Birthday's to share this week : 16th-22nd October 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jon Favreau does on 19th October - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 50, 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 16th October

• Angela Lansbury - Born 1925, turns 91 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Tim Robbins - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter
• Gary Kemp - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter  

Monday 17th October

• Lawrence Bender - Born 1957, turns 59 - Producer | Actor
• Rob Marshall - Born 1960, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Choreographer
• Eminem (aka Marshall Bruce Mathers III) - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actor
• Matthew Macfadyen - Born 1974, turns 42 - Actor
• Margot Kidder - Born 1948, turns 68 - Actress
• Felicity Jones - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actress  

Tuesday 18th October

• Jean-Claude Van Damme - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Zac Efron - Born 1987, turns 29 - Actor | Producer | Singer  

Wednesday 19th October

• Michael Gambon - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actor
• John Lithgow - Born 1945, turns 71 -  Actor | Producer | Singer
• Jon Favreau - Born 1966, turns 50 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Trey Parker - Born 1969, turns 47 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor | Animator | Singer | Songwriter | Composer 

Thursday 20th October

• Timothy West - Born 1934, turns 82 - Actor
• Thomas Newman - Born 1955, turns 61 - Composer | Songwriter | Musician
• Danny Boyle - Born 1956, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Viggo Mortensen - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actor | Producer
• Snoop Dogg (aka Calvin Cordozar Broadus) - Born 1971, turns 45 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Writer | Actor | Producer  

Friday 21st October

• Ken Watanabe - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Catherine Hardwick - Born 1955, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer | Production Designer
• Carrie Fisher - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actress | Writer | Singer

Saturday 22nd October

• Catherine Deneuve - Born 1943, turns 73 - Actress | Singer
• Saffron Burrows - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actress
• Christopher Lloyd - Born 1938, turns 78 - Actor
• Derek Jacobi - Born 1938, turns 78 - Actor
• Jan de Bont - Born 1943, turns 73 - Director | Producer | Cinematographer
• Jeff Goldblum - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actor | Producer
• John Howard - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actor
• Bill Condon - Born 1955, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Spike Jonze - Born 1969, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Cameraman
• Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Born 1975, turns 41 - Actor | Television Personality  

Jonathan Kolia Favreau was born in Flushing, Queens, New York to mother Madeleine - an elementary school teacher who died in 1979 from leukaemia, and father Charles Favreau - a special needs education teacher. Favreau graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1984, and attended Queens College at the City University of New York from 1984 through to 1987 before dropping out. For a short time he worked for the New York based global investment bank, securities trading and brokerage company Bear Sterns on Wall Street, before returning to Queens College in early 1988. By that Summer he dropped out for good before completing his degree, and headed to Chicago to chase down a career in comedy. There he honed his craft at the ImprovOlympic Theatre and Training Centre, and the Improv Institute which subsequently closed its doors in 1994.

His first big screen role came as a Chicago cab driver in 'Folks' in 1992 for Director Ted Kotcheff with Tom Seleck and Don Ameche. This was followed up with an uncredited extra role in the Danny DeVito Directed and starring 'Hoffa' with Jack Nicholson in the title role. In 1993 he gained his first significant role in 'Rudy' alongside Sean Astin in the lead role as Daniel E. Roettiger and Favreau playing D-Bob in this sports-bio set in the college football world of the University of Notre Dame in the mid-'70's. On set he met Vince Vaughn who had a small role to play in the film. In 1994 he starred in 'PCU' (Port Chester University) alongside Jeremy Piven and David Spade, and then Joel Schumacher's 'Batman Forever' with Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carey and Chris O'Donnell. 'Notes from Underground' followed that same year in 1995. In the meantime there had been appearances on the likes of 'Seinfeld', 'Chicago Hope', ' The Larry Sanders Show' and 'Fallen Angels'.

1996 saw his debut as a Screenwriter with his penned 'Swingers' with Favreau playing alongside Vince Vaughn, and Directed by Doug Liman. 'Swingers' was made for just US$200K and grossed close to US$5M. Before the end of the decade came 'Persons Unknown', 'Dogtown', end of the world Sci-Fi action drama 'Deep Impact', Peter Berg's 'Very Bad Things' and television series appearances on 'Tracey Takes On . . .', 'Friends' and made for television movies 'Desert Breeze' and 'Rocky Marciano' with Favreau playing the lead role as the undefeated world heavyweight boxing champion.

The new decade launched with 'Love & Sex', 'The Replacements' and this his Directorial debut with 'Made' in 2001 in which he also starred, wrote and Produced, and hired his mate Vince Vaughn to star alongside. The film received positive Reviews and just about recovered its US$5M budget outlay from the worldwide Box Office. Marvel's 'Daredevil' with Ben Affleck came next in 2003, then 'The Big Empty' and then his second outing as Director with the Christmas themed 'Elf'. 'Something's Gotta Give' with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, and then 'Wimbledon', 'The Break Up' with Vince Vaughn and former 'Friends' Co-Star Jennifer Aniston. In the meantime Favreau Directed 'Zathura' - the follow-up to 'Jumanji' which whilst faring reasonably well critically, did less so commercially.

2008 saw Favreau Direct, Co-Produce and star in the first outing for Marvel's 'Iron Man' with Robert Downey Jnr. in the lead role. This first film in the hugely successful and popular franchise returned US$586M from its US$140M budget. He followed this success up again in 2010 with 'Iron Man 2' making US$624M from its US$200M budget, and in 2013 acted as Executive Producer on Shane Black's 'Iron Man 3' and reprised his role as Happy Hogan, now Head of Security for Stark Industries. This third instalment made US$1.22B from its US$200M budget costs.

Three RomCom's followed in quick succession with 'Four Christmases', 'I Love You, Man' and 'Couples Retreat' - the first and last of these both with regular stablemate Vince Vaughn, before the Sci-Fi Western 'Cowboys and Aliens' Directed and Co-Produced by Favreau with Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford starring.

There were then support acting gigs in 'John Carter', 'People Like Us', 'Identity Thief', 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and 'Entourage' with his turn as Writer, Producer. Director and Star in 'Chef' in 2014. In the meantime he took an Executive Producer credit on the hugely successful 'The Avengers' in 2012, on last years 'Avengers : The Age of Ultron' and the upcoming 'Avengers : Infinity War Parts 1 & 2' due on 4th May 2018 and 3rd May 2019 respectively.

Bringing us up to date this year there has been crime drama 'Term Life' with Vince Vaughn again, his highly acclaimed live action/CGI retelling of Disney's classic 'The Jungle Book' which Favreau Directed, Co-Produced and lent his voice talents to and which grossed US$967M from its US$175M budget. Next up is his reprisal of his 'Iron Man' role as Happy Hogan in 'Spider-Man : Homecoming', and the recently announced Disney live action/CGI remakes of 'The Lion King' and 'The Jungle Book 2' with Favreau set to Direct both. Television Sci-Fi drama comedy series 'Orville' is due in 2017 with Favreau as Executive Producer. Meanwhile, he has lent his voice talents to 'Rocket Power', 'Dilbert', 'Buzz Lightyear of Star Command', 'Family Guy', 'Rugrats', 'Open Season', 'Robot Chicken', 'G-Force', 'Zookeeper', 'Star Wars : The Clone Wars' and 'The Jungle Book', and he has appeared on episodes of 'My Name is Earl', 'Monk' and 'The King of Queens'.

All up Favreau has 65 Acting credits to his name, 22 Producer credits, twenty as Director and six as Writer. He has three awards wins and eight other nominations. He married physician Joya Tillem in late 2000 with whom he has three children - Max (born in July 2001), Madeleine (born in April 2003) and Brighton Rose (born in August 2006). Looking purely at his Marvel adaptations which he has either Directed or Co-Produced, the combined worldwide gross Box Office receipts amount to close to US$5.35B and add to that 'The Jungle Book' then this sum rises to close to US$6.32B . . . that's a pretty good track record methinks!

Jon Favreau - he Stars, he Produces, he Directs and he Writes; is as equally comfortable making big action epics or small independent features; and now seemingly at ease too with the latest cutting edge moviemaking technology to further enhance our cinematic experience. A proven track record of keeping us entertained on the big screen and the small screen, in front of the camera and behind it, and we just keep coming back for more - Happy 50th Birthday to you Jon, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 18th-24th September 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jon Bernthal does on 20th September - 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 18th September

• Jada Pinkett Smith - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Director
• Jason Sudeikis -  Born 1975, turns 41 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Mark Romanek - Born 1959, turns 57 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Tim McInnerny - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor

Monday 19th September

• Adam West - Born 1928, turns 88 - Actor
• David McCallum - Born 1933, turns 83 - Actor
• Jeremy Irons - Born 1948, turns 68 - Actor
• Paul McGuigan - Born 1963, turns 53 - Director | Producer
• Jimmy Fallon - Born 1974, turns 42 - Television Personality | Writer | Producer | Actor | Singer  

Tuesday 20th September

• Jon Bernthal - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor
• Gary Cole - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor
• George R.R. Martin - Born 1948, turns 68 - Writer | Producer | Actor
• Sophia Loren - Born 1934, turns 82 - Actress | Singer  

Wednesday 21st September

• Jerry Bruckheimer - Born 1943, turns 73 - Producer
• Stephen King - Born 1947, turns 69 - Writer | Producer | Actor
• Bill Murray - Born 1950, turns 66 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
• Ethan Coen - Born 1957, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
• David Wenham - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Producer
• Luke Wilson - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director  

Thursday 22nd September

• Nick Cave - Born 1957, turns 59 - Writer | Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor
• Scott Baio - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Tom Felton - Born 1987, turns 29 - Actor | Director
• Billie Piper - Born 1982, turns 34 - Actress | Producer  

Friday 23rd September

• John Woo - Born 1946, turns 70 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Editor
• Jason Alexander - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer
• Alex Proyas - Born 1963, turns 53 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Anthony Mackie - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actor | Producer   

Saturday 24th September

• Brad Bird - Born 1957, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor

Jonathan Edward Bernthal was born in Washington D.C., USA, to mother Joan Marx and father Eric Lawrence Bernthal - a lawyer with Latham & Watkins - the world's highest grossing and one of the most prestigious law firms. He has two brothers - Thomas and Nicholas. After High School, he attended Skidmore College - a private independent arts college in Saratoga Springs, New York in 1999, before relocating himself to the Moscow Arts Theatre School in Russia, during which time he played semi-professional baseball as a catcher while studying his chosen craft. After this he attended the American Repertory Theatre at the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University where he graduated from in 2002 with a Masters of Fine Arts Degree.

Since 2002 Bernthal has performed in over thirty Off-Broadway Plays, many with his own Theatre Company - Fovea Floods. He gained his first small screen role in 2002 in a single episode of 'Law and Order : Criminal Intent' with the next few years bringing further television series work on the likes of 'Without a Trace', 'Dr. Vegas', 'Boston Legal', 'Jonny Zero', 'C.S.I. : Miami' and 'How I Met Your Mother'. His first film role came in 2002 with 'Mary/Mary' and then in 2004 with 'Tony 'n' Tina's Wedding' with Mila Kunis and then television movie 'Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman' with Bryan Brown. 

2006 brought Oliver Stone's 'World Trade Centre' with Nicolas Cage, Michael Pena and Michael Shannon, and then 'The Air I Breathe' and 'Day Zero' in 2007, 'Coutrroom K', 'Bar Starz', 'A Line in the Sand' and 'Night at the Museum : Battle of the Smithsonian' closed out the decade.  From 2006 to 2007 running for just one season over nineteen episodes was 'The Class', and then rom 2009 to 2010 for one season over thirteen episodes was 'Eastwick' based on 'The Witches of Eastwick' book and film of the same name.

The new decade saw Roman Polanski's 'The Ghost Writer' with Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan and Tom Wilkinson, 'Date Night' with Steve Carell and Tina Fey, 'Rampart' with Woody Harrelson and Sigourney Weaver, 'Snitch' with Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon, and then Martin Scorsese's 'The Wolf of Wall Street' with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill, and 'Grudge Match' with Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro.

During this period of escalating film roles there were also further television appearances on 'Numb3rs', 'The Pacific', 'Harry's Law' and 'Robot Chicken', plus the role that almost certainly put Bernthal on the map, as Shane Walsh on the first twenty episodes across the first two seasons of AMC's groundbreaking 'The Walking Dead' from 2010-2012. The show's seventh season is soon to go to air in the US.

David Ayer's 'Fury' in 2014 with Brad Pitt, Michael Pena and Shia LaBeouf came next with 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl', 'Sicario' with Josh Brolin, Benicio del Toro and Emily Blunt, and then 'We Are Your Friends' with Zac Efron. Further television series followed including the mini-series 'Show Me a Hero' with Oscar Isaac and Alfred Molina, the animated series 'SuperMansion' to which Bernthal lends his voice talents with Bryan Cranston amongst others, and then as Frank Carter/Punisher on 'Daredevil' based on the Marvel Comics character for which Bernthal is to get his own spin-off series of 'Punisher' in 2017.

Up next are several film appearances in 'Viena and the Fantomes', and 'The Accountant' with Ben Affleck and Anna Kendrick both due later this year. Currently filming is 'Sweet Virginia' for a 2017 release with Imogen Poots, 'Pilgrimage' with Tom Hollander and Richard Armitage in post-production, as is 'Shot Caller', Edgar Wright's 'Baby Driver' with Kevin Spacey, John Hamm and Jamie Foxx, and 'Wind River' with Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olson.

Including these, all up Bernthal has 51 Acting credits to date, and he has three award nominations including Best Male Breakout Performance for 'The Walking Dead'. He married Erin Angle in September 2010 with whom he has three children - Henry (born in 2011), Billy (born in 2013) and Adeline (born in 2015). His brother Nicholas is an orthopaedic surgeon at UCLA with whom he also runs a not-for-profit company 'Drops Fill Buckets' which describes its credo as an 'impact driven, entrepreneurial approach to making a difference'. His other brother Tom is a three time Emmy Award winning Producer for NBC, and CEO of a business consulting company.

Jon Bernthal - plays tough, physical muscular roles because he's a tough, physical muscular looking kinda guy; he has had his nose broken thirteen times at the last count; is immensely talented and will turn his hand to any genre and because of it is increasingly in demand and his star very much on the rise. We'll keep watching Jon, if you keep doing what your best at - keeping us entertained with gritty realism! Happy 40th Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 3rd - 9th May 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Rosario Dawson does on 9th May - check out the tribute to this Birthday Girl 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 3rd May

• Amy Ryan - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actress
• Rob Brydon - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Television Personality
• Joseph Kosinski - Born 1974, turns 41 - Director | Producer | Writer

Monday 4th May

• Will Arnett - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Rolf de Heer - Born 1951, turns 64 - Director | Writer | Producer

Tuesday 5th May

• Henry Cavill - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actor | Producer
• John Rhys-Davies - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actor
• Lance Henrikson - Born 1940, turns 75 - Actor
• Richard E. Grant - Born 1957, turns 58 - Actor | Director
• Michael Palin - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor | Writer

Wednesday 6th May

• George Clooney - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Alan Dale - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor

Thursday 7th May

• Richard O'Sullivan - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actor
• Alexander Ludwig - Born 1992, turns 23 - Actor
• Traci Lords - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actress

Friday 8th May

• David Attenborough - Born 1926, turns 89 - Naturalist | Television Personality | Producer
• Michel Gondry - Born 1963, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer

Saturday 9th May

• Albert Finney - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actor
• James L. Brooks - Born 1940, turns 75 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Alan Bennet - Born 1934, turns 81 - Writer | Actor
• Rosario Dawson - Born 1979, turns 36 - Actress | Producer
• Candice Bergen - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actress | Producer
• Glenda Jackson - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actress

Rosario Isabel Dawson was born in New York City to mother Isabel Celeste, a writer/singer of Puerto Rican and Afro-Cuban origins. Isabel was just 16 when Rosario was born, and her biological father Patrick Harris moved on and the two never married. The young mother to Rosario married construction worker Greg Dawson a year later, and he brought Rosario up as though she were his own, and it is her whom Rosario has always referred to as Dad. Isabel and Greg had a son together - Rosario's half-brother Clay - the couple divorced in 2001.

In the mid-80's Isabel and Greg moved the growing family into an abandoned building on the Lower East Side of Manhattan where the two fixed up the plumbing and the electrics and created for themselves somewhere affordable for the young family to live and grow. During this time other family members came and went and took an active part in caring for the young Rosario and Clay - most of whom were also on the poverty line.

Dawson's first screen appearance came briefly on 'Sesame Street', and was discovered subsequently at age 15 by photographer Larry Clark and the young writer at the time Harmony Korine for a film script he was penning - 'Kids' about a 24 hour snapshot into the sex and drug fuelled lives of the New York teenage skater community. Rosario got the part in the 1995 controversial film, and from there scored a few roles in the latter half of the 90's including Spike Lee's 'He Got Game' with Denzel Washington and 'Light It Up' with Forest Whitaker.

With an active interest too in singing, Dawson teamed up with Prince for the re-release of his 80's smash '1999' in 1999, and subsequently with The Chemical Brothers on 'Out of Control' and then OutKast on 'Speakerboxxx/The Love Below' double album.

As the new decade clicked over smaller supporting roles came along, with the likes of 'Down to You', 'Josie and the Pussycats', 'Sidewalks of New York', 'Chelsea Walls' Directed by Ethan Hawke, and then 'Men In Black II' and a reteaming with Spike Lee on '25th Hour' with Edward Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

By the middle of the decade more substantial fare was coming with the likes of 'Alexander' for Oliver Stone, 'Sin City' for Robert Rodriguez, 'Rent' for Chris Columbus for which she could add her singing talents, 'Death Proof' for Quentin Tarantino, 'Killshot' for John Madden, and several others starring such names as Will Smith, Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shia LeBeouf, Bruce Willis, Robert Downey Jnr., and Channing Tatum.

From here too there have been several television shows over the years including 'Robot Chicken', Gemini Division', and most recently 'Daredevil', and a song too on the Kasabian album on 'West Ryder Silver Bullet'.

After 'Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief' in 2010, there was 'Unstoppable' for Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington, 'Zookeeper', 'Fire with Fire', '10 Years', 'Trance' for Danny Boyle and 'Sin City : A Dame to Kill For' for Robert Rodriguez once more and reprising her role as Gail. Most recently there has been Chris Rock's 'Top Five', with 'Puerto Rican's in Paris' currently in post-production for later this year and 'Clerks III' due for a 2016 release. Dawson has lent her voice talents to several video games including 'Syndicate', 'Wonder Woman', 'Tinkerbell and the Legend of the NeverBeast' and 'Justice League : Throne of Atlantis'.

She has 66 acting credits to her name, three Producer credits and has performed songs on 'Pluto Nash', 'Rent' and 'Trance'. Dawson is the winner of nine awards for her film roles and a further 31 nominations. She also co-created the comic book 'Occult Crimes Taskforce' in 2006, and has her own Production Company called 'Trybe'.

Dawson remains single but has been romantically linked to Actor Jason Lewis until late 2006, and more recently to Danny Boyle her Director on 'Trance'. She is actively involved in numerous charities and care organisations including Global Cool, the ONE Campaign, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and PFLAG (Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians And Gays). She is also a spokesperson for Doctors Without Borders, Save the Children, National Geographic Society and The Nature Conservancy.

Rosario Dawson - beautiful, multi-talented, dramatic, comedic, philanthropic and not afraid to push the boundaries. So much more still to come - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthdays to share this week : 10th - 16th August.

Is it your Birthday this week?

Do you share your birthday with a well known, highly regarded & famous Actor or Actress; share your special day with a Director, Producer, Writer, Cinematographer or 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!

Check out too the spotlight on this weeks Birthday Boy on 15th August, Ben Affleck, at the end of this feature.

Sunday 10th August

• Antonio Banderas - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Rosanna Arquette - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actress

Monday 11th August

• Chris Hemsworth - Born 1983, turns 31 - Actor
• Viola Davis - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actress | Producer
• Ian McDiarmid - Born 1944, turns 70 - Actor
• Hulk Hogan - Born 1953, turns 61 - WWF Wrestler | Actor | Producer

Tuesday 12th August

• Casey Affleck - Born 1975, turns 39 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Bruce Greenwood - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actor
• George Hamilton - born 1939, turns 75 - Actor | Producer
• William Goldman - Born 1931, turns 83 - Writer

Wednesday 13th August

• Paul Greengrass - Born 1955, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer
• John Slattery - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor | Director

Thursday 14th August

• Mila Kunis - Born 1983, turns 31 - Actress
• Halle Berry - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actress | Producer
• Steve Martin - Born 1945, turns 69 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Wim Wenders - Born 1945, turns 69 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Antonio Fargas - Born 1946, turns 68 - Actor
• James Horner - Born 1953, turns 61 - Composer

Friday 15th August

• Jennifer Lawrence - Born 1990, turns 24 - Actress
• Ben Affleck - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Natasha Hentsridge - Born 1974, turns 40 - Actress
• Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Born 1963, turns 51 - Director | Writer | Producer
• Nicolas Roeg - Born 1928, turns 86 - Director | Cinematographer

Saturday 16th August

• Steve Carell - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• James Cameron - Born 1954, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor | Explorer
• Madonna - Born 1958, turns 56 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress | Producer
• Angela Bassett - Born 1958, turns 56 - Actress
• Bruce Beresford - Born 1940, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Rumer Willis - Born 1988, turns 26 - Actress

It's going to be a busy time this week ahead in the Affleck household as young Casey turns 39 on Tuesday and older brother Ben turns 42 on Friday. Born Benjamin Geza Affleck-Boldt in Berkeley, California and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts the young Ben had aspirations to be an actor from his earliest years on. He scored his first job on a Burger King commercial in 1984 aged 12. It was just a few short years before, that he met his lifelong friend and collaborator Matt Damon who lived just a few blocks away. In their early teen years they took acting classes together, and also secured small roles in TV movies and series including 'Hands of a Stranger' in 1987 and 'The Second Voyage of the Mimi' in 1988 having played also in 'The Voyage of the Mimi' four years earlier.

His introduction to feature length films cakes in 1993 with the acclaimed 'Dazed and Confused' and other small independent offerings such as 'Mallrats' in 1995 and 'Chasing Amy' in 1997 for which he was garnering some critical acclaim.

However, already Affleck was getting restless with not securing more significant roles in bigger films. Sharing an apartment with brother Casey, and friend Damon who was experiencing similar challenges in his quest for movie stardom, the two decided to take their destiny into their own hands and take control of the process by writing their own script . . . and so 'Good Will Hunting' was released in 1997 through Miramax Studios who paid US$600K for the piece, whilst agreeing to give Affleck and Damon the control they wanted over the movie's production. The rest, as they say, is history and the stuff of legend as the film went on to gain nine Academy Award nominations and winning two including Best Screenplay for Affleck and Damon - with Affleck, at 25 years of age, being the youngest person ever to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

With this big breakthrough, Affleck and Damon had the film making world at their feet. For Affleck this led to big budget epic fare including 'Armageddon' and 'Shakespeare in Love' in 1998 and 'Pearl Harbour' in 2001.











As the new decade broke Affleck made some 'interesting' choices including the critically panned 'Gigli'  'Jersey Girl' and 'Daredevil' which he has subsequently  has said that it's "the only movie I actually regret . . . it just kills me!" There were others too in that sickly schmaltzy RomCom genre that did him no favours. At the same time he had high profile relationships with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lopez having been engaged to the latter for a short while at a cost of US$3.5M for the engagement ring alone and maybe this is why he was admitted for alcohol rehab. too. But sometimes you just gotta hit the bottom before you can rise up, and rise up Ben certainly has!

In 2005 he married co-star actress Jennifer Garner and now has three children with her - Violet Anne, Seraphina Rose and Samuel Garner. He continues to write and has Directed three films to much critical acclaim. He has appeared in four films nominated for Best Picture Academy Awards - 'Field of Dreams', 'Good Will Hunting', 'Shakespeare in Love' and 'Argo'. He wrote the Screenplays for 'Good Will Hunting', 'The Town' and 'Gone Baby Gone', and Directed 'Argo', 'The Town' and 'Gone Baby Gone' and  has numerous Production credits to his name, and 58 acting credits so far.


His filmography other than those already mentioned include : 'Forces of Nature', 'Dogma', 'Boiler Room', 'Bounce', 'Reindeer Games',' Changing Lanes', 'The Sum of all Fears', 'Paycheck', 'Hollywoodland', 'Smokin' Aces', 'State of Play', 'The Company Men', 'Runner Runner' and the late 2014 release 'Gone Girl'. Currently filming for a 2016 release is 'Batman vs Superman : Dawn of Justice' and recently announced for release sometime thereafter is 'Justice League' when Affleck will again reprise his role as the Batman/Bruce Wayne caped crusader. For release in 2016 also will be the Affleck screen scripted and Directed 'Live By Night' - described as a 'big sweeping gangster-epic morality story'.

When Affleck was announced to play Batman/Bruce Wayne last year it caused much uproar and gnashing of teeth given his earlier outing in the panned 'Daredevil'. At 40+ years of age he will be the oldest actor to play the character - but that shouldn't deter us given that he will have played two Frank Miller created characters on the big screen - 'Daredevil' being the other. Bearing in mind that he has also played 'Superman' in the telling of the story surrounding the mysterious death of George Reeves - the first actor to play the original superhero in the TV series of the 50's - he is clearly drawn to the super hero types battling crime and injustice at every turn. He will though be the third Oscar winning actor to play the caped crusader after George Clooney and Christian Bale, so he is in esteemed company!

Ben Affleck is an avid Poker player but does so always within his limits. In 2004 he won the California State Poker Championship with a winning purse of US$356K. He has an active interest in Politics and is vocal and transparent about where his allegiances lie. He is charitable and support humanitarian projects, having founded in 2010 the 'Eastern Congo Initiative' to support relief efforts to the humanitarian crisis there.

He won the Best Picture Academy Award for 'Argo' and Best Screenplay Award for 'Good Will Hunting'. He won the Golden Globe for Best Director for 'Argo' and Best Screenplay for 'Good Will Hunting' and was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for 'Hollywoodland', and he won the BAFTA for Best Film and Best Director for 'Argo' and nominated for Best Lead Actor for that same film. He has a total haul of 56 award wins and 75 other award nominations globally.

Ben Affleck - acclaimed Actor, Director, Writer; charitable humanitarian; a man who has made some questionable choices but like a Phoenix that has risen from the ashes; multi-talented and with your achievements going from strength to strength - Happy Birthday from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-