Birthday's to share this week : 13th-19th November 2016

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Zoe Bell does on 17th November - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 38, 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 13th November

• Whoopi Goldberg - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Frances Conroy - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actress | Singer
• Joe Mantegna - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Art Malik - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actor
• Steve Zahn - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor | Singer
• Gerard Butler - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Singer 

Monday 14th November

• Paul McGann - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Director
• Josh Duhamel - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actor
• Olga Kurylenko - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actress  

Tuesday 15th November

• Shailene Woodley - Born 1991, turns 25 - Actress
• Edward Asner - Born 1929, turns 87 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Yaphet Kotto - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Writer
• Sam Waterston - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actor | Producer
• Roger Donaldson - Born 1945, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Jonny Lee Miller - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actor  

Wednesday 16th November

• Griff Rhys Jones - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Television Personality
• Maggie Gyllenhaal - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actress | Producer  

Thursday 17th November

• Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actress | Singer
• Sophie Marceau - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actress | Writer | Director
• Rachel McAdams - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actress
• Zoe Bell - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actress | Stuntwoman | Producer
• Martin Scorsese - Born 1942, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Actor | Editor
• Danny DeVito - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer
• Roland Joffe - Born 1945, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer  

Friday 18th November

• Delroy Lindo - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actor | Producer
• Owen Wilson - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Damon Wayans Jnr. - Born 1982, turns 34 - Actor | Writer
• Chloe Sevigny - Born 1974, turns 42 - Actress  

Saturday 19th November 

• Kathleen Quinlan - Born 1954, turns 62 - Actress
• Meg Ryan - Born 1961, turns 55 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Jodie Foster - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actress | Director | Producer
• Charlie Kaufman - Born 1958, turns 58 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Jason Scott Lee - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor
• Adam Driver - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actor

Zoe Bell was born on Waiheke Island, New Zealand to mother Tish, a nurse, and father Andrew Bell a doctor. She grew up on the island, off Auckland, and studied gymnastics as a young age, and at fifteen tae kwon-do. Being an active kinda gal, she also took part in dance, high diving, scuba diving and athletics activities. She attended the Auckland Girls Grammar School, and then the co-educational public Selwyn College, also in Auckland. She has a younger brother Jake, and a foster brother Leonhard, who is living back in his native Germany. Her career in the film and television stunt business kick started in 1992 when her father treated a stuntman for a head injury. With a contact phone number given by the injured patient, she landed her first stunt job on the long running New Zealand medical soap opera 'Shortland Street', by jumping out of a running car. 

This led to regular work in 'Hercules : The Legendary Journeys' from 1995-1999, and then 'Xena : Warrior Princess' from 1998-2001. Both series were filmed in New Zealand, and in time Bell graduated to be stunt double for lead Actress Lucy Lawless. In between time she did stunt work on a number of television shows including 'The Chosen', 'Young Hercules', 'Jacksons Wharf', 'Amazon High' and 'Jack of All Trades'.

Her breakout stunt work came as double for Uma Thurman in Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill : Volumes 1 and 2'. This in turn led to her stunt doubling for Sharon Stone in 2004's 'Catwoman' where she performed a high fall of over 200 feet. More stunt work followed on J.J.Abrams 'Alias' and in movies 'Poseidon' and 'Penny Dreadful'. Another gig with Quentin Tarantino followed with his collaboration with Robert Rodriguez on the 'Grindhouse' double feature in both 'Planet Terror' and 'Death Proof' in which Bell receives both Acting and stunt credits. In 'Death Proof' Zoe Bell plays stuntwoman Zoe Bell who rides on the bonnet of a 1970 Dodge Challenger at full speed  holding on with just two leather straps, whilst being pursued by mad bad ageing Stuntman Mike (Kurt Russell) in his 'death proof' Hollywood stunt car, intent on killing her and her two other travelling companions. Truly memorable!

Four episodes on 'Lost' in both acting and stunt roles followed in 2008 with 'Bitch Slap' marking the start of a busy 2009 which saw Bell coordinate stunts, choreograph fight scenes, perform stunt work and act too on that film. 'Angel of Death', 'Gamer' with Gerard Butler, and the roller derby 'Whip It' for Drew Barrymore all saw acting credits, before a return to Quentin Tarantino with dual roles in 'Inglorious Basterds' performing stunt work for Diane Kruger and Melanie Laurent. More stunt work followed on 'The Proposal' for Sandra Bullock, and 'The Final Destination' saw out the decade.

Straight to DVD 'Game of Death' with Wesley Snipes came next in 2012, with 'The Baytown Outlaws' and 'Django Unchained' for Quentin Tarantino again coming that same year and all in acting roles. So too were 'Hansel and Gretel : Witch Hunters' with Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton in the title roles, and then 'Oblivion' with Tom Cruise. A stunt credit on 'Iron Man 3', and then acting credits on 'Raze', 'Hawaii Five-O', 'Mercenaries', as Six-Horse Judy in Quentin Tarantino's 'The Hateful Eight' and 'Camino' saw out 2015.

This year there has been the Hollywood themed thriller 'Douglas Brown', lakeside horror thriller 'Freshwater', Sci-Fi drama 'Paradox' with short films 'No Touching' and 'Miner' both in Post-Production and 'Unspoken : Diary of an Assassin' currently filming. All up Bell has 35 Acting credits to her name, 24 stunt work credits, and seven as Producer. She has so far accumulated five award wins and nine other nominations for both her stunt work and her acting roles.

Zoe Bell - affectionately known as 'Zoe the Cat'; has stunt doubled for some of the best Actresses in the business; is now considered as Quentin Tarantino's stunt muse; is grounded, keeps it real, speaks her mind and has successfully transitioned from playing parts behind the scenes doubling up as someone else to playing the part on her own merits in front of the camera - whilst still performing her own stunts no matter what. As tough as nails! Happy Birthday to you Zoe, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 4th - 10th October 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Christoph Waltz does on 4th October - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 59 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 4th October

• Armand Assante - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actor | Producer
• Liev Schreiber - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
• Christoph Waltz - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Susan Sarandon - Born 1946, turns - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Alicia Silverstone - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress | Producer

Monday 5th October

• Kate Winslet - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actress
• Karen Allen - Born 1951, turns 64 - Actress
• Guy Pearce - Born1967, turns 48 - Actor | Singer
• Jesse Eisenberg - Born 1983, turns  32 - Actor
• Vic Armstrong - Born 1946, turns 69 - Stuntman | Director | Second Unit Director | Actor

Tuesday 6th October

• Ioan Gruffudd - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actor
• Elisabeth Shue - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actress | Writer

Wednesday 7th October

• Simon Cowell - Born 1959, turns 56 - Television Personality | Producer | Writer | Composer
• Tim MInchin - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actor | Writer | Singer | Songwriter | Composer

Thursday 8th October

• Matt Damon - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Paul Hogan - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Edward Zwick - Born 1952, turns 63 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Chevy Chase - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor | Writer
• Sigourney Weaver - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actress | Producer

Friday 9th October

• Guillermo del Toro - Born 1964, turns 51 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Chris O'Dowd - Born 1979, turns 35 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Scott Bakula - Born 1954, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
• Brian Blessed - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actor
• Pete Docter - Born 1968, turns 47 - Director | Writer | Actor
• Brandon Routh - Born 1979, turns 36 - Actor

Saturday 10th October 

• Charles Dance - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Martin Kemp - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Director | Musician

Christoph Waltz was born in Vienna, Austria to mother Elisabeth Urbancic and father Johannes Waltz, both film and television set and costume designers. His family lineage includes an actor and actress, and his great grandparents worked in the theatre too. He studied acting at the Max Reinhardt School of Drama at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In the latter half of the 70's he studied method acting with the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, both in New York.

His career began as a stage actor performing in theatres in Vienna, Salzburg and Zurich. He became a prolific television film actor throughout the 80's and 90's, securing his debut film appearance in 1977's 'Der Einstand'. Subsequently he played in 36 television movies and 15 television series and mini-series including thirteen episodes of 'Parole Chicago' in 1979, 'The Gravy Train' in 1990 and 'The Gravy Train Goes East' in 1991. His early films include 'The Mysterious Stranger' in 1982, 'Goldeneye' in 1989 (not to be confused with the Pierce Brosnan Bond outing, but the bio-pic of Sir Ian Fleming), 'Catherine the Great' in 1995 (with an emerging Catherine Zeta Jones) and 'Ordinary Decent Criminal' in 2000 (with Kevin Spacey).

More TV films followed over the next decade interspersed with more TV series all the way up to 2009's 'Inglorious Basterds' for Director Quentin Tarantino. After thirty years making a respectable living in mostly German speaking television and film roles, his multi-award winning role as Colonel Hans Landa catapulted him into the Hollywood mainstream and international stardom. His role in Tarantino's film gained him the Best Supporting Academy Award, the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild Award and the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009.

After this there has been no looking back with 'The Green Hornet' following in 2011 for Michel Gondry, and then 'Water for Elephants', 'The Three Musketeers' for Paul W.S.Anderson and 'Carnage' for Roman Polanski all that same year.

In 2012 Waltz did it all again with Tarantino as Dr. King Schultz in 'Django Unchained' for which he again received much critical acclaim garnering him the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe, BAFTA and ultimately Academy Award.

'Epic' came next in 2013 to which he added his voice talents to this animated feature, and that same year 'The Zero Theorem' for Terry Gilliam, and then 'Muppets Most Wanted' and 'Horrible Bosses 2' in 2014 followed up by 'Big Eyes' earlier this year for Tim Burton.

Next up we'll see Waltz as Franz Oberhausen in Bond 24 - 'Spectre' due for release next month, and then for 2016 'Tarzan' for David Yates, and 'Tulip Fever' with Alicia Vikander (Profiled last week). His second Directing duty after 2000's 'Wenn man such trait' is the based on a true story 'The Worst Marriage in Georgetown' in which he also starts and is currently in pre-production.

All up Waltz has 107 Acting credits, two Directing credits, two as Producer, and along the way so far he has picked up 82 award wins including the two previously mentioned Academy Awards with Quentin Tarantino at the helm, and a further 26 award nominations.

Although born in Austria, his father applied for German citizenship following his birth, and in 2010 he received Austrian citizenship too, so now holding dual passports. Waltz has three children with his first wife, and a daughter born in 2005 with his second wife Judith Helste. They split their time living between London, Berlin and Los Angeles, and Waltz speaks fluent German, French, English and can more than get by in Italian.

Christoph Waltz - good mates with QT, has acting in his DNA, often portrays charming yet sinister characters infused with dark humour, reads psychology, listens to classical music, enjoys fine art and fine wine and he worries about the digital age! With so much going on since his star began to shine much much more brightly, it's a wonder he has time to make films - let alone pick up all his awards! Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 22nd - 28th March 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Quentin Tarantino does on 27th March - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 52, 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 22nd March

• Reece Witherspoon - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• William Shatner - Born 1931, turns 84 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Matthew Modine - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• M. Emmet Walsh - Born 1935, turns 80 - Actor
• Bruno Ganz - Born 1941, turns 74 - Actor
• Stephen Sondheim - Born 1930, turns 85 - Composer | Songwriter | Writer
• Andrew Lloyd Webber - Born 1948, turns 67 - Composer | Songwriter | Writer | Producer

Monday 23rd March

• Michele Monaghan - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress
• Catherine Keener - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actress | Producer

Tuesday 24th March

• Jessica Chastain - Born 197, turns 38 - Actress | Producer
• Lara Flynn Boyle - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actress
• Kelly LeBrock - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actress
• Keisha Castle-Hughes - Born 1990, turns 25 - Actress
• Curtis Hansen - Born 1945, turns 70 - Director | Producer | Writer

Wednesday 25th March

• Paul Michael Glaser - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Elton John - Born 1947, turns 68 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Producer
• Aretha Franklin - Born 1942, turns 73 - Singer | Actress | Producer
• Sarah Jessica Parker - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actress | Producer

Thursday 26th March

• Keira Knightley - Born 1985, turns 30 - Actress | Singer
• Martin Short - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• James Caan - Born 1940, turns 75 - Actor
• Alan Arkin - Born 1934, turns 81 - Actor | Writer | Producer

Friday 27th March

• Quentin Tarantino - Born 1963, turns 52 - Writer | Director | Producer | Actor
• Michael York - Born 1942, turns 73 - Actor

Saturday 28th March

• Vince Vaughn - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Nick Frost - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor
• Brett Ratner - Born 1969, turns 46 - Director | Producer
• Richard Kelly - Born 1975, turns 40 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Michael Newell - Born 1942, turns 73 - Director | Producer
• Lady Gaga - Born 1986, turns 29 - Singer | Songwriter | Writer | Producer | Actress
• Dianne Weist - Born 1948, turns 52 - Actress

Quentin Jerome Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee to mother Connie McHugh a nurse - aged 16 at the time of Quentin’s birth, and father Tony Tarantino - an American/Italian Actor and Musician. Quentin’s parents separated before he was born. At age four the young Quentin relocated to Torrance, California with his mother . , . and later to Harbor City - a Los Angeles neighbourhood. Here he attended Flemming Junior High School and then Narbonne High School in Harbor City for the first year but ultimately dropped out of school at age fifteen to attend full time acting classes at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake. After two years, however, he became bored with the acting school and so left, landing a job at ‘Video Archives ’in Manhattan Beach where he met fellow colleague, movie geek and future collaborator Roger Avery.

Later on while attending a Hollywood party he met Lawrence Bender who encouraged Tarantino to write a screenplay which led to his Directing debut in 1987 with ‘My Best Friend’s Birthday’. The final reel of film stock was mostly destroyed during editing in a fire that ripped through the lab, but the screenplay was later further adapted to create the foundation for ‘True Romance’.






Fast forward to 1992, and Tarantino’s first Hollywood film ‘Reservoir Dogs’ was shown at the Sundance Film Festival. It was an overnight sensation and the stuff of movie legend which instantly propelled QT into the limelight. Having written the dialogue heavy screenplay in less than four weeks, his friend Bender dispatched it to Director Monte Hellman who assisted in the funding process to bring the story to the big screen with Harvey Keitel jumping on board as Co-Producer and taking an Actor credit too.

With ‘True Romance’ optioned for the big screen too, this arrived in cinemas in 1993, and next up his base story for ‘Natural Born Killers’ was further developed by a team of screenwriters and then Directed by Oliver Stone, with credit given to QT for the storyline. Already QT was flavour of the month, if not the year, and offers began flooding in, including the chance to Direct ‘Speed’ and ‘Men in Black’ but instead he decamped to Holland and wrote the screenplay for ‘Pulp Fiction’.

‘Pulp Fiction’ wowed audiences and critics the world over, and for his efforts he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and got the nod for Best Director as well as five other nominations including Best Picture. He also won the prestigious Palme D’Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival to top it all off. After this came his collaboration with three other Directors including friend Robert Rodriguez on ‘Four Rooms’ which was met with less glowing reviews.

‘From Dusk till Dawn’ came next which was Directed by Rodriguez but for which QT wrote the script and took an acting role whilst launching the big screen career of one up & coming George Clooney. The film spawned two sequels and most recently a television series. As the 90’s closed out he Directed his next feature film - a tribute to the Blaxpoitation Films of the 60’s and 70’s with ‘Jackie Brown’ with those stars of yesteryear - Pam Grier and Robert Forster

As the new decade came in QT hunkered down to write his tribute to the Japanese/Western inspired revenge flick ‘Kill Bill’ starring at its lead - Uma Thurman. With an initial running time of over four hours he decided to release this over two volumes, and so ‘Kill Bill : Volume 1’ was released in the latter half of 2003 and ‘Kill Bill : Volume 2’ in the first half of 2004. He collaborated with Rodriguez again on 2005’s ‘Sin City’ for which he took a ‘Guest Director’ credit.

His partnership with Rodriquez continued in their dual project in 2007 releasing their tribute to 70’s and early 80’s ‘Grindhouse Cinema’ with the release of ‘Grindhouse’ - two films released as a single package with specially filmed movie Previews separating the two movies. ‘Planet Terror’ was Directed by Rodriguez and ‘Deathproof’ by QT. Not huge commercial successes but garnered positive audience reviews for followers of the genre(s). As the decade closed out, QT released his next film - an alternative take on the outcomes of WWII following the exploits of a rogue group of Jewish American guerrilla soldiers, with 'Inglorious Basterds' which at the time became QT's greatest Box Office success at a global take of US$321M and hit #1 at the Box Office worldwide. He garnered two Academy Award nominations here for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.

2012 brought his tribute to spaghetti westerns and the slave trade of the American deep south with a resurrection of the 'Django' character from the 60's and 70's with his release of 'Django Unchained', Starring Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and acting stablemate Samuel L. Jackson, this film superseded 'Basterds' as QT's greatest commercial success with a haul of US$425M and won him the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which he also won at the Golden Globes and BAFTA's.

Coming toward the end of 2015 is 'The Hateful Eight', another Western, but not linked to 'Django'. Starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Bruce Dern, Channing Tatum, and Walton Goggins with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Zoe Bell, this all star ensemble cast combined with a harsh Wyoming Winter, raging blizzards, bounty hunters, and a confined space are sure to give us a QT experience not to be missed.

Tarantino has so far 23 Writer credits to his name, thirty Actor credits, twenty Producer credits and sixteen Director credits as well as his credited abilities as Cinematographer and his control over the Soundtrack of his film which in themselves have become a touchstone. He has two Academy Award wins for his Screenplays for 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Django Unchained' and three other nominations, he has two Golden Globe wins for his Screenplays of 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Django Unchained' and three other nominations, and the same haul for the BAFTA's as for the Golden Globes. All up this amounts to 122 award wins and 103 other nominations.

He has been romantically linked to Mira Sorvino, Sofia Coppola, Julie Dreyfus and there have been rumours and speculation also about Uma Thurman whom he refers to as his 'muse'. He is not a believer in guns, violence and drugs even though his films feature drug use and often stylised violence with extreme acts mostly occurring off-camera. He does not believe that violence portrayed on film spills over into society. So much has been written and recorded about QT's rise to fame in the last twenty years and the undeniable impact he has had on modern cinema, that I cannot possibly do it justice herein.

And so, Quentin Tarantino - multi-talented cinematic auteur, always pushing the boundaries, trademark film maker, keeping it real, outspoken, wildly energetic, deeply passionate and a walking encyclopedia of all things film and television - we love what you do, await eagerly for your next offering and will keep watching as long as you keep writing and making movies - and long after that too! Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 21st - 27th December 2014.

It's Christmas week - do you celebrate your Birthday this week? Samuel L. Jackson does, on 21st December - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy 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 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!

Sunday 21st December

• Samuel L. Jackson - Born 1948, turns 66 - Actor | Producer
• Kiefer Sutherland - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Jeffrey Katzenberg - Born 1950, turns 64 - Producer
• Ray Romano - Born 1957, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Jane Fonda - Born 1937, turns 77 - Actress
• Julie Delpy - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director | Editor

Monday 22nd December

• Vanessa Paradis - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actress | Singer
• Ralph Fiennes - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Hector Elizondo - Born 1936, turns 78 - Actor
• David S. Goyer - Born 1965, turns 49 - Director | Producer | Writer

Tuesday 23rd December

• Nick Moran - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Estella Warren - Born 1978, turns 36 - Actress

Wednesday 24th December - Christmas Eve

• Ricky Martin - Born 1971, turns 43 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor
• Stephanie Meyer - Born 1973, turns 41 - Writer | Actor

Thursday 25th December - Christmas Day

• Sissy Spacek - Born 1949, turns 65 - Actress
• Annie Lennox - Born 1954, turns 60 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress

Friday 26th December - Boxing Day

• Jared Leto - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actor | Writer | Songwriter | Producer | Director
• Temuera Morrison - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor
• Steve Bisley - Born 1951, turns 63 - Actor
• Phil Spector - Born 1939, turns 75 - Songwriter
• Fred Schepisi - Born 1939, turns 75 - Director | Producer | Writer

Saturday 27th December

• Gerard Depardieu - Born 1948, turns 66 - Actor | Producer | Director

Samuel Leroy Jackson was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee as an only child. His father, Henry Jackson lived away from home in Kansas City, Missouri and died from alcoholism - he met him only twice. His mother, Elizabeth Montgomery was a factory worker and later a supplies buyer for a local hospital and she raised Samuel with the maternal grandparents and extended family. He graduated from the Riverside High School in Chattanooga where he acme proficient over the years in playing the French horn and trumpet. He went on to Morehouse College to study marine biology, and after joining a local acting group to earn extra points he switched his major to drama.

Following public speaking classes he appeared in 'The Threepenny Opera' and various stage plays and TV movies before making his feature film debut in 1972 in 'Together for Days'. His early roles prompted him to relocate to New York City in 1976 where he appeared in stage plays including 'The Piano Lesson' and 'Two Trains Running', but, at the same time he developed a liking for alcohol, heroine, and then cocaine resulting i him being unable to continue with this splays as they moved on to Broadway. 

During his early career he was mentored by Morgan Freeman and introduced to Spike Lee who would go on to Direct him in several films throughout the years, including bit parts in his earlier offerings - 'School Daze' in 1988 and 'Do the Right Thing' in 1989. Martin Scorsese game him a small role too in 1990's 'Goodfellas'. During this time his drug addiction deepened, and had previously overdosed on heroine several times before moving onto cocaine. His family subsequently entered him into a New York drug rehabilitation clinic which he came out of successfully, and went straight into filming 'Jungle Fever' again with Spike Lee . . . starring as a crack cocaine addict - a role he described as 'cathartic' and which won him much critical acclaim including a 1991 Cannes Film Festival 'Supporting Actor' Award.

After this he received multiple offers including 'Juice', 'Strictly Business', 'Patriot Games' and then 'Jurassic Park' with Steven Spielberg, and 'True Romance' with Tony Scott and his first brush with Writer/Director Quentin Tarantino. Following this Tarantino specifically wrote the role of Jules Winnfield for Jackson in 'Pulp Fiction' which went on to give him Best Supporting Actor Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, and the BAFTA win.

More film offers began to flood in during the mid-90's which included 'Kiss of Death', 'Die Hard : With a Vengeance', 'Hard Eight', 'Trees Lounge' and 'A Time to Kill' in 1996 which gave him another Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  The latter half of the 90's played out with 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' with Geena Davis, 'Jackie Brown' reunited with Quentin Tarantino, 'Sphere' with Dustin Hoffman, 'The Negotiator' with Kevin Spacey, 'Deep Blue Sea' with Director Renny Harlin and then as Mace Windu in George Lucas' reboot of the Star Wars franchise in 'Episode 1: The Phantom Menace'.

As the new century turned over Jackson was more in demand than ever opening with 'Rules of Engagement', 'Shaft' and 'Unbreakable' with Bruce Willis again all in 2000. He reprised Mace Windu three more times in 'Attack of the Clones', 'Revenge of the Sith' and the CGI animated 'The Clone Wars', and in the meantime took on 'Changing Lanes' with Ben Affleck, 'xXx' and its sequel 'xXx : State of the Union' with Vin Diesel, 'Basic' with John Travolta, 'S.W.A.T.' with Colin Firth, 'Kill Bill, Volume 2' with Tarantino again, and the voice of Frozone in the successful animated feature 'The Incredibles'.

2006 brought cult actioner 'Snakes on a Plane' - a role he took because of its title rather than the intricacies required from a nuanced performance, 'Black Snake Moan' and '1408' in 2007, and a busy year in 2008 with 'Jumper', 'Soul Men', 'Lakeview Terrace', 'The Spirit', 'Gospel Hill' and his first uncredited appearance as Nick Fury in 'Iron Man'. Since then he has reprised the role of Nick Fury in 'Iron Man 2', in 'Thor', 'Captain America : The First Avenger', 'The Avengers', 'Captain America : The Winter Soldier', the upcoming 'Avengers : Age of Ultron' due for release mid-2015 and in the TV Series 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D'.

He worked with Quentin Tarantino again narrating several scenes in 'Inglourious Basterds' and then in 'Django Unchained' and is currently filming with him once more in the 'The Hateful Eight' due out later on in 2015. Meanwhile he teamed up with Spike Lee once more in 'Oldboy' with Josh Brolin, the rebooted 'RoboCop' with Gary Oldman, with 'Kite' and 'Big Game' bringing us up to date. 'Kingsmen : The Secret Service' with Colin Firth is due out imminently, 'Cell', 'Barely Lethal' and 'Avengers : Age of Ultron' are all currently in post-production for a 2015 release, 'The Hateful Eight' and 'Tarzan' are currently filming, 'Moose' is in pre-production, and 'Nick Fury' and 'xXx : The Return of Xander Cage' have been announced. He has lent his voice talents to numerous animated features and video games, has 159 acting credits to his name, and has thirty award wins and another sixty award nominations under his belt. These include the Academy Award nomination for 'Pulp Fiction', four Golden Globe nominations for 'Jackie Brown', 'A Time to Kill', 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Against the Wall', and the BAFTA win for 'Pulp Fiction'. 

He is an avid golfer, a basketball fan of the Toronto Raptors and Harlem Globetrotters and a keen follower of Liverpool Football Club. He launched a campaign in support of Alzheimers Disease research in mid-2013 and also 'One for the Boys' advocating testicular cancer checks. He made a conscious decision to of bald, began a vegan diet and subsequently lost 40lbs in weight (18kgs). He has been married to LaTanya Richardson since 1980 and they have a daughter Zoe, born in 1982.

He is also acclaimed as the highest grossing film actor of all time with his movies grossing (depending on what you read) in excess of US$5.6B (The Movie Times), US$9.3B (The Numbers), US$8.3B (Box Office Mojo) and US$7.4B (The Guinness Book of Records). He is a prolific actor because he loves acting and loves the film making process and what he believe he can bring to the role and the character portrayed. 

Samuel L. Jackson - often mistaken for Laurence Fishburne; eaten alive by both a shark and a dinosaur; still the epitome of wise-ass bad-ass cool even at 66; known for your deep authoritarian voice and use of whiplash MoFo quips; often portrays violent and intimidating but always entertaining and keeping it real - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 9th - 15th November 2014.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week? Leonardo DiCaprio does, on 11th November - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy 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 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!

Sunday 9th November

• Lou Ferrigno - Born 1951, turns 63 - Actor | Bodybuilder
• Tony Slattery - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actor | Writer | Television Personality

Monday 10th November

• Walton Goggins - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actor | Producer
• Roland Emmerich - Born 1955, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Ennio Morricone - Born 1928, turns 86 - Composer

Tuesday 11th November

• Leonardo DiCaprio - Born 1974, turns 40 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Stanley Tucci - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Scoot McNairy - Born 1977, turns 37 - Actor | Producer
• Demi Moore - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actress | Producer
• Calista Flockhart - Born 1964, turns 50 - Actress

Wednesday 12th November

• Anne Hathaway - Born 1982, turns 32 - Actress | Singer
• Radha Mitchell - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actress | Producer
• Ryan Gosling - Born 1980, turns 34 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Neil Young - Born 1945, turns 69 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Writer | Producer | Actor

Thursday 13th November

• Gerard Butler - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor | Producer
• Steve Zahn - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actor
• Jimmy Kimmel - Born 1967, turns 47 - Television Personality | Writer | Producer | Actor
• Whoopi Goldberg - Born 1955, turns 59 - Actress | Producer | Writer

Friday 14th November

• Olga Kurylenko - Born 1979, turns 35 - Actress
• Josh Duhamel - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor
• Patrick Warburton - Born 1964, turns 50 - Actor

Saturday 15th November

• Jonny Lee Miller - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor
• Edward Asner - Born 1929, turns 85 - Actor
• Yaphet Kotto - Born 1939, turns 75 - Actor
• Sam Waterston - Born 1940, turns 74 - Actor
• Shailene Woodley - Born 1991, turns 23 - Actress

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born in Los Angeles, California to mother Irmelin Indebirken and father George Paul Di Caprio with German/Russian ancestry on his mothers side and German/Italian on his fathers. Raised as an only child his parents divorced when he was just a year old - his father was a renowned underground comic/graphic novel artist who produced and distributed such material too, and his mother was a legal secretary.

Growing up he attended the Los Angeles Centre for Enriched Studies, then Seeds Elementary School and John Marshall High School which he dropped out of having completed his third year. Some of his childhood was spent in Germany with his maternal grandparents, and as a result he speaks fluent German. His parents recognised early on that that young Leonardo had some talent in performance art, and so signed him up with a talent agent. From this DiCaprio gained some exposure on television commercials and educational programmes. In 1990 he landed a spot on the TV Series spin-off of the movie of the same name 'Parenthood' which brought some critical acclaim and a couple of award nominations. He also gained exposure on other TV shows including 'The New Lassie', 'Roseanne' and on the short-lived soap opera 'Santa Barbara'.

His film debut came in 1993 in the direct-to-video comedy Sci-Fi horror offering 'Critters 3' which was followed by a regular stint on the short-lived ABC Sit-Com 'Growing Pains'. This in turn led to DiCaprio being singled out in a casting call by Robert De Niro to star alongside him in the 1992 film 'This Boys Life', which then gave rise to 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' in 1993 playing the mentally handicapped brother to Johnny Depp's lead character. This role brought critical acclaim and DiCaprio's first Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations.

1996 brought further attention with Baz Luhrmann's modern retelling of 'Romeo+Juliet' with Claire Danes. Made for a modest US$10M it raked in almost ten times that amount, and started to polarise DiCaprio as the young heart-throb actor of the moment. This was further reinforced a year later when James Cameron cast him as the young Jack Dawson in 'Titanic' - a role he was reluctant to take on at first. Made for US$200M it grossed US$2.2B almost globally and until 2010 was the highest grossing film of all time, and turned DiCaprio into a bonafide commercial film superstar and global heart-throb phenomenon. For his role in 'Titanic' DiCaprio earned US$2.5M.

As the decade closed out starring roles followed, now that he had proved himself in the 'Titanic' blockbuster - but these were to less critical acclaim than those aforementioned, and included 'The Man in the Iron Mask' and 'The Beach'. The first half of the new century brought new and diverse roles, challenging characters, rich stories and acclaimed acting and Directing talent with which to work.  Notable outings included 'Catch Me if You Can' with Steven Spielberg in 2002, 'Gangs of New York' with Martin Scorsese that same year, 'The Aviator' in 2004 again with Scorsese, 'Blood Diamond' in 2006 with Edward Zwick and also that year 'The Departed' again with Scorsese. All of these were critically and financially successful, and garnered DiCaprio further award nominations and wins.

The years that followed brought other high profile Directors and opportunities with which to stretch his talents - 'Body of Lies' with Sir Ridley Scott, 'Revolutionary Road' with Sam Mendes, and in 2010 with Scorsese again on 'Shutter Island', and later that year with Christopher Nolan on 'Inception' - the latter turning in US$825M worldwide off a US$160M budget. Clint Eastwood also beckoned next Directing him in his Bio-Pic of J. Edgar Hoover in 'J.Edgar' in 2011, and this was followed up in 2012 with his turn as Calvin Candy in Quentin Tarrantino's 'Django Unchained', and then Baz Luhrmann once again in 2013 for 'The Great Gatsby'. These latter two were also financially successful earning US$425M and US$350M respectively. Next up was his fifth collaboration with Martin Scorsese playing Jordan Belfort in 'The Wolf of Wall Street' released early in 2014 and to date has grossed almost US$400M with further accolades bestowed. Next up is 'The Reverant' for a 2015/16 release and is filming now and Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

DiCaprio has 37 acting credits thus far to his name and 16 credits as a Producer. His other films include 'The Quick and The Dead', 'The Basketball Diaries', 'Total Eclipse', 'Marvin's Room', 'Celebrity' and 'Don's Plum'.  He has 51 worldwide awards wins and 122 other nominations, and these include : Academy Award nominations for 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape', 'The Aviator', 'Blood Diamond' and 'The Wolf of Wall Street' as well as a Best Picture nomination for 'The Wolf of Wall Street' on which he was also Producer. He won the Golden Globe Award too for 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and 'The Aviator' plus eight other nominations, and he has received to date three BAFTA nominations for 'The Wolf of Wall Street', 'The Departed' and 'The Aviator'.

He is environmentally very active advocating that global warming is 'the number one environmental challenge'. He was appointed in September this year as the United Nations Representative on Climate Change. He donated US$1M to earthquake relief in Haiti in 2010, and later that same year a further US$1M to the 'Wildlife Conservation Society'. He is also an activist for the 'Animal Legal Defence Fund' and actively supports gay rights. He is unmarried but his dating exploits with models and actresses is well documented in the media.

Starting out DiCaprio earned US$75K for 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' in 1993, compared to the US$20M price tag he received for each of 'The Beach', 'Catch Me if You Can', 'The Aviator', 'The Departed', 'Blood Diamond' and 'The Great Gatsby'. By comparison he earned all up US$59M from 'Inception'. Clearly with such a filmic pedigree, the pulling power he has to open and establish a movie, and his Production capability and earnings too he is a Hollywood force to contend with - and he turns only 40 today, on 11th November 2014.

Leonardo DiCaprio - diverse and exciting film career, huge pulling power, Scorsese collaborator, extensive emotional range, talented beyond question, and a man on an environmental mission - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-