Today's celebrity birthdays: August 17, 2026

Happy birthday to entertainers like Robert De Niro, Sean Penn, and Austin Butler! Keep on reading to see who else is celebrating their birthday and some career highlights!

Celebrity birthday highlights for August 17, 2026:

Actor Robert De Niro (1943) won Best Supporting Actor at the Academy Awards as young Vito Corleone in "The Godfather Part II" and Best Actor for "Raging Bull." He improvised "You talkin' to me?" as Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver," and at 81 he took his first starring TV role as a former president on Netflix's "Zero Day."

Singer Belinda Carlisle (1958) fronted the Go-Go's on "We Got the Beat" and "Vacation," then went solo with "Mad About You" and rode "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" to No. 1. She's still making records and has put out "Kismet" and "Once Upon a Time in California."

Actor-filmmaker Sean Penn (1960) went from Jeff Spicoli in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" to death row in "Dead Man Walking" and won the Best Actor Oscar for "Mystic River." He got behind the camera again for "Into the Wild," won another Best Actor Oscar for "Milk," and made it three Oscars with Best Supporting Actor for "One Battle After Another."