Do you also 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!
Sunday 16th November
- Maggie Gyllenhaal - Born 1977, turns 37 - Actress
Monday 17th November
- Martin Scorsese - Born 1942, turns 72 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
- Danny DeVito - Born 1944, turns 70 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
- Zoe Bell - Born 1978, turns 36 - Actress | Stuntwoman
- Sophie Marceau - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actress | Director
- Lauren Hutton - Born 1943, turns 71 - Actress
- Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio - Born 1958, turns 56 - Actress
Tuesday 18th November
- Damon Wayans Jnr. - Born 1982, turns 32 - Actor | Writer
- Owen Wilson - Born 1968, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Delroy Lindo - Born 1952, turns 62 - Actor
Wednesday 19th November
- Adam Driver - Born 1983, turns 31 - Actor
- Charlie Kaufman - Born 1958, turns 56 - Writer | Producer | Director
- Ted Turner - Born 1938, turns 76 - Producer | Actor | Media Mogul
- Meg Ryan - Born 1961, turns 53 - Actress | Producer | Director
- Jodie Foster - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actress | Producer | Director
Thursday 20th November
- Bo Derek - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actress
- Sean Young - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actress
Friday 21st November
- Goldie Hawn - Born 1945, turns 69 - Actress | Producer
Saturday 22nd November
- Scarlett Johansson - Born 1984, turns 30 - Actress
- Jamie Lee Curtis - Born 1958, turns 56 - Actress
- Mark Ruffalo - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actor | Producer
- Mads Mikkelsen - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actor
- Robert Vaughan - Born 1932, turns 82 - Actor
- Terry Gilliam - Born 1940, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Animator
Alicia Christian Foster was born in Los Angeles. Her mother, Evelyn Ella Almond, worked for a film Producer and her father Lucius Fisher Foster III was a decorated Air Force Lieutenant Colonel turned Real Estate Broker. Her parents divorced three years before Alicia was born, yet she was conceived when her mother visited her father for child support monies for her other older siblings - Buddy Foster, Connie Foster and Cindy Foster Jones. From very early on her siblings insisted on calling the young Alicia, Jodie, and the name stuck!
Foster attended a French language prep school - The Lycée Francais de Los Angeles graduating in 1980. As a teenage actress she often visited and worked in France and so has come to speak French fluently. She also understands German, Spanish and can get by in Italian too. She attended Yale University and graduated in 1985 with a Bachelor's Degree in Literature, and in 1997 the University bestowed her an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree.
She was three years old when she made her acting debut for 'Coppertone Suntan Lotion', and then aged five she secured her first television series appearance on the family comedy show 'Mayberry R.F.D' in 1968. As an aspiring child actress she went on to star in numerous TV shows including 'The Doris Day Show', 'The Partridge Family', 'Bonanza', 'Gunsmoke', 'The Courtship of Eddie's Father' and 'Paper Moon' amongst others. She made her film acting debut in the 1970 TV movie 'Menace of the Mountain' and in 1974 she worked with Martin Scorsese on 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'. She made several films with Disney including 'Napoleon and Samantha' in 1972, 'One Little Indian' in 1973, 'Candleshoe' in 1977 and 'Foxes' in 1980.
It was 1976 however, that really catapulted the young Foster into the spotlight with no less than fig films released that year - the most notable of which was Martin Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver' with Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Cybil Shepherd - a role for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, aged 13. That same year came 'Bugsy Malone', 'Freaky Friday', 'Echoes of Summer' and 'The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane' with Martin Sheen. She won the BAFTA Awards in 1977 for her roles in both 'Bugsy Malone' and 'Taxi Driver' and a Golden Globe nomination for 'Freaky Friday'.
In the 1980's attempting to break into more adult acting roles she starred in such films as 'The Hotel New Hampshire', 'Five Corners', 'Stealing Home' and 'Siesta' all of which performed poorly - financially at least. However, her role in 1988's 'The Accused' alongside Kelly McGillis established her as an adult actress and garnered her an Academy Award win, a Golden Globe win and a BAFTA nomination. She followed this up in 1991 with 'Silence of the Lambs' with Anthony Hopkins, starring as young FBI Trainee Clarice Starling. This role and the film were huge successes, winning Foster her second Academy Award , Golden Globe and her first BAFTA win all for Best Actress.
1991 also saw Fosters Directorial debut with 'Little Man Tate' in which she also stars, and which received critical acclaim too. From there came 'Shadows and Fog' with Woody Allen, 'Sommersby' with Richard Gere, 'Maverick' with Mel Gibson, and the 'Nell' which gave her a fourth Academy Award nomination. 'Home for the Holidays' in 1995 was her second outing as Director and starred Robert Downey Jnr. and Holly Hunter. 'Contact' in 1997 opposite Matthew McConaughey was a success as was 1999's 'Anna and the King' - a remake of the 1946 film.
As the decade rolled over Foster took on more action orientated roles with 'Panic Room' Directed by David Fincher, 'Flightplan', 'Inside Man' with Denzel Washington and 'The Brave One' Directed by Neil Jordan - all of which brought critical and financial success, as did the 2008 family comedy 'Nim's Island' with Gerard Butler. In 2011 Foster returned to Directing with 'The Beaver' also starring her former co-star and long term friend Mel Gibson. Costing US$21M to make it raked in just over US$6M - due in part possibly to Gibson's much publicised rants a few years previously which had badly tarnished his reputation. This was followed up by Roman Polanski's 'Carnage' also in 2011 which was a return to form gaining Foster another Golden Globe nomination. 'Elysium' came in 2013 with Matt Damon, and she is currently Directing 'Money Monster' for a 2015 release.
In the late 1970's John Hinkley Jnr. became infatuated with Foster having seen her in 'Taxi Driver'. He saw the film may times over and actively stalked her while she attended Yale University, even sending love letters and calling her on the phone. Hinkley made an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan on 30th March 1981 to impress Foster, with the President narrowly escaping death when a ricocheted bullet lodged in his lung an inch from his heart. Six gun shots were fired by Hinkley before he was overcome by Security and Police Officers. It took Foster almost two decades to shake off this traumatic chapter in her life and move on with a degree of acceptance and renewal.
She has two sons - Charles Foster born in 1998 and Christopher Foster born in 2001, but she has never acknowledged who the father is. She was in a long term relationship from 1993 to 2008 with movie Producer Cydney Bernard, and in April this year she married Actress and Photographer Alexandra Hedison.
Foster has 75 acting credits to her name and seven Director and Producer credits also. Her awards haul includes two Academy Award wins for 'The Accused' and 'Silence of the Lambs' and two other nominations for 'Taxi Driver' and 'Nell'. She has three Golden Globe wins for 'The Accused', 'Silence of the Lambs' and the Cecil B. DeMille Award bestowed upon her in 2013 plus five other nominations. There are two Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and three BAFTA wins for 'Bugsy Malone', 'Taxi Driver' and 'Silence of the Lambs', plus a nomination for 'The Accused'. All up 56 award wins and 34 other nominations.
Jodie Foster - 52 years of age this week and been in the business for almost half a century - a truly remarkable track record of success in front and behind the camera that keeps you in demand, keeps you diverse, and keeps you fresh as new challenges present themselves to which your experiences, your skills and the future will continue to keep us entertained. Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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