Birthday's to share this week : 8th - 14th November 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Gerard Butler does on 13th November - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 46 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 8th November

• Michael Nyqvist - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• Richard Curtis - Born 1956, turns 59 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Gordon Ramsey - Born 1966, turns 49 - Celebrity Chef | Restauranteur | Television Personality
• Tara Reid - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actress | Producer
• Parker Posey - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actress

Monday 9th November

• Tony Slattery - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Writer

Tuesday 10th November

• Taron Egerton - Born 1989, turns 26 - Actor
• Walton Goggins - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer
• Hugh Bonneville - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor
• Roland Emmerich - Born 1955, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Ennio Morricone - Born 1928, turns 87 - Composer | Singer | Songwriter

Wednesday 11th November

• Leonardo DiCaprio - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Stanley Tucci - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Scoot McNairy - Born 1977, turns 38 - Actor | Producer
• Calista Flockhart - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actress
• Demi Moore - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actress | Producer

Thursday 12th November

• Anne Hathaway - Born 1982, turns 33 - Producer
• Radha Mitchell - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actress | Producer
• Ryan Gosling - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer

Friday 13th November

• Gerard Butler - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer
• Steve Zahn - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor
• Whoopi Goldberg - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Television Personality

Saturday 14th November

• Olga Kurylenko - Born 1979, turns 36 - Actress
• Josh Duhamel - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor
• Paul McGann - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor

Gerard James Butler was born in Paisley, Scotland to mother Margaret, and father Edward Butler, a book-keeper. He is the youngest of three children, and at six months old moved with the family unit to Quebec, Canada. Twelve months later he was back again with his mother, when his parents marriage collapsed. It would be another 14 year before he would see his father again. Butler attended St. Mirin's and St. Margaret's High School in Paisley where he became Head Boy and did well enough in his studies to secure a place at law school at the University of Glasgow. Whilst in his teens he also studied at the Scottish Youth Theatre. At 16 Butler junior was reunited with Butler senior and over the next few years they became quite close. At University he was elected President of the Law Society. At 22, Butler senior died of cancer. Before his last year of law school, Butler decamped to California spending the majority of the year at Venice Beach and mostly in a drunken stupor. Upon graduating he moved to Edinburgh and joined a practise as a trainee lawyer but the week before qualifying was fired for his unruly partying behaviour. At 25 he relocated himself to London to chase his dream of becoming famous when his potential law career slipped away.

Unable to secure any acting gigs initially he worked several jobs including waiting at table, in telemarketing and demonstrating toys at toy fairs. His first acting role came in the Steven Berkoff stage adaptation of Shakespeare's 'Coriolanus' - given to him because he auditioned so well above the other Actors, despite his lack of any formal acting training or experience. He was now 27, and a year later scored the role of Renton in the stage play of 'Trainspotting'. His big screen debut came in 1997 with 'Mrs. Brown' playing Billy Connolly's younger brother and opposite Judy Dench.

He followed this up with a bit part in Bond's 'Tomorrow Never Dies', British horror offering 'Tale of the Mummy', then 'Fast Food', 'One More Kiss' and 'The Cherry Orchard' to see out the decade. At 30 Butler moved to L.A. where over the next few years would secure roles in 'Tomb Raider 2', 'Phantom of the Opera' and 'Dracula 2000'.

Th early part of the new decade saw turns in a number of TV series including 'Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married', the mini-series 'Attila' and 'The Jury' over multiple episodes. He was cast in Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Phantom of the Opera' in 2004 because of his singing talent gained playing in a rock band during his University years. His performance was largely praised, despite the lacklustre reviews the film received. With 'Reign of Fire', 'Timeline' and 'Dear Frankie' in 2004, he followed these up with what many describe his breakout performance as King Leonidas in 2005's '300' as the role that really put him on the map.

The next few years saw 'P.S. I Love You', 'Nim's Island' with Jodie Foster, 'RocknRolla' for Guy Ritchie, 'The Ugly Truth', 'Gamer' and 'Law Abiding Citizen'.

2010 delivered for Butler the action comedy 'The Bounty Hunter' and then voice work on the successful animated feature 'How to Train Your Dragon' which he reprised again in 2014, and is set to do so once more in the third instalment slated for a 2018 release. Having starred in 'Coriolanus' at the start of his acting career on stage, he got the opportunity to do so again in the film adaptation by Director/Actor and Producer Ralph Fiennes.




This was followed up by 'Machine Gun Preacher' in 2011, and then in 2012 'Chasing Mavericks' and 'Playing for Keeps' with actioner 'Olympus Has Fallen' in 2013 - a role he is to reprise next year in 'London Has Fallen' with Morgan Freeman and Aaron Eckhart again.





Next up there is 'Gods of Egypt' for Aussie Director Alex Proyas, 'Geostorm' for Dean Devlin, 'London Has Fallen' which are all in post-production with 'The Headhunter's Calling' currently filming, and 'How to Train Your Dragon 3' recently announced. Butler has 52 acting credits to his name, nine Production credits and six Soundtrack credits, and he is the recipient of two award wins and another twelve nominations.

Living between Glasgow and Los Angeles, Butler claims to be dry of alcohol consumption, and successfully cured himself of pain killer dependency in rehab, which he became addicted to following a surfing accident while shooting 'Chasing Mavericks'. He is the proud part owner of the Jamaican Tallawahs cricket team which he bought into in 2013, and he has actively supported 'Mary's Meals' since 2010 which sets up school feeding programmes in some of the worlds poorest areas.

Gerard Butler - deep gravelly Scottish voice, touted once to play James Bond after Pierce Brosnan, has a reputation as an all round nice guy, not formally trained in acting and almost qualified as a lawyer, and, he has maintained his six pack abs since 2005's '300' - good on ya, and Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-