Famous people born on August 7 — and what else happened that day
If your birthday is August 7, you share it with Garrison Keillor, David Duchovny, Charlize Theron — and you were born under Leo, the sign of the warm, confident, and born for the spotlight.
Birthday basics for August 7
Leo ♌
Zodiac sign
Peridot
Birthstone
Gladiolus
Birth flower
219th
Day of the year
August 7 is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years), with 146 days still to come.
Famous people born on August 7
Garrison Keillor — American humorist and host of A Prairie Home Companion (born 1942).
David Duchovny — American actor who starred in The X-Files (born 1960).
Charlize Theron — South African actress and Academy Award winner (born 1975).
Also sharing the day:
Louis Leakey (b. 1903) — Kenyan-British paleoanthropologist whose fossil finds reshaped the story of human origins.
Ralph Bunche (b. 1904) — American diplomat and the first Black Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Sidney Crosby (b. 1987) — Canadian hockey superstar and multiple Stanley Cup champion.
August 7 in history
1782 — George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit, later renamed the Purple Heart.
1959 — Explorer 6 launched and sent back the first photo of Earth taken from orbit.
1974 — Philippe Petit walked a high wire strung between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
1927 — The Peace Bridge opened, linking Fort Erie, Ontario, with Buffalo, New York.
1944 — IBM presented Harvard with the Mark I, one of the world's first large-scale automatic computers.
1947 — Thor Heyerdahl's balsa raft Kon-Tiki reached Polynesia after a 101-day voyage across the Pacific.
August 7 birthday questions
What zodiac sign is August 7?
Anyone born on August 7 is a Leo — warm, confident, and born for the spotlight.
What is the birthstone for August 7?
The birthstone for a August 7 birthday is Peridot, and the birth flower is the Gladiolus.
Who is the most famous person born on August 7?
Garrison Keillor is among the best known — American humorist and host of A Prairie Home Companion (born 1942).
What happened on August 7?
In 1782, George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit, later renamed the Purple Heart.
What day of the year is August 7?
August 7 is the 219th day of the year (220th in leap years), with 146 days still to come.
Make their day unforgettable
Know someone born on August 7? See the full story of their exact birthday — the headlines, the #1 song, what things cost — and turn it into a personalized front-page newspaper they can keep.