September 3 Birthday

Famous Birthdays on September 3

• Ferdinand Porsche (1875)

  Austrian-German automotive engineer who founded the Porsche company and designed the original Volkswagen Beetle.

• Valerie Perrine (1943)

  American actress known for Lenny and Superman, and a Golden Globe winner for her early film roles.

• Charlie Sheen (1965)

  American actor known for Platoon, Wall Street, and the sitcoms Two and a Half Men and Anger Management.

• Shaun White (1986)

  American snowboarder and skateboarder who won three Olympic gold medals in halfpipe snowboarding.

This Day in History

• 1189 — Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

• 1783 — The Treaty of Paris was signed, formally ending the American Revolutionary War and recognizing the independence of the United States.

• 1939 — Britain and France declared war on Germany, two days after the German invasion of Poland, formally beginning their involvement in the Second World War.

What September 3 Says About You

Three of the four documented events tied to September 3 involve a formal declaration of some kind — a coronation, a peace treaty, a declaration of war — which fits neatly enough with a numerology day number of 3, traditionally linked to expression and putting things into words. Richard I was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey on this date in 1189, an early instance of the coronation ritual that England still uses in recognizable form today. Nearly six centuries later, in 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, formally ending the American Revolutionary War and securing international recognition of the United States as an independent nation — a document, not a battle, doing the decisive work. And in 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany on this date, two days after the German invasion of Poland, turning a regional invasion into a continental war through the simple act of two governments announcing their position. Four people born on September 3 built careers around design, performance, and physical risk in roughly equal measure. Ferdinand Porsche, born in 1875, designed the original Volkswagen Beetle before founding the sports car company that carries his name, shaping the look of everyday cars and racing cars alike. Valerie Perrine, born in 1943, earned a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for a career built on unflinching, difficult roles in films like Lenny. Charlie Sheen, born in 1965, moved from acclaimed dramatic work in Platoon and Wall Street to a long run in network sitcoms. And Shaun White, born in 1986, turned halfpipe snowboarding into appointment viewing on his way to three Olympic gold medals. As a Virgo date, September 3 carries the sign's characteristic precision, which suits a birthday attached to formal documents and exacting rituals more than spontaneous ones. Like every day in September, the 3rd shares its birthstone with the rest of the month, and sapphire's long-standing reputation for truthfulness suits a date whose four defining events are each, at bottom, formal statements of where things now stand — a crown conferred, a war ended, a war widened, each one made real the moment it was declared. The Treaty of Paris negotiations themselves stretched on for months, with American commissioners Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay working to secure not just British recognition of independence but also generous territorial boundaries stretching to the Mississippi River, terms considerably more favorable than the young nation might have expected from its former colonial ruler. Richard I's 1189 coronation, for its part, was followed almost immediately by anti-Jewish riots in London triggered by rumors surrounding the ceremony, a grim reminder that medieval coronations, however ritualized, often unleashed real and sometimes violent social upheaval well beyond the abbey walls. A birthday on September 3 sits in good company with declarations that mattered — a crown placed on a head, a war ended by treaty rather than exhaustion, and a war widened by announcement rather than escalation.