Celebrity Birthdays in November
A look at the famous and the fascinating on the day they were born, including Bo Derek, Bruce Hornsby
AARP Members Only Access, November 2022
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PHOTO BY: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
Nov. 30: Ben Stiller, 57
It’s no surprise that Ben Stiller, 57, is hilarious. After all, his parents are Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Born in New York City on Nov. 30, 1965, Stiller suffered through a brief (and reportedly very unpleasant) stint as a writer on Saturday Night Live before breaking out with his own sketch comedy show in 1992. Though it only lasted 13 episodes, it earned Stiller an Emmy for writing and established him as one of the foremost comedic voices of his generation. Though he’s known among wider audiences for his film roles in There’s Something About Mary and The Royal Tenenbaums, he’s had an equally impressive run as a director, helming the projects Reality Bites, The Cable Guy, Zoolander and Tropic Thunder. In 2018, Stiller made the leap back to television with the acclaimed Showtime miniseries Escape at Dannemora, about a real-life crime in which a female prison employee helped two inmates escape. He earned two Emmy nominations for outstanding directing and outstanding limited series, and he added another pair of nods for this year’s Severance, a trippy workplace satire about employees who “sever” their work and home lives. Next up, Stiller is set to get political with Bag Man, a feature adaptation of Rachel Maddow’s podcast, which details the bribery scandal that brought down Vice President Spiro Agnew. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Nov. 29: Howie Mandel, 67
Howie Mandel, 67, was born Nov. 29, 1955, in Toronto. A class clown who was expelled from three high schools, he took a circuitous route to the world of comedy: He was a successful door-to-door carpet salesman before throwing his hat in the ring at the Comedy Store’s amateur night. The rest, as they say, was history. Soon, Mandel was opening for Diana Ross in Las Vegas, before starring as quirky E.R. doctor Wayne Fiscus in St. Elsewhere. Though he easily could have parlayed his success on the series into dramatic TV roles, Mandel racked up a résumé of oddball roles: He voiced Gizmo in the Gremlins films and a slew of characters (including Skeeter and Animal) on Muppet Babies, played a boy raised by wolves in 1987’s Walk Like a Man and starred as a little boy on the long-running animated series Bobby’s World, which he wrote and produced. Throughout his career, Mandel was most successful when he was just being himself, as a stand-up comedian (known for putting a latex glove over his head and inflating it with his nose), as an Emmy-nominated game show host (for Deal or No Deal) and as a talent competition judge (on America’s Got Talent). This year, he hosted Netflix’s Bullsh*t the Game Show, in which contestants had to either answer questions correctly — or confidently convince other players that their wrong answers were right. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Cindy Ord/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Nov. 28: S. Epatha Merkerson, 70
Years before she put on the badge as Law & Order Lt. Anita Van Buren, actress S. Epatha Merkerson, 70, started her TV career playing a character who held another very important position in society: She was Reba the Mail Lady on Pee-wee’s Playhouse! Born in Saginaw, Michigan, on Nov. 28, 1952, Merkerson appeared on L&O in the first season in a guest role as a grieving mother, and producers were so impressed that they brought her back as a lead in Season 4; over the years, she appeared in 391 episodes, more than any other cast member in the procedural’s decades-long run. A two-time Tony nominee, Merkerson received the most rapturous reviews of her career for the 2005 HBO adaptation of Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s one-man show, Lackawanna Blues. For her role as Rachel “Nanny” Crosby, who runs the vibrant upstate New York boarding house where the playwright spent his childhood, she picked up an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a SAG Award. With the Postal Service and the police force under her belt, Merkerson can add medical worker to her fictional résumé: Since 2015, she has starred in a new Dick Wolf–produced universe, as Sharon Goodwin, the head of patient and medical services at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center, on Chicago Med and its sister shows, Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. “There are similarities,” she said in 2020 of the roles of Van Buren and Goodwin. “[T]hey were specifically written with me in mind. … The only difference is this time, I get to wear my own hair.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Jamie McCarthy/WireImage/Getty Images
Nov. 27: Fisher Stevens, 59
For moviegoers of a certain age, Fisher Stevens, 59, will always be remembered for his breakout role as engineer Ben Jabituya in the sci-fi comedy Short Circuit. Born in Chicago on Nov. 27, 1963, Stevens appeared in films such as Hackers and TV shows such as Early Edition and Lost, but he’s had an even more robust — if lesser known — career behind the camera. Did you know, for instance, that he won the 2009 best documentary Oscar for his work as a producer on The Cove, a film about Japan’s controversial practice of dolphin hunting? As a producer and director, Stevens has earned five Emmy nominations for projects including Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds and Tiger King. In 2020, he directed Palmer, his first dramatic film in almost a decade, starring Justin Timberlake as an ex-convict who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a kid who’s getting bullied. But he can never stay away from a juicy true story for too long: Stevens, who has also been appearing on-screen on The Blacklist and Succession, codirected the Showtime docuseries The Lincoln Project, about the former Republican strategists fighting Donald Trump’s reelection. The challenge he faces as a documentarian is trying to remain unbiased and uninvolved. As he said in an interview, “There were times where I would say ‘Don’t you want to address this,’ and they would say ‘Shut up and make your film.’ I try not to judge my characters but try to observe them.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
Nov. 26: Peter Facinelli, 49
Don’t try to pin down Peter Facinelli, 49. Born in Queens, New York, on Nov. 26, 1973, the child of Italian immigrants studied at the prestigious Atlantic Acting School, under the tutelage of actors William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman, and his career has seen him excel in all kinds of genres: “I switch it up and do something different,” he said of his choices. “I get bored if I do the same thing over and over.” He appeared in teen comedies (Can’t Hardly Wait), fantasy epics (The Scorpion King) and period dramas (Riding in Cars With Boys) before he achieved leading man status in the fast-paced Fox action comedy Fastlane, in which he played an undercover L.A. cop. Many fans may recognize him from his role as the nearly 400-year-old vampire doctor/patriarch Carlisle Cullen in the five Twilight films, though he did some of his best work as another doctor on the Showtime dark comedy Nurse Jackie for seven seasons. In the years since the series went off the air, Facinelli has appeared on shows such as American Odyssey, Supergirl and S.W.A.T. He plays a preacher in his latest film, The Unbreakable Boy, based on the bestseller about a real boy named Austin LeRette, who lives with autism and a rare brittle bone disease. Facinelli came to the project after his brother-in-law met the book’s author, Austin’s father, Scott, at the New York City pharmacy he owns, and the actor signed on as a producer to help bring the story to the screen. As he told an interviewer, “I thought, ‘The world really needs this. Everybody needs to be a little more like Austin.’” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: John Shearer/Getty Images for CMA
Nov. 25: Amy Grant, 62
Born in Georgia on Nov. 25, 1960, Amy Grant, 62, pulled off something miraculous when she became one of the few contemporary Christian artists to gain crossover stardom in pop music. After her early successes in the gospel world, including a Grammy win for her album Age to Age, Grant dipped her toe into the adult contemporary waters with songs such as 1986’s “The Next Time I Fall,” a duet with Peter Cetera that topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She truly came into her own as a pop powerhouse with the 1991 release of Heart in Motion, which was bolstered by its radio-friendly single “Baby, Baby.” Her successes continued with the songs “That’s What Love Is For,” “Every Heartbeat” and “Lucky One,” and Grant finished out the decade by taking a big career leap and starring as a blind cellist in the romantic TV movie A Song from the Heart. Soon after, she kicked off a romance of her own, marrying country great Vince Gill. A six-time Grammy winner and 26-time winner of the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award, the Queen of Christian Pop will join an elite crew as one of the Kennedy Center’s five honorees next month. “Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine ever receiving this prestigious Kennedy Center Honors,” she said in a statement. “Through the years, I’ve watched so many of my heroes serenaded by colleagues and fellow artists, always moved by the ability of music and film to bring us together and to see the best in each other. … Thank you for widening the circle to include all of us.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Mike Segar/Reuters
Nov. 24: Katherine Heigl, 44
Before she roamed the halls of Seattle Grace Hospital on Grey’s Anatomy, Katherine Heigl, 44, born Nov. 24, 1978, had a robust career, appearing opposite Gérard Depardieu in My Father the Hero and in the teen drama Roswell, in addition to more than two dozen other projects. But it was her charming turn as former model-turned-medical resident Dr. Izzie Stevens that cemented her place on the A-list and earned her an Emmy for best supporting actress. Judd Apatow cast her in the beloved 2007 romantic comedy Knocked Up, and though it kicked off a string of successful films, it also marked somewhat of a complicated turning point in her career; when she alluded to sexism in the film in a Vanity Fair cover story, Heigl was tagged with earned a reputation for being “difficult,” and not long after, she left Grey’s Anatomy in 2010 under similarly contentious circumstances. Heigl nonetheless became something of a 21st century rom-com queen, with films such as 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth, before returning to the small screen with leading roles on the short-lived series State of Affairs and Doubt. After starring on Suits as “the most interesting and badass woman [she’s] ever played,” corporate attorney Samantha Wheeler, Heigl made the leap to streaming with the heartwarming Netflix drama Firefly Lane, which returns for its second season next month. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Frank Hoensch/Redferns/Getty Images
Nov. 23: Bruce Hornsby, 68
Known for virtuosic piano playing that Elton John described as “sublime” and “perfection,” Bruce Hornsby, 68, came out of the gate running when he and his band The Range released the chart-topping 1986 single “The Way It Is.” Hornsby — who was born in Williamsburg, Virginia, on Nov. 23, 1954 — bolstered the song’s heartland rock sound with weighty lyrics about poverty and civil rights, and it’s been sampled in songs by rappers 2Pac and E-40. After winning a Grammy for best new artist, Hornsby continued to use his songs to tell stories about social inequality: “The Valley Road,” for instance, was about a plantation owner’s daughter being sent away after getting pregnant by a poor farmworker. A journeyman performer who could easily slip into jazz, Southern rock or blues sounds, Hornsby has toured with the Grateful Dead and started a bluegrass side project with Ricky Skaggs, and he’s picked up 13 Grammy nominations over the years. This May, Hornsby released his 23rd album, ’Flicted, on which he partners with younger musicians such as Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig and Danielle Haim from the band Haim. “Thanks to all our supporters who have followed the multi-genre journey for the last 36 years,” he wrote on his website upon the album’s release. “Thanks for being open to change, exploration, a bit of musical mirth and merriment along with the attempts at deep and soulful music-making through the years.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: John Lamparski/Getty Images for WSF
Nov. 22: Billie Jean King, 79
How many athletes can say that they fought for their entire gender? That will forever be the legacy of tennis great Billie Jean King, 79, who famously defeated the chauvinistic Bobby Riggs in the 1973 “Battle of the Sexes.” Born on Nov. 22, 1943, in Long Beach, California, King turned pro in 1959 and went on to win 39 singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles during her illustrious career. Her life off the court was even more interesting than her admittedly very impressive skills on it: To wit, she was the first woman athlete to earn more than $100,000 in one season, one of the first major sports stars to publicly come out as gay, and the founder and first president of the Women’s Tennis Association. An activist as much as an athlete, King — who was played by Emma Stone in the 2017 film Battle of the Sexes — has been inducted into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame and the International Tennis Hall of Fame and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Last year, King released her New York Times best-selling book, All In: An Autobiography, in which she recounts working with Gloria Steinem, fighting apartheid in South Africa, defending LGBT rights and all the work that’s still left to be done. “If you’re in the business of change,” she wrote, “you have to be prepared to play the long game.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx/ AP Photo
Nov. 21: Ken Griffey Jr., 53
Ken Griffey Jr., 53, was born on Nov. 21, 1969, to baseball royalty. His father, Ken Griffey Sr., picked up two World Series titles with the Cincinnati Reds before little Ken had turned 10. The first overall pick in the 1987 MLB draft, “Junior,” or “The Natural,” racked up a résumé filled with impressive highlights during his 22 seasons in the league: 630 home runs (the seventh-most in professional baseball history), 10 Gold Gloves, 13 All-Star appearances, seven Silver Slugger Awards and the 1997 American League MVP. Off the field, Junior teamed up with Nintendo for a blockbuster video game franchise, and he parlayed his charisma into a lucrative sneaker deal with Nike; when designing his signature shoe, he reportedly told designer Tracy Teague, “Just make it loud.” Unsurprisingly, when he became eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Kid earned 99.32 percent of the vote, beating a 23-year-long record set by Tom Seaver (98.84 percent). He held onto the record until 2019, when Mariano Rivera became the first player voted in unanimously. Last year, after serving as a special consultant for the Seattle Mariners for a decade, Griffey Jr. became the first former player to join the team’s ownership group. “This is a dream come true,” he said. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
Nov. 20: Bo Derek, 66
Think of Bo Derek, 66, as the sex symbol equivalent of Rodney Dangerfield — she gets no respect! Case in point: She was an 11-time Razzie Award nominee (which is like the opposite of the Oscars) and six-time winner, even earning a nod for worst actress of the century, a dubious honor which she lost to Madonna. Though critics have perhaps unfairly maligned her, Derek — who was born on Nov. 20, 1956, in Long Beach, California — has always been blessed with megawatt charisma, which was perhaps most abundantly on display in her breakthrough role as Jenny Hanley in 10. Who can forget her iconic look, a tan one-piece swimsuit and her hair in beaded cornrows? Throughout the 1980s, her first husband, John Derek, directed her in such films as Tarzan the Ape Man, in which she played Jane; Bolero, which boasted the unsubtle tagline “The Hottest Erotic Film of the Century”; and Ghosts Can’t Do It, in which she played a character who had to help her ghostly husband kill a man so he could possess his body. After roles in comedies such as Tommy Boy and The Master of Disguise, Derek starred opposite fellow ’80s icon Morgan Fairchild in the 2006 telenovela Fashion House. She married Sex and the City actor John Corbett in 2020, and though she’s semiretired, Derek still appears in projects such as the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries film JL Family Ranch: The Wedding Gift. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for LG
Nov. 19: Calvin Klein, 80
Few names are as synonymous with American fashion as Calvin Klein, 80, who was born in the Bronx on Nov. 19, 1942. After studying at New York’s esteemed Fashion Institute of Technology and apprenticing as a suit maker in the Garment District, Klein launched his own fashion label. Known for his clean lines and impeccable tailoring, he branched out into menswear, underwear, fragrances and jeans, and his brand became associated with its sexy advertisements. It’s impossible to forget a young Brooke Shields wearing his CK Jeans and delivering the controversial line “Do you know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing.” His sensual underwear ads, which featured the likes of Mark Wahlberg and were shot by legends Herb Ritts and Bruce Weber, defined a fashion aesthetic of the early ’90s. A 2001 Lifetime Achievement award winner from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Klein sold his label for a reported $430 million, and in his retirement, he published his self-titled 2017 book, which was filled with stories and images of his works by the world’s best fashion photographers. In recent years, the brand he created has been redefining the future of American fashion, with ads this year depicting Chloë Sevigny and Susan Sarandon among others. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Gary Gershoff/Getty Images
Nov. 18: Elizabeth Perkins, 62
American audiences started to take notice of Elizabeth Perkins, 62, when she starred as the object of Tom Hanks’ adolescent affection in the 1988 comedy classic Big. Born in Queens on Nov. 18, 1960, Perkins brought a blend of tart sophistication and warm vulnerability to her role as the executive Susan. In the years that followed, she appeared in films such as Avalon, The Doctor, Miracle on 34th Street and The Flintstones, in which she starred as Wilma opposite John Goodman, but it wasn’t until 2005 that she found a role as perfectly suited to her talents as Celia Hodes in the Showtime drug-dealing comedy Weeds. As the snobby and selfish suburban mother, Perkins brought a gleefully satirical edge to her creation, and Celia could almost be thought of as a precursor to the Real Housewives franchise that emerged during the earliest seasons of Weeds. Perkins was rewarded with three Emmy nominations for her performance. Since then, Perkins has popped up on popular series such as GLOW, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Barry and This Is Us, on which she played Rebecca’s mother, Janet Malone. If Weeds had a bit of a risqué streak, Perkins is set to outdo herself with her next project: She’s joining the second season of the HBO Max comedy Minx, about the creation of a 1970s erotic magazine for women, and she’s set to play the widow of a Greek shipping magnate. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Henry Lamb/Photowire/BEI/Shutterstock
Nov. 17: Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, 64
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, 64, got her first big break when she was cast as the understudy for Maria in the 1980 Broadway revival of West Side Story. It wasn’t long before she began stepping further into the spotlight, with attention-grabbing roles in films such as Scarface and The Color of Money, earning an Oscar nomination for the role of Tom Cruise’s girlfriend Carmen. Over the years, she amassed a repertoire of fiercely intelligent and strong-willed characters, including the underwater drilling platform designer Dr. Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss, Lady Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the real-life Linda Greenlaw, the only female swordfishing captain on the East Coast, in The Perfect Storm. On TV, she’s held a few roles, most recently as a business executive with a dark side on Blindspot. A respected stage actress with a Tony nomination under her belt for the 2002 production of The Man of La Mancha, Mastrantonio returned to the stage this year in the haunting Henrik Ibsen drama Ghosts at Seattle Rep. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
Nov. 16: Martha Plimpton, 52
Born into the Carradine acting clan (she’s Keith’s daughter!) on Nov. 16, 1970, Martha Plimpton, 52, got her start early as a teen star in the 1980s, in films such as The River Rat, The Goonies and The Mosquito Coast. While many of her peers — including ex-boyfriend River Phoenix — were felled by the pressures of teen stardom, Plimpton emerged as a formidable actress, joining Chicago’s celebrated Steppenwolf Theatre Company and earning a consecutive trio of Tony nominations for her work on Broadway. Plimpton had an unexpectedly robust second act starring as feisty matriarchs in sitcoms Raising Hope, for which she earned a best actress Emmy nod, and The Real O’Neals. After an Independent Spirit Award–winning performance in last year’s devastating drama Mass, Plimpton teamed back up with Raising Hope creator Greg Garcia and her TV husband Garret Dillahunt for the new Freevee sitcom Sprung, about convicts who were released early due to COVID-19. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Image Press Agency/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Nov. 15: Sam Waterston, 82
An actor’s actor from the start, Sam Waterston, 82 — who was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Nov. 15, 1940 — took the New York City theater world by storm as Hamlet and shared the stage with a young Meryl Streep and John Cazale. His good-guy persona made him particularly adept at playing heroic figures, from the historic (his Tony-nominated role in Broadway’s Abe Lincoln in Illinois) to the contemporary (journalist Sydney Schanberg in The Killing Fields, for which he earned an Oscar nod) to the literary (Nick Carraway in 1974’s The Great Gatsby). On the small screen, he channeled Atticus Finch as a 1950s Southern lawyer who becomes involved in the civil rights movement in the acclaimed drama I’ll Fly Away, but it was another lawyer character, District Attorney Jack McCoy on Law & Order, who redefined his career for a new generation of fans. The role earned him three Emmy nominations, and Waterston said of being a TV lawyer, “It’s more fun to play one than to be one.” After Law & Order went off the air in 2010, Waterston remained a television fixture, starring in The Newsroom, The Dropout and Grace and Frankie, in which he and Martin Sheen played law partners-turned-life partners. The world of Law & Order came calling again when the original series was revived for a 21st season this year. He told Stephen Colbert that stepping back into the role of Jack McCoy after a dozen years is “like time travel.” —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: David Swanson/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Nov. 14: Josh Duhamel, 50
Born in Minot, North Dakota, on Nov. 14, 1972, Josh Duhamel, 50, was a quarterback at Minot State University, but instead of pursuing pro football, he moved to Los Angeles and became a model. In 1999, he got his first big acting break when he was cast as Leo du Pres on the soap opera All My Children, a performance that earned him a Daytime Emmy Award for best supporting actor, and he eventually parlayed his newfound fame into a prime-time starring role on Las Vegas, opposite James Caan. He took the leap to the big screen with Win a Date With Tad Hamilton! and The Picture of Dorian Gray before joining the blockbuster Transformers franchise. Over the years, he’s brought his charm to all kinds of genres, including comedies (Life As We Know It), kids’ films (Ramona and Beezus), thrillers (Scenic Route) and tearjerker dramas (You’re Not You). In recent years, he played a supportive dad in the groundbreaking LGBT teen romance Love, Simon, before appearing on the true-crime miniseries The Thing About Pam and the Disney+ series Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. Next up, he’ll star opposite Jennifer Lopez in the action-packed romantic comedy Shotgun Wedding, which sees the couple’s over-the-top destination nuptials hijacked by a crew of pirates. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Ronald Wittek/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Nov. 13: Gerard Butler, 53
Born in Paisley, Scotland, on Nov. 13, 1969, action star Gerard Butler, 53, studied to become a lawyer at the University of Glasgow and landed a job at a top Edinburgh firm, but he soon realized that he hated the work. When he was fired from that gig, Butler took it as a sign to move to London and pursue his dreams of acting, appearing onstage in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus and a theatrical adaptation of the Scottish film Trainspotting. He made his film debut in the Queen Victoria biopic Mrs. Brown, and in 2004 he played the Phantom of the Opera in the Oscar-nominated film adaptation. With his next roles, Butler fully embraced his position as an epic hero in action films like Beowulf & Grendel and especially 300, in which he starred as the muscle-bound King Leonidas of Sparta. He’d go on to tackle romantic comedies (P.S. I Love You) and family animated films (the How to Train Your Dragon series), but following the massive success of 300 — including a $456 million worldwide box office — Butler emerged as the go-to action star in adrenaline-pumping films like Olympus Has Fallen, about a terrorist attack on the White House; Gods of Egypt, which felt like an Egyptian retread of 300; and Geostorm, a wild ride of a disaster flick. This summer, Butler starred in the critically panned Last Seen Alive, and he’ll soon return with the 2023 thriller Plane. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: David Crotty/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
Nov. 12: Megan Mullally, 64
One of the most celebrated sitcom actresses of her generation, Megan Mullally, 64, was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 12, 1958, and began her acting career with a slew of bit parts on shows like Wings, Dear John and Murder, She Wrote. She almost got cast as Elaine Benes on Seinfeld, but when she lost the role to Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mullally pivoted to the stage, appearing on Broadway in Grease and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Her own shot at sitcom stardom came in 1998, when she was cast as Karen Walker, the vodka-swilling millionaire assistant of Grace on Will & Grace, earning seven consecutive Emmy nominations for best supporting actress, winning in 2000 and 2006. Shortly after Will & Grace ended, in 2006, Mullally started her own eponymous talk show and then returned to Broadway in a musical adaptation of Young Frankenstein, in which she took on the role of Elizabeth, made famous in the movie by Madeline Kahn. Back on television, she stole scenes on the cult catering sitcom Party Down, before turning in hilarious guest turns on Web Therapy, Happy Endings and especially Parks and Recreation, in which she played the ruthless librarian Tammy II opposite real-life husband Nick Offerman. In 2014 she took her fourth trip to the Great White Way with the comedy It’s Only a Play, before making yet another grand return, this time to the role of Karen in the 2017 reboot of Will & Grace, for which she netted an eighth Emmy nomination. Next up, she’s set to reprise her role as Lydia Dunfree in the upcoming reboot of Party Down, followed by a sure-to-be-wild new musical comedy, F-cking Identical Twins, which is inspired by The Parent Trap and will costar Nathan Lane and rapper Megan Thee Stallion. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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Nov. 11: Stanley Tucci, 62
Born into a tight-knit Italian American family in Peekskill, in New York’s Hudson Valley, on Nov. 11, 1960, Stanley Tucci, 62, made his Broadway debut in 1982, and he’d go on to appear in four more plays on the Great White Way by spring 1986. Following roles in films like Prizzi’s Honor, Beethoven and Prelude to a Kiss, Tucci earned an Emmy nomination for the drama series Murder One, and in 1996 he’d have another critical breakthrough with the film Big Night, which he cowrote, codirected and starred in as one of two Italian brothers who run a restaurant in 1950s New Jersey. Tucci earned an Emmy for starring as the controversial columnist Walter Winchell in the 1999 HBO movie Winchell, but some of his most acclaimed performances over the next decade would be scene-stealing supporting roles: as art director Nigel Kipling in The Devil Wears Prada, as Julia Child’s loving husband Paul in Julie & Julia, and especially as the flamboyantly coiffed host Caesar Flickerman in the Hunger Games series. In 2010, Tucci earned his first Oscar nomination for The Lovely Bones, in which he tamped down his natural charm to play a murderous creep. Equally adept at going broad (Maestro Cadenza in Beauty and the Beast) and serious (attorney Mitchell Garabedian in Spotlight), Tucci earned raves for his performance in 2020’s Supernova, in which he played a man diagnosed with early-onset dementia who travels around England in an RV with his partner (Colin Firth). Recently, the actor landed two Emmy nominations for voicing the ill-tempered hotel owner Bitsy Brandenham on the Apple TV+ series Central Park, and won two trophies for hosting the CNN travel series Searching for Italy. Ironically, while he was in the midst of filming a show about the millennia-old food traditions and signature dishes of Italy, he was battling tongue cancer and the temporary loss of taste, a struggle he detailed in his New York Times best-selling memoir Taste: My Life Through Food. This December, Tucci will channel record producer Clive Davis in the Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: John Sciulli/Getty Images for Fulfillment Fund
Nov. 10: Sinbad, 66
Born David Adkins in Benton Harbor, Michigan, on Nov. 10, 1956, stand-up legend Sinbad, 66, played on the University of Denver basketball team before joining the Air Force. While serving, he started doing comedy as part of the USAF’s Tops in Blue entertainment ensemble, soon getting his big break on Star Search. In 1986, he landed his first regular TV role in the short-lived sitcom The Red Foxx Show, though he’d have more staying power on his next gig, playing Coach Walter Oakes in A Different World. At around that time, he also started hosting Showtime at the Apollo before starring in The Sinbad Show, a family comedy along the lines of Full House in which he played a single foster dad. Sinbad became a fixture in comedy films like Houseguest, First Kid and Jingle All the Way. Beloved for his stand-up specials, he appeared as a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice — though he was “fired” by Donald Trump in only the second episode — and later returned to TV as the patriarch in Lil Rel Howery’s sitcom Rel. In November 2020, his family released a statement saying the comedian had had a stroke: “Sinbad is a light source of love and joy for many generations. While he is beginning his road to recovery, we are faithful and optimistic that he will bring laughter into our hearts soon." —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: AFF-USA/Shutterstock
Nov. 9: Sandra “Pepa” Denton, 53
One of the most influential artists in hip-hop history, rapper Sandra “Pepa” Denton, 53, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on Nov. 9, 1969. She grew up on her grandmother’s farm before moving to New York at age 6. While in college studying nursing, she met fellow student Cheryl James, and they teamed up to create the rap duo Salt-N-Pepa. In 1986 they released their debut album Hot, Cool & Vicious, the first rap album by female artists to go platinum. They soon gained crossover success with “Push It,” which started as a B-side and gained them a fan base beyond the rap community. Denton and James recruited DJ Deidra “Spinderella” Roper to become a trio, and in 1991, they cracked the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 with “Let’s Talk About Sex.” Their 1993 album, Very Necessary, took them to even greater heights, with “Whatta Man” and “Shoop” hitting number 3 and 4 on the charts, and “None of Your Business” nabbing them a Grammy. Following the release of their fifth and last album, 1997’s Brand New, the group officially parted ways in 2002. Pepa got a taste for reality TV fame when she appeared on the VH1 series The Surreal Life, and in 2007 she reunited with her former musical partner for The Salt-N-Pepa Show, which charted their attempts at a comeback. The following year, she released a tell-all memoir called Let’s Talk About Pep, in which she detailed her life as a survivor of abuse, and she adapted it into a reality series for VH1. For the past 15 years, Pepa has been touring with the old trio, and last January they teamed up with director Mario Van Peebles and producer Queen Latifah for a Lifetime biopic. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
Nov. 8: Gordon Ramsay, 56
Known as much for his cooking as for his fiery temper (and the sensitive softie side he hides just below the surface), Gordon Ramsay, 56, was born in Johnstone, Scotland, on Nov. 8, 1966, and his family moved to Stratford-upon-Avon when he was 5. While Ramsay showed early promise as a soccer star, upon being sidelined by a knee injury he went back to school to study hotel management. After apprenticing with some of the best chefs in Europe, Ramsay was named head chef at London’s Aubergine in 1993, and the restaurant quickly earned two Michelin stars. In 1998, he opened Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which earned a three-Michelin-star rating, and he was soon debuting a string of celebrated restaurants around the globe. In the mid-1990s, Ramsay’s personality began to gain as much attention as his food. In the United States, his brash brand of brutal honesty kicked off a run of new shows, including an American version of MasterChef, MasterChef Junior and Hotel Hell. In 2019, National Geographic started airing his newest show, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted, which has him eating wallabies and weaver ant chutney, herding reindeer and diving for sea urchins. This summer, Ramsay debuted a spinoff series, Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted Showdown, in which he faces off against chefs — including his own daughter, Tilly Ramsay — in a head-to-head cooking competition. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
Nov. 7: Christopher Knight, 65
Forever known as one of television’s most famous middle siblings, Christopher Knight, 65, was born in New York City on Nov.7, 1957 — and he actually was the second of four kids in real life. By the age of 7, he began acting in commercials and small parts on shows such as Gunsmoke. Knight landed his dream role when he was cast as Peter on The Brady Bunch, which ran from 1969 to 1974 and launched an animated spinoff, a vocal group, reunion specials and a popular film spoof, 1995’s The Brady Bunch Movie, in which he made a cameo as a gym coach. In the late 1980s, Knight left entertainment behind to work in the computer industry, making his way up the ladder to become a tech executive. But the call of Hollywood proved too strong, and in 2005, Knight joined the cast of VH1’s The Surreal Life, in which he lived in a house with other industry vets, including Da Brat, Jane Wiedlin and Verne Troyer; during his time on the show, he even sparked up a romance with America’s Next Top Model winner Adrianne Curry, which led to their own spinoff, My Fair Brady. In recent years, he reteamed with his Brady siblings for HGTV’s A Very Brady Renovation, and last year’s Dragging the Classics: The Brady Bunch, in which contestants from RuPaul’s Drag Race re-created a classic episode. This February, he and TV brother Barry Williams launched the podcast The Real Brady Bros, which sees the pair recapping episodes, interviewing cast members and reminiscing about the good old days filming one of America’s most beloved TV comedies. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: JC Olivera/WireImage/Getty Images
Nov. 6: Sally Field, 76
Born in Pasadena, California, on Nov. 6, 1946, Sally Field, 76, turned to drama club as a way of escaping her difficult home life, and her pint-sized perkiness proved irresistible for casting directors. By the time she turned 18, Field was leading the sitcom Gidget, which only lasted one season, but the network created another show for her, The Flying Nun. Afraid to be typecast in only lighthearted roles, she studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio, and soon she earned an Emmy for her harrowing performance in the TV movie Sybil. Following the rollicking fun of Smokey and the Bandit, Field won her first Oscar for 1979’s Norma Rae, in which she played a single mother who helps her textile mill unionize, and she nabbed her second win for the 1984 Great Depression drama Places in the Heart. At her second Academy Awards, she delivered her infamous — and oft-misquoted — acceptance speech, which ended with the lines “The first time I didn’t feel it, but this time I feel it. And I can’t deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me!” She went on to play some of the most memorable matriarchs in recent cinema history in Steel Magnolias and Forrest Gump, and she supplemented those performances with beloved comedic roles in Soapdish and Mrs. Doubtfire. After turning 60, Field did anything but slow down, appearing as Aunt May in the Spider-Man franchise, playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Lincoln and even starring in a May-December romantic comedy called Hello, My Name is Doris. She released a celebrated memoir, In Pieces, in 2018. This year, Field starred as Jessie Buss, the mother of LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss, in the HBO series Winning Time, and next month, she’ll appear in Spoiler Alert, based on entertainment reporter Michael Ausiello’s relationship with his partner Kit Cowan, who died of a rare form of neuroendocrine cancer in 2015. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic/Getty Images
Nov. 5: Sam Rockwell, 54
Known for his intense and offbeat characters, Sam Rockwell, 54 — born in Daly City, California, on Nov. 5, 1968 — first appeared alongside his actress mother in a comedy sketch at the age of 10. After finishing high school, he moved to New York City to study at the William Esper Studio and soon started picking up roles in indies such as Box of Moonlight and Lawn Dogs. By the end of the ’90s, Rockwell began appearing in more mainstream films, stealing scenes as a deranged death row inmate in The Green Mile. He had his biggest chance to shine in the George Clooney–directed biopic Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, as game show host Chuck Barris, who claimed to have been a CIA hitman. He parlayed his leading man status into juicy roles in Matchstick Men, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and the coming-of-age tale The Way Way Back. After years of critical acclaim, Rockwell broke through at the Oscars when he won best supporting actor in 2018 for his turn as a racist police officer in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and he earned a second nomination the following year playing George W. Bush in Vice. His awards run continued with an Emmy nomination for his role as the titular choreographer and director Bob Fosse in Fosse/Verdon and a Tony nod for the revival of David Mamet’s American Buffalo. For something decidedly lighter, check out this fall’s new whodunit See How They Run, about the murder of a West End actor in 1950s London. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images
Nov. 4: Ralph Macchio, 61
Though Ralph Macchio, 61 — who was born in Long Island, New York, on Nov. 4, 1961 — would become known for his martial arts prowess, it was fancy footwork of a very different kind that first got him noticed: He started tap dancing at the age of 3 and was discovered by an agent during a recital when he was 16. Following roles in Eight is Enough and The Outsiders, Macchio broke through as the underdog hero Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid franchise. Audiences rooted him on as he trained with Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), mastered the “crane kick” and wooed Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue). He returned to the role in sequels in 1986 and 1989, before costarring in the 1992 Oscar-winning comedy My Cousin Vinny as the wrongfully arrested Bill Gambini. He later put his background in dance to good use leading the 1996 national tour of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and competing on Dancing With the Stars, on which he reached fourth place. In 2018, Macchio reprised his role as Daniel in the martial arts dramedy Cobra Kai, which started on YouTube Red before moving to Netflix for its third season. Still going strong after five seasons, the Emmy-nominated series follows the rekindled rivalry between Daniel and his old nemesis, Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Last month, he released the sweetly nostalgic memoir Waxing On: The Karate Kid and Me. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Nov. 3: Kate Capshaw, 69
Born on Nov. 3, 1953, in Fort Worth, Texas, Kate Capshaw, 69, got her professional start as a teacher but decided to chase her dreams of becoming an actress, moving to New York and making her screen debut with a six-week stint on the soap opera The Edge of Night in 1981. Following her role as an elementary school teacher in the 1982 romantic comedy A Little Sex, Capshaw had her big break playing nightclub singer Willie Scott in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Director Steven Spielberg clearly saw something in her: They went on to marry in 1991, and they’re still together. Capshaw later landed roles in films that included 1986’s SpaceCamp and the 1999 romantic comedy The Love Letter. She appeared in two more TV movies, A Girl Thing in 2001 and Due East in 2002, before deciding to retire from Hollywood. In recent years, Capshaw has devoted her time to philanthropy, and she and Spielberg cofounded the nonprofit Hearthland Foundation in 2020. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Andy Kropa/Invision/AP
Nov. 2: K.D. Lang, 61
Born in Alberta on Nov. 2, 1961, k.d. lang, 61, was raised in the small town of Consort, and she first became enchanted with country music while appearing in a student production about Patsy Cline. She formed a Cline tribute band called the Reclines, and they debuted a well-received album in 1984. Lang soon gained the attention of the legendary Roy Orbison, with whom she recorded a Grammy-winning duet version of his hit “Crying,” and by the time she released her 1988 album, Shadowland, she was able to snag Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn for guest vocals. Lang found crossover success beyond the world of country music with her cabaret-tinged 1992 album, Ingénue, which was buoyed by the success of singles “Miss Chatelaine” and “Constant Craving.” That latter hit picked up the Grammy for best female pop vocal performance, and she received a slew of other nominations, including for album, song and record of the year. Future recordings saw her stretching her creative muscles in such efforts as the 1993 soundtrack to the film Even Cowgirls Get the Blues; 1997’s Drag, an album of smoking-themed songs; a Grammy-winning 2002 duets album with Tony Bennett; and 2004’s Hymns of the 49th Parallel, which included covers of songs by other Canadian artists. Last year, lang — a 2013 inductee into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame — released makeover, a compilation of remixes of some of her earliest hits. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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PHOTO BY: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Nov. 1: Toni Collette, 50
How many actresses can say they got their start in a musical about the Australian bicentennial? That’s exactly what happened to Toni Collette, who was born in Sydney on Nov. 1, 1972, and beat out thousands of candidates for the role. She made her first big splash globally in the comedy Muriel’s Wedding, as an ABBA-obsessed outcast, and earned a Golden Globe nomination. She gained even more attention for her Oscar-nominated performance as the mother of a boy who can (spoiler alert!) see dead people in the twisty drama The Sixth Sense. She landed supporting roles in movies such as About a Boy and The Hours, before making a splash as the matriarch in Little Miss Sunshine. American audiences who wanted to see her in a role truly worthy of her many talents had to wait for her Showtime series, United States of Tara, in which she played a suburban mother and artist living with dissociative identity disorder. It was a virtuosic role that earned her an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Collette’s other bold television performances include: as a therapist tempted to cheat on her husband in Wanderlust, as a detective investigating a rape case in Unbelievable, as a mother with a dark and violent secret in Pieces of Her and, most recently, as a woman who may or may not have been killed by her husband in the true-crime-inspired HBO limited series The Staircase. Next up, she’s taking a detour back to comedy with The Estate, in which she and Anna Faris play sisters trying to convince their terminally ill Aunt Hilda (Kathleen Turner) to add them to her will before she kicks the bucket. —Nicholas DeRenzo
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