Birthday's to share this week : 2nd-8th October 2016

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jesse Eisenberg does on 5th October - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 33, 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 2nd October

• Sting (aka Gordon Sumner) - Born 1951, turns 65 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor | Producer

Monday 3rd October

• Clive Owen  - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actor | Producer  
• Denis Villeneuve - Born 1967, turns 49 - Director | Writer
• Sean William Scott - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor | Producer 
• Neve Campbell - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actress | Producer | Writer
• Alicia Vikander - Born 1988, turns 28 - Actress | Producer

Tuesday 4th October

• Susan Sarandon - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Alicia Silverstone - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actress | Producer 
• Dakota Johnson - Born 1989, turns 27 - Actress
• Armand Assante - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actor | Producer
• Christoph Waltz - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Liev Schreiber - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director  

Wednesday 5th October

• Bob Geldof - Born 1951, turns 65 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Writer | Humanitarian  
• Guy Pearce - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor | Singer
• Jesse Eisenberg - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Jacob Tremblay - Born 2006, turns 10 - Actor 
• Karen Allen - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actress
• Kate Winslet - Born 1975, turns 41 - Actress 

Thursday 6th October

• Britt Ekland - Born 1942, turns 74 - Actress
• Elisabeth Shue - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actress | Producer
• Ioan Gruffudd - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actor  

Friday 7th October

• Marco Beltrami - Born 1966, turns 50 - Composer | Songwriter | Musician
• Tim Minchin - Born 1975, turns 41 - Singer | Songwriter | Musician | Writer | Actor | Producer | Director  

Saturday 8th October

• Paul Hogan - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Chevy Chase - Born 1943, turns 73 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
• Edward Zwick - Born 1952, turns 64 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Matt Damon - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Sigourney Weaver - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actress | Producer
• Kristanna Loken - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actress | Producer  

Jesse Adam Eisenberg was born in Queens, New York to mother Amy Fishman, a teacher of cultural sensitivity in hospitals and before that a children's party clown, and father Barry Eisenberg, a one time taxi driver before becoming a sociology college professor. He has two sisters - Hallie Kate and Kerry Lea - both of whom have worked in acting. Eisenberg had a secular Jewish upbringing in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey. He attended the East Brunswick Public Schools, then East Brunswick High School, and then moved to the High School of Performing Arts in New York, upon which the 1980 hit film 'Fame' was set. While in his senior year he secured his big screen debut in 2002 in 'Roger Dodger'. He went onto The New School in New York s Greenwich Village where he studied anthropology and contemporary architecture eventually majoring in liberal arts.

He first appeared on stage at age seven in a children's theatre production of 'Oliver', and at twelve he understudied for a 1996 Broadway Production of 'Summer and Smoke', and a year later he played the young Scrooge in a musical version of 'A Christmas Carol' at The Paramount Theatre. His first professional play came in 1999 at age sixteen in 'The Gathering' in an off-Broadway production at Playhouse 91.  His first small screen role came as Kenny Green in all 22 episodes of comedy drama series 'Get Real' from 1999 to 2000, and then made for television movie 'Lightning : Fire from the Sky' in 2001. 'Roger Dodger' came next in 2002 - his big screen debut opposite Campbell Scott, with 'The Emperor's Club' that same year with Kevin Kline, Emile Hirsch, Paul Dano and Patrick Dempsey.

In 2004 Eisenberg secured a small role in M.Night Shyamalan's 'The Village'. He followed this up with the Noah Baumbach Written and Directed 'The Squid and The Whale' in 2005; Wes Craven's horror-comedy 'Cursed'; 'The Education of Charlie Banks' with Jason Ritter; 'The Hunting Party' with Richard Gere; 'Adventureland' with Kristen Stewart, and then probably his breakout role in 'Zombieland' - a horror-comedy with Woody Harrelson, for which a sequel is currently in the works.

The new decade saw four films in 2010 starting with 'Holy Rollers' in  which he starred alongside his sister Hailee, 'Camp Hell', 'Solitary Man' with Michael Douglas, and then as Mark Zuckerberg in David Fincher's highly acclaimed and commercially successful 'The Social Network' for which Eisenberg received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.



The next year he voiced the lead character of Blu in the animated feature 'Rio' - a voice he would reprise again in 2014 in 'Rio 2', and then '30 Minutes or Less'. 2012 saw 'Why Stop Now', 'Free Samples', Woody Allen's ensemble cast in 'To Rome With Love', 'He's More Famous Than You' and 'Now You See Me' with an all star cast a year later in 2013. He would also reprise his role as one of The Four Horsemen, Danny Atlas in the 2016 sequel 'Now You See Me 2', with a third film already announced.

In between there has been 'Night Moves', 'The Double' with Mia Wasikowska, 'The End of the Tour', 'Louder Than Bombs', 'American Ultra' with Kristen Stewart again, and as Lex Luthor in this years Zack Snyder production of the DC Extended Universe in 'Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice' with Ben Affleck as Batman and Henry Cavill back again as Superman. He has also had some guest television appearances on 'Saturday Night Live', 'The Newsroom', 'Modern Family' and 'Top Gear' as well as a number of theatre productions which he has also Written.

Next up is Woody Allen's 'Cafe Society' due for its Australian release later this year with Kristen Stewart once more, and DC's 'Justice League : Part One' currently filming for Zack Snyder with Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Aquaman, with Eisenberg reposing his role as Lex Luthor again. Over the years he has also narrated numerous audiobooks as well as being the author of numerous short stories published in The New Yorker and in McSweeney's. His debut novel 'Bream Gives Me Hiccups' was released one year ago and includes these previously published pieces and more, and is being adapted for a television series with filming currently ongoing with Eisenberg Directing, Producing and Writing.

Eisenberg suffers from several forms of anxiety - obsessive compulsive disorder, separation anxiety, social anxiety and depression which he still suffers from but was more pronounced in him during his childhood years. He has found that acting helped him cope. He is a vegetarian, has been involved in animal fostering programmes and has financially supported Middle Way House - a shelter for women and children fleeing domestic violence. He also supports 'Keep America Beautiful' and 'The Shoe Revolt' aimed at empowering youth to take up the fight against domestic sex trafficking. He also took part in the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Agency video to increase awareness of the global refugee crisis.

All up Eisenberg has 38 Acting credits to his name, and one for Director, Producer and Writer on the upcoming 'Bream Gives Me Hiccups'. All up he has garnered twenty awards wins and a another 56 nominations with many of those being for his work on 'The Social Network'. He dated Anna Strout from 2002 to 2012 - a crew member and assistant on 'The Emperor's Club' when they first got together. They broke off in 2012 when Eisenberg dated his 'The Double' Co-Star Mia Wasikowska until 2015. He has since reunited with Anna Strout.

Jesse Eisenberg - trade mark curly hair, and often plays fast talking introverted shy anti-social neurotic characters. Certainly not one to be typecast having played across all genres and continuing to keep us entertained with his diverse roles - some real and some fictitious and always convincing. Happy Birthday to you Jesse and Best Wishes, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-