Birthday's to share this week : 31st May - 6th June 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Mark Wahlberg does on 5th June - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 44, 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 31st May

• Clint Eastwood - Born 1930, turns 85 - Actor | Director | Producer | Composer | Songwriter
• Colin Farrell - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actor | Producer
• Tom Berenger - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Brooke Shields - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actress | Producer

Monday 1st June

• Heidi Klum - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actress | Producer | Writer
• Morgan Freeman - Born 1937, turns 78 - Actor | Producer
• Robert Powell - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actor
• Brian Cox - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor | Producer
• Jonathan Pryce - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor
• Powers Booth - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actor

Tuesday 2nd June

• Wentworth Miller - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor | Writer
• Kevin Feige - Born 1973, turns 42 - Producer
• Zachary Quinto - Born 1977, turns 38 - Actor | Producer
• Dominic Cooper - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actor
• Liam Cunningham - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor
• Dennis Haysbert - Born 1954, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
• Stacy Keach - Born 1941, turn s74 - Actor | Producer | Director

Wednesday 3rd June

• James Purefoy - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor
• Imogen Poots - Born 1989, turns 26 - Actress

Thursday 4th June

• Angeline Jolie - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Russell Brand - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Sean Pertwee - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor
• Bruce Dern - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actor
• Geoffrey Palmer - Born 1927, turns 88 - Actor | Television Personality

Friday 5th June

• Mark Wahlberg - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Kathleen Kennedy - Born 1953, turns 62 - Producer 

Saturday 6th June

• Sandra Bernhard - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actress | Writer | Singer
• Jonathan Nolan - Born 1976, turns 39 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Jason Isaacs - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer
• Robert Englund - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor | Director
• Paul Giamatti - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor | Producer

Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg was born in Dorchester, Boston, Massachusetts to mother Alma Donnelly, a bank clerk and nursing assistant, and father Donald Edward Wahlberg, a Teamster and delivery driver. He is the youngest of nine children, with his siblings being Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie (who died in 2003) and Donnie. Brothers Robert and Donnie are also film and television Actors. The family had a Roman Catholic upbringing and the young Mark attended Copley Square High School in Boston but dropped out at 13 years of age and so never graduated. He subsequently gained his High School Diploma in 2013.

As a young lad, Wahlberg had been on the wrong side of the law countless times involving serious run-ins with the Boston PD. By 13 he had a cocaine habit, and at 15 civil actions were brought against him for racist attacks on local citizens for which he showed no remorse. At 16, on the same day he viciously attacked two Vietnamese men on separate occasions, and subsequently was convicted with attempted murder, and pleaded guilty to assault. He was sentenced to two year jail time, but served only 45 days. Following in the footsteps of three of his brothers and a sister in prison, upon release he saw the error of his ways and sought to better his life, make amends and accept full responsibility for his actions.

Wahlberg's first brush with fame came with his brothers boy band 'New Kids on the Block' for which Mark was part of the original line up. After three months he quit and in 1990 formed his own band 'Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch' which garnered two hit singles 'Good Vibrations' and 'Wildside' off the 'Music for the People' debut album.

His acting debut came in 1993 on the TV film 'The Substitute'. A year later his big screen break came in 'The Renaissance Man' with Danny DeVito, and then in 1995 with Leonard DiCaprio in 'Basketball Diaries'. It was really 'Boogie Nights' in 1997 though as Dirk Digger in Paul Thomas Anderson's acclaimed film featuring an all star cast, that brought him to prominence.

He closed out the decade with 'Three Kings' with George Clooney before lurching into 'The Yards' with Joaquin Phoenix and Charlize Theron; 'The Perfect Storm' again with George Clooney, and 'The Planet of the Apes' reboot courtesy of Tim Burton in 2001. Another remake followed in 2003 with 'The Italian Job' with Wahlberg reprising the role of Charlie Croker made famous back in 1969 by Michael Caine. This in turn led to 'I heart Huckabees' a year later, then 'Four Brothers' with gridiron drama 'Invincible' before his acclaimed role in 'The Departed' for Martin Scorsese in 2006 and co-starring Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. For this he received nominations for the Academy Award and Golden Globe amongst others.

'The Shooter' came next with another cop drama that same year in 2007 with 'We Own the Night' before the critically panned 'The Happening' for M. Night Shyamalan, and the equally average 'Max Payne'. In between his Middle Earth exploits Peter Jackson Directed Wahlberg on 'The Lovely Bones' in 2009 before his next acclaimed role in 'The Fighter' with Christian Bale which garnered further award nominations.

2013 was a busy year with four new releases off the back of 'Ted' for Seth MacFarlane and 'Contraband' that gave us 'Broken City', 'Pain & Gain', '2 Guns' and then 'Lone Survivor'. Last year Michael Bay re-energised the hugely successful but flagging 'Transformers' franchise with Wahlberg at the helm this time around with 'Age of Extinction' which grossed over US$1.1B, and then the early 70's James Caan remake of 'The Gambler' also in 2014.

Due for release in 2015 is 'Mojave', with 'Ted 2' and 'Entourage' due this year soon. 'Daddy's Home' and 'Deepwater Horizon' both currently filming, and 'Patriot's Day' is rumoured for sometime thereafter. Throughout all of this there was also the hugely successful 'Entourage' TV Series built around Wahlberg's early life experiences in Hollywood - this has now spawned a spin-off movie due for imminent release in which he has both acting and Producer credits.

Wahlberg has 44 acting credits to his name, 22 Producer credits and numerous singer/songwriter credits. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards for 'The Fighter' and 'The Departed', two Golden Globes for the same, a BAFTA win for 'Entourage' in 2004, and numerous Primetime Emmy Awards giving a total career award wins tally of 21 to date, and a further 52 nominations.

He has been with fashion model Rhea Durham since 2001 and they married in mid-2009. They have four children - Ella Rae (born 2003), Michael (born 2006), Brendan Joseph (born 2008) and Grace Margaret (born 2010). He is a devout Roman Catholic and attends Church every day. He established the 'Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation' in 2001 to raise funds for youth services, and he is active in 'The Good Shepherd Centre' for homeless women & children.

Mark Wahlberg - a Bostonian, often typecast in tough guys roles, always looks like he's giving 110%, deeply Religious (although his dialogue rarely indicates this), an accomplished Actor, Producer, Singer and Songwriter, occasionally outspoken and controversial, but able to open a movie carrying a giant epic blockbuster or mainstream independent offering, and clearly bankable, watchable and dependable - 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-