Birthday's to share this week : 9th-15th October 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Ben Whishaw does on 14th October - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 36, 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 9th October

• Brian Blessed - Born 1936, turns 80 - Actor | Director
• Tony Shalhoub - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Scott Bakula - Born 1954, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer
• Guillermo del Toro - Born 1964, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer | Consultant | Actor
• Pete Docter - Born 1968, turns 48 - Director | Producer | Writer | Animator  
• Steve McQueen - Born 1969, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Chris O'Dowd - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Brandon Routh - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor

Monday 10th October

• Charles Dance - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Martin Kemp - Born 1961, turns 55 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter  

Tuesday 11th October

• David Morse - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer
• Sean Patrick Flanery - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Luke Perry - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Dawn French - Born 1957, turns 59 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Singer 
• Joan Cusack - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actress | Writer  

Wednesday 12th October

• Hugh Jackman - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Josh Hutcherson - Born 1992, turns 24 - Actor | Producer  

Thursday 13th October

• Chris Carter - Born 1956, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Sacha Baron Cohen - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Kelly Preston - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actress  

Friday 14th October

• Lori Petty - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director
• Mia Wasikowska - Born 1989, turns 27 - Actress | Writer | Director
• Roger Moore - Born 1927, turns 89 - Actor | Producer
• Steve Coogan - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
• Ben Whishaw - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actor  

Saturday 15th October

• Todd Solondz - Born 1959, turns 57 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Dominic West - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor
• Tanya Roberts - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actress  

Benjamin John Whishaw was born in Clifton, Bedfordshire, England to mother Linda Hope - a worker in cosmetics, and father Jose Whishaw - a worker in the field of Information Technology. He has a twin brother, James. He was raised in the central Bedfordshire villages of Clifton and Langford, and he attended the Henlow Middle School nearby, and then the Samuel Whitbread Community College in Shefford, also close by. It was here through the allied theatre company, 'Big Spirit' that Whishaw first become involved with play acting, and, to some local critical acclaim. He went on to study at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from which he graduated in 2003.

He gained his first screen role in the 1999 film 'The Trench' - a story of young soldiers in the trenches preparing to go over the top in the WWI Battle of the Somme as Directed by William Boyd and also starring Daniel Craig, James D'Arcy and Cillian Murphy. 'The Escort' came later that year too, with small screen roles following on 'Black Cab', 'Other People's Children' and then short film 'Baby'. 'My Brother Tom' in 2001 garnered Whishaw a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer, which was followed up with 'Ready When You Are Mr. McGill' in 2003 with Bill Nighy and Tom Courtenay and then made for television film 'Booze Cruise', with short films 'Spiritual Rampage' and '77 Beds' in the meantime. 

Next up was 'Enduring Love' in 2004 with Daniel Craig again and Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans and Andrew Lincoln, and then Matthew Vaughn's 'Layer Cake' later that year with Daniel Craig once more and Tom Hardy, Michael Gambon and Sienna Miller. 'Stoned' came next in 2005 with Whishaw playing the role of Keith Richards in this bio-pic about the (short) life of Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones. That same year he appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom over one single season of six episodes - 'Nathan Barley' with Benedict Cumberbatch and Richard Ayoard. He gained perhaps his breakout role in 'Perfume : The Story of a Murderer' for Director Tom Tykwer with co-stars Alan Rickman and Dustin Hoffman. The film was generally well received and it was a commercial success. Whishaw gained two further award nominations for his role as perfumer and murderer Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. 

Todd Haynes 'I'm Not There' inspired by the life and music of Bob Dylan saw Whishaw alongside Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Christian Bale, with the big screen adaptation of 'Brideshead Revisited' opposite Matthew Goode, and then 'The International' for Tom Tykwer again with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, 'Bright Star' for Jane Campion based on the final three years of poet John Keats with Whishaw in the lead role of Keats alongside Abbie Cornish, and short film 'Love Hate' seeing out the decade. In the meantime there had also been five episodes on the highly acclaimed drama series 'Criminal Justice' which also garnered Whishaw further award wins and nominations.

The new decade landed with a big screen adaptation of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' with Julie Taymor Directing an all star cast including Helen Mirren, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand and Alfred Molina. Another BBC drama series followed airing over twelve episodes - 'The Hour' with Dominic West and Peter Capaldi. 2012 gave rise to another Daniel Craig partnership in his role as Bond, James Bond and Whishaw as the new, younger, tech savvy 'Q' in 'Skyfall' - a role he would reprise in 2015's 'Spectre'. The multi-dimensional, time travelling 'Cloud Atlas' for the Wachowski's and Tom Tykwer once more and an ensemble cast including Tom Hanks, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving with Halle Berry and Susan Sarandon came next, with his leading role in 'Richard II' in the made for television film for BBC2 following.

Terry Gilliam's 'The Zero Theorem' was up next, then a screen version of 'The Seagull' by Anton Chekov titled 'Days and Nights' with a backdrop of New England sometime in the 1980's, which despite its strong cast bombed critically and commercially. 'Lilting' followed, and then Whishaw lent his voice talents to Paddington Bear in the live action film of 'Paddington' - the story of a bear thrust from the deepest darkest jungles of Peru into deepest darkest London.

2015 was a big year with short film 'The Muse', and then feature length films 'The Lobster', documentary 'Unity', 'Suffragette', 'The Danish Girl', 'Spectre' and 'In The Heart of The Sea' all released that year, as well as a five part BBC 2 series 'London Spy'. 'A Hologram for The King' was released earlier this year with Tom Hanks, as was short film 'Family Happiness'. Next up and due in December 2018 and currently in pre-production is 'Mary Poppins Returns' with Emily Blunt in the lead role, and also staring Meryl Streep.

Since 2003 Whishaw also has amassed numerous stage credits at London's National Theatre, The Old Vic, The Royal Court Theatre, the West End Noel Coward and Harold Pinter Theatres and most recently on Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre. He has appeared in 'Hamlet' to much critical praise, 'The Seagull', 'Cock', 'Peter and Alice' alongside Judi Dench, 'Mojo' and 'The Crucible'. All up Whishaw has forty-four screen and television acting credits to his name and has so far accumulated eight award wins including a BAFTA for television mini-series 'The Hollow Crown' and another fifteen nominations including three BAFTA nods.

In 2012 Whishaw 'married' Australian composer Mark Bradshaw in a civil partnership, and they reside in London.

Ben Whishaw - fiercely private and guarded about his life away from the cameras; shuns celebrity status; enjoys simple pleasures such as gardening, reading, painting and travel; clearly is on the rise and in demand as evidenced by his prolific output as seen in recent years; and already has been critically praised for his work on film, on television and on the boards - and we're happy to keep watching Ben. Happy Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-