Birthday's to share this week : 14th - 20th May 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Tim Roth does on 14th May - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 56, 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 14th May

• Francesca Annis - Born 1945, turns 72 - Actress
• Cate Blanchett - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Sofia Coppola - Born 1971, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actress
• George Lucas - Born 1944, turns 73 - Producer | Writer | Director | Editor 
• Robert Zemeckis - Born 1952, turns 65 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Tim Roth - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director  
• Danny Huston - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Director

Monday 15th May

• Chaz Palminteri - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Grant Heslov - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director  

Tuesday 16th May

• Danny Trejo - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor | Producer
• Pierce Brosnan - Born 1953, turns 64 - Actor | Producer 
• Jim Sturgess - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actor | Singer
• Debra Winger - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actress | Producer  
• Tori Spelling - Born 1973, turns 44 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer

Wednesday 17th May

• Trent Reznor - Born 1965, turns 52 - Composer | Songwriter | Actor | Writer  

Thursday 18th May

• Hugh Keays-Byrne - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actor | Director
• Yun-Fat Chow - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Writer
• Miriam Margolyes - Born 1941, turns 76 - Actress 
• Tina Fey - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Singer  

Friday 19th May

• Grace Jones - Born 1948, turns 69 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress
• Claudia Karvan - Born 1972, turns 45 - Actress | Writer | Producer 
• James Fox - Born 1939, turns 78 - Actor
• Peter Mayhew - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor 
• Morten Tyldum - Born 1967, turns 50 - Director | Producer  

Saturday 20th May

• Anton Corbijn - Born 1955, turns 62 - Director | Photographer
• Timothy Olyphant - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Louis Theroux - Born 1970, turns 47 - Writer | Producer | Television Personality
• Cher (aka Cheryl Sarkisian) - Born 1946, turns 71 - Singer | Actress | Producer 

Timothy Simon Roth was born in the south London suburb of Dulwich to mother Ann, a painter and teacher and father Ernie, a Fleet Street journalist, painter and a member of the British Communist Party until sometime in the '70's. His father was born with the surname of 'Smith' in Brooklyn, New York and he later changed his surname to 'Roth' as used most commonly by those of German and Jewish decent in the 1940's out of support for the Holocaust victims, and because the English were less welcomed in the countries to which he travelled with his work.  The young Tim attended the boys grammar Strand School in south London's Tulse Hill area before studying sculpture at London's Camberwell College of Art from which he dropped out to pursue an acting career instead.

At the age of 21 Roth scored his screen debut in the made for television film 'Made in Britain' playing white supremacy skinhead Trevor in 1982. Next up was another made for television film 'Meantime' in 1984 as Directed by Mike Leigh and also starring Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina. More of the same followed in 1985 with the Agatha Christie whodunit 'Murder with Mirrors' starring also Bette Davis, John Mills and Leo McKern, an then 'Coppers' in 1988. In between time there were feature films including Stephen Frears 'The Hit' with Jim Broadbent and Terrence Stamp, 'A World Apart', 'To Kill a Priest' with Ed Harris, Christopher Lambert, Timothy Spall and Pete Postlethwaite, and then closing out the decade was Peter Greenaway's 'The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover' with Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon and Ciaran Hinds. In 1986 he also starred in 'King of the Ghetto' - a four part BBC2 television series about racial tensions in London's East End in the '80's.

The new decade launched with Robert Altman's 'Vincent & Theo' in which Roth starred as Vincent Van Gogh and later that same year Tom Stoppard's 'Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead' with Gary Oldman playing Rosencrantz and Roth playing Guildenstern alongside Richard Dreyfus and Iain Glen. 'Jumping at the Boneyard' followed in 1991 with Samuel L. Jackson. In 1992 maverick Writer and Director Quentin Tarantino cast Roth in his debut film 'Reservoir Dogs' as Mr. Orange, which kicked off a collaboration that has spanned up until QT's latest offering, taking in 1994's 'Pulp Fiction' and 1995's 'Four Rooms'. It was 'Reservoir Dogs' that really exposed Roth to an American audience, from which he has never looked back.

The rest of the '90's saw the likes of 'Bodies, Rest & Motion'; period piece 'The Perfect Husband'; Brooklyn Soviet Jewish crime drama 'Little Odessa'; then 'Captives';  Scottish historical biographical adventure film 'Rob Roy' with Liam Neeson, John Hurt, Brian Cox, Eric Stoltz and Jessica Lange; Woody Allen's 'Everyone Says I Love You' with Goldie Hawn, Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts and Edward Norton; 'Gridlock'd' with Tupac Shakur and Thandie Newton; 1930's Harlem set gangster film 'Hoodlum' with Laurence Fishburn, Andy Garcia and Vanessa Williams; murder mystery 'Deceiver'; fantasy romance offering 'Animals with the Tollkeeper' with Rod Steiger, John Turturro and Mickey Rooney; and then in 1998 'The Legend of 1900'. 

In 1999 Roth Directed his first feature film - 'The War Zone' a grim and gritty look inside an English family plagued by incest and sexual violence. The firm starred Ray Winstone, Tilda Swinton and Freddie Cunliffe and received much critical acclaim for its portrayal of the subject matter and picked up nine award wins and ten more nominations.

The 2000's clicked over with Roland Joffe's historical biographical drama 'Vatel'; Nora Ephron's 'Lucky Numbers' with John Travolta; Tim Burtons' reimagining of 'Planet of the Apes' as General Thade; Werner Herzog's 'Invincible'; a new spin on 'The Three Musketeers' with 'The Musketeer'; English Civil War drama 'To Kill a King' with Roth portraying Oliver Cromwell; John Sayles American political satire 'Silver City'; Wim Wenders road movie drama 'Don't Come Knocking'; gambling crime drama 'Easy Money' featuring an ensemble cast; Francis Ford Coppola's 'Youth Without Youth'; Michael Haneke's English language remake of his own earlier 1997 Austrian version of 'Funny Games' with Naomi Watts; and Louis Leterrier's Directed second film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe 'The Incredible Hulk'.

'Pete Smalls Is Dead' opened up 2010 with Peter Dinklage and Steve Buscemi, followed up by 'Arbitrage' in 2012 with Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon; 'Broken' with Cillian Murphy and comedy crime thriller 'The Liability' both that same year. In 2013 espionage thriller 'Mobius' was released and this was followed by 'Grace of Monaco' with Nicole Kidman as Grace and Roth as Prince Rainier. In time for the 2014 World Cup 'United Passions' was released about FIFA - footballs governing body, with Roth playing FIFA President Sepp Blatter who was the eighth President of the Association from 1998 through until 2015. 'October Gale' came later that year as did highly acclaimed historical biographical drama 'Selma' with David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Oprah Winfrey, and Tom Wilkinson. Mexican drug cartel drama '600 Miles', then 'Chronic' and then first person actioner 'Hardcore Henry' with Roth playing Henry's father. Action comedy 'Mr. Right' with Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick and then Quentin Tarantino's post American Civil War Western 'The Hateful Eight' featuring an ensemble cast that included Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Walton Goggins, Bruce Dern, Damian Bichir, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Zoe Bell.

Bringing us up to date is just released in the USA '1 Mile To You'. In between time there have been notable television series appearances on 48 episodes of 'Lie to Me' with Roth playing the lead character of Dr. Cal Lightman in this mystery crime drama series in which Roth is a world leading expert in facial expressions and involuntary body language. The series ran for three season from 2009. There was also the two part television mini-series 'Sea Wolf' in 2009, the six part historical mini-series 'Klondike' in 2014, and the three part mini-series 'Rillington Place' with Roth playing the role of John Christie the infamous 1940's and early '50's London serial killer.

Next up for Roth is an appearance on the next season of acclaimed television series 'Twin Peaks' which picks up 25 years after the events of the first two series, and due to go to air later this year. Currently in post-production is 'The Jesuit' - an action crime drama offering with Ron Perlman, Brian Cox, Neal McDonough and Paz Vega; gambling debt crime comedy 'The Brits Are Coming' also in post-production with Uma Thurman, Stephen Fry, Maggie Q and Sofia Vergara and 'The Padre' currently filming and due in 2018 with Nick Nolte and Luis Guzman.

All up Roth has one hundred Acting credits to his name, three as Producer and one as Director. In his time he has been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award and a Golden Globe for 'Rob Roy' but he did win the BAFTA for his performance. All up Roth has accumulated a total eighteen award wins and a further 22 nominations. Roth has been married to Niki Butler since 1993 with whom he has two sons - Timothy born in 1995 and Michael born in 1996. He has an older son Jack who is also an Actor, born in 1984 to Lori Baker. Roth survived years of child sexual abuse at the hands of his paternal grandfather which he didn't reveal until the time of his Directorial debut with the release of 'The War Zone' which dealt with similar issues within a family.

Tim Roth - part of 'The Brit Pack' back in the '80's with Gary Oldman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth and Paul McGann; has an ever increasing number of tattoos marking significant events in his life; often plays in historical dramas; often plays in Quentin Tarantino films (four and counting) but missed out in 'Inglourious Basterds' due to scheduling conflicts; often plays slightly twisted unhinged characters; is often convinced that he'll never score an acting gig again in between roles; and despite his London accent can do various accents very well which has helped him secure many a film with European and American auteur Directors. Never dull, never predictable, never repetitive, Happy Birthday to you Tim from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-