In American television in 1995, notable events included television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes.
| Date | Event |
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| 2 | The 1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment continues in two major markets: as a by-product of an affiliation deal between ABC and The E.W. Scripps Company, and a related deal between CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting, Westinghouse-owned WBZ-TV (channel 4) in Boston, Massachusetts switches from NBC to CBS, while NBC aligns with former CBS affiliate WHDH (which will remain affiliated with the network until New Year's Eve 2016). In Baltimore, CBS switches affiliations to Westinghouse-owned WJZ-TV (channel 13) after 46 years as an ABC affiliate, while ABC joins Scripps-owned WMAR (channel 2) and NBC reunites with WBAL-TV (channel 11) after 13 years as a CBS affiliate. Later that year, Westinghouse acquires CBS, making both WBZ-TV and WJZ-TV CBS owned-and-operated stations. |
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| , the second American adaptation of the Japanese anime series Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (the first being Battle of the Planets) becomes the first-ever anime to air on Cartoon Network. On January 29, Robot Carnival, Vampire Hunter D, and Twilight of the Cockroaches also debut, followed in February of next year by Speed Racer. This predates the March 1997 debut of Toonami, which will go on to popularize anime on the network and in the West. |
| 5 | All My Children celebrates its 25th anniversary and broadcasts a prime-time special on ABC. |
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| In an interview with Kathleen Gingrich, mother of Republican politician Newt Gingrich, on CBS' Eye to Eye, Mrs. Gingrich said she could not say what her son thought about First Lady Hillary Clinton on the air. Connie Chung asked Mrs. Gingrich to "just whisper it to me, just between you and me," and Mrs. Gingrich's microphone volume was turned up as she replied "He thinks she's a bitch." Many people interpreted Chung's suggestion that if Mrs. Gingrich would whisper this statement it would be promised that the statement would be off the record. Bill Carter for The New York Times reported, "Ms. Chung had become the object of some of the most ferocious criticism, justified or not, ever directed at any network anchor as a result of her now infamous interview with Speaker Newt Gingrich's mother, Kathleen."[1] The interview was also parodied on Saturday Night Live.[2] |
| 11 | The WB, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Television and Tribune Broadcasting in conjunction with original network CEO Jamie Kellner, launches. Among the programs offered are four situation comedies (two family-oriented, one family-focused but adult-targeted and one adult-oriented soap opera-inspired satire): The Wayans Bros. (starring former In Living Color DJ/cast member Shawn Wayans and his younger brother, Marlon Wayans), The Parent 'Hood (starring Robert Townsend), Unhappily Ever After and Muscle. While the former three series wound up lasting five seasons, Muscle fails to survive its first season. In addition to being available on around 70 affiliates, The WB is also initially distributed directly to cable and satellite providers via the superstation feed of Chicago charter affiliate WGN-TV (owned by Tribune) to serve markets where the lack of available independent stations or stations that passed over the network in favor of fellow fledgling network UPN prevented The WB from maintaining an exclusive affiliation at launch. (This ended in August 1999, as a result of The WB gaining full-time affiliates in some underserved mid-sized markets and a small-market cable feed being launched to serve smaller markets.) |
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| 16 | The United Paramount Network (UPN) launches, with a two-hour premiere of . This results in an affiliation change in San Antonio between Fox affiliate KRRT (now KMYS) and independent station KABB, as KRRT leaves Fox for the new network (due to its then-ownership by Paramount Pictures, UPN's part-owner) and KABB assumes the Fox affiliation. |
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| The 1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment continues in the Flint/Tri-Cities, Michigan market, as NBC affiliate WNEM-TV in Bay City and CBS affiliate WEYI-TV in Saginaw swap affiliations. The move is deemed necessary by CBS to restore coverage in areas underserved by its then-new affiliate WGPR in adjacent Detroit, since WNEM-TV's signal is stronger than that of WEYI-TV. |
| 24 | Live broadcasts of the O. J. Simpson trial begin; as a result, many network soap operas are partially pre-empted, more or less, for nine months. | |
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| Date | Event |
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| 7 | Jurassic Park makes its network broadcast television premiere on NBC. |
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| 9 | CBS broadcasts Deadline for Murder: From the Files of Edna Buchanan, starring Elizabeth Montgomery. This turned out to be Montgomery's final live-action acting role (her final acting role in general was in a voice-over role on ) as she would die on May 18. |
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| 12 | As the World Turns broadcasts its milestone 10,000th episode on CBS. |
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| 21 | Above Suspicion starring Christopher Reeve premieres on HBO. In it, Reeve plays a paralyzed cop who plots to murder his wife. Six days after Above Suspicion first airs, Reeve is seriously injured in a fall while riding on horseback, resulting in him becoming a quadriplegic for the remainder of his life. |
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| 24 | ABC announces that an episode of the soap opera All My Children was deleted from broadcasting due to the then-recent Oklahoma City bombing; in the story, villainess Janet Green was supposed to explode the church in which her ex Trevor Dillon was to marry her rival Laurel Banning. | |
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| Date | Event |
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| 1 | After being purchased by New World Communications from Argyle Television, three additional stations switch to Fox as part of the 1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment: KDFW (channel 4) in Dallas-Ft. Worth, KTBC (channel 7) in Austin, Texas and KTVI (channel 2) in St. Louis. KDFW and KTBC both defect from CBS, while KTVI leaves ABC. Independent station KTVT (channel 11) in Dallas takes the CBS affiliation in that area through an affiliation deal between the network and Gaylord Broadcasting (owners of KTVT); in Austin, former Fox affiliate KBVO (channel 42) swaps affiliations with KTBC and changes its calls to KEYE; and in St. Louis, KDNL (channel 30) swaps its Fox affiliation with KTVI and joins ABC. Former Fox-owned station KDAF-TV (channel 33) joins The WB, taking that affiliation from KXTX-TV (channel 39) due to a temporary arrangement in which KXTX would carry WB programming, until such time Fox was cleared to move to channel 4. KXTX-TV then becomes an independent station. Fox Kids, Fox's children programming block, doesn't follow the rest of the network's programming to KTBC and KTVI because of their commitments to news, and instead air on independent stations K13VC and KNLC. As a result of a dispute between Fox and KNLC, however, Fox Kids is moved to KTVI the following year. |
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| 11 | ABC airs the 66th annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game from Arlington, Texas. It was ABC's first broadcast of baseball's All-Star Game since 1988 and their last to date. |
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| 24 | WFMZ-TV initiates their very first daytime Berks Edition at 5:30 pm and the First Nighttime Newscast at 10:30 pm, covering the entire Berks County and all across the Lehigh Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania and Western New Jersey. |
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| 31 | The Walt Disney Company announces that it would acquire and merge with Capital Cities/ABC Inc. The purchase would include the ABC network itself, stakes in A&E Television Networks, Lifetime and ESPN Inc., and the ownership in the limited partnership-ran animation studio DIC Productions, L.P. The sale would be completed in 1996. | |
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| Date | Event |
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| 4 | Shortly after CBS' affiliation agreement with Westinghouse Broadcasting, its flagship station at that time, KDKA-TV finally brings back the program CBS This Morning after a few years of preempting. |
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| 7 | NBC wins the rights to broadcast the 2002 Winter Olympics from Salt Lake City, Utah for $545 million. |
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| 14 | ABC affiliate in Rockford, WREX-TV and NBC affiliate WTVO swaps network affiliations due to a group deal with Quincy Newspapers.[10] |
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| 17 | On the series finale of Yo! MTV Raps, numerous high-profile names in the world of hip-hop close the show out with a freestyle rap session. |
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| The Tribune Company acquired a 12.5% limited partnership interest in The WB for $12 million; the deal gave Tribune an option to increase its stake in the network up to a 25% interest; Tribune would eventually increase its ownership share in the WB to 22.5% on March 31, 1997. |
| 21 | As a result of the 1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment, longtime NBC affiliate WLUK-TV in Green Bay becomes the first of four "Big three" affiliates that SF Broadcasting (a joint venture of Savoy Communications and Fox Broadcasting) has purchased from Burnham Broadcasting to switch its affiliation to Fox. NBC eventually aligns with former Fox affiliate WGBA-TV. Two more NBC-affiliated stations (WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama, and KHON-TV in Honolulu), along with ABC affiliate WVUE in New Orleans switch their affiliations to Fox on January 1, 1996. NBC again swaps affiliations with the former Fox affiliates in Mobile and Honolulu (WPMI and KHNL respectively), while ABC joins WB affiliate WGNO and former Fox affiliate WNOL joins The WB. |
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| 22 | Larry Hagman, former main actor of Dallas and I Dream of Jeannie, undergoes a liver transplant. | |
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| Date | Event |
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| 4 | The very first edition of WCW Monday Nitro airs from the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota on TNT. |
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| 5 | Alan Kalter becomes the second announcer of the Late Show with David Letterman replacing Bill Wendell. |
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| 6 | In front of a nationwide audience watching on ESPN and on HTS in the Baltimore market, Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. surpasses New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig on Major League Baseball's list for most consecutive games played. |
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| 8 | The 1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment continues when longtime ABC affiliate WGHP-TV (channel 8) in High Point, North Carolina is sold directly to Fox (acquired via New World Communications from Citicasters, along with WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama due to ownership conflicts) and as a result, becomes a Fox-owned station. Former Fox affiliates WNRW-TV (channel 45)/WGGT-TV (channel 48, now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYV-TV) assume the ABC affiliation, and WNRW-TV changes its callsign to WXLV-TV to reflect the new affiliation. Both stations retain a secondary UPN affiliation until WGGT-TV leaves its WXLV-TV simulcast to become a full-time UPN affiliate the next year. |
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| With the cancellation of the 1988 incarnation of Family Feud, The Price Is Right becomes the last remaining Goodson-Todman show on the air until a revival of Match Game three years later. |
| 9 | Kids' WB debuts on The WB, anchored by Animaniacs, which transfers over from Fox's children's programming block, Fox Kids. It debuted on Fox Kids 2 years before. |
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| 10 | A major compensation deal between NBC and CBS after the Westinghouse-Group W/CBS deal as a result of the 1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment becomes effective: two NBC O&O's (KCNC-TV in Denver and KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City) and the network's Philadelphia affiliate KYW-TV become CBS-affiliated stations (and quickly after that CBS-owned stations after Westinghouse merged with CBS), while former CBS affiliate KSL-TV in Salt Lake City joins NBC and CBS O&O WCAU in Philadelphia becomes an NBC-owned station. Meanwhile, in Miami, CBS-owned WCIX (channel 6) and NBC-owned WTVJ (channel 4) swap channel positions, with WCIX becoming WFOR-TV as a result of the change. Two related swaps also occur in Denver, as former ABC affiliate KUSA-TV joins NBC, and former CBS affiliate KMGH-TV switches to ABC as a result of an affiliation deal between the network and McGraw-Hill, KMGH's owners. |
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| The 47th Primetime Emmy Awards are aired on Fox. |
| CBS acquires ABC affiliate WPRI-TV from Narragansett Television and swaps affiliations with WLNE-TV, thus reversing a swap that took place in 1977. |
| UPN Kids launches on UPN, featuring two new series, Space Strikers and Teknoman. |
| As part of a deal between Outlet Communications and NBC, WB affiliate WNCN-TV in Raleigh, North Carolina switches to NBC, ending WNCN's 9-month affiliation with The WB. Former NBC affiliate WRDC elevates its UPN affiliation to full-time status, while WRAZ, which had signed on three days earlier, joins the WB. |
| 17 | Part 2 of "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" serves as the Season 7 premiere of The Simpsons on Fox. An America's Most Wanted special, "Springfield's Most Wanted", precedes the episode. |
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| 22 | KASW signs on the air in Phoenix, Arizona, as part of a LMA with, and taking The WB from, KTVK which becomes independent. In addition, KASW also assumes the local broadcast rights to Fox Kids, which Fox affiliate KSAZ-TV is pre-empting in favor of news. |
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| 27 | Jennifer Love Hewitt joins the cast of Party of Five, after appearing in three failed shows as a cast member, the Fox series Shaky Ground and the ABC series The Byrds of Paradise and McKenna. |
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| 30 | Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, and Darrell Hammond join the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live. | |
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| Date | Event |
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| 2 | In Major League Baseball's first "do or die" tie-breaker game since 1980, the Seattle Mariners defeat the California Angels 9–1 to clinch the American League West title and their first ever postseason berth. The game is nationally televised on ESPN with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on the call. |
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| 3 | More than 150 million people tune in to watch the verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, which ends with Simpson being found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The verdict is met with both praise and criticism. |
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| 8 | Game 5 of the American League Division Series between the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees is broadcast on ABC/The Baseball Network with Brent Musburger and Jim Kaat on the call. With Seattle down by the score of 5–4 going into the bottom of the 11th inning, Edgar Martínez lines a double to the left field fence off of New York reliever Jack McDowell, scoring both Joey Cora and Ken Griffey Jr. to send the Mariners to the League Championship Series for the first time. Martinez's game-winning hit and the aftermath remains the Mariners' most famous moment. During 1995, there were rumors that the Mariners might relocate to the Tampa area. Their success this season leads to renewed local interest in the team and the building of Safeco Field, which opened in July 1999. |
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| 15 | ABC affiliate W58BT goes on the air and former ABC affiliate WSJV-TV switches to Fox. |
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| 18 | In the Michiana region of Indiana, Elkhart-based ABC affiliate WSJV swaps affiliations with South Bend-based Fox affiliate W58BT (which will become WBND-LP by the end of the year). The rush for W58BT to switch to ABC (at the insistence of network executives, who didn't want to wait for W58BT to sign-on a new transmitter) causes a partial transmitter failure, which is fixed within a few days.[11] [12] |
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| 20 | Robert MacNeil anchors The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour on PBS for the last time. |
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| 21 | ABC and NBC begin their unprecedented shared coverage of the World Series through their soon to be concluding revenue sharing joint-venture with Major League Baseball called The Baseball Network. ABC, who last broadcast a World Series in 1989 airs Games 1, 4, and 5 (with Al Michaels, Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver on the call) while NBC, who last broadcast a World Series in 1988, airs Games 2, 3 and the decisive Game 6 (with Bob Costas, Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker on the call). (A seventh game, if necessary, would have been televised by ABC.) While NBC will continue to hold some MLB rights for the next few years, Game 5 on October 26 would prove to be the last Major League Baseball game to be broadcast by ABC until Game 1 of the 2020 American League Wild Card Series between the Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins. |
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| 28 | In Toledo, Ohio, NBC affiliate WTVG swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WNWO and becomes an ABC owned-and-operated station. |
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| The Atlanta Braves win the 1995 World Series in six games over the Cleveland Indians, making them the first Major League team to win a championship for three different cities (first being Boston in 1914 and then Milwaukee in 1957). It is also the final broadcast for The Baseball Network, which as previously mentioned, was a joint-venture between Major League Baseball, ABC, and NBC. | |
| Date | Event |
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| 1 | Clear Channel Communications, owners of recently purchased WHP-TV in Harrisburg, entered into a local marketing agreement with Gateway Communications, owners of WLYH-TV in Lancaster to start operating the station. As a result, WLYH-TV's news operation has been discontinued.[13] |
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| 2 | Characters from various NBC comedies appear on different shows. The lead character from Caroline in the City appears on Friends, while Friends characters Ross appears on The Single Guy and Chandler appears on Caroline in the City. |
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| 7 | Major League Baseball reaches a television deal[14] [15] with Fox[16] and NBC, allowing the former to obtain MLB game rights. Fox paid $575 million for the five-year contract, a fraction less of the amount of money that CBS had paid for the Major League Baseball television rights for the 1990–1993 seasons.[17] [18] |
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| 13 | ABC's 30-minute soap opera Loving is turned into The City. |
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| 20 | On ABC, One Life to Live broadcasts its 7,000th episode and debuts a new opening sequence. |
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| ROX and Computer Chronicles are broadcast via the Internet—these are the first Internet broadcasts in the history of television. | |
| Date | Name | Notability |
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| January 4 | Maddie Hasson | Actress (The Finder, Twisted) |
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| January 8 | Ryan Destiny | Actress |
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| January 9 | Nicola Peltz | Actress (Bates Motel) |
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| January 13 | Natalia Dyer | Actress (Stranger Things) |
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| Qaasim Middleton | Actor (The Naked Brothers Band) |
| January 24 | Dylan Everett | Canadian actor () |
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| Callan McAuliffe | Actor |
| January 27 | Malika Andrews | American sports journalist |
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| January 30 | Danielle Campbell | Actress (The Originals) |
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| February 8 | Jordan Todosey | Canadian actress () |
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| February 23 | Zion Moreno | Actress (Control Z, Gossip Girl) |
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| February 24 | Brittany Raymond | Actress |
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| February 28 | Quinn Shephard | Actress |
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| March 2 | Veronica Dunne | Actress (K.C. Undercover) |
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| March 7 | Haley Lu Richardson | Actress (Ravenswood, Recovery Road) |
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| March 10 | Grace Victoria Cox | Actress (Under the Dome) |
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| March 27 | Taylor Atelian | Actress (According To Jim) |
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| March 29 | Marc Musso | Actor |
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| April 1 | Logan Paul | Actor and pro wrestler (Logan Paul VS., Foursome, WWE) |
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| April 9 | Cierra Ramirez | Actress (The Secret Life of the American Teenager, The Fosters, Good Trouble) |
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| April 12 | Miguel Luciano | Actor (Talia in the Kitchen) |
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| April 15 | Cody Christian | Actor (Pretty Little Liars, Teen Wolf) |
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| April 21 | Thomas Doherty | Scottish actor (The Lodge, Descendants, Gossip Girl) |
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| April 23 | Gigi Hadid | Actress (The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) |
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| May 1 | Jake Cannavale | Actor |
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| May 4 | Shameik Moore | Actor (Incredible Crew, The Get Down) |
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| May 6 | Tiera Skovbye | Canadian actress (Riverdale) |
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| May 12 | Kenton Duty | Actor (Shake It Up) |
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| Luke Benward | Actor (Ravenswood) |
| Sawyer Sweeten (d.2015) | Actors (Everybody Loves Raymond) |
| Sullivan Sweeten |
| June 2 | Sterling Beaumon | Actor (Lost, The Killing) |
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| June 20 | Serayah | Actress (Empire) |
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| Aidan Drummond | Canadian actor (The Collector) |
| June 21 | Andrew Dismukes | Comedian |
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| July 2 | Nicole Alyse Nelson | Actress (I Am Frankie) |
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| July 7 | Chloe Greenfield | Actress (ER) |
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| July 9 | Georgie Henley | Actress (The Chronicles of Narnia) |
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| July 13 | Sam Straley | Actor (The Kids Are Alright) |
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| August 4 | Jessica Sanchez | Singer (American Idol)[29] |
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| August 12 | Austin Zajur | Actor |
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| August 18 | Parker McKenna Posey | Actress (My Wife and Kids) |
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| August 20 | Lulu Antariksa | Actress (How to Rock) |
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| August 26 | Gracie Dzienny | Actress (Supah Ninjas) |
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| August 28 | Ben Petry | Actor |
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| September 5 | Caroline Sunshine | Actress (Shake It Up) |
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| September 12 | Ryan Potter | Actor (Supah Ninjas, , Titans), voice actor () |
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| September 16 | Victory Van Tuyl | Actress (Marvin Marvin) |
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| September 18 | Megan Lee | Actress (Make It Pop) |
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| September 19 | Natalia Wójcik | Voice actress (Annie on Little Einsteins) |
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| September 20 | Sammi Hanratty | Actress |
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| October 3 | Ayo Edebiri | Actress (Big Mouth, The Bear) |
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| October 10 | Da'Vinchi | Actor and rapper (All American, BMF) |
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| October 15 | Billy Unger | Actor (Lab Rats, ) |
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| October 23 | Ireland Baldwin | Actress and daughter of Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger |
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| October 25 | Conchita Campbell | Actress (The 4400) |
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| October 30 | Rachel Hilson | Actress (Love, Victor) |
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| October 31 | Mateo Arias | Actor (Kickin' It) |
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| November 2 | Brandon Soo Hoo | Actor (Incredible Crew, ) |
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| November 3 | Kendall Jenner | Actress (Keeping Up with the Kardashians) |
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| November 13 | Stella Hudgens | Actress |
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| November 16 | Noah Gray-Cabey | Actor (My Wife and Kids, Heroes) |
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| November 22 | Katherine McNamara | Actress and singer (Shadowhunters) |
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| November 29 | Laura Marano | Actress (Without a Trace, The X's, Back to You, Austin & Ally) |
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| December 12 | C.J. LeBlanc | Actor (, Queen Sugar) |
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| December 18 | Elizabeth Stanton | Actress |
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| December 29 | Ross Lynch | Actor (Austin & Ally, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and singer (R5) |
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| Nick Merico | Actor (Every Witch Way) | |
