List of Famous people born in January

Douglas Jackson is a Canadian film and television director and producer. As a television director, he is best known for the 1983 CBC Television miniseries Empire, Inc., which he co-directed with Denys Arcand. Jackson began his film career in the 1960s on staff at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB). His NFB credits include producing Bill Mason's short documentary Blake, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film.

Rie Inoo is a Japanese film actress who portrayed Sadako Yamamura in Ring & Ring 2.

Michel Vaarten is a retired track cyclist and road bicycle racer from Belgium. He represented Belgium at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he won silver medal in the 1.000m time trial behind East Germany's Klaus-Jürgen Grünke. Vaarten was a professional from 1979 to 1992. He won 12 national titles, one European title and one world title, mainly in track cycling. Vaarten is currently piloting a Derny bike in many Six Day Cycling events around Europe.

Mieczysław Paweł Nowicki is a retired road bicycle racer from Poland, who represented his native country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. There he won the bronze medal in the men's individual road race behind Sweden's Bernt Johansson and Italy's Giuseppe Martinelli. In the men's road team trial he won the silver medal with the Polish team. He also competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics. In 1973 he set a Polish national hour record of 42.231 km, a record that stood for over 40 years until it was broken by Andrzej Bartkiewicz in 2014.

Riad al-Turk is a prominent Syrian opposition leader, former political prisoner for about 20 years in Syria, and supporter of democracy, who has been called "the Old Man of Syrian opposition." He was secretary general of the Syrian Communist Party since its foundation in 1973 until 2005.