American actress Michaela Jaé Rodriguez was BOTD in 1991. Born in Newark, New Jersey to an African-American mother and a Puerto-Rican father, she was assigned male at birth, identifying as female f…

French artist Pascal-Adolphe-Jean Dagnan-Bouveret was BOTD in 1852. Born in Paris to a mercantile family, he was raised by his grandfather after his father emigrated to Brazil. In 1869, he was acce…

English playwright and screenwriter Stephen Beresford was BOTD in 1972. Born in London, he was raised in Dartmouth in rural Devon. He showed an early interest in drama, moving to London to study at…

American poet and actor Taylor Mead was BOTD in 1924. Born in Detroit, Michigan to a wealthy family, he abandoned his middle-class existence to become a Bohemian, moving to San Francisco in the 195…

American porn actor Joey Stefano was BOTD in 1968. Born Nicholas Iacona Jr in Chester, Pennsylvania to a working-class family, his father died when he was a teenager, leading to problems with drug …

American writer, academic and activist Gayle Rubin was BOTD in 1949. Born in South Carolina to a middle-class Jewish family, she was educated in racially-segregated public schools, before moving to…

Dutch lawyer, writer and activist Jacob Israël de Haan was BOTD in 1881. Born in Smilde to an Orthodox Jewish family, he was one of eighteen children, and grew up in poverty, moving frequently as h…

Australian costume designer Orry George Kelly, known professionally as Orry-Kelly, was BOTD in 1897. Born in Kiama, New South Wales to an English-born father and an Australian mother, he attended h…

American singer-songwriter Donna Summer was BOTD in 1948. Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines in Boston, Massachusetts to a working-class family, she began singing in church, dropping out of high school to …

American actress, model and activist Hunter Schafer was BOTD in 1998. Born in Trenton, New Jersey to a conservative Christian family, she was assigned male at birth, and raised in Raleigh, North Ca…

American model and actor Joe Dallesandro was BOTD in 1948. Born in Pensacola, Florida, he had a turbulent childhood, living in a series of orphanages and foster homes, and becoming a criminal by hi…

American writer, editor and activist Joseph Beam was BOTD in 1954. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a working-class family, he studied at Franklin College in Indiana, where he became active in…

Canadian writer and artist Douglas Coupland was BOTD in 1961. Born in West Germany where his father was a medical officer for the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was raised in Vancouver. He studied ph…

American writer and composer Paul Bowles was BOTD in 1910. Born in New York City to wealthy middle-class parents, he composed poetry and music from an early age, publishing his first poem at 17. Wh…

German performer and costume designer Timo Lewandovsky, better known as Tima die Göttliche (Tima the Divine) was BOTD in 1965. Born in Munich, he moved to West Berlin in 1983, completing an interns…

English writer Leslie Poles (L. P.) Hartley was BOTD in 1895. Born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire to a middle-class family, he studied at Harrow School and Oxford University, where he befriended gay…

English aristocrat Henry Rainald Gage, 6th Viscount Gage, was BOTD in 1895. Born in London, the son of Henry Charles Gage, the 5th Viscount Gage of Firle Place, he inherited the viscountcy in 1912,…

American playwright and screenwriter Paul Rudnick was BOTD in 1957. Born in Piscataway, New Jersey, he studied at Yale University before moving to New York City, where he worked as a magazine colum…

American jazz musician Billy Tipton was BOTD in 1914. Born Dorothy Tipton in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was assigned female at birth. He grew up in Kansas City, showing an early talent for music and …

Scottish writer and journalist Gilbert Adair was BOTD in 1944. Born in Edinburgh, he studied French at the University of Glasgow. After graduating, he moved to Paris, where he witnessed the student…

American filmmaker Lilly Wachowski was BOTD in 1967. Born in Chicago, Illinois, she was assigned male at birth and named Andy. She studied at Emerson College in Boston, dropping out before graduati…

American singer, actor and filmmaker Jason Gould was BOTD in 1966. Born in New York City, the only child of singer-actress Barbra Streisand and actor Elliott Gould, his parents separated when he wa…

German filmmaker, model, artist and porn star Peter Berlin was BOTD in 1942. Born in Łódź in Nazi-occupied Poland, he grew up in Berlin in a wealthy middle-class family. He became a commercial phot…

German filmmaker Friedrich Wilhelm (F. W.) Murnau was BOTD in 1888. Born in the Rhineland, he showed an early interest in theatre, befriending director Max Reinhardt while he was at university. He …

Argentinian writer Manuel Puig was BOTD in 1932. Born on a ranch in a small town in Buenos Aires Province, he had an unhappy childhood, bullied at at school for his effeminacy and love of wearing w…

Danish painter and trans pioneer Lili Ilse Elvenes, also known as Lili Elbe, was BOTD in 1882. Born in Vehle, she studied painting at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, and began …

German singer and actress Marlene Dietrich was BOTD in 1901. Born in Berlin, she appeared in vaudeville before graduating to theatre and silent films in the hedonistic world of 1920s Weimar Berlin.…

American actor, director and filmmaker Joe Mantello was BOTD in 1962. Born in Rockford, Illinois to a middle-class family, he studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts, moving to New York Ci…

English artist, writer and designer Mina Loy was BOTD in 1882. Born in London, to a Hungarian Jewish father and an English mother, she had a difficult childhood due to her parents’ troubled m…

English artist and designer (Francis) John Minton was BOTD in 1917. Born in Great Shelford, Cambridgeshire to a middle-class family, he was educated at private schools before moving to London to st…

English poet and scholar Thomas Gray was BOTD in 1716. Born in London to working-class parents, he was the fifth of twelve and the only child to survive infancy. He attended Eton College, where he …

American humorist and writer David Sedaris was BOTD in 1956. Born in New York City to a Greek-American family, he was raised in North Carolina. He moved to Chicago in the 1980s, attempting unsucces…

American fashion designer Alexander Wang was BOTD in 1983. Born to Taiwanese parents in San Francisco, California, he studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins in London. He moved to New York…

English writer, broadcaster and activist Simon Fanshawe was BOTD in 1956. Born in Devises, Wiltshire, he was educated at private schools and attended the University of Sussex. After graduation, he …

English writer and raconteur Quentin Crisp was BOTD in 1908. Born Denis Pratt in Sutton, Surrey to a middle-class family, he moved to London to study journalism at King’s College, dropping ou…

Scottish singer-songwriter and activist Annie Lennox was BOTD in 1954. Born in Aberdeen, she moved to London in her teens to study at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1977, she met Dave Stewart and f…

Irish-American soldier Albert Cashier was BOTD in 1843. Born Jennie Hodgers in Clogherhead, County Louth in Ireland, little is known about her family or early life. She is believed to have left Ire…

Indian film producer and director Ismail Merchant was BOTD in 1936. Born Ismail Rahman in Mumbai to a Gujarati Muslim family, he grew up during the violent Partition of India, in which his family r…

English comedian and broadcaster Kenny Everett was BOTD in 1944. Born Maurice Cole in Lancashire, he attended a junior seminary with the intention of becoming a Catholic priest, leaving in his teen…

Judaean preacher and religious leader Jesus of Nazareth was BOTD in c. 4 BC. Historians are generally agreed that Jesus was born in Roman-occupied Judaea (modern-day Israel and Lebanon) and raised …

American filmmaker, poet and critic Charles Boultenhouse was BOTD in 1926. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, little is known of his early life. In 1945, he moved to New York City to study at Columbia …

Franco-Swiss photographer and filmmaker Marc Allégret was BOTD in 1900. Born in Basel, he was raised in Paris, where his father was a Protestant missionary. At the outbreak of World War One in 1914…

American businessman, filmmaker and aviator Howard Hughes was BOTD in 1905. Born in Houston, Texas to a wealthy oil drilling family, he showed an early talent for engineering, studying at the Calif…

Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Ricky Martin was BOTD in 1971. Born in San Juan to a middle-class family, he began appearing in television commercials when he was nine, and shot to stardom aged 12 a…

American filmmaker Lee Daniels was BOTD in 1959. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he had an unhappy, suffering physical and psychological abuse by his policeman father for being gay. When he was…

American doctor, researcher and public health advocate Anthony Fauci was BOTD in 1940. Born in Brooklyn, New York City, he studied medicine at Cornell University, focusing on infectious diseases an…

American actress Ava Gardner was BOTD in 1922. Born in Grabtown, North Carolina, the daughter of a tobacco farmer, her family lost their money during the Great Depression and moved to Newport News,…

American drag performer and activist Stormé DeLarverie was BOTD in 1920. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, their mother was Black who had a child with her white employer. DeLarverie’s education…

American singer and musician Chet Baker was BOTD in 1929. Born in Yale, Oklahoma and raised in California, he began playing trumpet in his school band, joining the US Army during World War Two wher…

English playwright and comedian Tim Fountain was BOTD in 1967. Born in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, he was raised in West Ardsley and studied at Hull University. He began a career as a playwright, ris…