is the current Editor-in-Chief of Bellingham Review.

Enxhi Seli-Zacharias is an Albanian-born German politician who has been a member of the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2022. She is a deputy leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) parliamentary group in the Landtag.

Raymond Louis Buchanan, nicknamed "Big Play Ray," is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected in the third round of the 1993 NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts with the 65th overall pick. Buchanan later played for seven seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, appearing in Super Bowl XXXIII, and one season with the Oakland Raiders. He played college football for the Louisville Cardinals.

Olive Marie Dehn was an English children's writer, anarchist, farmer and poet who was active from the 1930s to the 2000s. She began her writing career with a satirical poem in German, and wrote stories for the BBC Radio programme Children's Hour. Dehn moved into children's literature and into farming at her home in the Ashdown Forest. In 1960, she became a member of the Committee of 100 to take non-violent direct action against nuclear power, and successfully campaigned with her husband David Markham for the release of the Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky. The Olive Dehn Papers on her life and career were deposited at the Seven Stories in Newcastle.

Adriaan van Roomen, also known as Adrianus Romanus, was a mathematician, professor of medicine and medical astrologer from the Duchy of Brabant in the Habsburg Netherlands who was active throughout Central Europe in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. As a mathematician he worked in algebra, trigonometry and geometry; and on the decimal expansion of pi. He solved the Problem of Apollonius using a new method that involved intersecting hyperbolas. He also wrote on the Gregorian calendar reform.

Joanna Brooks is an American author and scholar of American literature. Brooks is currently the Associate Vice President of Faculty Advancement and Student Success at San Diego State University (SDSU). Before working in academic administration at SDSU, she was a professor of English and Comparative Literature. She is a frequent media commentator on faith in American life, particularly in relation to her own Mormonism. Politico named her one of 2011's "50 politicos to watch" for her Twitter feed, @askmormongirl.

Henry Nash Smith was a scholar of American culture and literature. He is recognized as one of the founders of the academic discipline American studies. He was also a noted Mark Twain scholar, and the curator of the Mark Twain Papers. The Handbook of Texas reported that an uncle encouraged Smith to read at an early age, and that the boy developed an interest in the works of Rudyard Kipling, Robert L. Stevenson and Mark Twain.

Stuart M. Kaminsky was an American mystery writer and film professor. He is known for three long-running series of mystery novels featuring the protagonists Toby Peters, a private detective in 1940s Hollywood (1977–2004); Inspector Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov, a Moscow police inspector (1981–2010); and veteran Chicago police officer Abe Lieberman (1990–2007). There is also a fourth series featuring a Sarasota, Florida, process server named Lew Fonesca (1999–2009).

Jeffrey Thomas O'Connell was an American legal expert, professor, and attorney. In 1965, O'Connell and Harvard Law School professor Robert Keeton co-authored the book Basic Protection for the Traffic Victim: A Blueprint for Reforming Automobile Insurance, which created the theoretical underpinnings of no-fault law. His specialty was product liability, and he wrote numerous books about this, advocating no-fault insurance for automobiles and other products.

James Richard Cross was an Irish-born British diplomat who served in India, Malaysia and Canada. While posted in Canada, Cross was kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) during the October Crisis of October 1970. He was ultimately released almost two months later, and subsequently returned to the United Kingdom.

Dedric Lamar Ward is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys. He also was an assistant coach in the NFL. He played college football at University of Northern Iowa.

Walter William Cobb, known as Billy Cobb, was an English footballer who scored 38 goals from 199 appearances in the Football League playing for Nottingham Forest, Plymouth Argyle, Brentford and Lincoln City. He played in midfield. He went on to play for Boston United in the Northern Premier League.

Peter Murray Hautman is an American author best known for his novels for young adults. One of them, Godless, won the 2004 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The National Book Foundation summary is, "A teenage boy decides to invent a new religion with a new god."

Arturo Lindsay is a Panamanian-born artist and professor of art and art history at Spelman College. His scholarship specializes in ethnographic research on African spiritual and aesthetic retentions in contemporary American cultures. His Panamanian/American identity is reflected in his art, which focuses on African culture in America.

Barbara Louise Mertz, known professionally as Elizabeth Peters and as Barbara Michaels, was an American author. In 1952, she received a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. She was best known for her mystery and suspense novels, including the Amelia Peabody book series.

Adam Segal is an American cybersecurity expert. He serves as the Ira A. Lipman Chair in Emerging Technologies and National Security and Director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy Program at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of three monographs on technology.

Thomas Shanks McKeown is an American poet and educator. He published his first poetry chapbooks in the late 1960s and continued to develop his reputation as a poet of surrealist sensibilities throughout the 1970s, publishing in major magazines such as The New Yorker.

Kyriakos Sfetsas was a Greek composer. His body of work consists of a large number of compositions: symphonic, choral, ballet and theatre music, chamber, electronic, film scores, pieces for solo instruments, pieces in jazz and fusion style, songs in Greek and world poems.

Robert Forsyth Worth is an American author and journalist. He was the former chief of The New York Times Beirut bureau. He is the author of Rage for Order, which won the 2017 Lionel Gelber Prize.

Souleymane Doukara is a professional footballer who plays as a striker or a winger for the Mauritania national team. He is nicknamed Dudu or The Duke. Born in France, he plays for the Mauritania national team.

James Fogle was the American author of the autobiographical novel Drugstore Cowboy, which became the basis for the film of the same name. He was born in Elcho, Wisconsin.

William Ernest Bevis DSM was an English footballer who played for Southampton as an outside right in the years either side of the Second World War.

Robert J. Lieber is an American academic and Professor of Government and International Affairs at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Lieber is the author or editor of eighteen books and has served as the Chair of the Government Department and as Interim Chair of Psychology.

Adolph Göpel was a German mathematician who wrote the first paper on hyperelliptic functions and who introduced Göpel tetrads.

Joachim (Ḥayyim) Oppenheim, also known as Joachim Heinrich Oppenheim, was a Czech rabbi and author.

Ludwig Friedrich Christian Holborn was a German physicist known for his work in the measurement of high temperature using optical pyrometry.

Sir Rutherford Ness "Bob" Robertson FRSE was an Australian botanist and biologist, and winner of the Clarke Medal in 1955.

Josef Traxel was a German operatic tenor, particularly associated with Mozart roles and the German repertory.

Roland Barton "Bill" Proud was an English first-class cricketer.

John Anthony Ritchie was a New Zealand composer and professor of music at the University of Canterbury.

Lella Cuberli is an American soprano, particularly associated with the Belcanto repertory.

Ülo Kaevats was an Estonian statesman, academic and philosopher.

Merle Collins is a Grenadian poet, novelist and short-story writer.

Roslyn Schwartz is a Canadian children's author and animator.

Janis Faye Kearney is an American author, lecturer, and publisher. She served as a personal diarist to President Bill Clinton from 1995 to 2001.

Uwe Foullong is a German politician and member of the Bundestag. A member of The Left, he has represented North Rhine-Westphalia since 2025.

Suzanne Kamata is an American author and educator.

Sara Sankey is a retired English badminton player.

Robert Kurzban is an American freelance writer and former psychology professor specializing in evolutionary psychology.

Theodore Michael Shapiro is an American composer known for his film scores.

Kelvin Geoffrey Davis is an English professional football manager and former footballer who is the manager of National League North club Hednesford Town.

Nathan Luke West is an American actor, musician, and singer.

Neville Roach is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward.