Do you share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer or Singer/Songwriter or Composer of repute; or share an interest in whoever might notch up another year in the coming seven days? Then, look no further! Whilst there will be too many to mention in this small but not insignificant and beautifully written and presented Blog, here are the more notable and noteworthy icons of the big screen, and the small screen, that you will recognise, and that you might just share your birthday with in the week ahead. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!
Check out too the spotlight on this weeks Birthday Boy on 17th August, Sean Penn, at the end of this feature.
Sunday 17th August
- Steven East - Born 1963, turns 51 - Freelance Cinema Correspondent at Odeon Online
- Robert DeNiro - Born 1943, turns 71 - Actor | Producer | Director
- Sean Penn - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
- Donnie Wahlberg - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor | Producer
Monday 18th August
- Edward Norton - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor | Producer
- Robert Redford - Born 1936, turns 78 - Actor | Producer | Director
- Madeline Stowe - Born 1858, turns 56 - Actress
- Christian Slater - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor | Producer
- Roman Polanski - Born 1933, turns 81 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
Tuesday 19th August
- Matthew Perry - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Kyra Sedgwick - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actress | Producer
Wednesday 20th August
- Andrew Garfield - Born 1983, turns 31 - Actor
- Jean Allen - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actress
- David O. Russell - Born 1958, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Sylvester McCoy - Born 1943, turns 71 - Actor
Thursday 21st August
- Hayden Panettiere - Born 1989, turns 25 - Actress
- Kim Cattrall - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actress | Producer
- Carrie Anne-Moss - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actress
- Peter Weir - Born 1944, turns 70 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Kenny Rogers - Born 1938, turns 76 - Singer | Actor
Friday 22nd August
- Kristen Wiig - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actress | Producer | Writer
- Ty Burrell - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actor
- Honor Blackman - Born 1925, turns 89 - Actress
Saturday 23rd August
- Scott Caan - Born 1976, turns 38 - Actor
- Charley Boorman - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Roger Avery - Born 1965, turns 49 - Producer | Director | Writer
- Shelley Long - Born 1949, turns 65 - Actress | Producer
Sean Justin Penn was born in Santa Monica, California. He attended Santa Monica High School and from his childhood was making short films with his buddies Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen who lived close by. He is the son of Actor/Director Leo Penn and mother Eileen Ryan is also an Actress. His older brother Michael Penn is a musician, and his younger brother Chris Penn was an Actor too, who died of heart disease in 2006. In his teens Penn knew that he wanted to act having been in and around film and TV all his life. He scored his first role playing in 'Little House on the Prairie' - an episode being Directed by his Father, Leo. This was followed by a handful of appearances in TV Series and made for TV Movies culminating in him taking acting classes in the late 70's with another up-and-comer, Michelle Pfeiffer.
His big break came in 1981 starring alongside a new fresh faced Tom Cruise in 'Taps' also starring George C. Scott, Ronny Cox and Timothy Hutton, and from here on in, there was no looking back. This was followed up by 'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' in 1982 gaining him much positive endorsement from fans and critics alike.
The 80's were Penn's proving ground with 'The Falcon and the Snowman', 'At Close Range', 'Casualties of War', 'Colors' and 'We're no Angels' proving to be the highlights, with the opposing lowlight coming in the form of 'Shanghai Surprise' with his then wife, Madonna. This was critically slammed, but he bounced back quickly with the advent of the 90's.
This decade saw standout performances bring more critical acclaim with outings including 'Carlito's Way', 'Dead Man Walking', 'The Game', 'U-Turn', 'The Thin Red Line', and 'Sweet and Lowdown'. The 90's also saw Penn turn his hand to Directing with his 'The Indian Runner' being a very acceptable Directorial debut, and then 'The Crossing Guard' a few years later.
His political opinions also brought him under the spotlight with his strong outspoken views against President George W. Bush - taking out a US$56K advertisement in The Washington Post in 2002 in the form of an open letter asking when the President was going to end the cycle of violence, the pending attack on Iraq and the War on Terror that he was propagating. Penn visited Iraq later that year and subsequently over the ensuing years formed relationships with a number of world leaders - President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, who praised him for acting against Bush, amongst others. He was involved too in a number of humanitarian causes including his rescue attempt in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005; his relief efforts after the 2010 Haiti earthquake; and his support efforts after the 2012 Pakistan floods. He has openly expressed his views in support of same-sex marriage. In 2012 he visited the President of Argentina and was outspoken about the Argentinian/UK claim to the Malvinas/Falkland Islands and went on record hoping to establish the dialogue between the two nations so that common sense could prevail.
In the second decade of the new century he has starred in 'The Tree of Life', 'Gangster Squad' and more recently 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty', with 'The Gunman' currently in post-production for a 2015 release. 
His other film credits not already mentioned include 'Racing with the Moon', 'At Close Range', 'Judgement in Berlin', 'State of Grace', 'She's so Lovely', 'Hurlyburly', 'Before Night Falls', 'The Interpreter', 'All The King's Men', 'Fair Game' and 'This Must be the Place'. He has 55 acting credits to his name, ten Producer credits, eight Director credits and five Writing credits.
He won the Academy Award in 2004 for Best Actor for 'Mystic River' and in 2009 for 'Milk', and has three other nominations. He won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for 'Mystic River' and has four other nominations. and has three BAFTA nominations for 'Milk', '21 Grams' and 'Mystic River'. All up he has a global awards haul of 76 wins and 62 nominations to date. He has appeared in four films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award - 'The Thin Red Line', 'Mystic River', 'Milk' and 'The Tree of Life'. He is only the second Actor after Jack Lemmon to have won Awards at the other three main international Film Festivals - Berlin, Cannes and Venice, and, he has won in three consecutive years at those Festivals - 1995 - Berlin for 'Dead Man Walking'; 1996 - Cannes for 'She's So Lovely'; and 1997 - Venice for 'Hurlyburly'.
He is good friends with Robert DeNiro with whom he shares the same birth date, and will often have co-parties to celebrate. Also he is close to Jack Nicholson and formerly Dennis Hopper after whom he named his son - Hopper Jack. He was married to Madonna from 1985 to 1989 and to Robin Wright from 1996 to 2010 with whom he has two children - daughter Dylan Frances born in 1991, and son Hopper Jack born in 1993. He has served jail time in 1987 for 32 days for assaulting an extra, and in 2010 was ordered to complete 300 hours community service and attend 36 hours anger management therapy following his arrest for a violent attack on a paparazzi.
Sean Penn - often outspoken, sometimes controversial, at times unpredictable, politically opinionated, plays emotionally intense, often unsympathetic and violent characters, is multi-talented, much in demand and that's why we love ya - Happy Birthday from Odeon Online . . . and to me and Bob too!
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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