Birthdays Today

July 24, 2026

Birthdays Today: July 24

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Sixty-eight living people we could verify share today's birthday, from Jennifer Lopez, turning 57, the first woman ever to top the album and film charts in the same week, and Wipro founder Azim Premji, turning 81 after giving away roughly $29 billion, to NBA legend Karl Malone and El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele, plus a 1964 quartet of four notables across four completely different fields all turning 62 on this exact day.

The headliners

Jennifer Lopez turns 57 today, and few entertainers have worn as many crowns at once. Born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents, she broke out playing Selena in the 1997 biopic) and turned a Fly Girl dancing spot on In Living Color into a music career that has sold more than 80 million records. The genuinely wild part: in 2001, with the rom-com The Wedding Planner and her album J.Lo both hitting number one the same week, she became the first woman ever to top the film and album charts simultaneously. Her movies have grossed more than $1.9 billion, she holds a Billboard Icon Award and the MTV Video Vanguard Award, and she is credited with breaking barriers for Latino Americans in Hollywood. She keeps adding chapters, most recently drawing praise for Kiss of the Spider Woman in 2025.

Karl Malone turns 63 today, and he owns one of the most relentless résumés in basketball. Nicknamed "the Mailman" because he always delivered, he played 18 seasons for the Utah Jazz alongside John Stockton, then a final year chasing a ring with the Lakers. He won MVP in 1997 and 1999, made 14 All-Star teams, took two Olympic golds in 1992 and 1996, and was named to both the NBA's 50th and 75th Anniversary teams. Here is what is easy to forget: Utah drafted him 13th overall out of tiny Louisiana Tech in 1985, and from that quiet start he piled up 36,928 career points, third on the NBA's all-time scoring list, and reached the playoffs in every single one of his 19 seasons. He and Stockton reached two Finals, both lost to Michael Jordan's Bulls. He entered the Hall of Fame in 2010.

Azim Premji turns 81 today, and his is one of the great pivot-and-give-back lives in business. Born in Bombay in 1945, he was a 21-year-old studying engineering at Stanford when his father died suddenly in 1966, so he flew home to take over the family's cooking-oil company. He renamed it Wipro, and when India pushed IBM out in the late 1970s he steered it into computers and software, helping build India's IT industry. The surprising part is what he did with the fortune: he transferred more than 67% of his Wipro shares into an education foundation, giving away roughly $29 billion, and was one of the first Indians to sign the Giving Pledge. He still flies economy and uses his own company's soap. His son Rishad succeeded him as chairman in 2019, and Time named him among the most influential people in philanthropy in 2025.

Kristin Chenoweth turns 58 today, and she is one of Broadway's most unmistakable voices, literally and figuratively. Born in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and adopted as an infant, she studied opera at Oklahoma City University before pivoting to musical theater. She won a Tony in 1999 for You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, then originated the role of Glinda in Wicked) in 2003, the part that made her a Broadway immortal. The detail that catches people off guard: she stands just four feet eleven inches tall, a pocket powerhouse with a soprano that fills any house. She has an Emmy for Pushing Daisies, a memoir called A Little Bit Wicked, and she is still adding to the shelf, earning her third Tony nomination in 2025 for The Queen of Versailles. She has sung everywhere from Glee to the Met.

Nayib Bukele turns 45 today, and the president of El Salvador has become one of the most talked-about leaders on earth. A former mayor of San Salvador, he took office in 2019 and immediately broke the mold: he made El Salvador the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender in 2021, and launched a sweeping gang crackdown that has jailed more than 85,000 alleged members and driven the homicide rate to a reported 1.9 per 100,000. He won re-election in 2024 with 85% of the vote and carries an average approval rating near 89%. Here is the part few expect: his late father, Armando Bukele Kattán, was a businessman and imam of Palestinian descent. Admirers call the security turnaround historic; critics warn of democratic backsliding. Either way, he has made a small country impossible to ignore.

Anna Paquin turns 44 today, and her origin story is one of the most improbable in movies. Born in Winnipeg and raised in Wellington, she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 11 for The Piano (1993), making her the second-youngest Oscar winner ever behind Tatum O'Neal. The wild part is how it happened: she had never acted before, and she only tagged along to a New Zealand open casting call because her older sister was trying out. Director Jane Campion picked her out of 5,000 children. She grew up to play Rogue in the X-Men films and Sookie Stackhouse in HBO's True Blood, winning a Golden Globe for the latter. She married her True Blood co-star Stephen Moyer in 2010, and they have two children.

A note before the roll call

Today's most striking coincidence is a 1964 quartet: four notable people, four completely different fields, all turning 62 on this exact day. Barry Bonds is baseball's all-time home run king, Banana Yoshimoto is one of Japan's most-read novelists, Pedro Passos Coelho ran Portugal as prime minister, and Colleen Doran draws comics and graphic novels. Four candles, four worlds, one birthday.

There is also a 1982 trio all turning 44 (headliner Anna Paquin, Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss, and NFL running back Mewelde Moore), and a 1985 triple of pro and Olympic athletes all turning 41 (Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron, 110-meter hurdles Olympic champion Aries Merritt, and the tennis player who stunned Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, Lukáš Rosol). And two K-pop stars share the exact day and year too: KARA's Han Seung-yeon and 2PM's Nichkhun, both turning 38.

Also celebrating today

Screen and stage

Music

Sports

World and public life

Arts, letters, and ideas

If your birthday lands on July 24, you keep remarkable company, from a 99-year-old painter to a 28-year-old conservationist, and a home-run king to a prime minister. Happy birthday to all of them.

That’s the reading for this issue.