19 December: today's birthdays

• Jennifer Beals - American actress
• Karim Benzema - French footballer 
• Leonid Brežnev (Brezhnev) - Russian politician
• Cyril Collard - French writer, film director, actor and composer
• Jean Genet - French writer, poet and screenwriter. He wrote The Thief's Journal (Journal du voleur)
• Jake Gyllenhaal - American actor of Swedish descent, born Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal. He is the brother of Maggie Gyllenhaal

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  The actor had fun pronouncing his name in Swedish: Jake Gyllenhaal (SE)
• Jake Gyllenhaal (SE) - American actor of Swedish descent, born Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal. He had fun with his name: he pronounced it in Swedish.

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  Listen to the correct pronunciation of his name Jake Gyllenhaal in American English.
• Franck Kessié - Ivorian professional footballer, born Franck Yannick Kessié.
• Albert Abraham Michelson - Prussian-born American physicist. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1907
• Alyssa Milano - American actress
• Édith Piaf - French singer and songwriter, born Édith Giovanna Gassion. She is considered France's national chanteuse 
• Vasja Pirc - Slovenian chess player originator of the Pirc Defense
• Arvydas Sabonis - Former Lithuanian basketball player who is widely considered one of the greatest European basketball players in history and one of the most talented centers the game has seen. His son, Domantas, plays in the NBA.
• Alexis Alejandro Sánchez - Chilean soccer player
• Til Schweiger - German actor, film director and producer
• Italo Svevo - Pseudonym of Italian writer of Jewish descent Aron Ettore Schmitz, author of Zeno's Conscience
• Abraham Yehoshua - Israeli novelist and dramatist. He wrote Mr. Mani, The Lover and Facing the Forest.