Celebrity Birthdays, March 16: Blake Griffin, Lauren Graham, and Jhené Aiko

Basketball player Blake Griffin, actress Lauren Graham, and singer Jhené Aiko are all celebrating their birthdays today.

Blake Griffin, 25

Basketball player Blake Griffin turns 25 today. Griffin played high school basketball at Oklahoma Christian School, with his father serving as head coach. Griffin won state titles each of his four years there. He went on to play basketball at the University of Oklahoma. In his second year there, he won the Naismith College Player of the Year, the Oscar Robertson Trophy, and the John Wooden Award.

Griffin left college basketball after two seasons to enter the 2009 NBA Draft. He was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers, but injured his knee in a pre-season game, causing him to miss the rest of the 2009-10 season. He started again as a rookie in the 2010-11 season. Griffin was selected as an All-Star and won the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest after jumping over a car. That same year, he was named on of NBA's 15 Greatest Rookies of All Time by Sports Illustrated.

Lauren Graham, 47

Actress, producer, and novelist Lauren Graham turns 47 today. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Graham moved to Washington, D.C. where she was raised with her father and step-mother. She moved to New York to pursue acting, then relocated to Los Angeles. Graham appeared in a few television series' including 3rd Rock from the Sun, Seinfeld, and Law & Order. In 2000, she landed the role of Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls. She also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series (Drama) in 2001. She served as a producer in the shows seventh season.

Graham starred in films like Sweet November, Bad Santa, The Pacifier, Because I Said So, and Evan Almighty. She made her Broadway debut in the production Guys and Dolls. Graham wrote Someday, Someday, Maybe: A Novel, which gives a fictional representation of her time in the New York acting scene in the '90s. It became a NY Times best seller in 2013, and is currently in the works of having a television adaptation which will be written by Graham.

Graham currently plays the lead role of Sarah Braverman on NBC's Parenthood.

Jhené Aiko, 26

Singer and songwriter Jhené Aiko turns 26 today. Aiko started her career by contributing vocals for B@K in 2002. Her song "Dog" was featured as a bonus track on their album Pandemonium. Aiko was set to release her solo album, but due to conflicts with Epic Records, the album never released. She later left Epic to focus on school. In 2011, Aiko released a mixtape, and was signed to Def Jam Records in 2012. She was the opening act on tour with Nas and Lauryn Hill.

In 2013, Aiko was featured on Big Sean's hit "Beware." The song became her first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100. She opened for Drake for his Would You Like A Tour? concert tour. She also supplied her vocals for "Wu-Tang Forever" and "In Time" on his album Nothing Was the Same.

Aiko released her debut EP, Sail Out in Nov. 2013, and it featured artists like Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, Ab Soul, and Vince Staples. The EP debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart. She has announced that her debut studio album, Souled Out, will be available this May.

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