Amazing Sheep: Hardly a terrible sign if people like Bruce Willis and Whoopi are sheep

Chinese New Year

Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner as Spock and Captain Kirk from the TV show “Star Trek.” And yep, they’re both Sheep.

When it comes to auspiciousness, being born under the Year of the Sheep may be the worst, at least according to some Chinese superstitions, which suggest people born under this sign will fail at love, be poor at business, will follow rather than lead — and that a mere one in 10 will ever find happiness.

“It’s an unfair and outdated superstition,” Dong Mengzhi, honorary president of Beijing’s Folk Literature and Art Society, told the Washington Post earlier in 2014 when some Chinese couples were racing to conceive children early enough so to not be born during the Year of the Sheep.

Yet the number of expectant mothers at maternity hospitals across China has plummeted since September 2014, with the drop most noticeable in traditional areas, China Daily reported.

“We used to consider it merely as superstition,” Zhu Zhiling, a marketing manager at a women and children’s hospital group, told the paper. “But we never thought that such thinking, mostly from the older generations, would have such an impact on child planning.”

But contrary to the myth — which Dong suggested could be “a convenient way for many to explain an unpredictable world” — there are quite a few compelling “Sheep-ple.” Here’s a list of some of our favorite and more memorable picks:

1. Bruce Willis

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Photo: AP

Birthday: March 19, 1955

Will turn: 60 years old

American actor known for such films as “Die Hard,” “The Fifth Element,” “The Sixth Sense” and “Lucky Number Slevin.” His films have grossed upwards of $3 billion in the U.S.


2. Julia Roberts

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / David Shankbone

Birthday: October 28, 1967

Will turn: 48 years old

American actress known for films such as “Pretty Woman,” “Erin Brockovich,” and “Ocean’s Twelve.”


3. Tim Berners-Lee

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Paul Clarke

Birthday: June 8, 1955

Will turn: 60 years old

English computer scientist credited with creating the Internet.


4. Heath Ledger

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Howie Berlin

Birthday: April 4, 1979

Would have been: 36

Australian actor. His films include “10 Things I hate About You,” “Brokeback Mountain,” and “The Dark Knight.”


5. Maurice R. Hilleman

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: August 30, 1919

Would have been: 96 years old

American microbiologist who developed more than 36 vaccines for diseases such as pneumonia, chickenpox, measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and meningitis.


6. Yue Fei

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: March 24, 1103

Would have been: 912 years old

Chinese military general who is seen as a patriot and national folk hero who has evolved into the standard epitome of loyalty.


7. Jeff Daniels

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / iDominick

Birthday: February 19, 1955

Will turn: 60 years old

American actor best known for the films “Dumb and Dumber”and the TV series “The Newsroom.”


8. Joseph Stiglitz

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons

Birthday: February 9, 1943

Will turn: 72 years old

American economist who shared the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for information asymmetry. He was also a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.


9. Willie Mays

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Photo: Willie Mays’ incredible Game 1 over-the-shoulder catch in the 1954 World Series is one of the most iconic plays in baseball history. AP

Birthday: May 6, 1931

Will turn: 84 years old

American former professional baseball player who hit 660 home runs and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility.


10. Rachel Carson

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: May 27, 1907

Would have been: 108 years old

American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.


11. Nat King Cole

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: March 17, 1919

Would have been: 96 years old

Iconic American jazz singer and pianist.


12. Edmund Hillary

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: July 20, 1919

Would have been: 96 years old

New Zealand mountaineer who, with Nepalese Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, became the first climbers to reach the summit of Mount Everest.


13. Mikhail Gorbachev

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / SpreeTom

Birthday: March 2, 1931

Will turn: 84 years old

The eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union.


14. Zhang Ziyi

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Wang Long Wei

Birthday: February 9, 1979

Will turn: 36 years old

Chinese actress and model. Her film roles include “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Memoirs of a Geisha.”


15. Bill Gates

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / UK Department for International Development

Birthday: October 28, 1955

Will turn: 60 years old

American inventor and co-founder of Microsoft.


16. Liberace

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Allan warren

Birthday: May 16, 1919

Would have been: 96 years old

American pianist and highest-paid entertainer in the world between the 1950s-1970s.


17. Phillip Seymour Hoffman

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Georges Biard

Birthday: July 23, 1967

Would have been: 48 years old

American actor known for films such as “Capote” and “The Big Lebowski.”


18. Steve Jobs

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Matthew Yohe

Birthday: February 24, 1955

Would have been: 60 years old

American inventor who cofounded Apple Inc.


19. Christopher Walken

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: March 31, 1943

Will turn: 72 years old

American actor from films such as “Catch Me If You Can” and “Pulp Fiction” whose movies have grossed more than $1 billion in the U.S.


20. Kurt Cobain

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Photo: AP

Birthday: February 20, 1967

Would have been: 48 years old

American musician best known for his band Nirvana.


21. William Shatner

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: March 22, 1931

Will turn: 84 years old

American actor best known for his role as Captain Kirk in the TV show “Star Trek.”


22. Nicole Kidman

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Georges Biard

Birthday: June 20, 1967

Will turn: 48 years old

Australian actress. Her films include “Batman Forever” and “Moulin Rouge.”


23. Whoopi Goldberg

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Georges Biard

Birthday: November 13, 1955

Will turn: 60 years old

American actress and comedienne. Her films include “The Color Purple”, “Sister Act, and “Ghost.” For the latter, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the second black woman to ever win an Oscar.


24. Leonard Nimoy

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: March 26, 1931

Will turn: 84 years old

American actor best known for his role as Spock in the TV series “Star Trek.”


25. Robert De Niro

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Angela George

Birthday: August 17, 1943

Will turn: 72 years old

American actor from films such as “The Godfather II” and “Meet the Parents.”


26. Bill Maher

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / Angela George

Birthday: January 20, 1956

Will turn: 59 years old

American satirist, host of “Real Time with Bill Maher” and “Politically Incorrect.”


27. Michelangelo

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Photo: Portrait by Daniele da Volterra / Public domain

Birthday: March 6, 1475

Would have been: 540 years old

Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, and engineer during the Renaissance.


28. Thomas Edison

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: February 11, 1847

Would have been: 168 years old

American inventor.


29. Billie Jean King

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Photo: AP

Birthday: November 22, 1943

Will be: 72 years old

American former No. 1 world-ranked professional tennis player.


30. George Harrison

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: February 25, 1943

Would have been: 72 years old

British musician and lead guitarist of The Beatles.


31. Jim Morrison

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: December 8, 1943

Would have been: 72 years old

American singer and lead vocalist of The Doors.


32. Chow Yun-fat

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Photo: AP

Birthday: May 18, 1955

Will turn: 60 years old

Hong Kong actor. His films include “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.”


33. Yo Yo Ma

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Photo: Wikimedia Creative Commons / World Economic Forum

Birthday: October 7, 1955

Will turn: 60 years old

French-born Chinese American cellist who has won 15 Grammy Awards.


34. John Denver

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Photo: Public domain

Birthday: December 31, 1943

Would have been: 72 years old

American singer-songwriter that was one of the best-selling artists of the 1970s.


35. Cuba Gooding Jr

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Photo: AP

Birthday: January 2, 1968

Will turn: 47 yeras old

American actor. His films include “A Few Good Men,” “As Good as It Gets,” and “Jerry Maguire.” The latter won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.