James Wan does on 26th February (although some publications claim 27th) - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 40, 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 26th February
- James Wan - Born 1977, turns 40 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Teresa Palmer - Born 1986, turns 31 - Actress | Producer | Writer
Monday 27th February
- Kate Mara - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actress
- Timothy Spall - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
Tuesday 28th February
- John Turturro - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
Wednesday 1st March
- Roger Daltry - Born 1944, turns 73 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Producer
- Dirk Benedict - Born 1945, turns 72 - Actor | Director | Writer
- Ron Howard - Born 1954, turns 63 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
- Zack Snyder - Born 1966, turns 51 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Javier Bardem - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
- Lupita Nyong'o - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actress
Thursday 2nd March
- Rebel Wilson - Born 1980, turns 37 - Actress | Producer | Writer
- Bryce Dallas Howard - Born 1981, turns 36 - Actress | Writer | Director
- Jon Bon Jovi - Born 1962, turns 55 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor
- Daniel Craig - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
Friday 3rd March
- George Miller - Born 1945, turns 72 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Miranda Richardson - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actress
- Jessica Biel - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress | Producer
Saturday 4th March
- Patsy Kensit - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actress
- Adrian Lyne - Born 1941, turns 76 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Paul W.S. Anderson - Born 1965, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Len Wiseman - Born 1973, turns 44 - Director | Producer | Writer
James Wan was born in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia and is of Malaysian Chinese descent. He relocated to Perth in Western Australia at age seven and ultimately became an Australian citizen. He attended the Lake Tuggeranong College in the Australian Capital Territory for Years 11 and 12 students (aged 16 - 18 years), moved back to Perth and then relocated himself to Melbourne, Victoria where he attended the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. By this time his mind was made up that he wanted to be a film maker (a decision he had in fact come to at age eleven), and while studying he had already begun making short films and music videos. It was whilst at RMIT that he met fellow would-be film maker Leigh Whannel, with whom he would collaborate on a number of his feature length movie projects over the ensuing years.
Wan made his first feature length film in 2000 for which he also wrote the Screenplay - 'Stygian' which won the young Director the 'Best Guerrilla Film' Award at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. Following this Wan and Whannel had begun writing up a script for a horror film, and upon completion of the script they wanted to film an excerpt which they could then tout around the movie studios in the hope that a production company would pick up their story and run with it. That ten minute short film was titled 'Saw' and it was 2003. In 2004, having been picked up by a Lionsgate 'Saw' was released on an unsuspecting world and was an overwhelming success. Starring Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Tobin Bell and Leigh Whannel to minimise production costs, the film was shot rapidly at a cost of just US$1.2M. The film returned US$104M and spawned a franchise that has become the highest grossing horror franchise of all time that has seen all seven films gross worldwide US$874M off the back of a combined budget of US$64M. Wan served as Executive Producer on 'Saw II, III, IV, V, VI' and 'Saw 3D : The Final Chapter' released every year from 2005 through to 2010, and he also wrote the story for 'Saw III'. Wan is also Executive Producer on 'Saw : Legacy' currently in post-production for an October release this year and as Directed by the Spierig brothers.
2007 saw Wan Direct two films. The first was supernatural psychological horror 'Dead Silence' Written by Wan and Whannel and starring Ryan Kwanten and Donnie Wahlberg. The film received generally negative Reviews and just about recovered its US$20M budget outlay. This was followed up by action drama 'Death Sentence' - described by Wan as a 'raw and gritty, '70's styled revenge thriller' that starred Kevin Bacon as the protagonist with Garrett Hedlund, John Goodman, Kelly Preston and Leigh Whannel. This film also received generally unfavourable Reviews and recovered just US$17M of its US$20M production budget.
After serving as Executive Director on a string of 'Saw' sequels, Wan Directed the supernatural horror film 'Insidious' in 2010 that was written by Leigh Whannel, and starred Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Barbara Hershey and Whannel. That film cost US$1.5M to make and returned US$97M ensuring its success as a franchise with 'Insidious : Chapter 2' being released in 2013. Again Directed by Wan that saw the cast from the first film return, on a budget of US$5M generating US$162M. 'Insidious : Chapter 3' was again Written by Whannel and Produced this time by Wan with Whannel on Directing duty for the first time. This film that served as a prequel to the previous two, was made for US$10M and returned US$113M. 'Insidious : Chapter 4' is currently in post-production for a release later this year and is Directed by Adam Robitel with Wan taking a Producer credit and Whannel Screenwriter and acting credits on the film.
Next up was supernatural horror film based on real events 'The Conjuring'. Recounting the story of the Perron family who experience increasingly disturbing events in their Rhode Island farmhouse in 1971 and paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren who come to the assistance of the distressed Perron family. Starring Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson the film was a commercial and critical success taking US$318M from its US$20M budget, making it one of the highest grossing horror films of all time. 'The Conjuring 2' was released in 2016 as a sequel to that first film that saw Wan act as Director, Co-Producer and Co-Writer in this follow up set in 1977 as the Warren paranormal investigators (Farmiga and Wilson reprising) travel to London to investigate the case that became known as the 'Enfield Poltergeist'. That film returned US$321M from its US$40M budget costs.
In the meantime in 2014, there had been a spin-off prequel to the popular 'The Conjuring' film inspired by the doll named 'Annabelle' that had been recounted by Ed and Lorraine Warren during their investigations. Wan took a Producer role on 'Annabelle' that received less critical acclaim but nonetheless was a commercial success raising US$260M in Box Office receipts against a US$6.5M outlay. A follow up film is in post-production for an August release this year that focuses on the dollmaker and his wife and stars Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto, that is again Produced by Wan.
Taking a step aside from supernatural horror thrillers Wan Directed fast cars action drama film 'Furious 7' in 2015 starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Djimon Hounsou and Michelle Rodriguez. The film was a massive worldwide hit taking US$1.52B from its US$176M budget and standing currently as the sixth highest grossing film of all time, and the most successful in the franchise to date. 
Meanwhile Wan also had time to Produce supernatural horror 'Demonic' with Maria Bello in 2015, and in 2016 'Lights Out' with Teresa Palmer. He also Directed one episode of the rebooted television series 'MacGyver' and has served as Producer on sixteen episodes to date.
Next up for Wan is 'The Nun' which is a spin off film from the 'Annabelle' series which is a spin off film from 'The Conjuring' series and is currently in pre-production for a mid-2018 release with Wan Producing and Writing. Also in pre-production with filming due to commence soon is 'Aquaman' for the DC Extended Universe with Wan on Director duty and taking a Writing credit too. The film will star Jason Mamoa in the lead role with Nicole Kidman, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, and Temuera Morrison all attached, and is due for release in October 2018. 'Mortal Kombat' has been announced for a reboot recently and Wan is set to Produce this remake of the 1995 initial video game adaptation offering.
James Wan - wrote himself into the history books and redefined the genre with several hugely commercially and critically successful horror franchises, and an epic seventh film in a street racing heist fuelled action franchise, and, is about to launch a new stand alone ocean based Superhero as part of the DCEU. When he's not Directing, he's Producing or he's Writing and he's even been known to tackle all three at once! Clearly very much in demand and proving he can jump from his trademark scare the bejeezus out of us supernatural horror offerings to big budget epic fare, and back again. A very Happy 40th Birthday to you James, from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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