January 2 is the birthday of 39 notable people we've found so far, including entrepreneurs, historical figures, scientists and creators, and 2 of them are billionaires.
Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska is a Russian oligarch and billionaire. Deripaska began his career as a metals trader after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Liang Wengen is a Chinese entrepreneur who founded and is the chairman of Sany Heavy Industry. In 2011, he became the richest man in mainland China with a net worth of about US$8 billion.
Share of the 39 people we list, by documented field. People can belong to more than one.
Entrepreneurs36% (14 people)
Creators18% (7 people)
Politicians18% (7 people)
Scientists18% (7 people)
Athletes15% (6 people)
Authors13% (5 people)
Actors10% (4 people)
Countries
22 countries, most often United States
Citizenship as recorded on Wikidata, one country per person.
United States8 (8 people)
France5 (5 people)
Australia2 (2 people)
Czech Republic2 (2 people)
Japan2 (2 people)
Spain2 (2 people)
Ukraine2 (2 people)
Life timeline
What were people born on January 2 doing at your age?
Dated milestones from Wikidata (company foundings, awards, top jobs, notable works), placed at the age each person reached them. Add your birth year above to see the ones you have passed.
Isaac Asimov was an American writer and professor of biochemistry at Boston University. During his lifetime, Asimov was considered one of the "Big Three" science fiction writers, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke.
Phillip Leonian [1] from New York World-Telegram & Sun.[2], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke "Kemi" Badenoch is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party since 2024. Badenoch previously worked in the Cabinet for prime ministers Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak from 2022 to 2024.
Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. is an American actor. After his breakthrough role as Tre Styles in Boyz n the Hood (1991), he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor playing a football star in Jerry Maguire (1996).
Catherine Anne Bosworth is an American actress. Following minor roles in the films The Horse Whisperer (1998) and Remember the Titans (2000), she had a leading role in the movie Blue Crush (2002).
Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo, known professionally as Tia Carrere, is an American actress and singer who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera General Hospital.
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Thérèse of Lisieux, religious name Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, was a French Discalced Carmelite who is widely venerated in modern times.
Céline Martin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
John Dennis Hastert is an American former politician and convicted felon who served as the 51st speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007.
United States Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Slobodan Praljak was a Bosnian Croat general found guilty by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of committing violations of the laws of war, crimes against humanity, and breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the 1992–1994 Croat–Bosniak War.
Kane Tanaka was a Japanese supercentenarian who, until her death at the age of 119 years, 107 days, was the world's oldest verified living person, following the death of Chiyo Miyako on 22 July 2018.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Entrepreneur · Frontier Developments · entertainment
1964 · United Kingdom
David John Braben is an English video game developer and designer, founder and President of Frontier Developments, and co-creator of the Elite series of space trading video games, first published in 1984.
María de la Paz Campos Trigo, known professionally as Paz Vega, is a Spanish actress. She became popular for her performance in comedy television series 7 vidas.
Pedro J Pacheco, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg was a Swedish nobleman and diplomat. In World War II, he negotiated the release of about 450 Danish Jews and 30,550 non-Jewish prisoners of many nations from the Nazi German Theresienstadt Ghetto. They were released on 14 April 1945.
Wikimedia Commons, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Maximiliano Rubén Rodríguez is an Argentine former professional footballer. Nicknamed La Fiera, he was commonly used as a winger on both flanks but could also operate as an attacking midfielder.
Ludovic Péron, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Rudolf Julius Emanuel Clausius was a German physicist and mathematician and is considered one of the central founding fathers of the science of thermodynamics.
UnknownUnknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Vasily Alekseyevich Degtyaryov was a Soviet and Russian engineer who specialized in weapons design. He was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labour in 1940.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Oleksandr Volodymyrovych Shovkovskyi is a Ukrainian professional football manager and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He was most recently in charge of Ukrainian Premier League club Dynamo Kyiv.
Александр Осипов, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Jan Fischer is a Czech politician who served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from April 2009 to July 2010, heading a caretaker government. Later he was the minister of Finance from July 2013 to January 2014 in another interim government of Jiří Rusnok.
Georges Boulougouris - European Commission, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Gustave Pierre Trouvé was a French electrical engineer and inventor in the 19th century. A polymath, he was highly respected for his innovative skill in miniaturization.
http://www.ville-descartes.fr/commune/autres_clip_image002.jpg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Riccardo Cassin was an Italian mountaineer, developer of mountaineering equipment and author, and an important figure in the history of rock climbing, alpine climbing and big wall climbing.
Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Ivica Todorić is a Croatian businessman. Until June 2017, he was the owner and chairman of the board of Agrokor, the largest privately owned company in Croatia. The operations of Agrokor are focused on two core businesses: manufacturing of food and drinks, and retail.
1765–1847 · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Charles Hatchett FRS FRSE was an English mineralogist and analytical chemist who discovered the element niobium, for which he proposed the name "columbium".
Engraving by F. C. Lewis after the painting by T. Phillips. From Faulkner's History of Chelsea, 1829., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Alexandre Grendene Bartelle is a Brazilian businessman and billionaire. In 1971, co-founded sandal manufacturer Grendene with his brother, Pedro Grendene Bartelle. According to Forbes, he was worth US$1.86 billion as of May 2016.
This is a list of Japan international footballers – Japanese association football players who have played for the Japan national football team as recorded by the Japan Football Association.
This page lists 39 people born on January 2, every one traced to a Wikidata record and, where shown, a Wikipedia summary (CC BY-SA) and a licensed Wikimedia Commons photo. 2 of them carry a dated net-worth estimate citing Forbes or Bloomberg; combined wealth is the sum of the low end of those estimates, the newest as of February 2020. Rankings compare all 366 dates in the dataset built on 2026-09-28. Milestone ages come from dated Wikidata statements; a tilde marks year-only dates. Nothing on this page is a prediction about anyone born on January 2. Read the full methodology.
Discover another birthday →
Every date is a different rabbit hole. Try a friend's, a parent's, or a random one.
