List of Famous people born in January

Abdullah bin Bakheet is a Saudi journalist and novelist. He was born in Riyadh and studied at King Saud University. Upon graduation in 1978, he started working as a journalist for periodicals like Al Yamamah magazine and Al Riyadh and Al Jazirah newspapers. As of 2011 he still wrote a regular column for Al Riyadh and is well known for his liberal views on topics such as women's rights and minority rights. He got into trouble with the Saudi morality police in 2005 when he was charged with spreading corruption and immorality through his writing.

Lucie Pohl is a German actress and stand-up comedian.

John Charles Polanyi, is a chemist of ethnic Hungarian origin residing in Canada. He won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, for his research in chemical kinetics. Polanyi was born in Berlin, Germany prior to his family emigrating in 1933 to the United Kingdom where he was subsequently educated at the University of Manchester, and did postdoctoral research at the National Research Council in Canada and Princeton University in New Jersey. Polanyi's first academic appointment was at the University of Toronto, and he remains there as of 2019. In addition to the Nobel Prize, Polanyi has received numerous other awards, including 33 honorary degrees, the Wolf Prize in Chemistry and the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. Outside his scientific pursuits, Polanyi is active in public policy discussion, especially concerning science and nuclear weapons. His father, Mihály (Michael), was a noted chemist and philosopher. His uncle Karl Polanyi was a renowned political-economist, best known for his seminal work, The Great Transformation. According to György Marx he was one of "The Martians", a group of prominent Hungarian scientists who emigrated to the United States in the first half of the 20th century.

Ayatollah Sayyid Murtadha al-Hussaini al-Shirazi is a Shia mujtahid and author. He is the second son of late grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad al-Shirazi. He teaches a number of higher level classes in Islamic law, legal theory and Quranic exegesis at the religious seminary of Najaf, Iraq.

Arzu Aliyeva is the younger daughter of the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev. She is an Azerbaijani film producer, director and public figure.

Cecília Esztergályos is a Hungarian actress. She appeared in more than seventy films since 1962.

Charmaine Li is an actress, model, business owner, and spokesperson in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. She had a decade-long career in TVB and has left to focus on business development and movies.