Birthday's to share this week : 28th August - 3rd September 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Salma Hayek does on 2nd September - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl 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 28th August

• David Soul - Born 1943, turns 73 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer
• Luis Guzman - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor | Producer
• David Fincher - Born 1962, turns 54 - Director | Producer
• Billy Boyd - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
• Jason Priestly - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Jack Black - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Armie Hammer - Born 1986, turns 30 - Actor  

Monday 29th August

• William Friedkin - Born 1935, turns 81 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Elliott Gould - Born 1938, turns 78 - Actor | Producer
• Joel Schumacher - Born 1939, turns 77 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Lenny Henry - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actor | Writer | Television Personality
• Rebecca De Mornay - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actress | Producer | Singer  

Tuesday 30th August

• Cameron Diaz - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Michael Chiklis - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Director 

Wednesday 31st August

• Jack Thompson - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actor | Producer
• Richard Gere - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Jonathan LaPaglia - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer
• Chris Tucker - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actor
• Marc Webb - Born 1974, turns 42 - Director | Producer | Writer  

Thursday 1st September

• Craig McLachlan - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Lily Tomlin - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer  

Friday 2nd September

• Salma Hayek - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actress | Producer | Director | Singer
• Mark Harmon - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Keanu Reeves - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director  

Saturday 3rd September

• Jean-Pierre Jeunet - Born 1953, turns 63 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Charlie Sheen - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Noah Baumbach - Born 1969, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Garrett Hedlund - Born 1984, turns 32 - Actor | Singer
• Pauline Collins - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actress  

Salma Hayek Jimenez was born in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico to mother Diana Jimenez Medina, an opera singer and talent scout, and father Sami Hayek, an oil company executive and owner of an industrial equipment company. She was raised a devout Roman catholic in a happy wealthy family, although has more recently admitted that she is no longer as devout in her faith as she once was. She attended the Academy of the Sacred Heart - an independent Catholic School for girls in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, from the age of twelve where she was diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia. She went on to study International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. In 1991 she moved to Los Angeles to study acting at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

In 1989 Hayek gained her first credited acting break on the small screen in 'Teresa' in the lead role of this Mexican telenovela that made her an overnight star in her home country. Her big screen debut came in 'Mi Vida Loca' (aka 'My Crazy Life') with 'Roadracers' following up in 1994 as Written and Directed by Robert Rodriguez in what would prove to be a long lasting and fruitful screen relationship. This was followed up in 1995 by the Mexican film 'Midaq Alley' (aka 'The Alley of Miracles') which picked up 27 award wins and a further fourteen nominations and the most awarded film in the history of Mexican cinema.

Up next Robert Rodriguez cast her in 'Desperado' with Antonio Banderas, with 'Fair Game' following that same year, together with 'Four Rooms' starring in the Robert Rodriguez segment 'Room 309 : The Misbehavers' with Antonio Banderas again. 1996 brought 'From Dusk till Dawn' again with Robert Rodriguez based on a Quentin Tarantino Screenplay and with George Clooney and Harvey Keitel.

Seeing out the 90's there were amongst others 'Fled' with Laurence Fishburn and Stephen Baldwin, 'Fools Rush In' with Matthew Perry, 'Breaking Up' with Russell Crowe, '54' with Ryan Phillippe, 'The Faculty' with Elijah Wood and once more Directed by Robert Rodriguez, 'Dogma' for Director Kevin Smith and with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and 'Wild Wild West' with Will Smith and Kevin Kline.

In 2000 Hayek established her own film production company 'Ventanaroca'. Her first film as Producer was 1999's 'No One Writes to the Colonel' which was selected as Mexico's entry to the Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category. This was followed up by the Mike Figgis experimental four-way split screen film 'Timecode' featuring a huge ensemble cast, and then Steven Soderbergh's highly acclaimed 'Traffic' with Benicio Del Toro, Michael Douglas and James Brolin. 'Hotel' came next again for Mike Figgis and with another ensemble cast, and then 'In the Time of the Butterflies' which Hayek also Co-produced.

'Frida' came next with Hayek in the title role of Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo which she also Co-Produced to much critical acclaim which included two Academy Award wins and four other nominations amongst a total haul of sixteen wins and 42 nominations.





Two films followed for Robert Rodriquez in quick succession, with 'Spy Kids 3-D : Game Over' and the third and final instalment in his Mexico Trilogy with 'Once Upon A Time in Mexico' with Antonio Banderas once more and Johnny Depp. 'After the Sunset', 'Ask the Dust', Bandidas' opposite Penelope Cruz, 'Lonely Hearts', 'Across the Universe' and 'Cirque du Freak : The Vampires Assistant' saw out the decade. In the meantime there had been numerous television appearances on the likes of 'Dream On', 'The Sinbad Show', 'The Hunchback', 'Action', 'Ugly Betty' which she also Executive Produced and '30 Rock'.

'Grown Ups' with Adam Sandler came along in 2010, then 'Americano', Oliver Stone's 'Savages', 'Grown Ups 2', 'Everly', 'Some Kind of Beautiful' with Pierce Brosnan, 'Septembers of Shiraz', 'Tale of Tales' and 'Sausage Party' bring us up to date. During this time there were also animated features which Hayek lent her voice talents to - 'Puss in Boots', 'The Pirates! : Band of Misfits', 'The Prophet' and 'Sausage Party' most recently.

Next up and currently in post-production is 'Drunk Parents' with Alex Baldwin, 'The Hitman's Bodyguard' with Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson for a mid-2017 release, 'How to be a Latin Lover' with Kristen Bell, Raquel Welch and Michael Cera also due in mid-2017, and 'Beatriz at Dinner' in pre-production with Chloe Sevigny and John Lithgow. All up Hayek has 68 Acting credits to her name, six as Producer, two as Director and six soundtrack acknowledgements. She has twelve award wins, 38 nominations including one Academy Award, one Golden Globe, one BAFTA and two Primetime Emmy nods.

Hayek married Francois-Henri Pinault - the CEO of French luxury goods holding company 'Kering', in February 2009, and she gave birth to their daughter Valentina Paloma Pinault in September 2007. Hayek in her time has been a spokesperson for Revlon, Avon since 2004 and has modelled for Chopard and Cartier. She has worked with UNICEF to promote funding for vaccines against maternal and neonatal tetanus; works to support awareness of violence against women; is a board member of V-Day; and supported International Women's Day in 2014 to campaign for Women's Rights in Afghanistan.

Salma Hayek - often plays strong, independent, forthright women; is curvaceous and buxom; has been voted on numerous Most Beautiful/Sexiest/Stylish Women lists over the years; is best friends with Penelope Cruz; a frequent collaborator with Rodriguez and Banderas; a lover of dogs; a firm believer in self and just being who and what you are; and whose Christian name in Arabic means calm or peace. Salma Hayek - a very Happy 50th Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 10th - 16th May 2015

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Danny Trejo does on 16th May - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 71, 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 10th May

• Bono (Paul Hewson) - Born 1960, turns 55 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor
• Meg Foster - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actress
• Maureen Lipman - Born 1946, turns 69, Actress

Monday 11th May

• Holly Valance - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actress | Singer
• Frances Fisher - Born1952, turns 63 - Actress
• Tim Blake Nelson - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director

Tuesday 12th May

• Bruce Boxleitner - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor
• Stephen Baldwin - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Domhnall Gleeson - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actor
• Emilo Estevez - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Jason Biggs - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actor | Producer
• Ving Rhames - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer
• Gabriel Byrne - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor | Producer
• Emily VanCamp - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actress
• Susan Hampshire - Born 1937, turns 78 - Actress

Wednesday 13th May

• Zoe Wanamaker - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actress
• Robert Pattinson - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actor
• Harvey Keitel - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actor | Producer
• Joe Johnston - Born 1950, turns 65 - Director | Producer
• Tim Pigott-Smith - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor

Thursday 14th May

• Tim Roth  - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor | Producer
• George Lucas - Born 1944, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Robert Zemekis - Born 1951, turns 64 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Danny Huston - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Director
• Cate Blachett - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actress
• Sofia Coppola - Born 1971, turns - Director | Writer | Actor

Friday 15th May

• Chazz Palminteri - Born 1952, turns 63 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Grant Heslov - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director

Saturday 16th May

• Pierce Brosnan - Born 1953, turns 62 - Actor | Producer
• Danny Trejo - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actor | Producer
• Jim Sturgess - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actor
• Megan Fox - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actress
• Debra Winger - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actress | Producer

If you ever need a bad ass Mexican to star in your screen adaptation then Danny Trejo is your man. Born Dan Trejo and of Mexican decent, to mother Alice Rivera and construction worker father Dan Trejo in Echo Park, Los Angeles our archetypal muscled moustached Mexican lookalike was in and out of trouble and in and out of jail in his early years. As a child he already had a drug habit and a criminal record and was imprisoned several times for armed robbery and drug related offences. Over an eleven year period he served time in Tracy, Folsom, Susanville, San Quentin and Soledad prisons in California throughout, the 60's. During his time on the inside at San Quentin he trained as a boxer and went on to win Championship titles in the prisons lightweight and welterweight divisions. He also enlisted in a 12 step rehabilitation programme which he credits as being the main reason he kicked his drug habit. He has been sober too for 45 years now.

Upon leaving prison he worked as a youth drug counsellor and was asked for assistance with cocaine issues on the set of 'Runaway Train'. The screenplay for this film was written by Edward Bunker, a successful crime writer and former prison inmate of Trejo's in San Quentin. At this point Bunker offered Trejo $320 a day to train boxing skills to the movies headline star Eric Roberts. He caught the eye of the Director who subsequently cast him in a small role in the film . . . as a boxer.

That was 1985 and 'The Boxer' in 'Runaway Train' was credited to Daniel Trejo and from there he never looked back. From that point on Trejo became one of the most prolific Actors in Hollywood putting out numerous films year on year since the late 80's and with many of Hollywood's A-Listers and action stars. These have included the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal, Antonio Banderas, Charles Bronson, Nicholas Cage, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, John Malkovich, Al Pacino, Vin Diesel and Johnny Depp.

His filmography back in those earlier days include many B-List offerings, straight to video output and more mainstream fare but usually trademarked by mean, menacing, criminal tough guy type roles that allowed Trejo to flex his muscles, show off his tattoos, get his shirt off, kill off some other bad guys and mutter a few lines. These notable outings have included 'Bulletproof', 'Lock Up', 'Marked for Death', 'Blood In Blood Out', and  'Anaconda'.

But for all of these Trejo made some wise decisions too appearing in the Robert Rodriguez vampire offering that also launched the career of George Clooney - 'From Dusk 'til Dawn' in 1996. There was also 'Desperado' with Antonio Banderas; Michael Mann's classic heist film 'Heat' with De Niro and Pacino; 'Con Air' with Cage & Malkovich, 'Six Days Seven Nights' with Harrison Ford, two follow up 'From Dusk 'til Dawn' instalments and his stint on the recent successful TV series spin-off; 'Reindeer Games' with Ben Affleck, 'xXx' with Vin Diesel, and 'Grindhouse' with Rodriguez and Tarantino in which he reprises his 'Machete' role from 'Spykids' into more adult action fare in a fake trailer sequence that went onto to spawn so far two full feature length films with a third underway. Let's also not forget 'Predators', again with Rodriguez.

His film output seems to be increasing by the year almost as though he thinks his bubble will burst any minute. In 2006 he released 14 films; in 2007 there were 13; in 2008 there were 12; 13 again in 2009; in 2010 a staggering 29; in 2011 a lame 16; 13 in 2012; 21 in 2013; and 17 last year. Right now he has three films completed awaiting release this year, 12 in post-production, four currently filming, three in pre-production, and three recently announced.

Included in his output there have been numerous television series including 'From Dusk 'til Dawn', 'St. George', 'Sons of Anarchy', ' Dr. Fubalous' 'King of the Hill', 'Breaking Bad', 'Burn Notice', ' The Young and the Restless', 'The X-Files' and 'Walker, Texas Ranger'. He has also lent his voice talents to 'Grand Theft Auto', the recent 'The Book of Life' and 'A Horse Story'. Additionally he has appeared in numerous music clips and video games. All up he has 294 Acting credits and eleven Producer credits, and there seems to be no let up.

He is second cousin to Robert Rodriguez, has two sons - Danny Boy born in 1981, Gilbert Trejo born in 1988 and a daughter Danielle Trejo born in 1990.  He was married to Debbie Shreve from 1997 to 2009.

Danny Trejo - at 71 still going strong, heavily inked with a trademark chest tattoo of a sombrero wearing woman, mean grizzled features, tough guy image nearly always type cast, muscled and moustached, and knocking out movies like they're going outta fashion . . . love your work! Happy Birthday to you Mr. Trejo, 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-