Jacki Weaver does on 25th May - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 70, 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 21st May
- Mr. T (aka Laurence Tureaud) - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actor
- Judge Reinhold - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
- Nick Cassavetes - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actor | Director | Writer | Producer
Monday 22nd May
- Gary Sweet - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor
- Maggie Q - Born 1979, turns 38 - Actress | Producer
Tuesday 23rd May
- Joan Collins - Born 1933, turns 84 - Actress | Producer | Singer
- Melissa McBride - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actress
- Drew Carey - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor | Television Personality | Producer | Writer | Director
- Tom Tykwer - Born 1965, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer | Composer | Songwriter
- John Ortiz - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
Wednesday 24th May
- James Cosmo - Born 1948, turns 69 - Actor
- Roger Deakins - Born 1949, turns 68 - Cinematographer | Cameraman
- Jim Broadbent - Born 1949, turns 68 - Actor | Writer
- Alfred Molina - Born 1953, turns 64 - Actor | Producer
- John C. Reilly - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
- Priscilla Presley - Born 1945, turns 72 - Actress | Producer
- Kristin Scott Thomas - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actress | Director
Thursday 25th May
- Jacki Weaver - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actress
- Octavia Spencer - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Director
- Ian McKellen - Born 1939, turns 78 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
- Frank Oz - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor | Director | Producer | Singer | Writer
- Mike Myers - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer | Songwriter | Director
- Neil Marshall - Born 1970, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
- Cillian Murphy - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actor | Producer
Friday 26th May
- Alex Garland - Born 1970, turns 47 - Writer | Producer | Director
- Matt Stone - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter
- Pam Grier - Born 1949, turns 68 - Actress |
- Helena Bonham Carter - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actress | Singer
Saturday 27th May
- Louis Gossett Jnr. - Born 1936, turns 81 - Actor | Producer
- Joseph Fiennes - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor | Director | Producer
- Paul Bettany - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
Jacqueline Ruth Weaver was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia to mother Edith Simpson and father Arthur, a Sydney based solicitor. She attended Hornsby Girls High School, in Sydney's Upper North Shore, and then gained a scholarship to study sociology at University, but instead chose to pursue a career in acting. She began her acting career on the stage in 1962 in a production of 'A Wish is a Dream' followed up in 1963 in 'Once Upon a Surfie'. In 1964, she gained her first role on the made for television film 'Split Level' and in 1966 she first appeared in the ABC Television children's science fantasy series 'Wandjina!' and then on nine episodes of the long running police procedural television series 'Homicide' in 1967. Single episodes on television series 'Riptide', 'Division 4', 'Woobinda, Animal Doctor', 'The Godfathers' and 'Spyforce' all came before her first big screen role in 1971. 
Her debut feature film appearance came in 1971 in 'Stork' based on the David Williamson play, and for which Weaver won her first Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress. From here there was no looking back for the young Actress with numerous roles on the big screen, small screen and stage throughout the '70's. More notable roles came in the form of 'Alvin Purple' in 1973, 'Petersen' in 1974, Peter Weir's critically acclaimed 'Picnic at Hanging Rock' in 1975, 'Caddie' in 1976 for which Weaver won her second Best Actress Award at the Australian Film Institute Awards. In between time there were episodes on TV series including 'Matlock Police', 'The Last of the Australians', 'Water Under the Bridge' and stage appearances in 'Love's Labour's Lost', 'The Seagull' and 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.
The '80's and '90's were leaner times for Weaver with sporadic film and television appearances only, with the likes of 'Squizzy Taylor' in 1982, 'The Perfectionist' in 1987, 'Cosi' in 1996, and TV mini-series 'The Challenge'. There was stage work during this time that included 'The Real Thing', 'Blithe Spirit', 'Emerald City', 'Away' and 'After the Ball'.
2007 saw television film 'Hammer Bay', then 'Three Blind Mice' before her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated performance in David Michod's Written and Directed 2010 Melbourne crime family drama 'Animal Kingdom' in which Weaver stars as family matriarch Janine 'Smurf' Cody alongside Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn. The film won a total of 38 awards and a further 55 nominations. 'Summer Coda' followed that same year with Rachael Taylor, Alex Dimitriades and Susie Porter.
RomCom 'The Five-Year Engagement' with Jason Segel, Emily Blunt and Chris Pratt came next in 2012 and served as Weaver's Hollywood debut film, with the highly acclaimed David O'Russell Written and Directed 'Silver Linings Playbook' coming next, with Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro, for which Weaver gained her second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. All up the film picked up 88 award wins and another 145 nominations and returned US$237M from its US$21M budget outlay.
The next year, 2014, saw drama thriller 'Reclaim' with John Cusack, Ryan Phillippe and Louis Guzman, then black comedy horror offering 'The Voices' with Ryan Reynolds, Anna Kendrick and Gemma Arterton; then Woody Allen's 'Magic in the Moonlight' with Colin Firth and Emma Stone and to follow 'Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks' with Gena Rowlands. 'The Last Cab to Darwin' followed in 2015, as did Sci-Fi romantic drama 'Equals' with Nicholas Hoult, Kristen Stewart and Guy Pearce.
2016 saw Aussie outback murder mystery 'Goldstone' with David Wenham, Aaron Pedersen, Alex Russell and David Gulpilil with television film 'Sister Cities' following. Coming up and yet to be released in Australia is 'Polka King' with Jack Black; Netflix Produced crime thriller 'Small Crimes' with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Robert Forster and Gary Cole; 'The Disaster Artist' with an all star cast recounting the making of Tommy Wiseau's infamous 2003 film 'The Room'; 'Zeroville' Directed and Starring James Franco with Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen, Danny McBride, Dave Franco and Megan Fox; cheerleading retirees comedy 'Poms' with Diane Keaton in pre-production currently; and in post-production are 'Irreplaceable You' with Christopher Walken, Steve Coogan, Michael Huisman and Gugu Mbatha-Raw; with comedy 'Life of the Party' due in 2018 with Melissa McCarthy. Currently filming and due for release in 2018 is 'Widows' for Director Steve McQueen with Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Viola Davis, Daniel Kaluuya, Liam Neeson and Robert Duvall.
In between this filmic output there has been television series and mini-series 'Gracepoint', 'Secret City', and 'Blunt Talk' over the last few years and further stage appearances most notably with the Sydney Theatre Company in 'A Hard God', 'Entertaining Mr. Sloane' and 'Uncle Vanya' with Cate Blanchett. This brings us up to date. All up, Weaver has 72 acting credits to her name and she is the recipient of twenty award wins and a further 31 nominations, including two Oscar and one Golden Globe nod. Weaver was married to David Price from 1966 to 1970, to Max Hensser from 1975 to 1977, to radio and television personality Derryn Hinch from 1983 to 1996 and again from 1997 until 1998 and most recently to actor Sean Taylor whom she married in 2003. She has a son Dylan, born in 1969, with her partner at the time John Walters.
Jacki Weaver - has been in the film, stage and television business for six decades spanning fifty-one years; has a second bite of the cherry in the last ten years and is making the most of her critical acclaim; is short in stature barely reaching five feet tall, yet is big in personality and gives it all to the characters she portrays; is more in demand now than she ever was; and continues to surprise and delight us with her roles and film choices. Happy 70th Birthday to you Jacki, from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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