11 Milestone Celebrity Birthdays in July
Tom Cruise, Sofia Vergara and Harrison Ford among those celebrating
by Nicholas DeRenzo, AARP, June 30, 2022
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PHOTO BY: Bobby Bank/Getty Images
July 1: Dan Aykroyd, 70
The Saturday Night Live (SNL) alum and original Blues Brother has spent the past few years getting into the spirits business with his Crystal Head Vodka, which is distilled in Newfoundland and Labrador in Aykroyd’s native Canada. Last year, he returned to one of the most popular roles of his career as Ray Stantz in the supernatural comedy Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Another sequel already has been announced.
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PHOTO BY: John P. Fleenor/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
July 1: Andre Braugher, 60
For his role as Detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street, Braugher became only the third Black performer to win an Emmy for best actor in a drama series in 1998. More recently, he starred as the stern (if lovable) Captain Raymond Holt on the comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Coming up, he’ll play New York Times editor Dean Baquet in the film She Said, about the newspaper’s bombshell investigation into claims of sexual harassment and assault by Harvey Weinstein.
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PHOTO BY: Joseph Okpako/WireImage
July 3: Tom Cruise, 60
One of the highest-grossing actors in Hollywood history, the three-time Oscar nominee has spent recent years bolstering his action-star bonafides with films like Jack Reacher, Edge of Tomorrow and the Mission Impossible franchise, in which he famously does his own stunts: He has held his breath underwater for six-and-a-half minutes, climbed the world’s tallest skyscraper and even hung from the outside of a flying airplane. Cruise is earning some of the best reviews in a decade for his latest movie, the sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which is even getting Oscar buzz.
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PHOTO BY: mpi04/MediaPunch/IPX
July 4: John Waite, 70
Best remembered for his 1984 number 1 single “Missing You,” the English singer had a second life as a band member later that decade when he headed up the glam metal supergroup Bad English, who released the chart-topping “When I See You Smile.” This summer, you can catch Waite live across the country, including a free concert on July 31 in Mayo Park in Rochester, Minnesota.
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PHOTO BY: Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
July 10: Sofía Vergara, 50
A four-time Emmy nominee for her work as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett on ABC’s Modern Family, Vergara has since put her considerable charm to use as a judge on America’s Got Talent. Next, she’ll portray the late Colombian drug queenpin and trafficker Griselda Blanco in Netflix’s upcoming limited series Griselda.
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PHOTO BY: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney
July 13: Harrison Ford, 80
The man responsible for some of the most iconic roles in American cinema history — from Han Solo to Indiana Jones to Blade Runner’s Rick Deckard — is heading to the small screen in two upcoming series. He is first teaming up with Ted Lasso cocreator Bill Lawrence to play a “blue-collar shrink” in Apple TV+’s Shrinking, and then joining Paramount+’s ever-expanding Yellowstone franchise in the prequel 1923, opposite Helen Mirren. But don’t worry about not seeing Ford on the big screen: The fifth Indy film is already set for release in June 2023.
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PHOTO BY: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
July 16: Stewart Copeland, 70
An American percussionist best known for his work with the Police, Copeland was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame along with his bandmates in 2003, and Rolling Stone later ranked him the 10th-best drummer of all time. Copeland debuted his opera Electric Saint, about the life of Nikola Tesla, last year at the National Theater of Weimar, and this spring he won his sixth Grammy, for best new age album.
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PHOTO BY: Arnold Jerocki/WireImage
July 17: David Hasselhoff, 70
The Knight Rider and Baywatch actor is something of a pop culture Renaissance man: He has starred in his own reality series (The Hasselhoffs) and sitcom (Hoff the Record), launched a social media site (HoffSpace), cameoed as himself in countless films (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie) and released more than two dozen studio and compilation albums. His latest release was 2021’s Party Your Hasselhoff, which hit number 4 on the German charts (they love him!) and featured covers of songs by the likes of Neil Diamond, Billy Joel and Iggy Pop.
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PHOTO BY: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
July 23: Marlon Wayans, 50
After years of working with his actor-comedian brothers on projects like the aptly named WB sitcom The Wayans Bros., White Chicks and the Scary Movie franchise, Wayans showed off his dramatic side in the harrowing addiction drama Requiem for a Dream. He starred in his own namesake NBC sitcom for two seasons, and last year played against type in the Aretha Franklin biopic Respect as the Queen of Soul’s abusive first husband and manager, Ted White.
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PHOTO BY: Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images
July 27: Maya Rudolph, 50
One of the most versatile performers in SNL history, Maya Rudolph could do it all: She created memorable original characters, she nailed impressions (Beyoncé, Oprah, Kamala Harris) and she could really sing — after all, she is the daughter of “Lovin’ You” performer Minnie Riperton. Since 2020, she has won an impressive four Emmys, two for her guest appearances on SNL and two for her voiceover work as Connie the Hormone Monstress on Netflix’s Big Mouth. Last month, she debuted her new Apple TV+ sitcom Loot, about a jilted woman whose ultra-wealthy husband leaves her $87 billion in a settlement.
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PHOTO BY: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
July 31: Wesley Snipes, 60
Fans of the 1980s and ’90s star have had plenty to celebrate in recent years as Snipes has staged an impressive comeback following a much-publicized conviction for failing to pay taxes that landed him in jail for two-and-a-half years. The Blade star recently reunited with Eddie Murphy for the celebrated 2019 biopic Dolemite Is My Name and last year’s Coming 2 America, and on the small screen, he played Kevin Hart’s big brother in the Netflix limited series True Story. Next up, he’s collaborating with another blockbuster comedian, Tiffany Haddish, for the Las Vegas–set comedy Back on the Strip.
Nicholas DeRenzo is a contributing writer who covers entertainment and travel. Previously he was executive editor of United Airlines’ Hemispheres magazine and his work has appeared in the New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Travel & Leisure, Sunset and New York magazine.