Birthdays to share this week : 29th June - 5th July.

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 week? 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 over the coming week. If so, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online!

Check out too the spotlight on this weeks Birthday Boy on 3rd July, Tom Cruise, at the end of this feature.

Sunday 29th June

• Gary Busey - Born 1944, turns 70 - Actor

Monday 30th June

• Vincent D'Onofrio - Born 1959, turns 55 - Actor | Writer | Producer
• Mike Tyson - Born 1966, turns 48 - Boxer | Actor | Producer

Tuesday 1st July

• Liv Tyler - Born 1977, turns 37 - Actress
• Pamela Anderson - Born 1967, turns 47 - Actress | Producer
• Genevieve Bujold - Born 1942, turns 72 - Actress
• Deborah Harry - Born 1945, turns 69 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actress
• Dan Aykroyd - Born 1952, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Trevor Eve - Born 1951, turns 63 - Actor | Producer

Wednesday 2nd July

• Margot Robbie - Born 1990, turns 24 - Actress
• Lindsay Lohan - Born 1986, turns 28 - Actress | Producer
• Jerry Hall - Born 1956, turns 58 - Actress | Supermodel
• Larry David - Born 1947, turns 67 - Writer | Producer | Actor

Thursday 3rd July

• Tom Cruise - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor | Producer
• Connie Nielsen - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actress
• Patrick Wilson - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actor
• Kurtwood Smith - Born 1943, turns 71 - Actor
• Tom Stoppard - Born 1937, turns 77 - Writer | Producer
• Kevin Hart - Born 1980, turns 34 - Actor | Writer | Producer

Friday 4th July

• Neil Morrissey - Born 1962, turns 52 - Actor
• Gina Lollobrigida - Born 1927, turns 87 - Actress

Saturday 5th July

• Eva Green - Born 1980, turns 34 - Actress
• Huey Lewis - Born 1950, turns 64 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor

It seems that there are two types of people in this world! There are those who love Tom Cruise and there are those that loathe him. There are those who will pay the price of a cinema ticket upon his latest cinematic outing, and there are those that wouldn't part company with a brass razoo if it was the last movie to screen on Earth, ever, anywhere! For me, as your favoured movie Correspondent, I like Tom Cruise and would pay, and do pay, to see his latest releases despite his quirks, his foibles, his idiosyncrasies and his Scientology stuff! Tom is the man - rated as one of the Top 100 movie actors of all time . . . so he must be doing something right, despite all the misgivings and the shite that the movie going celebrity bashing tall poppy crunching public bestow upon him.

It is the Cruisemeister's birthday this coming week, so let's put all the BS aside and celebrate the mans career, his life and his achievements, and help to raise his Profile just a little further as a mark of respect on his special day!

So, Thomas Cruise Mapother IV was born in Syracuse, New York and upto age fourteen was studying in a Fransiscan Seminary in Cincinatti with his sights set on a life in the priesthood. Living with fairly nomadic periods who divorced when he was eleven years of age, he spent his first fourteen years in and out of fifteen different schools. His remarried mother settled with her new husband in Glen Ridge, New Jersey from where he graduated from High School in 1980, and it was at High School that he started to develop  keen interest in acting. By the time he reached 18 he was off to New York with thoughts of the priesthood behind him and an acting career firmly on the radar.

His first film role came in 1981 in 'Endless Love' . . . and the rest as they say, is history! He moved onto 'Taps' that same years starring alongside the likes of Sean Penn and already established screen legends including Ronny Cox, Timothy Hutton and George C. Scott. Already with only two film acting credits under his belt, this young kid was already well on his way.

The ensuing thirty years has seen a meteoric rise to stardom. To put this into perspective, he has become one of the highest paid actors in the world earning an average US$15M per movie. For 'Taps' in 1981 he received a pay cheque for US$50K and for both the first instalments of his 'Mission : Impossible' franchise he has earned a staggering US$70M per picture! He is the first actor in history to star in five consecutive US$100M grossing films - 'A Few Good Men', 'The Firm', 'Interview with the Vampire', 'Mission : Impossible' and 'Jerry Maguire'. Since 1986 ('Top Gun') only six of his feature films have failed to reach a global box office take of US$100M . . . not bad out of 37 already released! Such is his clout that he has worked with most of Hollywood's finest Directing talent - Kubrick, De Palma, Coppola, Howard, Mann, Redford, Stone, Scorsese, Scott and Spielberg. To date the global box office haul from his films is approaching US$8B.

When working he prefers to perform his own stunts; he has a pilots license which he gained in 1994; is vegetarian and does not drink alcohol. He has been described as 'one of the most powerful - and richest - forces in Hollywood', and acting as Producer (for Cruise/Wagner Productions) now on numerous films has very astutely negotiated some of the most lucrative deals in Hollywood. He also took over the management of United Artists in late 2006 with Paula Wagner in which Cruise acts as Producer and Actor in United Artists released movies.

His private life has always featured heavily in the world's media. He has been married three times - to Mimi Rogers from 1987 to 1990; to Nicole Kidman from 1990 to 2001 with whom he has two adopted children; and to Katie Holmes from 2006 to 2012 with whom he has one child. From 2001 to 2004 he was associated with Penelope Cruz. It was his first wife, Mimi Rogers, who initially introduced him to The Church of Scientology with whom he has been closely linked ever since, and to which there has always been an air of mystery and intense speculation given Cruise's high profile celebrity status.

With 37 film credits to his name so far, aside from those mentioned already, there is 'Risky Business', 'All the Right Moves', 'Legend', 'Rain Man', 'Born on the Fourth of July', 'The Firm', 'A Few Good Men', 'Far and Away', 'Eyes Wide Shut', 'Vanilla Sky', 'Magnolia', 'The Last Samurai', 'Collateral', 'War of the Worlds', 'Minority Report', 'Tropic Thunder', 'Rock of Ages', 'Jack Reacher', 'Oblivion', and most recently 'Edge of Tomorrow', whilst not forgetting four hugely successful 'Mission : Impossible' outings. Currently in pre-production is 'Mission : Impossible 5' with 'Van Helsing', 'Top Gun 2' and 'Jack Reacher : Never Go Back' announced for future release.

In terms of awards success Cruise has 39 wins and a further 56 nominations to his credit. The Academy Award has thus far eluded him although he has been nominated three times for 'Magnolia', 'Born on the Fourth of July' and 'Jerry Maguire'. He does have three Golden Globe wins for those aforementioned films plus another five nominations, and a BAFTA nomination for 'Born on the Fourth of July'.

Tom Cruise - at times quirky, always passionate and energetic, confirmed screen legend, proven astute businessman, often derided but always a force to reckon with on screen and off - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-