List of Famous people who born in 1956

Shigeru Kitamura is current Participate of Cabinet Secretariat, National Security Secretariat Secretary General in Japan under Shinzo Abe and a former head of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, a Japanese intelligence agency.

Joseph Paul Trippi is an American political strategist who has worked on several gubernatorial, United States Senate, and Congressional campaigns, including Jerry Brown for Governor of California and Doug Jones for U.S. Senate in Alabama. He has worked for several Democratic presidential campaigns, most notably as manager of the Howard Dean 2004 presidential campaign. He currently serves as a political commentator for CNN.

Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf is a Swiss politician and lawyer who served as a Member of the Swiss Federal Council from 2008 to 2015. A member of the Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC) until 2008, she has since then been a member of the Conservative Democratic Party (BDP/PBD). Widmer-Schlumpf was the head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police from 2008 to 2010, when she became head of the Federal Department of Finance. She served as President of the Swiss Confederation in 2012.

Edgar Chagwa Lungu is a Zambian politician who has been the President of Zambia since 25 January 2015. Under President Michael Sata, Lungu served as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence. Following Sata's death in October 2014, Lungu was adopted as the candidate of the ruling Patriotic Front in a Convention of the Patriotic Front in Kabwe, for the January 2015 presidential by-election, which was to determine who would serve out the remainder of Sata's term. In the election, he narrowly defeated opposition candidate Hakainde Hichilema and took office on 25 January 2015.

Eliot Asher Cohen is an American political scientist. He was a counselor in the United States Department of State under Condoleezza Rice from 2007 to 2009. In 2019, Cohen was named the 9th Dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, succeeding the former dean, Vali Nasr. Before his time as dean, he directed the Strategic Studies Program at SAIS. Cohen "is one of the few teachers in the American academy to treat military history as a serious field", according to international law scholar Ruth Wedgwood. Cohen is a contributing writer at The Atlantic.

Joseph Edward Penny Jr. is an English-born American actor best known for his roles as Nick Ryder on the detective series Riptide from 1984 to 1986, and as Jake Styles in the CBS television series Jake and the Fatman from 1987 to 1992.

Hartina M. "Tina" Flournoy is an American political advisor who served as chief of staff to vice president Kamala Harris from 2021 to 2022.

Arif Susam is a Turkish new wave artist. His style combines traditional Turkish tunes with synthesized instruments. He was very popular in the 80s and early 90s with fellow artists like Nejat Alp, Ümit Besen, Cengiz Kurtoğlu and Atilla Kaya.

Pilar Elena Mazzetti Soler is a Peruvian physician and health administrator who served as Minister of Health from July 2020 to February 2021, excluding her for nine days from office during the brief presidency of Manuel Merino. She previously held the position from February 2004 to July 2006, and was briefly Minister of the Interior from July 2006 to February 2007, being the first woman to reach said position in the Peruvian government.

René Juárez Cisneros is a Mexican politician affiliated with the PRI. He currently serves as Senator of the LXII Legislature of the Mexican Congress representing Guerrero. He served as Governor of Guerrero between 1999 and 2005. He also served as Deputy between 1994 and 1997.