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 4th January
- Julia Ormond - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actress
- Dyan Cannon - Born 1937, turns 78 - Actress | Director | Writer
- Julian Sands - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actor
- Michael Stipe - Born 1960, turns 55 - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actor
Monday 5th January
- Bradley Cooper - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actor | Producer
- Robert Duvall - Born 1931, turns 84 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
- Vinnie Jones - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor
- Roger Spottiswoode - Born 1945, turns 70 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
- Hayao Miyazaki - Born 1941, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor | Animator
- Diane Keaton - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actress | Producer | Director
Tuesday 6th January
- Trudie Styler - Born 1954, turns 61 - Producer | Actress
- Eddie Redmayne - Born 1982, turns 33 - Actor
- Norman Reedus - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor
- Rowan Atkinson - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actor | Writer
Wednesday 7th January
- Nicolas Cage - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor | Producer
- Jeremy Renner - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer
- David Caruso - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actor
- Linda Kozlowski - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actress
Thursday 8th January
- David Bowie - Born 1947, turns 68 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor
- John McTiernan - Born 1951, turns 64 - Director | Producer | Writer
Friday 9th January
- J. K. Simmons - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actor
- Imelda Staunton - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actress
Saturday 10th January
- Fran Walsh - Born 1959, turns 56 - Producer | Writer
- Walter Hill - Born 1942, turns 73 - Director | Producer | Writer
Bradley Charles Cooper was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up close by in Jenkintown. His mother Gloria Campano worked for an affiliate of the NBC, and father Charles Cooper was a stockbroker with Merrill Lynch - he passed away early in 2011. He attended the Germantown Academy from which he graduated in 1993, and then went onto Villanova University for a year and then Georgetown University at which he gained a BA honours degree in English in 1997. He learned to speak French fluently and spent six months in France as an exchange student. In 2000, he received a Master of Fine Arts at the now named Actors Studio Drama School at New York's Pace University.
Cooper's professional acting career kicked off in 1999 with a guest appearance on 'Sex and the City', and the he worked as a Presenter on the travel adventure show 'Globe Trekker' (aka 'Pilot Guides' and 'Lonely Planet'). His first film role came with a 'Wet Hot American Summer' with the likes of Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks and Amy Poehler and was both a critical and commercial failure. From here he gained a regular slot as character Will Tippin on the successful 'Alias' television action drama series alongside Jennifer Garner. He gained a small role in 2002's 'Changing Lanes' with Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson but his performance appears only on the DVD and Bluray versions of the film. 2002 also brought the films 'My Little Eye' and 'Bending all the Rules' with numerous television roles and guest appearances that included 'The $treet', 'Miss Match', 'Touching Evil', 'Jack and Bobby', 'Kitchen Confidential' and 'Nip/Tuck'.
After a couple of made for TV movies, he starred in 2005's 'Wedding Crashers' with Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughan and Christopher Walken, following this up with RomCom 'Failure to Launch' with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. What followed were mostly typecast comedies all with varying levels of acclaim including 'The Comebacks', 'The Rocker', 'Yes Man', 'He's Just Not That Into You' interspersed with occasional dramatic roles in horror thriller 'The Midnight Meat Train' and suspense drama 'Older than America'.
2009 proved to be a turning point with the first in the hugely successful 'The Hangover' series which all up generated US$1.4B in Box Office receipts and DVD/Bluray sales off a total production budget of US$218M, and spawned two sequels in 2011 and 2013. Cooper earned US$600K for the first instalment, US$5M for the second and US$15M for the third. That same year saw 'All About Steve' with Sandra Bullock, 'New York, I Love You' and psychological horror 'Case 39' closing out the year.
2010 saw the big screen reboot of the popular 80's action adventure television series 'The A-Team' with Cooper playing 'Face' alongside Liam Neeson and Patrick Wilson. 'Limitless' came next with Robert De Niro and Abbie Cornish in a positively received film that was certainly successful commercially and generally critically too. After this the second 'Hangover' offering gave way to 'Hit and Run' followed up by the much acclaimed 'Silver Linings Play Book' with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro for which Cooper received Lead Actor nominations at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes and the BAFTA's.
Romantic drama 'The Words' followed in 2012 with Zoe Saldana and Jeremy Irons and 2013 saw 'The Place Beyond the Pines' with Ryan Gosling, the third 'Hangover' with the now all too familiar cast and plot lines, and concluding the year 'American Hustle' with Christian Bale, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence again, and, for which he received nominations in the Best Supporting Actor category at the Academy Awards, the Golden Globes and the BAFTA's.
Next up was his voice adaptation as 'Rocket' the Racoon in Marvel's sleeper hit 'Guardians of the Galaxy' which has so far earned a largely unexpected US$773M, followed by another turn alongside Jennifer Lawrence in the recently released 'Serena'. Coming up in 2015 is Cooper's lead role in the anticipated Clint Eastwood Directed 'American Sniper' due imminently , 'Joy' currently in pre-production seeing him reunited again with co-stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro and Directed by David O'Russell (who Directed him in the acclaimed 'Silver Linings Play Book' and 'American Hustle') and two as yet untitled projects for Cameron Crowe and John Wells due later in 2015.
Cooper has 49 acting credits to his name and five Producer credits so far, he has 20 award wins and 49 other nominations. He was married for a brief time to actress Jennifer Esposito from 2006-2007 and has been romantically linked to Actresses Renee Zellweger and Zoe Saldana and most recently to model Suki Waterhouse. He gave up alcohol at the age of 29, is a dog lover and a keen cook and likes to eat (a lot as he says) - and with Italian heritage he grew up making fresh homemade pastas, sauces and concocting dishes out of whatever he has lying around.
Bradley Cooper - definitely on the up & up, known for a cheeky grin, piercing blue eyes, trademark five day growth of stubble, and more recently playing more dramatic characters that stretch, challenge and ultimately reward us all - Happy 40th Birthday to you from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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