Famous people born on May 22 — and what else happened that day
If your birthday is May 22, you share it with Arthur Conan Doyle, Laurence Olivier, Naomi Campbell — and you were born under Gemini, the sign of the curious, quick-witted, and endlessly social.
Birthday basics for May 22
Gemini ♊
Zodiac sign
Emerald
Birthstone
Lily of the Valley
Birth flower
142nd
Day of the year
May 22 is the 142nd day of the year (143rd in leap years), with 223 days still to come.
Famous people born on May 22
Arthur Conan Doyle — Scottish author who created the Sherlock Holmes detective stories (born 1859).
Laurence Olivier — British actor, director, and three-time Academy Award winner (born 1907).
Naomi Campbell — British supermodel and one of the original "supermodels" of the 1990s (born 1970).
Also sharing the day:
Novak Djokovic (b. 1987) — Serbian tennis player and 24-time Grand Slam singles champion.
Ginnifer Goodwin (b. 1978) — American actress known for Once Upon a Time and Big Love.
Apolo Anton Ohno (b. 1982) — American Olympic short-track speed skater with 8 medals.
Richard Wagner (b. 1813) — German composer of operas including The Ring Cycle and Tristan und Isolde.
May 22 in history
1980 — Namco released Pac-Man in Japanese arcades, soon to become a global phenomenon.
1960 — The Great Chilean earthquake — magnitude 9.5, the strongest earthquake ever recorded — struck off the coast of Valdivia.
1990 — Microsoft released Windows 3.0, the version that established Windows as the dominant PC operating system.
1972 — President Richard Nixon arrived in Moscow for the first U.S. presidential visit to the Soviet Union.
2011 — An EF5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, killing 158 people — the deadliest single U.S. tornado since 1947.
1843 — The "Great Migration" wagon train of about 1,000 pioneers departed Elm Grove, Missouri, for the Oregon Trail.
1856 — South Carolina Congressman Preston Brooks beat Senator Charles Sumner unconscious with a cane in the U.S. Senate chamber.
2017 — A suicide bomber killed 22 people at the Manchester Arena following an Ariana Grande concert.
May 22 birthday questions
What zodiac sign is May 22?
Anyone born on May 22 is a Gemini — curious, quick-witted, and endlessly social.
What is the birthstone for May 22?
The birthstone for a May 22 birthday is Emerald, and the birth flower is the Lily of the Valley.
Who is the most famous person born on May 22?
Arthur Conan Doyle is among the best known — Scottish author who created the Sherlock Holmes detective stories (born 1859).
What happened on May 22?
In 1980, Namco released Pac-Man in Japanese arcades, soon to become a global phenomenon.
What day of the year is May 22?
May 22 is the 142nd day of the year (143rd in leap years), with 223 days still to come.
Make their day unforgettable
Know someone born on May 22? 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.