Max Minghella does on 16th September - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 32, 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 September
- Amy Irving - Born 1953, turns 64 - Actress | Producer
- Chris Columbus - Born 1958, turns 59 - Producer | Director | Writer
- Colin Firth - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
- Guy Ritchie - Born 1968, turns 49 - Director | Writer | Producer
- Ryan Phillippe - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
- Harry and Luke Treadaway - Born 1984, turn 33 - Actors
Monday 11th September
- Brian De Palma - Born 1940, turns 77 - Director | Writer | Producer
- Tony Gilroy - Born 1956, turns 61 - Writer | Producer | Director
- Harry Connick Jnr. - Born 1967, turns 50 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Producer
- Virginia Madsen - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actress | Producer
- Elizabeth Henstridge - Born 1987, turns 30 - Actress
Tuesday 12th September
- Linda Gray - Born 1940, turns 77 - Actress | Director
- Rachel Ward - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actress | Director | Writer
- Freddie Jones - Born 1927, turns 90 - Actor
- Ian Holm - Born 1931, turns 86 - Actor
- Hans Zimmer - Born 1957, turns 60 - Composer | Songwriter |
Wednesday 13th September
- Frank Marshall - Born 1946, turns 71 - Producer | Director
- Colin Trevorrow - Born 1976, turns 41 - Writer | Director | Producer
- Jacqueline Bisset - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actress
Thursday 14th September
- Mary Crosby - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actress
- Melissa Leo - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actress | Producer
- Sam Neill - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer | Winemaker
- Joon-ho Bong - Born 1969, turns 48 - Director | Writer | Producer
- Andrew Lincoln - Born 1973, turns 44 - Actor | Director
Friday 15th September
- Tommy Lee Jones - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer
- Oliver Stone - Born 1946, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
- Tom Hardy - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actor | Producer | Writer
Saturday 16th September
- Mickey Rourke - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actor | Writer
- Max Minghella - Born 1985, turns 32 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
- Amy Poehler - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Director | Singer
Max Giorgio Choa Minghella was born in Hampstead, London, England to mother Carolyn Choa, a dancer and choreographer, and father Anthony Minghella, the multi-award winning film Director, Producer, and Writer who died in March 2008 and whose screen credits included 'Truly, Madly, Deeply', 'The English Patient' and 'Cold Mountain'. The young Max attended St. Anthony's Prep. School in Hampstead and then the independent day school, University College School also in Hampstead. From there he attended Columbia University in New York City where he studied history, graduating in 2009. During this time he was already carving out a career as an Actor, only working on films during the extended Summer breaks, to the extent that many of his fellow students didn't even know that he was an aspiring Actor with several credits already to his name. Growing up Max spent many an occasion on his father's film sets of which he has happy memories, and felt no pressure from his father to enter into, or to be successful in the entertainment business. He was inspired to become an Actor later in his teenage years after seeing a stage production of 'This Is Our Youth', and he subsequently dropped out from the University College School, and attended the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.
At age thirteen, in 1999, Minghella scored his film debut in the seventeen minute short 'Tom Boys', and followed this up with a bit part in another short film 'Let The Good Times Roll' which also starred Bob Hoskins and Dexter Fletcher. It would be another five years before his first credited feature film eventuated with 2005's drama offering 'Bee Season' with Richard Gere, Juliette Binoche and Kate Bosworth, although he did appear as an uncredited extra in his fathers film 'Cold Mountain' in 2003. Also released in 2005 was the political thriller 'Syriana' as Directed by Stephen Gaghan and starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Christopher Plummer, Chris Cooper, Jeffrey Wright and Amanda Peet. The film secured George Clooney the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award wins for Best Supporting Actor, and all up picked up fourteen wins and 28 other nominations. 2006 saw Minghella star in the comedy drama Directed by Terry Zwigoff 'Art School Confidential' alongside John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent, Scoot McNairy and Anjelica Huston. 
In 2010 Minghella was cast in David Fincher's 'The Social Network'. The film was highly acclaimed, taking US$225M at the worldwide Box Office off the back of its US$40M budget investment, and it collected three Academy Award wins and five other nominations; four Golden Globe wins and two nominations; and three BAFTA wins and three nominations out of a total haul of 168 wins and 168 nods. The film starred Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook upon which the film is based, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, and Rooney Mara. The George Clooney Written, Directed and starring 'The Ides of March' came next in 2011 with Ryan Gosling, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood. This film was nominated for one Academy Award, four Golden Globes, two BAFTA's amongst a total cache of nine wins and thirty-five nominations. High school reunion dramedy romance offering '10 Years' followed with Channing Tatum, Oscar Isaac, Chris Pratt, Anthony Mackie and Rosario Dawson before Sci-Fi action adventure alien invasion offering 'The Darkest Hour' with Emile Hirsch, Joel Kinnaman, Rachael Taylor and Olivia Thirlby.
2013 brought us the Google based comedy 'The Internship' as Directed by Shawn Levy with Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Rose Byrne, and then dramatic fantasy horror 'Horns' with Daniel Radcliffe, David Morse, Heather Graham and Juno Temple. Another college reunion offering followed of a dramatic nature this time with 2014's 'About Alex' with Jason Ritter, Maggie Grace, and Aubrey Plaza and then the Joe Johnston Directed thriller 'Not Safe for Work'. Sci-Fi dramatic thriller 'Into the Forest' followed up in 2015 with Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood, and then an uncredited appearance in 'The 9th Life of Louis Drax' (which he wrote the Screenplay for in his Writing debut) with Aaron Paul and Jamie Dornan.
This brings us up to date in terms of feature length movies. In between time there were appearances on six episodes of romantic comedy television series 'The Mindy Project', the nine minute short film about cat sitting called 'Fluffy', and then the highly acclaimed and popular television series based on the 1985 Margaret Atwood novel 'The Handmaid's Tale', in which Minghella plays Nick Blaine in nine episodes out of the first ten of Season One released earlier this year. Season Two has already been commissioned and will go to air in 2018.Next up for Minghella, is his Directorial debut in the feature length 'Teen Spirit' for which he also wrote the original screenplay. About a shy and retiring teenage girl growing up on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England (where Anthony Minghella was born and raised) who has dreams and aspirations of pop stardom as a means of escaping from her damaged family life and her less than inspiring surroundings. The film stars Elle Fanning as that girl, Violet.
All up, Minghella has twenty-five Acting credits to his name, two as Producer, two as Screenwriter and one as Director. He has three award wins under his belt so far each for the Ensemble Cast Performance for 'The Social Network' and a further eight nominations. Minghella was romantically linked to American Actress Kate Mara from 2010 through until 2014.Max Minghella - has the movie business in his DNA, and it's hardly surprising given his fathers pedigree that he has turned to Writing, Producing and Directing already, as well as establishing himself as a sought after Actor. Is a star on the rise, in demand, and one to watch out for. Happy Birthday to you Max, from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
