Birthday's to share this week : 18th-24th October 2015

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Ryan Reynolds does on 23rd October - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 39 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 18th October

• Jean-Claude Van Damme - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director | Editor
• Zac Efron - Born 1987, turns 28 - Actor | Producer
• Howard Shore - Born 1946, turns 69 - Songwriter | Composer
• Bob Weinstein - Born 1954, turns 61 - Producer | Writer

Monday 19th October

• Jon Favreau - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer
• Michael Gambon - Born 1940, turns 75 - Actor
• John Lithgow - Born 1945, turns 70 - Actor | Producer
• Trey Parker - Born 1969, turns 46 - Producer | Writer | Actor | Singer | Songwriter
• Jason Reitman - Born 1977, turns 38 - Actor | Producer | Director
• John le Carre - Born 1931, turns 84 - Writer | Producer

Tuesday 20th October

• Viggo Mortensen - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Danny Boyle - Born 1956, turns 59 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Thomas Newman - Born 1955, turns 50 - Composer | Singer | Songwriter
• Timothy West - Born 1934, turns 81 - Actor

Wednesday 21st October

• Ken Watanabe - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Carrie Fischer - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actress | Writer
• Catherine Hardwicke - Born 1955, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer

Thursday 22nd October

• Saffron Burrows - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actress
• Catherine Deneuve - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actress
• Derek Jacobi - Born 1938, turns 77 - Actor | Producer
• Spike Jonze - Born 1969, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Cinematographer
• Jeff Goldblum - Born 1952, turns 63 - Actor | Producer
• Christopher Lloyd - Born 1938, turns 77 - Actor
• Jan de Bont - Born 1943, turns 72 - Director | Producer
• Bill Condon - Born 1955, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer

Friday 23rd October

• Ryan Reynolds - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actor | Producer
• Sam Raimi - Born 1959, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Ang Lee - Born 1954, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Philip Kaufman - Born 1936, turns 79 - Director | Producer | Writer

Saturday 24th October

• Kevin Kline - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor
• F. Murray Abraham - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actor
• Martin Campbell - Born 1943, turns 72 - Director | Producer

Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to mother Tammy, a retail salesperson, and father Jim Reynolds, a food wholesaler. He is the youngest of four brothers, two of which serve as Police Officers. He graduated from Kitsilano Secondary School in 1994 and attended Kwantlen Polytechnic University for a short time and dropped out to pursue an acting career.

His acting career began on the small screen in 1991 when he picked up a role in 'Fifteen' (aka 'Hillside') which ran until 1993 over 65 episodes. This then led to 'The Odyssey' from 1993-1994 over fourteen episodes. Over the next few years there was television work on single episodes of 'The Outer Limits' on two separate occasions, 'The Marshall', 'The X-Files' and 'The John Larroquette Show' before landing a long term gig on 'Two Guys and a Girl' from 1998-2001, running for 81 episodes.

His big screen career kicked off in 1993 with 'Ordinary Magic' with a bunch of made for TV movies to follow including 'My Name is Kate', 'When Friendship Kills', 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch', 'In Cold Blood' and 'Tourist Trap' - all before the decade drew to a close.

The new decade brought 'Big Monster on Campus', 'We All Fall Down' and 'Finders Fee' with James Earl Jones and Robert Forster, and then the title role in National Lampoons 'Van Wilder : Party Liaison' in 2002. 'The In-Laws' in 2003 came next with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks, then 'Foolproof' that same year and then his first comic book adaptation in 'Blade : Trinity' with Wesley Snipes, Kris Kristofferson and Dominic Purcell. After this, Reynolds lent his voice work to the animated series 'Zeroman', before taking on the role of George Lutz in the 2005 horror remake of 'The Amityville Horror'.

Next up was 'Smokin' Aces' in 2006 with Ray Liotta, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia and Jeremy Piven, with 'The Nines' and 'Definatley, Maybe' in 2008, and 'Fireflies in the Garden' later that same year with Willem Dafoe, Emily Watson and Julia Roberts. 'Chaos Theory' and 'Adventureland' were next in 2009 with Kristen Wiig, Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg. That year too came his first appearance as Deadpool in 'X-Men Origins : Wolverine' with Hugh Jackman of course, with 'The Proposal' and Sandra Bullock and then 'Paperman' to follow with Jeff Daniels, Emma Stone and Lisa Kudrow.

2010 saw him in 'Buried' in this critically acclaimed film starring the man inside a coffin for the duration of the movie. His turn a year later as another Superhero, Hal Jordan, in 'The Green Lantern' for Director Martin Campbell and with an all star cast brought in just US$220M off a US$200M production budget. He didn't enjoy the experience and failed to connect with his Director and ultimately was pleased that the film failed at the Box Office so he wouldn't have to reprise his lead character in a sequel.

A return to more comedic fare came with 'The Change Up' in 2011, and then 'Safe House' with Denzel Washington with his voice talents being lent to 'The Croods' and 'Turbo' both in 2013 and  'R.I.P.D.' followed as a commercial and critical flop at a US$130M production budget. 'The Voices' was next, as was 'The Captive' in 2014, and this year there has been 'Mississippi Grind', 'Woman in Gold' with Helen Mirren, and most recently 'Self/less' with Ben Kingsley. Next up is 'Deadpool' reprising his role from the earlier 'X-Man Origins' film in this standalone feature as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and 'Criminal' both in post-production for 2016, and the animated 'The Croods 2' for 2017 for which he will once again lend his voice talents.

Reynolds has 62 acting credits to his name, and four Producer credits to date, and he has so far won six Awards and a further 26 nominations for his efforts.

He was married to Scarlett Johansson from September 2008 until July 2011, and in September 2012 he married former co-star and Actress Blake Lively with whom he has a daughter, James Reynolds, born in December 2014. He was engaged to singer Alanis Morissette from 2004 until 2006.

Ryan Reynolds - comic Actor, action star, comic book hero for both DC and Marvel, voted 'Sexist Man Alive' in 2010, often plays a regular Joe and remains a likeable, affable, handsome boy next door kinda guy, Happy Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-