Leap Year Day on February 29 occurs nearly every four years.
It's a catch-up day.
The Earth takes almost six hours longer to go around the sun than the 365 days in our calendar year.
That's why we add a typical 24-hour day every four years. The addition of an extra day means that the calendar “leaps” over a day.
People born in leap years are called "leaplings", "leapers", or "leapsters". There are about 187,000 leapsters in the U.S. Of course, they still get to celebrate their birthday in common years. Some celebrate on February 28, some prefer March 1. The law recognizes March 1 as the technical birthday for leapsters in common years.
Some famous people who were born on Feb. 29 include: big band leader and musician Jimmy Dorsey, singer and TV talk show host Dinah Shore, film and
television actor Dennis Farina, burleque star Tempest Storm, motivational speaker Tony Robbins, rapper and actor Ja Rule, "Law & Order" actor Peter Scanavino, and world record holder and Olympic gold medalist in swimming Cullen Jones.
February 29 is traditionally set as Superman's birthday.
And Houdini's brother, Hardeen, was a Leap Year Centennial
baby!
He was born on February 29, 1876, one hundred years after the Declaration of Independence.
