Birthday's to share this week : 16th - 22nd August 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Steve Carell does on 16th August - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 53, at the end of this feature.

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, 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 August

• Steve Carell - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• James Cameron - Born 1954, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
• Rummer Willis - Born 1988, turns 27 - Actress
• Angela Bassett - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actress | Producer
• Madonna - Born 1958, turns 57 - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actress

Monday 17th August

• Steven East - Born 1963, turns 52 - Hospitality Professional | Odeon Online creator | Movie Blogger  
• Robert De Niro - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Sean Penn - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer | Director 
• Donnie Wahlberg - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer

Tuesday 18th August

• Edward Norton - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Christian Slater - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Robert Redford - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actor | Producer | Director  
• Roman Polanski - Born 1933, turns 82 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Madeline Stowe - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actress | Director | Writer

Wednesday 19th August

• Kyra Sedgwick - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actress | Producer
• Kevin Dillon - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor
• Matthew Perry - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Writer 

Thursday 20th August

• Andrew Garfield - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actor | Producer
• David O'Russell - Born 1958, turn s57 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Sylvester McCoy - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor 
• David Walliams - Born1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Joan Allen - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actress

Friday 21st August

• Carrie-Anne Moss - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress | Producer  
• Kim Cattrell - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actress | Producer  
• Hayden Panettiere - Born 1989, turns 26 - Actress
• Peter Weir - Born 1944, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer 

Saturday 22nd August

• Ty Burrell - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor
• Kristen Wiig - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Valerie Harper - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actress 
• Honor Blackman - Born 1925, turns 90 - Actress

Steven John Carell was born in Concord, Massachusetts, USA to mother Harriet Koch, a psychiatric nurse, and father Edwin Carell, an electrical engineer. Running through his veins there is Polish, German and Italian ancestry with his grandfather being named Caroselli which was shortened to Carell. Steve was educated at Nashoba Brooks School, then The Fenn School, a private boys school in Concord, and then Middlesex School also in Concord. At school he played lacrosse, ice hockey and he learned to play the fife before going onto Denison University in Granville, Ohio where he majored in history in 1984. He was also an active member of the University Burpee's Seedy Theatrical Company where he perfected his art of improvisational comedy and was a DJ at the campus radio station WDUB under the name 'Sapphire Steve Carell'.

Before his first screen acting role in 1991 he scored a few television commercials, acted on stage in both touring children's shows and musicals, and was part of The Second City troupe in Chicago where he met Stephen Colbert who was his understudy for a time. His big screen acting career kicked off with a bit part in 'Curly Sue' in 1991 with TV movie 'Life As We Know It' also that year. In 1996 and for all of just eight shows he scored a gig on 'The Dana Carvey Show' which is attributed to launching his career.

During this period he secured a number of roles on others television shows too, including 'Come to Papa', 'Over The Top' 'Just Shoot Me' and 'Watching Ellie' and then as a regular on 'The Daily Show' with John Stewart from 1999 until 2005. As his television status began to rise so film offers stated to come in with 'Bruce Almighty' in 2003 opposite Jim Carey, 'Anchorman : The Legend of Ron Burgundy' with Will Ferrell in 2004 which would be considered as his first major film role, Woody Allen's 'Melinda and Melinda' in 2004 also, and then 'Bewitched' alongside Nicole Kidman and Will Farrell in 2005.

Judd Apatow Produced 'Anchorman' and was so impressed with Carell's performance that they collaborated together on 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin' in 2005 which the two developed the story for, co-wrote and in which Carell starred as leading man garnering him an MTV Award for Best Comedic Leading Man. The next year he starred in the critically acclaimed 'Little Miss Sunshine' which picked up four Oscar nods and won two of those. Before reprising his role from 'Bruce Almighty' in 'Evan Almighty' there was some voice talent work on 'Over the Hedge' then leading to 'Dan in Real Life' and more voice work on 'Horton Hears a Who' before a resurrection of that 60's successful comedy spy series to the big screen 'Get Smart' in which he stars as leading spy man Maxwell Smart. The film did US$200M worldwide gross and was followed up by 'Date Night' and then more voice work as Gru on 'Despicable Me' in 2010 which he reprised again in 2013 in 'Despicable Me 2'.

In the meantime, there was 'Dinner for Schmucks' in 2010, 'Crazy, Stupid Love' in 2011, 'Seeking a Friend for the End of the World' in 2012 and 'Hope Springs' that same year. 'The Way Way Back' and 'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone', 'Anchorman 2 : The Legend Continues' were all released in 2013 with a number of short films before his Oscar nominated turn in 2014's highly acclaimed 'Foxcatcher' as John du Pont. That same year freeing himself of the shackles of a very straight, serious, brooding role as the murderous multi-millionaire, he starred in 'Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day', before reprising his role as the voice of the younger Gru in 'Minions' released earlier this year.

Next up for Carell is 'Freeheld' that has wrapped filming, 'Battle of the Sexes'  in pre-production, 'The Big Short' in post-production, and 'Acme' recently announced. Of course amidst all of this there is/was Carell's award winning performance in the US version of the hugely successful British Comedy series 'The Office' in which he starred as Michael Scott from 2005 until 2013 in 138 episodes, although he exited the show in 2011 but made an appearance in the final instalment. For this gig he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Comedy and picked up Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for each year in which he starred.

All up Carell has 65 Acting credits and has picked up an Academy Award nomination for 'Foxcatcher' another 25 award wins and a further 93 nominations for his body of work. He has been married to Nancy Carell since 1995 with whom he starred in 'Saturday Night Live' and whom he has known since his days at Second City starring along the way too on 'The Daily Show', 'The Office' and 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin'. Together they have two children, Elizabeth (born 2001) and John (born 2004) and in 2009 they bought the Marshfield Hills General Store in Massachusetts which they also operate, and where they have a Summer house.

Steve Carell - frequent Will Ferrell and Stephen Colbert collaborator; often awkwardly humorous; usually lacks any self-awareness; but proven he has range, diversity, and dramatic complexity; and can be pathetic, comedic and dramatic all at once, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-