Birthday's to share this week : 17th - 23rd December 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Katheryn Winnick does on 17th December - check out my tribute to this Actress Birthday Girl 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 17th December

• Sarah Paulson - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actress | Singer
• Milla Jovovich - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actress | Singer | Songwriter
• Katheryn Winnick - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actress
• Armin Mueller-Stahl - Born 1930, turns 87 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Bernard Hill - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor 
• Eugene Levy - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter
• Bill Pullman - Born 1953, turns 64 - Actor | Director | Producer 
• Peter Farrelly - Born 1956, turns 61 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Rian Johnson - Born 1973, turns 44 - Director | Writer | Editor 
• Giovanni Ribisi - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actor | Producer

Monday 18th December

• Keith Richards - Born 1943, turns 74 - Songwriter | Singer | Musician | Composer | Actor
• Steven Spielberg - Born 1946, turns 71 - Producer | Director | Writer | Actor
• Ray Liotta - Born 1954, turns 63 - Actor | Producer
• Brad Pitt - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Producer 
• Steve Austin - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer
• Robson Green - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actor | Producer 
• Casper Van Dien - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Rachel Griffiths - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actress | Director | Producer | Writer
• Katie Holmes - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actress | Producer | Director | Singer

Tuesday 19th December

• Jennifer Beals - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Jake Gyllenhaal - Born 1980, turns 37 - Actor | Producer  

Wednesday 20th December

• Todd Phillips - Born 1970, turns 47 - Producer | Director | Writer | Actor | Songwriter
• Jonah Hill - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Jenny Agutter - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actress   

Thursday 21st December

• Jane Fonda - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actress | Producer
• Julie Delpy - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actress | Writer | Director | Producer | Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Editor
• Samuel L. Jackson - Born 1948, turns 69 - Actor | Producer | Singer 
• Ray Romano - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor | Writer | Producer 
• Kiefer Sutherland - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Steven Yuen - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actor 

Friday 22nd December

• Hector Elizondo - Born 1936, turns 81 - Actor | Producer
• Ralph Fiennes - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Director | Producer | Singer
• Vanessa Paradis - Born 1972, turns  45 - Actress | Singer 

Saturday 23rd December

• Estella Warren - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actress
• Nick Moran - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director 

Katerena Anna Vinitska (aka Katheryn Winnick) was born in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada (now part of the greater City of Toronto). She is of Ukrainian descent and spoke Ukrainian as her first language at home until she was eight years of age, before speaking English. From the age of seven she began training in martial arts, and by the time she turned thirteen she had already attained her first black belt. She opened her first martial arts studio at the age of sixteen, and by the time she was 21 she had opened two others - one in Toronto and the other in New York. She holds a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo and a second-degree black belt in Karate, and is also a licensed bodyguard. She was kicked out of Summer Camp when she was fourteen for reckless behaviour, and clearly needing something to vent her anger and frustration at the world, so she turned wholesale to martial arts ultimately winning silver at the Canadian National Taekwondo finals. She studied at the York University in Toronto, and then acting at New York's William Esper Studio before actively pursuing an acting career initially in New York and then Los Angeles. 

Winnick gained her television debut on an episode of 'PSI Factor : Chronicles of the Paranormal' in 1999 and then on five episodes of high school television series 'Student Bodies' and a single episode of Tia Carrere's television series 'Relic Hunter' that same year too. Winnick secured her first film role in the 2001 Sci-Fi horror mystery offering 'Biohazardous' and 'Smoking Herb' the following year together with mystery drama thriller 'Fabled' and 'Two Weeks Notice' with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. Crime drama 'What Alice Found' was released in 2003, then '50 First Dates' with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore and then horror crime film 'Satan's Little Helper' in 2004 and 'Going the Distance' also that year. In between time there were one off appearances on television shows including 'Oz', '1-800-Missing', 'Wild Card' and 'CSI : Miami'.

In 2005 Winnick played Ivana Trump in the biographical drama film 'Trump Unauthorised' (if only she knew then what she knows now!!), then the straight to video horror offering 'Hellraiser : Hellworld', the made for television movie '13 Graves', then the sport comedy 'Cloud 9' with Burt Reynolds and the RomCom 'Failure to Launch' with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. 'Kiss Me Again', 'Tipping Point', horror thriller 'Amusement' and 'Cold Souls' with Paul Giamatti saw out the decade. Meanwhile there had been further appearances on television shows including 'Criminal Minds', 'House', ' Law & Order' and 'CSI : Crime Scene Investigation'. 

'Tranced', action RomCom 'Killers', 'Radio Free Albemuth', Edward Zwick's 'Love & Other Drugs' with Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway and the 48 minute short film 'Night and Day' were all released in 2010. The following year saw crime horror drama 'Choose' with Kevin Pollack and Bruce Dern, then 'Bat $#*! Crazy' and 'Stand Up Guys' with Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan Arkin and then Roman Coppola's 'A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III' with Charlie Sheen, Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzman. 'The Art of the Steal' with Kurt Russell, Matt Dillon and Jay Baruchel came along in 2013 and in the meantime there had been more regular TV work on seven episodes of 'Bones', and ' The Glades', 'Nikita', and 'Transporter : The Series'.

In 2013 she starred in the History Channel's acclaimed television series 'Vikings' in so far fifty two episodes spanning now six seasons as Lagertha who according to legend was a Viking shieldmaiden and ruler from what is now Norway and the onetime wife of famous Viking Ragnar Lodbrok played in the series by Travis Fimmel. Over the years this series has been nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards and has amassed a total 22 wins and 75 nominations so far. Winnick has herself been nominated six times for her portrayal of Lagertha, and it has been reported that her role as Lagertha 'may be the most exciting feminist character on TV'.

Whilst filming episodes of 'Vikings' Winnick also appeared in a single episode of 'Person of Interest', the twelve minute short film 'Stripped' in 2016, and the Stephen King adapted 'The Dark Tower' earlier this year with Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba which went on to gross US$112M at the Box Office from its US$60M budget outlay despite its generally negative Reviews. Next up for Winnick is crime drama 'Speed Kills' with John Travolta, Matthew Modine, Kellan Lutz, James Remar and Jennifer Esposito, and she lent her voice to the cast of video game 'Call of Duty : WWII' recently released.

All up Winnick has sixty Acting credits to her name and she has so far garnered two award wins and another seven nominations. In 2009 she was selected by Vanity Fair magazine to appear in the high-profile and very selective 'Vanities' section, and in 2015 Winnick was named brand ambassador for luxury Swiss watch maker Raymond Weil, and in 2016 the face of their feminine Shine Collection.

Katheryn Winnick - a self confessed 'tom-boy'; the literal translation of her name in Ukrainian is 'winemaker'; has served her time in horror films, straight to video productions, one off television appearances and has risen to prominence with 'Vikings'; has worked with some big name Hollywood heavy hitters; has the talent, the brains and the beauty and is definitely on the up and up. Happy 40th Birthday to you Katheryn, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-