Birthday's to share this week : 15th - 21st October 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Viggo Mortensen does on 20th October - check out my tribute to this Actor, Author, Musician, Photographer, Painter and Poet 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 15th October

• Tanya Roberts - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actress
• Michael Caton-Jones - Born 1957, turns 60 - Director | Producer
• Todd Solondz - Born 1959, turns 58 - Director | Writer
• Dominic West - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Director

Monday 16th October

• Tim Robbins - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• Gary Kemp - Born 1959, turns 58 - Songwriter | Actor 
• Flea (aka Michael Peter Balzary) - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Songwriter
• Kenneth Lonergan - Born 1962, turns 55 - Writer | Director | Actor
• Angela Lansbury - Born 1925, turns 92 - Actress | Producer | Singer  

Tuesday 17th October

• Felicity Jones - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actress
• Lawrence Bender - Born 1957, turns 60 - Producer | Actor
• Rob Marshall - Born 1960, turns 57 - Director | Producer | Choreographer
• Eminem (aka Marshall Bruce Mathers III) - Born 1972, turns 45 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Producer | Writer
• Matthew Macfadyen - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actor 

Wednesday 18th October

• Howard Shore - Born 1946, turns 71 - Composer | Songwriter | Orchestrator | Conductor
• Jean-Claude Van Damme - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director 
• Zac Efron - Born 1987, turns 30 - Actor | Singer  
• Freida Pinto - Born 1984, turns 33 - Actress

Thursday 19th October

• John le Carre - Born 1931, turns 86 - Writer | Producer | Actor
• Michael Gambon - Born 1940, turns 77 - Actor
• John Lithgow - Born 1945, turns 72 - Actor | Producer | Singer 
• Jon Favreau - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Trey Parker - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Singer | Songwriter 
• Jason Reitman - Born 1977, turns 40 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor 

Friday 20th October

• Timothy West - Born 1934, turns 83 - Actor 
• Thomas Newman - Born 1955, turns 62 - Composer | Singer | Songwriter | Orchestrator | Conductor
• Danny Boyle - Born 1956, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Viggo Mortensen - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter  
• Snoop Dog (aka Calvin Cordozar Broadus) - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Composer | Writer | Director 
• John Krasinski - Born 1979, turns 38 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer

Saturday 21st October 

• Ken Watanabe - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actor | Producer
• Catherine Hardwicke - Born 1955, turns 62 - Director | Producer | Production Designer | Writer

Viggo Peter Mortensen Jnr. was born in New York City to mother Grace Atkinson, and father Viggo Peter Mortensen Snr. She is American, and he Danish. The couple met in Norway. The family moved to Venezuela , then onto Denmark and then Argentina, where the young Viggo attended primary school and where he became fluent in Spanish. At age eleven, his parents separated and so Viggo Jnr. returned to New York with his mother  where he spent his remaining childhood years attending Watertown High School, in New York and from where he graduated in 1976. He then went on to study at St. Lawrence University in New York graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish Studies and Politics. That was 1980, and thereafter he spent time living in Spain, Denmark and England where he took menial jobs to pay his way before returning to the US to take up an acting career.  He has two younger brothers, Walter and Charles, both of whom work as geologists. 

In 1984 Mortensen appeared in the television mini-series 'George Washington' with the likes of Beau Bridges, Robert Stack, Hal Holbrook, James Mason and Trevor Howard, and the following year appeared in a single episodes of the long running day time television serial 'Search for Tomorrow'. It was also in 1985 that the aspiring Actor gained this first feature film role in Peter Weir's 'Witness' alongside Harrison Ford, Kelly McGillis, Lukas Haas and Danny Glover. This gave way to a single episode on 'Miami Vice' then a few movies seeing out the '80's including Renny Harlin's horror crime drama 'Prison', then 'Fresh Horses' with Molly Ringwood, Ben Stiller, and Andrew McCarthy and then 'Tripwire'. 

From 1990 Mortensen scored regular feature film work year on year kicking off with 'Leatherface : Texas Chainsaw Massacre III' and then action Western 'Young Guns II' with Keifer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, Christian Slater, Lou Diamond Phillips and James Coburn. Horror thriller 'The Reflecting Skin' and then the Sean Penn Directed drama 'The Indian Runner' with David Morse, Charles Bronson, and Dennis Hopper. 'Ruby Cairo' with Liam Neeson, 'Boiling Point' with Wesley Snipes, 'The Young Americans' with Harvey Keitel, led to the Brian de Palma Directed 'Carlito's Way' with Al Pacino in 1993.

The years that followed upto the end of the decade saw Mortensen star in a host of 'B' grade movies whilst others shared more notable mainstream success. Included in the latter were Tony Scott's 'Crimson Tide' with Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington; Jane Campion's 'The Portrait of a Lady' with Nicole Kidman and John Malkovich; the Kevin Spacey Directed 'Albino Alligator' with Matt Dillon and Faye Dunaway; the Rob Cohen Directed 'Daylight' with Sylvester Stallone; Ridley Scott's 'G.I. Jane' with Demi Moore and Anne Bancroft; the remake of Hitchcock's 'Dial M for Murder' with 'A Perfect Murder' starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow; and Gus Van Sant's frame by frame remake of the classic Hitchcock thriller 'Psycho' with Vince Vaughn and Julianne Moore seeing out the '90's.

2000 saw comedy drama offering '28 Days' with Sandra Bullock and Dominic West, before what is best described as his breakout roll in 2001 as Aragorn in Peter Jackson's epic trilogy 'Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring' which was followed up with 2002's 'Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers' and in 2003 by 'Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King'. The three films went on to huge commercial and critical success winning a combined sixteen Academy Awards plus another 425 award wins and 384 further nominations. In terms of worldwide Box Office the three films cost a total US$281M to bring J.R.R. Tolkien's books to the big screen, and raked in a combined US$2,92B.

Following the four year 'LOTR' trilogy hiatus, Mortensen remained in the saddle (literally) with the Joe Johnston Directed historical biographical action adventure offering 'Hidalgo' with Omar Sharif. His first collaboration with Director David Cronenberg came in 2005 with 'A History of Violence' also starring Ed Harris and Maria Bello. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards and walked away with another 37 award wins and 78 nods. Spanish historical adventure drama 'Alatriste' came next in 2006, followed by his second outing for Cronenberg with crime drama 'Eastern Promises' with Naomi Watts and Vincent Cassel for which Mortensen was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award from its total award haul of 28 wins and another 71 nominations.

Next up for Mortensen in 2008 was the Ed Harris, Co-Written, Directed and starring crime drama Western 'Appaloosa' with Renee Zellweger, Jeremy Irons and Timothy Spall, followed by WWII drama 'Good' with Jason Isaacs and Mark Strong. This in turn led to the Cormac McCarthy adaptation of his post-apocalyptic adventure drama 'The Road' as Directed to Critical acclaim by John Hillcoat and also starring Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce.

2011 saw Mortensen's third collaboration with David Cronenberg in the historical biographical drama 'A Dangerous Method' in which Mortensen plays Sigmund Freud opposite Michael Fassbender's Carl Jung. The film also starred Keira Knightley, and Vincent Cassel and collected 18 award wins and a further 28 nominations from around the traps. 'On the Road' followed a year later with an ensemble cast in the adventure drama film also starring Sam Riley, Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart, Amy Adams, Elisabeth Moss, Kirsten Dunst, Terrence Howard and Steve Buscemi. The Argentinian crime thriller 'Everybody Has a Plan' followed also in 2012, and then the romantic thriller 'The Two Faces of January' with Oscar Isaac and Kirsten Dunst in 2014.

2014 also saw the historical drama offering 'Juaja', and then the French drama film 'Far from Men'. This took us up to 2016 and Mortensen's turn in the highly regarded 'Captain Fantastic' as Written and Directed by Matt Ross and also starring Frank Langella, Steve Zahn and a cast of six child Actors all portraying Mortensen's somewhat dysfunctional children raised in remote woodlands totally isolated from the world for ten years, only to have to reintegrate into mainstream society as a result of the tragic and unexpected death of their mother. The film received generally positive Reviews and Mortensen was nominated for the Best Actor Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and SAG for his performance out of its total fourteen wins and 43 other nominations.

Next up for Mortensen is 'Unabomb' currently in pre-production and telling the story of an FBI Agent who leads an unconventional team on the hunt for notorious Theodore (Ted) John Kaczynski (aka 'The Unabomber') who between 1978 and 1995 killed three people and injured 23 others in a nationwide bombing campaign, and who is now serving eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.  In between time Mortensen established his own publishing company - 'The Perceval Press' to help other artists by publishing their works that may not ordinarily find a home in more mainstream traditional publishing houses. He also uses his own company to publish many of his own personal artistic projects in the areas of photography, poetry, music and literature. His credits as an author on numerous books of poetry, photography and painting extend from his initial collection of poems - 'Ten Last Night' released in 1993 that take in a further seventeen publications right up to 2015. He also combines his love of poetry with music and he also boasts an extensive discography taking in seventeen released CD's between 1994 and 2013.

All up Mortensen has 57 Acting credits to his name, three as Producer, three Soundtrack credits and one as Composer. He has 32 Award wins under his belt and a further 93 nominations including two Academy Awards and two BAFTA nominations for 'Captain Fantastic' and 'Eastern Promises', three Golden Globe nominations for 'Captain Fantastic', 'Eastern Promises' and 'A Dangerous Method', and four SAG nods for Captain Fantastic', 'Eastern Promises', 'LOTR : The Fellowship of the Ring' and 'The Two Towers' and a win for 'LOTR : The Return of the King'. 

Mortensen was married to Actress and Singer Exene Cervenka from mid 1987 through until 1992, becoming officially divorced in 1997. They have a son together, Henry Blake Mortensen born in January 1988. Since 2009, Mortensen has been romantically linked to Spanish Actress Ariadna Gil.

Viggo Mortensen - fluent in English, Spanish, Danish and French, understands Norwegian and Swedish and can converse in Italian; is a fan of soccer, baseball (the New York Mets), ice hockey (the Montreal Canadiens), American football (the New York Giants); is an accomplished horse rider; has appeared on numerous 'Top' lists over the years including 100 Sexiest Movie Stars, 15 Sexiest Men, 25 Most Intriguing People, the Hottest Hotties and 50 Most Beautiful People; and turned down the role of Aragorn until his son convince him to take it on . . . . thankfully he made the right decision! Known for his cleft chin, soft mellow voice and for portraying rugged anti-heroes with absolute conviction, you are acclaimed in a multitude of artistic endeavours, and you never disappoint. Happy Birthday to you Viggo, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 6th - 12th August 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Charlize Theron does on 7th August - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 42, 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 6th August

• Barbara Windsor - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actress | Writer
• Michelle Yeoh - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actress | Producer | Writer
• Vera Farmiga - Born 1973, turns 44 - Actress | Producer | Singer 
• Melissa George - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actress  
• M. Night Shyamalan - Born 1970, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer 

Monday 7th August

• Tobin Bell - Born 1942, turns 75 - Actor | Producer
• David Duchovny - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Michael Shannon - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actor | Producer
• Charlize Theron - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actress | Producer
• Abbie Cornish - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress   

Tuesday 8th August

• Donald P. Bellisario - Born 1935, turns 82 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Dustin Hoffman - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter  

Wednesday 9th August

• Sam Elliott - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor | Producer
• Eric Bana - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• McG - Born 1968, turns 49 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Daniel Henshall - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actor 
• Bill Skarsgard - Born 1990, turns 27 - Actor
• Melanie Griffith - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actress | Producer
• Gillian Anderson - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actress | Producer | Director 
• Rhona Mitra - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actress 
• Audrey Tatou - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actress 
• Anna Kendrick - Born 1985, turns 32 - Actress | Singer  

Thursday 10th August

• Rosanna Arquette - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actress | Director | Producer | Writer
• Antonio Banderas - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer
• Justin Theroux - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director 
• Brenton Thwaites - Born 1989, turns 28 - Actor | Producer  

Friday 11th August

• Ian McDiarmid - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor 
• Chris Hemsworth - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actor 
• Viola Davis - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actress | Producer  

Saturday 12th August

• Cara Delevingne - Born 1992, turns 25 - Actress 
• George Hamilton - Born 1939, turns 78 - Actor | Producer
• Bruce Greenwood - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
• Casey Affleck - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Editor
• Lakeith Stanfield - Born 1991, turns 26 - Actor 

Charlize Theron was born in Benoni, in the Gauteng Province of South Africa (formerly at the time of her birth the Transvaal Province), to mother Gerda Jacoba Maritz and father Charles Jacobus Theron. She was raised on her parents farm in Benoni near Johannesburg. Her father had an alcohol problem and at age fifteen he turned on both the young teenage Theron and his wife. Physically attacking his wife, Theron's mother shot and killed her husband. The shooting was judged to be in self defence and she was acquitted of any crime. She attended Putfontein Primary School and at thirteen moved to a boarding school at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg. At sixteen, she won a one year modelling contract at a competition which saw her relocate to Milan in Italy with her mother. After a year of modelling assignments across Europe, she moved Stateside with her mother living in New York City and Miami. In New York she attended the Joffrey Ballet School where she trained to be a ballet dancer where she appeared in 'Swan Lake' and 'The Nutcracker', but a subsequent knee injury put an end to that career aspiration. 

At nineteen years of age, she took a one way ticket to Los Angeles that her mother purchased for her as an ultimatum - either work out what you going to do with your life here or you can come home and sulk and feel sorry for yourself in South Africa! With every intention of getting a gig in the film business, she was picked up by a talent agent who saw Theron get into a heated outburst whilst trying to cash a cheque at a Hollywood Boulevard bank. That chance meeting led to various introductions to casting agents and time at an acting school. After her big screen debut in a non-speaking role in horror offering 'Children of the Corn III' she scored her first speaking gig as a hitwoman in the 1996  comedy crime film '2 Days in the Valley' alongside Jeff Daniels, James Spader, Eric Stolz, Danny Aiello and Teri Hatcher. Theron's role was praised, even if the film garnered average Reviews at best. 

Next up was the Tom Hanks Written, Directed and starring 'That Thing You Do!' and then made for television movie 'Hollywood Confidential', Taylor Hackford's 'The Devil's Advocate' with Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves, then Woody Allen's 'Celebrity' with Kenneth Branagh and Judy Davis. 'Mighty Joe Young' followed with Bill Paxton, Sci-Fi drama 'The Astronaut's Wife' alongside Johnny Depp, and then Lasse Hallstrom's 'The Cider House Rules' with Tobey Maguire and Michael Caine seeing out the nineties.

The new decade saw the John Frankenheimer Directed actioner 'Reindeer Games' with Ben Affleck; the James Gray Co-Written and Directed 'The Yards' with Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix; 'Men of Honour' with Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jnr.; and the Robert Redford Directed 'The Legend of Bagger Vance' with Will Smith and Matt Damon - all released in 2000. 2001 and 2002 saw 'Sweet November' with Keanu Reeves again, '15 Minutes' with Robert De Niro again, 'The Curse of the Jade Scorpion' with Woody Allen again, 'Trapped' with Kevin Bacon, and 'Waking Up in Reno' with Billy Bob Thornton and Patrick Swayze. 

Perhaps her breakout role came with 2003's Patty Jenkins Written and Directed 'Monster' in which Theron plays serial killer Aileen Wournos, a former prostitute who was executed in Florida in 2002 for killing six men in the late '80's and early '90's. Theron won much critical praise for her role garnering the Oscar win for Best Actress, the Golden Globe win for Best Actress, the SAG Award for Best Actress and a BAFTA nomination, amongst a haul of others totalling 30 wins and 25 nods in all. The film also starred Christina Ricci and Bruce Dern.

That same year saw the remake of the classic 'The Italian Job' for Director F. Gary Gray with Mark Wahlberg again, and Donald Sutherland, Jason Statham and Edward Norton; and then her turn as Actress Britt Ekland in the biographical 'The Life and Death of Peter Sellers' with Geoffrey Rush in the lead role; and then war time romantic drama 'Head in the Clouds' with Penelope Cruz and Stuart Townsend. 

2006 saw another highly acclaimed turn for Theron in 'North Country' for Director Niki Caro and starring alongside Jeremy Renner, Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Woody Harrelson and Sissy Spacek. For her role as Josey Aimes Theron was nominated as Best Actress for the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, the BAFTA and the SAG Award as well as a heap of others.

Sci-Fi actioner 'Aeon Flux' came next in 2005 with Frances McDormand again; and then the Paul Haggis Written and Directed 'In the Valley of Elah' with Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin and Susan Sarandon. Actor Stuart Townsend Wrote and Directed 'Battle in Seattle' which also starred Woody Harrelson again, Ray Liotta, Channing Tatum, Connie Nielsen and Michelle Rodriguez, and this was followed up by 'Sleepwalking', Peter Berg's reluctant Superhero film 'Hancock' with Will Smith; 'The Burning Plain', and then John Hillcoat's post-apocalyptic adventure drama film 'The Road' with Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Robert Duvall seeing out the decade.

2011 brought 'Young Adult' for Director Jason Reitman for which Theron received further awards nominations including a Golden Globe nod; and then the Ridley Scott 'Alien' prequel 'Prometheus' with Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender and Idris Elba.










'Snow White and the Hunstman' followed in 2012 with Theron playing Ravenna, the Evil Queen to Kristen Stewart's Snow White and Chris Hemsworth's The Huntsman. The film received mixed Reviews but took US$397M at the Box Office off a budget of US$170M and was therefore a commercial success spawning a sequel 'The Huntsman : Winter's War' being released in 2016 in which Theron reprised her role. The film fared less well critically and commercially than its predecessor bringing in US$165M form a US$115M budget outlay.

The Seth MacFarlane Written, Directed and starring romantic comedy Western, 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' came along in 2014, and then 'Dark Places' with Nicholas Hoult and Chloe Grace Moretz, and then George Miller's long awaited follow up to his earlier hugely successful and influential post-apocalyptic action adventure Sci-Fi offerings 'Mad Max' with 'Mad Max : Fury Road' alongside Tom Hardy as the titular Max Rockatansky with Theron playing Imperator Furiosa and with Nicholas Hoult again. The film made US$379M at the Box Office from its US$150M budget and won six Academy Awards and was nominated for four others, was nominated for two Golden Globes, won four BAFTA's and another three nominations amongst its total awards haul of 237 wins and another 209 nominations.

2016 saw the release of the Sean Penn Directed 'The Last Face' with Javier Bardem. The film was panned by Critics as too were Theron and Bardem's performances. This was followed by Theron applying her voice talents to the animated 'Kubo and the Two Strings' together with those of Matthew McConaughey, Ralph Fiennes and Rooney Mara amongst others. So far this year we have seen Theron in the F. Gary Gray Directed 'The Fate of the Furious' in which she pays cyberterrorist and criminal mastermind Cipher alongside Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Kurt Russell, Michelle Rodriguez and various others of note. The film made a staggering US$1.24B from its US$250M budget making it the eleventh highest grossing film of all time at the time of writing, and setting the record for the highest grossing opening weekend of all time at US$532M. And just released is 'Atomic Blonde' in which Theron plays double if not triple agent Lorraine Broughton in this cold war era action spy thriller.

Next up for Theron are 'Gringo' due in 2018 as Directed by Nash Edgerton and also starring Joel Edgerton, Sharlto Copley, David Oyelowo, Thandie Newton and Amanda Seyfried; in post-production is comedy about motherhood, 'Tully' for Director Jason Reitman; and in pre-production is 'Flarsky' for Director Jonathan Levine and also starring Seth Rogen.

All up Theron has 52 Acting credits to her name, and sixteen as Producer including on 2017 television series 'Girlboss' and 'Mindhunter'. She is the recipient of 56 award wins and another 96 nominations including the Oscar for 'Monster' and a nomination for 'North Country'; three Golden Globe nominations and the win also for 'Monster'; a Primetime Emmy nomination; two BAFTA nominations; three SAG nominations and the win for 'Monster' and a whole swathe of others from around the global awards circuit.

In 2007 Theron founded 'The Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project' in an attempt to support African youth in the battle against HIV/AIDS. The project is committed to supporting community engaged organisations that address the key drivers of the disease through grant donations, networking and spotlighting their work to ultimately mobilise and empower them to prevent HIV. In 2008, Theron was named a UN Ambassador of Peace. She is also involved in women's rights organisations and has participated in pro-choice rallies, as well as being an active member of 'PETA' (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and a such is a supporter of animal rights. Theron is also a staunch supporter of same sex marriage and refuses to marry herself until such time as her country makes same sex marriage legal. In 2004 she signed a deal making her the spokeswoman for 'J'adore' advertising by Christian Dior, and in 2005 her image was used worldwide in print media advertising for Raymond Weil watches. Theron was in a long term relationship with Irish Actor Stuart Townsend whom she met on the set of 'Trapped' and worked with on subsequent films. The relationship ended in 2010 after eight years. In 2007 she became a US citizen and holds dual nationality with South Africa. She has two adopted children - a boy, Jackson in 2012, and a girl, August in 2015.

Charlize Theron - has been voted on numerous 'Top' lists multiple times including the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World, 100 Sexiest Women in the World, the Hot 100 Women, the Sexiest Woman Alive, Most Desirable Women, Top Earning Actresses; has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Afrikaans is her fist language and she learned English as teenager by watching American television; is as active in the causes she believes in as she is on the big screen both in front of the camera and increasingly behind it; is blonde, stunning and statuesque but happy to turn that upside down and inside out for her craft and has been recognised for it numerous times; and is now a bona fide action star in her own right thanks to the likes of 'Aeon Flux', 'Mad Max : Fury Road' and 'Atomic Blonde'. Plenty of achievements already, and lots more still to come - we'll keep watching Charlize, and in the meantime, Happy Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 11th - 17th June 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Kodi Smit-McPhee does on 13th June - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 21, 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 11th June

• Hugh Laurie - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Singer
• Peter Dinklage - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
• Shia LaBeouf - Born 1986, turns 31 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer   

Monday 12th June

• Richard Ayoade - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actor | Writer | Director | Producer
• Dave Franco - Born 1985, turns 32 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Frances O'Connor - Born 1967, turns 50 - Actress  

Tuesday 13th June

• Malcolm McDowell - Born 1943, turns 74 - Actor | Producer
• Stellan Skarsgard - Born1951, turns 66 - Actor | Producer
• Tim Allen - Born 1953, turns 64 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Chris Evans - Born 1981, turns 36 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Aaron Taylor-Johnson - Born 1990, turns 27 - Actor 
• Kodi Smit-McPhee - Born 1996, turns 21 - Actor
• Ally Sheedy - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actress 
• Kathy Burke - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actress | Writer | Director | Producer  
• Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen - Born 1986, turns 31 - Actresses | Producers | Twin Sisters 

Wednesday 14th June

• Diablo Cody - Born 1978, turns 39 - Writer | Producer | Director
• Donald Trump - Born 1946, turns 71 - Actor | Producer | Television Personality | President of the USA | Leader of the Free World   

Thursday 15th June

• Jim Belushi - Born 1954, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | 
• Ice Cube (aka O'Shea Jackson) - Born 1969, turns 48 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Jake Busey - Born 1971, turns 46 - Actor | Producer
• Neil Patrick Harris - Born 1973, turns 44 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Singer
• Helen Hunt - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actress | Director | Producer | Writer 
• Courteney Cox - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actress | Producer | Director | Singer  

Friday 16th June

• James Bolam - Born 1935, turns 82 - Actor 
• Arnold Vosloo - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• John Choo - Born 1972, turns 45 - Actor | Producer
• Daniel Bruhl - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actor | Producer   

Saturday 17th June

• Ken Loach - Born 1936, turns 81 - Director | Writer | Producer
• Thomas Haden Church - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Greg Kinnear - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Jason Patric - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actor 
• Will Forte - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
• Louis Leterrier - Born 1973, turns 44 - Director | Producer 
• Scott Adkins - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actor | Producer

Kodi Smit-McPhee was born in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia to mother Sonja and father Andy McPhee - an Actor and professional wrestler. Kodi has an older sister, Sianoa, born in early 1992, and she is an Actress, Singer and Songwriter. When the young Kodi was about three years of age the family unit relocated to Melbourne.

Smit-McPhee's debut screen appearance came in the 2006 Stuart McDonald Directed 52 minute short film 'Stranded', and this was followed up by 'Fatal Contact : Bird Flu in America' with Joely Richardson and Stacy Keach. Another short film of fifteen minutes also appeared in 2006 - 'End of Town' and then four episodes on the first and only season of television series 'Monarch Cove', before biographical drama 'The King' about the story of Graham Kennedy, described as Australia's first and greatest home grown television superstar. These in turn led to Smit-McPhee's breakout role at the tender age of ten in the Richard Roxburgh biographical drama 'Romulus, My Father' playing the young son Raimond Gaita to father Romulus (Eric Bana) and mother Christina (Franka Potenta). Smit-McPhee won the Young Actors Award at the 2007 Australian Film Institute Awards, was also nominated for Best Lead Actor, and won a Special Achievement Award at the Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards.  

'The Tender Hook' followed in 2008 with Rose Byrne and Hugo Weaving, and then another awards worthy performance in John Hillcoat's 2009 post-apocalyptic world adventure drama 'The Road' based on the Cormac McCarthy novel and starring alongside Viggo Mortensen, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce and Charlize Theron. 

'Matching Jack' came next in 2010 with Richard Roxburgh, Colin Friels and James Nesbitt. More award wins and nominations followed for his performance in the 2010 Matt Reeves Written and Directed remake of the earlier 2008 Swedish film 'Let the Right One In', with horror mystery 'Let Me In' opposite Chloe Grace Moretz and Richard Jenkins. Aussie drama film 'Dead Europe' followed as did live action/animated Sci-Fi drama film 'The Congress' with Robin Wright, Paul Giamatti, John Hamm, Danny Huston and Harvey Keitel. 'Romeo & Juliet' with Hailee Steinfeld, Damian Lewis, Stellan Skarsgard and Paul Giamatti also arrived at our screens in 2013, as did 'A Birder's Guide to Everything' with Ben Kingsley. 

2014 saw Smit-McPhee work with Matt Reeves again in 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' with Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell and Keri Russell. The same year also saw 'All the Wilderness' with Danny DeVito, Virginia Madsen and Isabelle Fuhrman, and then Sci-Fi post-drought apocalypse actioner 'Young Ones' with Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult and Elle Fanning. 

Western 'Slow West' as Directed and Written by John Maclean was released in 2015 and also starred Michael Fassbender, Ben Mendelssohn, and this lead into the seven part one hundredth anniversary television drama mini-series special 'Gallipoli' with Smit-McPhee taking a lead role as seventeen year old Thomas 'Tolly' Johnson who lies about his age so that he can enlist in the First World War effort with his brother, and ultimately fight at Gallipoli in the raging, bloody and long drawn out battle that helped create the legend of the ANZAC's.

In 2016 Smit-McPhee starred as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler in Bryan Singer's 'X-Men : Apocalypse' based on the popular and long running film franchise founded on the Marvel Comics characters. This ninth film in the 'X-Men' franchise stars an ensemble cast that you will be well aware of, and took US$544M at the global Box Office. 

Next up for Smit-McPhee is 'The Solutrean' Written and Directed by Albert Hughes and due for release towards the back end of this year. The film tells the survival story set 20,000 years ago during the last Ice Age as a young caveman struggles against the elements to find his way home after a hunting expedition goes awry. 

All up Smit-McPhee has 26 Acting credits to his name, having lent his voice talents also to the animated features 'ParaNorman' and 'Maya the Bee Movie'. He has already amassed three award wins for his performances in 'Romulus, My Father' and 'Let Me In' plus a further 23 nominations. Kodi is now a resident of Los Angeles, California where he lives with this Actress sister. 

Kodi Smit-McPhee - the young lad from Adelaide has done good; just 21 years of age and already has worked with some of the best Acting and Directorial talent in the business, and, has the accolades to prove it; is a star on the rise; in demand and sought after; and has got the talent to work across just about all genres. Happy 21st Birthday to you Kodi, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-