Born in 1981

A selection from Wikipedia's '1981 in the United States'. Not a complete list.

• March 31 – The 53rd Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Robert Redford's directorial debut, Ordinary People, wins four awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
• April 12 – The Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Columbia (John Young, Robert Crippen) launches on the STS-1 mission, returning to Earth on April 14.
• June 12 – Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by Steven Spielberg is released as the first film of the Indiana Jones film series.
• July 10 – Walt Disney Productions' 24th feature film, The Fox and the Hound, is released after a six-month delay due to the departure of Don Bluth and his animation team from the studio. The film receives mixed-to-positive reviews and is a box office success.
• August 1 – MTV (Music Television) is launched on cable television in the United States.
• August 12 – The original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor) is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.
• October 28 – The thrash metal band Metallica forms in Los Angeles.
• November 12 – STS-2: Space Shuttle Columbia (Joe Engle, Richard Truly) lifts off for its second mission.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

• Rubik's Cube
• Smurfs
• Strawberry Shortcake