July 11, 2026

Birthdays Today: July 11

Fifty-six living people we could verify share today's birthday, from a Palme d'Or-winning Iranian director to the guitarist who wrote "Livin' on a Prayer."

The headliners

Alessia Cara turns 30 today. The Canadian singer broke through in 2015 with "Here," a wallflower's anthem about hating a party so much she called her mom for a ride home, and two years later won the Grammy for Best New Artist. If you have small children, you have heard her voice more than you realize: she sang "How Far I'll Go" for Disney's Moana. The surprising part is how she got discovered in the first place. As a young teenager in Brampton, Ontario, she recorded acoustic cover songs and posted them online, but she taped them inside her bedroom closet so the sound wouldn't carry and wake up her little brother. A record deal with Def Jam followed by the time she was 18.

Caroline Wozniacki turns 36. The Danish player spent 71 weeks as the WTA's world No. 1 and finally won her long-elusive major at the 2018 Australian Open. She retired in 2020 to start a family with her husband, former NBA All-Star David Lee, then did something unusual for a retired world No. 1: she came back, returning to tour play in 2023 after nearly three years away. She and Lee welcomed their third child in July 2025, and this past November she told a podcast that a second comeback is "probably a no," though she left the door open with a "never say never."

Jafar Panahi turns 66. The Iranian filmmaker has spent much of his career banned by his own government from making movies, and was jailed multiple times for it. None of that stopped him: in 2011 he smuggled a documentary out of Iran on a flash drive hidden inside a cake so it could premiere at Cannes. Last year he went one better. His film "It Was Just an Accident," shot in secret without a government permit, won the Palme d'Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, making Panahi one of only four directors in history to win the top prizes at Cannes, Berlin, and Venice.

Jhumpa Lahiri turns 59. Lahiri won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 1999 debut story collection "Interpreter of Maladies," becoming one of the youngest writers and only the seventh short-story collection ever to win. The surprising turn came later: after establishing herself as one of the finest English prose stylists of her generation, Lahiri moved to Rome, taught herself Italian as an adult, and began writing entire books, essays, and even poetry in a language she wasn't born speaking.

Sela Ward turns 70. The Mississippi-born actress won two Emmys, first for playing Teddy Reed on "Sisters" and later for "Once and Again," and more recently reappeared as a recurring FBI section chief and in a run on "The Rookie." Before any of that, Ward was a University of Alabama homecoming queen and Crimson Tide cheerleader who moved to New York, landed a Maybelline commercial, and built a modeling career with the Wilhelmina agency before she ever auditioned for television.

Howard Gardner turns 83. The Harvard psychologist's 1983 book "Frames of Mind" introduced the theory of multiple intelligences, the idea that human ability can't be reduced to a single IQ score, and it reshaped classrooms and parenting advice worldwide for four decades. Gardner originally trained to be a concert pianist. He only turned to psychology in college, and the theory itself grew out of research on brain-damaged patients, not a plan to overhaul education, though that is exactly what it ended up doing.

Also celebrating today

Music Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi guitarist, co-wrote "Livin' on a Prayer"), turning 67 Suzanne Vega (singer-songwriter, "Luka," "Tom's Diner"), turning 67 Peter Murphy) (Bauhaus frontman, godfather of goth rock), turning 69 Michael Rose) (Black Uhuru's Grammy-winning lead singer), turning 69 Herbert Blomstedt (conductor laureate, San Francisco Symphony, still conducting internationally), turning 99 Liona Boyd (classical guitarist, "First Lady of the Guitar"), turning 77 Kirk Whalum (Grammy-winning jazz saxophonist, played the sax solo on "I Will Always Love You"), turning 68 Jeff Hanna (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band founder), turning 79 Andrew Bird (violinist, whistler, indie songwriter), turning 53 Scott Shriner (Weezer bassist), turning 61 Lil' Kim (rapper, "Queen Bee" of hip-hop), turning 52 Peter Cincotti (jazz pianist and singer), turning 43 Kathleen Edwards (Canadian singer-songwriter), turning 48 Nina Nesbitt (Scottish singer-songwriter), turning 32

Screen Lisa Rinna (actress, "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills"), turning 63 Stephen Lang (actor, Colonel Quaritch in "Avatar"), turning 74 Mindy Sterling (actress, Frau Farbissina in "Austin Powers"), turning 73 Susan Seaforth Hayes (only actress on "Days of Our Lives" across seven decades), turning 83 Tom Holland) (director-writer of "Fright Night" and "Child's Play"), turning 83 Craig Charles (actor and presenter, "Red Dwarf"), turning 62 Greg Grunberg (actor, "Heroes" and "Alias"), turning 60 Michael Rosenbaum (actor, Lex Luthor on "Smallville"), turning 54 Justin Chambers (actor, "Grey's Anatomy"), turning 56 Leisha Hailey (actress, "The L Word"), turning 55 Caroline Quentin (British actress), turning 66 Pauline McLynn (actress, "Father Ted"), turning 64 David Henrie (actor, "Wizards of Waverly Place"), turning 37 Connor Paolo (actor, "Gossip Girl"), turning 36 Robin Renucci (French actor and director), turning 70

Sports Hugo Sánchez (widely regarded as Mexico's greatest footballer), turning 68 Al MacInnis (Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman), turning 63 Bill Barber (Hockey Hall of Fame forward, two-time Stanley Cup champion), turning 74 Joe Pavelski (longtime NHL forward), turning 42 Andre Johnson (Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver), turning 45 Patrick Peterson (NFL cornerback), turning 36 Joey Bosa (NFL pass rusher), turning 31 Rod Strickland (longtime NBA point guard), turning 60 Mohamed Elneny (Arsenal and Egypt midfielder), turning 34 Amad Diallo (Manchester United winger), turning 24

Books and film Amitav Ghosh (novelist, Jnanpith Award winner), turning 70 Pai Hsien-yung (Taiwanese author), turning 89 Patricia Polacco (children's book author-illustrator), turning 82 Nadeem Aslam (novelist), turning 60 Kevin Powers (author, "The Yellow Birds"), turning 46

Politics, science and business Ed Markey (U.S. Senator, Massachusetts), turning 80 Roxanne Quimby (co-founded Burt's Bees), turning 76 Lawrence Stroll (Aston Martin F1 team owner and executive chairman), turning 67 Daniel L. Doctoroff (former NYC deputy mayor, founder of Target ALS), turning 68 Pervez Hoodbhoy (Pakistani physicist and academic), turning 76 Antony Jenkins (former Barclays CEO), turning 65

If your birthday is today too, you are in good company.

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