April 4, 1979

1979Heath Ledger, Australian actor (died 2008)^[†]

Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian actor. After playing roles in several Australian television and film productions during the 1990s, he moved to the United States in 1998 to further develop his film career. His work consisted of 20 films in a variety of genres, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), The Patriot (2000), A Knight's Tale (2001), Monster's Ball (2001), Casanova (2005), Lords of Dogtown (2005), Brokeback Mountain (2005), Candy (2006), I'm Not There (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), the latter two of which were posthumously released. He also produced and directed music videos and aspired to be a film director.

1979Roberto Luongo, Canadian ice hockey player^[†]

Roberto Luongo is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers, and Vancouver Canucks. In 2022, Luongo was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Luongo is a two-time NHL All-Star and winner of the William M. Jennings Trophy for backstopping his team to the lowest goals against average in the league. He was a finalist for several awards, including the Vezina Trophy as the league's best goaltender, the Lester B. Pearson Award as the top player voted by his peers, and the Hart Memorial Trophy as the league's most valuable player (2007). Luongo is third all-time in games played as an NHL goaltender (1,044) and fourth all-time in wins (489). He employed the butterfly style of goaltending.

1979Natasha Lyonne, American actress^[†]

Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein is an American producer, director, comedian, writer, actress, and artificial intelligence film studio head. Lyonne started her career as a child actress before expanding her career taking on mature roles in film and television, for which she was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, and named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2023. In 2025, she publicly revealed herself as the co-founder of the artificial intelligence film studio Asteria, founded with her boyfriend Bryn Mooser in 2022 with the intent to "make [photorealistic] animated films with zero human hands on deck".

1979Andy McKee, American guitarist^[†]

Andy McKee is an American fingerstyle guitar player who has released six studio albums, three extended plays, and one live album to date. A number of YouTube videos featuring McKee's highly-technical guitar performances have achieved viral fame, garnering hundreds of millions of views collectively.

1979Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 4th President of Pakistan (born 1928)^[†]

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was a Pakistani barrister and politician who served as the fourth president of Pakistan from 1971 to 1973 and later as the ninth prime minister of Pakistan from 1973 until his overthrow in 1977. He was also the founder and first chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) from 1967 until his execution in 1979.

1979Edgar Buchanan, American actor (born 1903)^[†]

William Edgar Buchanan II was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s.