Valentine’s Day is a day for romance, but for many, it’s also a day for celebrating their birthday. Some of the most famous public figures, including actors, musicians, and politicians, were born on February 14th. Here are five of them:
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an actor, writer, and comedian from the UK. His father was a jazz musician, and his mother was a civil servant. His parents divorced when he was seven. Pegg is most well known for his role in Shaun of the Dead, where he plays the titular, put-upon Shaun who must deal with romantic troubles and survival as a zombie apocalypse breaks out in his small UK town. Pegg has also played roles in Star Trek, Mission Impossible III, and Mission Impossible — Ghost Protocol.
Carl Bernstein
Carl Bernstein was the journalist who broke the story of Watergate — the scandal that revealed that Richard Nixon had been illegally wiretapping his enemies to use as political pressure. Bernstein’s parents were trade unionists and members of the American Communist party, which led to them being blacklisted, but this didn’t stop Bernstein from digging through to the truth of what was happening at the Watergate Hotel. Carl Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, and Bob Woodwards are considered to be the major three people who exposed the Watergate scandal, and Bernstein eventually left his job as a journalist with the Washington Post to work at ABC. He has published several books on the scandal and other subjects, and currently writes as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine.
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg is a self-made billionaire from New York and served as the 108th Mayor of New York City. He was voted into office for three consecutive terms and returned to private life as the tenth richest person in the United States. He is considered to be a liberal Republican, and major legacies of his mayoral terms include establishing the 311 telephone system, banning smoking in parks, the expansion of the subway to the Hudson Yards, and proposing numerous regulations related to healthy eating in restaurants.
Shane Harper
Shane Harper is an American actor and acoustic guitar player born in 1993. He has an older sister who dances and a younger brother who models. Harper has been in several shows and movies, such as High School Musical 2 and Dance on Sunset. He has a black belt in karate and got his start in acting and dancing when a talent agent at a regional dance competition offered him a chance to be represented by his agency.
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass, born in 1818, was an abolitionist author and speaker who was a former slave and wrote the autobiography, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.” He was a very inspiring orator and went on to support women’s suffrage after the abolition of slavery. He had five children over the course of his life with his wife Anna, and his family’s home was in Washington D.C. on a hill he and his wife named Cedar Hill. He died on February 20th, 1895 just after giving a speech at the National Council of Women.