Birthdays to share this week : 31st August - 6th September.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

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 on 2nd September, Keanu Reeves, at the end of this feature.

Sunday 31st August

• Richard Gere - Born 1949, turns 65 - Actor | Producer
• Chris Tucker - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor
• Marc Webb - Born 1974, turns 40 - Director | Producer
• Jonathan LaPaglia - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor
• Jack Thompson - Born 1940, turns 74 - Actor | Producer
• Van Morrison - Born 1945, turns 69 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer

Monday 1st September

• Lily Tomlin - Born 1939, turns 75 - Actress | Producer
• Gloria Estefan - Born 1957, turns 57 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress
• Barry Gibb - Born 1946m turns 68 - Singer | Songwriter
• Craig McLachlan - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actor | Singer

Tuesday 2nd September

• Keanu Reeves - Born 1964, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Salma Hayek - Born 1966, turns 48 - Actress | Producer
• Mark Harmon - Born 1951, turns 63 - Actor | Producer

Wednesday 3rd September

• Charlie Sheen - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Jean-Pierre Jeunet - Born 1953, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Pauline Collins - Born 1940, turns 74 - Actress

Thursday 4th September

• Noah Taylor - Born 1969, turns 45 - Actor
• Damon Wyans - Born 1960, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Beyonce Knowles - Born 1981, turns 33 - Singer | Songwriter | Actress | Producer

Friday 5th September

• Michael Keaton - Born 1951, turns 63 - Actor | Producer
• Raquel Welch - Born 1940, turns 74 - Actress
• Werner Herzog - Born 1942, turns 72 - Director | Producer | Actor | Writer
• Paddy Consadine - Born 1974, turns 40 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Rose McGowan - Born 1973, turns 41 - Actress

Saturday 6th September

• Idris Elba - Born 1972, turns 42 - Actor | Producer
• Roger Waters - Born 1943, turns 71 - Songwriter | Singer | Composer | Writer
• John Polson - Born 1965, turns 49 - Actor | Director | Producer
• Naomi Harris - Born 1976, turns 38 - Actress

Keanu Charles Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon to an English born Showgirl and an American born geologist. He lived there for the first six months of his life, before relocating to Sydney where he lived with his mother until age three, by which time his father had already left the relationship. Reeves grew up with various stepfathers thereafter having moved to New York City and then Toronto. His biological father was born in Hawaii, and it is from here that Keanu was given his name - meaning 'cool breeze over the mountains' in Hawaiian.

He attended De La Salle College in Toronto and then Avondale Secondary Alternative School, also in Toronto, thereafter - at this latter institution he could gain an 'education' whilst working as an actor, but he was not academic and so dropped out at age seventeen before gaining a high school diploma. In his early teens he showed promise as an ice hockey player and was offered to try-out for the Canadian League for the Windsor Spitfires. He played in goal and earned the nickname 'The Wall', but gave this up too in favour of pursuing a career in acting.

At age nine he appeared in a theatre production of 'Damn Yankees' and at 15 in 'Romeo & Juliet' also on stage. His screen acting debut came in the comedy television series 'Hangin' In' and during the early 80's he gained some television commercial work, short film roles and other stage plays. His first studio movie role was with Rob Lowe in 'Youngblood' in 1986, followed up later that year with a more sizeable turn in 'River's Edge'. In fact, in 1986 Reeves had seven films released all with his name attached, and all aimed largely at the teen market. It was however, the somewhat unexpected success of 1989's 'Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure' and its 1991 sequel 'Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey', playing Theodore 'Ted' Logan, that catapulted Reeves into the mainstream.

In the early 90's Reeves started to straddle more mainstream offerings such as 'Point Break' and 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' with independent fare such as 'My Own Private Idaho' with close friend River Phoenix. Again though, it was to be 1994's high speed actioner 'Speed' with Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper that placed Reeves on the action star pedestal. He did though, and perhaps wisely, turn down the reprisal of his role as  Officer Jack Traven in 'Speed 2' despite the offer of an US$11M pay day - his biggest up to that point! Along the way he also turned down roles in 'Platoon', 'Heat' and 'Speed Racer' - those roles eventually going to Charlie Sheen, Val Kilmer and Matthew Fox respectively.

In the latter half of the 90's he continued to choose between the big action fare - 'Chain Reaction' and 'Johnny Mnemonic' which did less well at the box office than expected, and the indie features such as 'Feeling Minnestoa'. These though were backed up by 'The Devil's Advocate' and 'The Replacements' which restored some credibility, and for which Reeves would take a huge pay cut to ensure that Al Pacino and Gene Hackman could star respectively.




In 1999, he hit pay-dirt once again with his acting in 'The Matrix' and followed this up in 2003 with the release of both sequels - 'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'The Matrix Revolutions' - for which he earned US$40M in fees and 15% of the gross - to give him combined earnings from the trilogy of around US$70M. Interestingly, of that he gave away US$50M to the make-up and effects artists on those films, saying that he had enough money anyway to support himself with for the next couple of centuries.

Following this he has had a series of also-rans and film that have flown under the radar during the first decade of the new century - in terms of box office and critical acclaim. In 2013 he turned his attention to Directing for the first time, and did so with 'Man of Tai Chi', and currently has several projects under development. '47 Ronin' was his last big screen appearance earlier this year, and he has 'John Wick' and 'Knock Knock' currently in post-production for a 2015 release, 'The Whole Truth' still filming also for a 2015 release and 'Rain' - a TV mini-series announced for 2016.

He has 74 acting credits to his name including those others, such as 'Dangerous Liaisons', 'Parenthood', 'Little Buddha', 'Even Cowgirls get the Blues', 'A Walk in the Clouds', 'The Watcher', 'The Gift', 'Hardball', 'Something's Gotta Give', 'Constantine', 'The Lake House', 'A Scanner Darkly', 'Street Kings', 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', and 'Generation Um'. He has ten award wins to his name and twenty other nominations including 12 MTV Movie Awards - but, he also has several Razzie Awards and Golden Raspberry Awards too!

When he is not acting, Producing or Directing he has set up a cancer charity but has chosen not to assign his name to it, and he supports PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals), the SickKids Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer. He is a keen surfer and horse rider - both of which he does in his spare time, and both of which he learned for acting roles, and is an ardent follower of F1 and IndyCar motor sport.

He is known for his intense eyes; has kept us entertained with some truly memorable roles and some forgettable ones too; and although he turns 50 this week the dude still looks and acts the part in a very relaxed, chilled out, laid back way. Good on ya Keanu - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online, and congratulations on your first half-century! 'Point Break' also remains one of my favourite films of all time too!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-