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 who celebrates on 16th September, Mickey Rourke, at the end of this feature.
Sunday 14th September
- Andrew Lincoln - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actor
- Sam Neill - Born 1947, turns 67 - Actor | Director | Winemaker
Monday 15th September
- Tom Hardy - Born 1977, turns 37 - Actor
- Tommy Lee Jones - Born 1946, turns 68 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
- Oliver Stone - Born 1946, turns 68 - Director | Producer | Writer
Tuesday 16th September
- Mickey Rourke - Born 1952, turns 62 - Actor
- David Copperfield - Born 1956, turns 58 - Magician | Producer | Director | Actor
- Guy Hamilton - Born 1922, turns 92 - Director | Writer
Wednesday 17th September
- Bryan Singer - Born 1956, turns 49 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Baz Luhrmann - Born 1962, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer
Thursday 18th September
- Jada Pinkett Smith - Born 1971, turns 43 - Actress | Producer | Writer
- Tim McInnerney - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actor
- Patrick Schwarzenegger - Born 1993, turns 21 - Actor | Son of a very famous Actor, Politician and Bodybuilder!
Friday 19th September
- Jeremy Irons - Born 1948, turns 66 - Actor
- Adam West - Born 1928, turns 86 - Actor
- David McCallum - Born 1933, turns 81 - Actor
- Twiggy - Born 1949, turns 65 - Model | Actress
- Jimmy Fallon - Born 1974, turns 40 - Writer | TV Personality | Actor
Saturday 20th September
- Sophia Loren - born 1934, turns 80 - Actress
- Jon Bernthal - Born 1977, turns 37 - Actor
- Asia Argento - Born 1975, turns 39 - Actress | Director | Writer
- Gary Cole - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actor
Born Philip Andrew Rourke Jnr. in Schenectady, New York the young lad who would become Mickey Rourke moved to Miami, Florida with his mother at age six when his parents divorced. She remarried a year later, to a Miami Beach Police Officer and so the move to Miami Shores saw the young Rourke attend Horace Mann Junior High School and then onto Miami Beach Senior High School where he first got his taste for acting in the school play 'The Serpent'.
Whilst at school in his early teens he took up self-defence lessons where he learned boxing skills, winning his first boxing match at age 12 as a 118lbs (54kgs) bantamweight. He trained in various well known gyms and joined the Police Athletic League boxing programme. By 1971 he had already been concussed in two bouts and was told by his Doctors to ease up for twelve months. Over the following two years Rourke had a series of wins with straight KO's of his opponents in under a minute of the first round. By the time he retired from amateur boxing in 1973 he had a record of 27 wins under his belt with 17 wins by a knock-out and only three defeats. 
Having graduated from school in 1971, he worked for a short time in a local beach side restaurant before returning to New York to pursue a career in acting. He continued to box until 1973, and subsequently some years later secured a bit part in a 24 minute video-short in 1976 in 'Love in the Hamptons'. His debut feature length film came a few years later in 1979 in Steven Spielberg's '1941', but it was 'Body Heat' in 1981 that really bought him to the attention of the film world. This was followed up with a string of more notable, critically acclaimed films during the 80's that included 'Diner', 'Rumble Fish', 'The Pope of Greenwich Village', '9 1/2 Weeks', 'BarFly', 'Angel Heart' and 'Year of the Dragon'. 
But for these successes there also came the less favourable reviews in the decade the followed with the likes of 'Wild Orchid', 'Desperate Hours' and 'Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man'. It was during this time that in 1991 Rourke decided to return to boxing as a professional. He made US$250 from his debut fight which he won within four rounds by decision. Within two years however, he had earned over US$1M from his professional boxing career, and so in 1994 he retired after eight straight wins, but he never got so far as to contest for the world title. During his professional bouts he received several facial fractures to his nose and cheekbones which required reconstructive surgery in subsequent years, and later on cosmetic surgery also.
In the latter half of the 90's he returned to acting but mostly in fairly forgettable roles in the likes of 'Shergar', 'Shades', 'Out in Fifty' and 'Another 9 1/2 Weeks'. As the new century turned over his star began to shine a little more brightly as he got his personal life together, and garnered favour with a number of Directors. Tony Scott cast him in 'Man on Fire' and then 'Domino' and Robert Rodriguez cast him in 'Once upon a time in Mexico' and then again in 'Sin City'.
In 2008 he scored the lead role in Darren Aronofsky's 'The Wrestler' which garnered him much critical acclaim and numerous awards and accolades. Since then there has been 'The Expendables', 'Iron Man 2', '13', 'Black November', 'The Informers' and 'Java Heat' amongst others.
Rourke has 72 film credits to his name including, those not already mentioned above - 'Heaven's Gate', 'Double Team', 'White Sands', 'Bullet', 'Buffalo 66', 'Animal Factory', 'The Rainmaker', 'Point Blank', 'Get Carter', 'The Pledge', 'Killshot', 'Spun', 'Passion Play', 'The Courier' and 'Immortals'. Due for imminent release is the follow-up to 'Sin City' and his character of 'Marv' in 'Sin City : A Dame to Kill For', with 'Skin Traffic' and 'Ashby' for future release.
During his career to date he has a total 35 award wins to his name and another 20 nominations, including his Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for 'The Wrestler', and the Golden Globe win and BAFTA win both for best Actor in a Lead Role for 'The Wrestler'. I can't help thinking what other great things Rourke might have done had he not turned down roles in 'Beverley Hills Cop', 'Pulp Fiction', 'Revolver', 'Highlander', 'The Untouchables', 'Rain Man', '48 Hours', 'Top Gun', 'Platoon', 'Silence of the Lambs', 'Tombstone' and the 80's iconic TV Series 'Miami Vice'?
Rourke was married to Debra Feuer from 1981 to 1989 and then Carre Otis from 1992 to 1998, and he is currently with Russian model Anastassija Makarenko with whom he has had a relationship since 2009. He has written six screen plays - three of which have been produced for the big screen - 'Homeboy' in 1988, 'F.T.W' (also known as 'The Last Ride') in 1994 and 'Bullet' in 1996. He has voiced video game characters, appeared in music videos for David Bowie and Enrique Inglesias and appeared in television commercials for Daihatsu cars, Lark cigarettes, Suntory Reserve Whisky and DirecTV.He is a devout Catholic and attributes his re-emergence and his success to his faith. He is a keen motorcycle enthusiast and an ardent small-breed dog lover. His dogs, of which he has several, are obsessed over and he treats them like the children he never had, often taking them to film sets and even having them appear in his films.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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