25 famous people born under the sign of the lion

The Sun returns to the stage lights of Leo from July 22 until August 22.

Leo is ruled by the sun and rightly associated with creativity, as solar energy encourages growth of the literal and metaphorical variety.

In terms of the physical body, Leo rules the heart, spine, spinal column, and upper back.

Because Leo rules the heart, matters of it are of utmost importance. Leos take heartbreak hard, especially if their pride is compromised in the emotional fallout.

Expressing, understanding, seeking, and recovering from love are the ways they make sense of themselves and the world they move through.

People born under the sign of the lion tend to be romantic, expressive, contagious, power hungry, and memorable.

Read on to learn more about famous members of the lion pride.

Daniel Radcliffe

Daniel Radcliffe shares a zodiac sign with Harry Potter, the character he’s best known for playing.

In true heart-forward, self-celebrating lion fashion, Radcliffe advises, “Go boldly and honestly through the world. Learn to love the fact that there is nobody else quite like you.”

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez was delivered unto us on July 24, 1969, making our girl a “love me, love me, say that you love me” Leo sun with a cobwebs and conspiracy theories Scorpio moon.

No sign suffers failure more deeply or takes rejection more personally than a Leo.

See Lopez revealing that she felt like she “was going to die” after calling off her first engagement to Affleck and, in their latest breakup, leaning full tilt and whole mane into her dolce vita as vengeance motif.

A scorned Leo gives the impression that if you’re foolish enough not to want them, they’ll keep warm at night with the heat of their own hotness and by the eternal flame of their own arrogance.

Mick Jagger

Born July 26, Leo Mick Jagger is proof positive of the ‘main character/lead singer’ energy of his fixed fire sign. Vanity is the favored sin of the lion pride, and Jagger underscores the impulse, allegedly marrying his first wife, Bianca, because she looked like him.

Sandra Bullock

Iconic actress Sandra Bullock was born under a full moon, making her a Leo sun with an Aquarius moon, highlighting her need to bring humanitarian causes to the forefront.

Jason Momoa

Born Aug. 1, 1979, in Honolulu, Hawaii, Momoa is a Leo sun with a Scorpio moon. 

True to the die-hard romanticism of his sign, Momoa claims to have fallen for ex-wife Lisa Bonet at first sight, seeing her on his TV screen as a kiddo and hatching a prepubescent plot to marry her. 

Momoa, who also has Venus, planet of love, in the sign of the lion, upped the stakes and the horsepower on romance when he restored Bonet’s first car, a 1965 Ford Mustang, as a birthday offering for her.

Martha Stewart

All press is good press to a Leo; they’ll take the shade and the shine, the praise and the persecution, just so long as someone is talking about them. 

Even when a Leo serves time, they can make the time serve them. Case in point is lifestyle magnate Martha Stewart, whose stint behind bars made her a vocal advocate for prison reform, a skilled ceramicist, and lent her a newfound humility that ultimately benefited her brand. 

Meghan Markle

Leo is the sign of royalty, and sometimes a Leo is so sovereign that they pull a power move, relocate to the US with the hotter of the two princes, and reject their royal title and the fraught lineage of the monarchy, all while dressing impeccably and drawing relentless attention like lion regent Meghan Markle.

Barack Obama

There’s a fair amount of pageantry to politics — and Leo knows how to play the game, kiss the baby, and appear at once regal and relatable.

Leo rules and leads with the golden chariot of the human heart, making them by no means perfect, but generally popular and genuinely galvanizing. We see this energy at work in former President Barack Obama.

As Natalie Franklin brilliantly notes, even and perhaps especially as he ages, Obama brings levity, big Leo energy, and long lost sex appeal to the campaign trail.

Charlize Theron

Actress Charlize Theron is a triple Leo with her sun, moon, and Mercury all falling in the sign of the big cat.

Shawn Mendes

Musician Shawn Mendes is a fiery Leo Sun with a rebellious Aquarius Moon. Owing to this opposition, he lives large, goes big, and doesn’t think twice.

His Mercury, the planet of communication and mental processes, is also in Leo, filling his mind and mouth with grand schemes, romantic sentiments, and brazen initiatives.

Kylie Jenner

Kylie Jenner was born unto on August 10, 1997, making our girl a live-out-loud Leo sun with an angsty teenager Scorpio moon.

Truly, there is no more apt application (pun intended) of a Leo sun/Scorpio moon than a makeup mogul, followed shortly thereafter by the adjacent professions of mortician or possibly war photographer.

These two signs conspire to transfix and transform, and we see them at work in the ways Kylie gets rich and in the way she curates and cloaks her public image.

Chris Hemsworth

Lions are not known for their subtlety, and Thor-daddy Chris Hemsworth is no exception.

The Australian actor nearly broke the internet when he posted a workout video that seemingly revealed his own down under.

Viola Davis

Lion luminary Viola Davis shared that her hair connects her with the spirit of her sign. “My afro makes me feel great. I always feel like it brings out the Leo in me when I walk in the room because it’s so attention-grabbing. I’m like, “I know you’re looking at me,” she told Marie Claire.

Cara Delevingne

Actress Cara Delevingne leads with her sign, courtesy of a now-iconic lion tattoo on her pointer finger.

In the most distilled Leo energy of all time, she shared with W Magazine, “Leos are always very proud to be Leos because they’re Leos.”

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Sebastian Stan

Marvel marvel Sebastian Stan is an astrology boy, revealing that his phone’s background is a black and white portrait of a lion, “cuz I’m a Leo.”

Halle Berry

If ever a human being was astrologically destined to play Catwoman, it’s Halle Barry.

The Oscar-winning actress is a triple Leo with her sun, moon, and Mercury all falling in the sign of the lion.

Joe Jonas

Joe Jonas came to be and into being on August 15, 1989, making him a rise and shine Leo sun with a weirder than a box of hair Aquarius moon. 

Jennifer Lawrence

Actress Jennifer Lawrence, a self-aware lion, told W Magazine, “I’m obviously a Leo. Leos are cocky but generous. We love attention. I’m not shy.” 

Ben Affleck

Leos like our boy Ben make an art of romance with a theatrical ‘roar it from the rooftops’ quality to their gestures.

Case in point, Affleck placing advertisements in Variety Magazine and The Hollywood Reporter to list his favorite things about Jennifer Lopez while she was still married to Chris Judd.

Bold my dude, bold.

Madonna

Just as the sun illuminates the earth, so too does an actualized Leo burn bright as an example of what can be achieved when you live with the attitude that you are deserving.

To paraphrase Madonna, patron saint of Leos, people don’t get what they want because they don’t say what they want.

Angela Bassett

Leos truly want everyone to shine, so long as they remain the supreme source of light, praise, and importance.

There can only be one, folks, and you better f—ing believe that one is a lion.

Examples of Leos taking losing to heart include aspirational actress Angela ‘no clap for my competition’ Bassett, born on August 16th.

Amy Adams

Born August 20, brilliant actress and lion queen Amy Adams sings to the spirit of her sign with an admitted love of karaoke (specifically the Heart banger “Alone”) and a pension for making her kid’s Halloween costumes by hand.

Demi Lovato

Leo is ruled by the sun and thus adept at commanding attention and shining a powerful light on causes and conditions close to their hearts. They can make for incredible advocates or insufferable grandstanders.

Case in point, Demi Lovato, who has been courageously candid about their mental health journey, but also inexplicably waged a social media war against frozen yogurt shop The Big Chill, alleging they felt personally triggered by the shop’s array of sugar-free choices and diet items. Cue the shop gently reminding Demi that they cater to diabetics, Celiacs, and vegans alike, and their offerings are a reflection of that.

PSA to Leos, it is often, but not always, about you.

Andrew Garfield

British actor Andrew Garfield was born under a full moon, meaning his sun in Leo opposes his moon in Aquarius.

Leos are heart-ruled and motivated to create and express, an ethos made manifest in Garfield, who was moved to tears reading a “Modern Love” essay.

Explaining his reaction, he shared, “This is why art is so important, because it can get us to places that we can’t get to any other way.”

Dua Lipa

Born August 22, 1995, Dua Lipa is a mane-shaking, dance-floor commanding Leo sun with an emo AF Cancer moon.

Fact: only a Leo would release a self-referential song called “Hotter Than Hell” and only a Cancer moon would write a pain-baiting one called “Break My Heart.” 

Lipa’s current flame and fiancé, Callum Turner, is an Aquarius, the sign that sits opposite Leo on the zodiac wheel.

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Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. To book a reading, visit her website.