Birthday's to share this week : 27th September - 3rd October 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Alicia Vikander does on 3rd October - check out the tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 27 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 27th September

• Gwyneth Paltrow - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actress
• Meat Loaf - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter
• Denis Lawson - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor

Monday 28th September

• Naomi Watts - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actress | Producer
• Hilary Duff - Born 1987, turns 28 - Actress | Producer | Singer
• Mira Sorvino - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress | Producer
• Brigitte Bardot - Born 1934, turns 81 - Actress | Singer

Tuesday 29th September

• Luke Goss - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer
• Ian McShane - Born 1947, turns 73 - Actor | Producer
• Nicolas Winding Refn - Born 1970, turns 45 - Director | Producer | Writer

Wednesday 30th September

• Eric Stoltz - Born 1961, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Angie Dickinson - Born 1931, turns 84 - Actress
• Marion Cotillard - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actress | Singer
• Monica Bullucci - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actress

Thursday 1st October

• Julie Andrews - Born 1935, turns 80 - Actress | Singer
• Randy Quaid - Born 1950, turns 65 - Actor | Producer
• Zach Galifianakis - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer | Writer

Friday 2nd October

• Sting - Born 1951, turns 64 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter

Saturday 3rd October

• Clive Owen - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor | Producer
• Denis Villeneuve - Born 1967, turns 48 - Director | Writer
• Neve Campbell - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actress | Producer
• Alicia Vikander - Born 1988, turns 27 - Actress

Alicia Amanda Vikander was born in Gothenburg, Sweden to mother Maria Fahl, an actress, and father Svante Vikander, a psychiatrist. At five months old her parents separated and for the most part thereafter was raised by her mother, although she had access to her father every other weekend with whom she would grow up enjoying the company of his other five children. She studied ballet at the Royal Swedish Ballet School in Gothenburg from the age of nine and at fifteen moved to Stockholm where she trained to become a principal dancer. At the Gothenburg Opera she appeared in several musicals including 'Les Miserables' and 'The Sound of Music'. By the age of sixteen she was travelling the world to fine tune her acting craft. Due to injuries over the subsequent years her career in dancing became sidelined as her career in acting began to take hold, although for a short time she was considering a move into the legal profession gaining a place at law school, which she also sidelined in favour of acting - a wise choice in the long term it would appear!

At home in Sweden she gained early work on a number of television shows and made for TV movies - 'Min balsamerade mor' in 2002, 'En decemberdrom' for three episodes in 2005, the mini-series 'Levande foda' in 2007 and then on the longer running 'Andra Avenyn' for 39 episodes from 2007-2008.

From 2007 there were a number of short films in her native country launching with 'Darkness of Truth' and 'The Rain', 'My Name is Love' in 2008, and 'Susans Iangtan' in 2009. Her feature film debut came in 2010 in the acclaimed 'Pure' for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Swedish Guldbagge Awards - the equivalent there of the Academy Awards or the BAFTA's.

After this was her lead role in 'The Crown Jewels' in 2011, however, international recognition came in 2012 playing the role of Kitty in the Joe Wright Directed British adaptation of 'Anna Karenina' alongside Keira Knightly, Jude Law, Domhnall Gleeson and Emily Watson. The film picked up numerous awards including a Breakthrough Performer Award for Vikander at the Hamptons International Film Festival. She followed this up that same year with the Danish period piece 'A Royal Affair' with Mads Mikkelsen which gained a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at the 2013 Academy Awards. That year, she was also nominated at the BAFTA's for a Rising Star Award but missed out to Juno Temple.

2013 saw her star in Bill Condon's 'The Fifth Estate' about the rise of WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange as portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. The film also starred Stanley Tucci, Anthony Mackie and David Thewlis. Next up was the Swedish film 'Hotell' for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Marrakech International Film Festival.

'Testament of Youth' came next with Vikander in the lead role as Vera Brittain recounting her WWI memories as a war time nurse. This was followed up that same year with Aussie crime drama 'Son of a Gun' with Ewan McGregor and Brenton Thwaites, and then 'Seventh Son' with Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore, and Djimon Hounsou. 'Ex Machina' came earlier this year in the Alex Garland Directed film in which she stars as humanoid robot Ava, alongside Domhnall Gleeson again, and Oscar Isaac. Most recently there has been 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' Directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer as the reprised 60's Agents Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuryakin respectively.

Coming soon is 'Burnt' with Bradley Cooper, Sienna Miller, Uma Thurman and Emma Thompson due before the end of the year, as is 'The Danish Girl' with Eddie Redmayne and Ben Whishaw. 'Tulip Fever' is currently in post-production for 2016 and stars Dane DeHaan, Christoph Waltz and Judy Dench, 'The Light Between the Oceans' due next year too and starring Michael Fassbender and Rachel Weisz, and currently filming is the fifth instalment in the Bourne franchise as Directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matt Damon as Jason Bourne with Tommy Lee Jones and Vincent Cassel and due in mid-16.

Vikander has 26 acting credits to her name and has won seven awards and another seven nominations to date - she expects big things from next years Academy Awards too where she may have multiple films in contention. Recently split from Michael Fassbender, Vikander seems more intent on keeping busy, chasing the Oscar dream and polishing her celebrity status as her star continues to rise.

Alicia Vikander - young, beautiful, talented, determined, committed, hard working, in demand, already much praised and with the Hollywood world at your feet - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-