Birthday's to share this week : 10th - 16th May 2015

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Danny Trejo does on 16th May - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 71, 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 10th May

• Bono (Paul Hewson) - Born 1960, turns 55 - Singer | Songwriter | Composer | Actor
• Meg Foster - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actress
• Maureen Lipman - Born 1946, turns 69, Actress

Monday 11th May

• Holly Valance - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actress | Singer
• Frances Fisher - Born1952, turns 63 - Actress
• Tim Blake Nelson - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director

Tuesday 12th May

• Bruce Boxleitner - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor
• Stephen Baldwin - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Domhnall Gleeson - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actor
• Emilo Estevez - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Jason Biggs - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actor | Producer
• Ving Rhames - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer
• Gabriel Byrne - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor | Producer
• Emily VanCamp - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actress
• Susan Hampshire - Born 1937, turns 78 - Actress

Wednesday 13th May

• Zoe Wanamaker - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actress
• Robert Pattinson - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actor
• Harvey Keitel - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actor | Producer
• Joe Johnston - Born 1950, turns 65 - Director | Producer
• Tim Pigott-Smith - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor

Thursday 14th May

• Tim Roth  - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor | Producer
• George Lucas - Born 1944, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Robert Zemekis - Born 1951, turns 64 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Danny Huston - Born 1962, turns 53 - Actor | Director
• Cate Blachett - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actress
• Sofia Coppola - Born 1971, turns - Director | Writer | Actor

Friday 15th May

• Chazz Palminteri - Born 1952, turns 63 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Grant Heslov - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director

Saturday 16th May

• Pierce Brosnan - Born 1953, turns 62 - Actor | Producer
• Danny Trejo - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actor | Producer
• Jim Sturgess - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actor
• Megan Fox - Born 1986, turns 29 - Actress
• Debra Winger - Born 1955, turns 60 - Actress | Producer

If you ever need a bad ass Mexican to star in your screen adaptation then Danny Trejo is your man. Born Dan Trejo and of Mexican decent, to mother Alice Rivera and construction worker father Dan Trejo in Echo Park, Los Angeles our archetypal muscled moustached Mexican lookalike was in and out of trouble and in and out of jail in his early years. As a child he already had a drug habit and a criminal record and was imprisoned several times for armed robbery and drug related offences. Over an eleven year period he served time in Tracy, Folsom, Susanville, San Quentin and Soledad prisons in California throughout, the 60's. During his time on the inside at San Quentin he trained as a boxer and went on to win Championship titles in the prisons lightweight and welterweight divisions. He also enlisted in a 12 step rehabilitation programme which he credits as being the main reason he kicked his drug habit. He has been sober too for 45 years now.

Upon leaving prison he worked as a youth drug counsellor and was asked for assistance with cocaine issues on the set of 'Runaway Train'. The screenplay for this film was written by Edward Bunker, a successful crime writer and former prison inmate of Trejo's in San Quentin. At this point Bunker offered Trejo $320 a day to train boxing skills to the movies headline star Eric Roberts. He caught the eye of the Director who subsequently cast him in a small role in the film . . . as a boxer.

That was 1985 and 'The Boxer' in 'Runaway Train' was credited to Daniel Trejo and from there he never looked back. From that point on Trejo became one of the most prolific Actors in Hollywood putting out numerous films year on year since the late 80's and with many of Hollywood's A-Listers and action stars. These have included the likes of Jean-Claude Van Damme, Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal, Antonio Banderas, Charles Bronson, Nicholas Cage, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Harrison Ford, John Malkovich, Al Pacino, Vin Diesel and Johnny Depp.

His filmography back in those earlier days include many B-List offerings, straight to video output and more mainstream fare but usually trademarked by mean, menacing, criminal tough guy type roles that allowed Trejo to flex his muscles, show off his tattoos, get his shirt off, kill off some other bad guys and mutter a few lines. These notable outings have included 'Bulletproof', 'Lock Up', 'Marked for Death', 'Blood In Blood Out', and  'Anaconda'.

But for all of these Trejo made some wise decisions too appearing in the Robert Rodriguez vampire offering that also launched the career of George Clooney - 'From Dusk 'til Dawn' in 1996. There was also 'Desperado' with Antonio Banderas; Michael Mann's classic heist film 'Heat' with De Niro and Pacino; 'Con Air' with Cage & Malkovich, 'Six Days Seven Nights' with Harrison Ford, two follow up 'From Dusk 'til Dawn' instalments and his stint on the recent successful TV series spin-off; 'Reindeer Games' with Ben Affleck, 'xXx' with Vin Diesel, and 'Grindhouse' with Rodriguez and Tarantino in which he reprises his 'Machete' role from 'Spykids' into more adult action fare in a fake trailer sequence that went onto to spawn so far two full feature length films with a third underway. Let's also not forget 'Predators', again with Rodriguez.

His film output seems to be increasing by the year almost as though he thinks his bubble will burst any minute. In 2006 he released 14 films; in 2007 there were 13; in 2008 there were 12; 13 again in 2009; in 2010 a staggering 29; in 2011 a lame 16; 13 in 2012; 21 in 2013; and 17 last year. Right now he has three films completed awaiting release this year, 12 in post-production, four currently filming, three in pre-production, and three recently announced.

Included in his output there have been numerous television series including 'From Dusk 'til Dawn', 'St. George', 'Sons of Anarchy', ' Dr. Fubalous' 'King of the Hill', 'Breaking Bad', 'Burn Notice', ' The Young and the Restless', 'The X-Files' and 'Walker, Texas Ranger'. He has also lent his voice talents to 'Grand Theft Auto', the recent 'The Book of Life' and 'A Horse Story'. Additionally he has appeared in numerous music clips and video games. All up he has 294 Acting credits and eleven Producer credits, and there seems to be no let up.

He is second cousin to Robert Rodriguez, has two sons - Danny Boy born in 1981, Gilbert Trejo born in 1988 and a daughter Danielle Trejo born in 1990.  He was married to Debbie Shreve from 1997 to 2009.

Danny Trejo - at 71 still going strong, heavily inked with a trademark chest tattoo of a sombrero wearing woman, mean grizzled features, tough guy image nearly always type cast, muscled and moustached, and knocking out movies like they're going outta fashion . . . love your work! Happy Birthday to you Mr. Trejo, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-