Only 10 percent of people are left-handed, but there are plenty of famous politicians, inventors, athletes and artists among the southpaw ranks. In honor of Left-Handers Day on Aug. 13, Tribune News Service lists some of history's most famous lefties.
Mark Zuckerberg
A number of U.S. business moguls and pioneers have been left-handed, from Henry Ford and John D. Rockefeller to former IBM head Lou Gerstner and Apple founder Steve Jobs. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is also a lefty, as is Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Per Time, a study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that left-handed men favor exploring new, unconventional ideas and ways of thinking, which is something these men certainly have in common.
Barack Obama
The 20th century has seen a disproportionate amount of left-handed presidents, with the latest being Barack Obama. Other lefty leaders of the free world come from both the left and the right side of the political aisle. They include Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Babe Ruth
The most famous left-handed athlete of all time might be Babe Ruth. The baseball legend pitched, caught and batted left-handed on his way to becoming one of the first five inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1936. Unlike other sports, left-handedness is a major advantage in baseball, which is why the proportion of left-handed MLB players is closer to 39 percent of hitters and 28 percent of pitchers, according to gameSense Sports. Left-handed baseball greats include Ken Griffey Jr. and Shoeless Joe Jackson.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a proud lefty. In her 2016 memoir "My Own Words," Ginsburg revealed she got her first and only D in school when teachers tried to force her to write with her right hand and she refused to comply.
Prince William
While left-handedness is affected by genetics, it's still surprising how strongly it runs in the British royal family: Lefties include Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth I and Prince William. While William's son George is only five, tabloids are speculating that he is left-handed like his father. So were Georges who came before him: King George II, George IV and George VI.
Napoleon Bonaparte
French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte might be remembered for his slight stature, but he was also a lefty. Despite this, the military leader is credited as one of the major reasons most of the world drives on the right side of the road. According to Time, the conqueror went on to impose his French traffic standard on Russia, Switzerland and Germany while the U.K. remained on the left-hand side. Other left-handed rulers included two other ambitious conquerors: Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar.
John Dillinger
Sinistrality is the formal name for left-handedness, and it shares the same Latin root as the word "sinister." Throughout history left-handedness was often associated with impurity or evil. While that stigma has mostly subsided, there have actually been quite a few famous lefty criminals. Along with Billy the Kid, the Boston Strangler and Jack the Ripper, Depression-era gangster John Dillinger was left-handed.
Buzz Aldrin
Though lefties make up only 10 percent of the general population, more than 20 percent of Apollo astronauts were lefties, according to NASA. One of the most famous is Buzz Aldrin, who was the pilot of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon mission and the second man in history to set foot on the moon's surface.
Helen Keller
On top of being the first blind and deaf person to graduate from college, Helen Keller was also the first blind and deaf left-handed person to do so. Keller read Braille texts using her left hand.
Judy Garland
Movie star Judy Garland was left-handed, as were other early Hollywood icons such as Betty Grable, Cary Grant and Tippi Hedren. There's a persistent myth that Marilyn Monroe was a lefty, but it's not true.
Kermit the Frog
Most Muppets are left-handed because most puppeteers have been right-handed and used their dominant hand to operate the body and mouth and the left to use the arm. Kermit is the most obvious lefty among the Muppets because he plays his iconic banjo left-handed. The guitarists of the Muppet band Electric Mayhem are also all lefties. Although creator Jim Henson was often said to be a lefty, he operated puppets and drew with his right hand.
Mark Twain
There's a long tradition of imaginative fiction authors being left-handed. Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll and H.G. Wells were all lefties, as was Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name Mark Twain.
Leonardo da Vinci
Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci used his left hand to draw and paint, but historians are unsure if that is his natural handedness or he was forced to use his left after an injury to his right hand. Famous graphic artist M.C. Escher was also left-handed. A few other famous painters who are often misidentified as left-handed are Pablo Picasso and Rembrandt van Rijn.
Paul McCartney
"The only thing I couldn't cure myself of was being left-handed," Paul McCartney once said. "I do everything with my left hand, and no matter how I try I can't change the habit." The Beatles' bassist is a lefty and couldn't seem to get the hang of playing guitar until he flipped it around. He now owns several custom left-hand guitars. While he plays stringed instruments left-handed, he plays a right-handed drum kit, much like his fellow left-handed Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr.
Jimi Hendrix
Naturally a lefty, legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix ate and wrote with his right hand because his father forced him to do so, but when it came to playing guitar, he went with his naturally stronger left side. He didn't use a left-handed guitar; instead he played a right-handed guitar upside down and restrung, which sounded different than a standard guitar, helping Hendrix create some of his signature unique sounds.
Kurt Cobain
Former Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain played guitar left-handed but wrote with his right hand, just like Jimi Hendrix.
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, known by her stage name Lady Gaga, writes left-handed but plays guitar right-handed. According to Billboard, Gaga has 19 tattoos in total, all of them on the left side of her body.
David Bowie
Music icon David Bowie wrote left-handed but also learned how to play guitar with his right hand. Other famous left-handed guitarists who learned on the opposite side include Elvis Costello, Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins and Joe Perry of Aerosmith.
Mary-Kate Olsen
Even though they have the exact same genetic makeup, 18 percent of identical twins have different dominant hands, which is the case with famous twins Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. Mary-Kate is a lefty, while Ashley is right-hand-dominant.
Oprah Winfrey
TV host, actor, producer and entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey is left-handed.
Jon Stewart
Comedian Jon Stewart wagged his finger and waved his hands in exasperation at public figures with his left hand as the longtime host of "The Daily Show."
Morgan Freeman
A 2008 car crash left Morgan Freeman with a broken shoulder, arm and elbow on his left side. Although he had surgery to repair the damage, he suffered permanent nerve damage in his hand. The left-handed actor is unable to move the fingers of his left hand now, and he must wear a compression glove on his paralyzed hand.
Jennifer Lawrence
Although she's left-handed, Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence learned how to shoot a bow right-handed in order to play heroine Katniss Everdeen in the "Hunger Games" movies.
Jerry Seinfeld
Both Jerry Seinfeld and his "Seinfeld" castmate Jason Alexander are left-handed. Other southpaw Hollywood comedians include Tina Fey, Jason Sudeikis, Seth Rogen and Ben Stiller.
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg, the "Ghost" actress and EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony) winner, is one of many Hollywood icons who are left-handed. Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman and Scarlett Johansson are also left-handed.
Angelina Jolie
Actress and director Angelina Jolie is left-handed, so her famous character Lara Croft in the "Tomb Raider" movies was also left-handed, using her left hand for combat and shooting a gun.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick
Husband-and-wife southpaws Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick make a left-handed power couple.
John Cena
Although wrestler turned actor John Cena writes and signs autographs with his left hand, he throws and fights right-handed, according to Bleacher Report.
Caitlyn Jenner
Already among the elite ranks of Olympic athletes, Caitlyn Jenner, who won the gold medal in the decathlon in 1976, is among the even smaller ranks of left-handed Olympians.
Dorothy Hamill
Another left-handed American Olympic icon is gold-medal-winning figure skater Dorothy Hamill.
John McEnroe
Two of the greatest and winningest tennis players of all time are lefties: John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova. Seven of the first 17 men's champions in the Open era were left-handed, according to The Telegraph, and lefty Rafael Nadal won his 11th French Open title in 2018. The game has changed so that being left-handed is less of an advantage, and the sport has been dominated by righties in recent years.
Larry Bird
One of the most skilled left-handed basketball players isn't even a natural lefty. Celtics legend Larry Bird iconically logged a "lefty" triple-double in a 1986 game against the Portland Trail Blazers, meaning he scored 10 of his 21 field goals with his "off" hand while also notching double-digit rebounds and assists. The reason he leaned on his left-hand skills? "I'm saving my right hand for the Lakers," he said of his team's rivals, who they later defeated on the way to winning that year's NBA championship. True-blue lefty pro basketball players include James Harden, Jalen Rose, Chris Bosh, Manu Ginobili, David Robinson and Bill Russell.
