Birthday's to share this week : 13th-19th December 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jake Gyllenhaal does on 19th December - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy, turning 35, 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 13th December

• Jamie Foxx - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer
• Steve Buscemi - Born 1957, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Christopher Plummer - Born 1929, turns 86 - Actor | Producer
• Dick Van Dyke - Born 1925, turns 90 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Robert Lindsay - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actor

Monday 14th December

• Vijay Amritraj - Born 1953, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Tennis Ace
• Rebecca Gibney - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actress | Producer
• Sophie Monk - Born1979, turns 36 - Actress

Tuesday 15th December

• Don Johnson - Born 1949, turns 66 - Actor | Producer
• Alex Cox - Born 1954, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Editor

Wednesday 16th December

• Theo James - Born 1984, turns 31 - Actor
• Benjamin Bratt - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer
• Shane Black - Born 1961, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Ben Cross - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor
• James Mangold - Born 1963, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Miranda Otto - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress

Thursday 17th December

• Milla Jojovich - Born 1975, turns 40 - Actress | Singer
• Giovanni Ribisi - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actor
• Bill Pullman - Born 1953, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Rian Johnson - Born 1973, turns 42 - Director | Writer
• Eugene Levy - Born 1946, turns 69 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter
• Bernard Hill - Born 1944, turns 71 - Actor

Friday 18th December

• Brad Pitt - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actor | Producer
• Steven Spielberg - Born 1946, turns 69 - Director | Producer | Writer | Editor
• Ray Liotta - Born 1954, turns 61 - Actor | Producer
• Steve Austin - Born 1964, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | WWF Wrestler & Ringmaster
• Katie Holmes - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Rachel Griffiths - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actress | Writer

Saturday 19th December 

• Jennifer Beals - Born 1963, turns 52 - Actress | Producer
• Jake Gyllenhaal - Born 1980, turns 35 - Actor | Producer

Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal was born in Los Angeles, California to mother Naomi Achs - a film Producer and Screenwriter and father, Stephen Gyllenhaal, a film Director. He has an older sister - Maggie  - also an acclaimed Actress who is married to Actor Peter Saragaard. His parents divorced in 2009. He has Swedish noble blood running through his veins on his fathers side that dates back to 1652 when the name first appeared, descended from cavalryman Nils Gunnarsson Haal. His mother is of Jewish origin and Gyllenhaal considers himself Jewish. In his early teens he worked as a volunteer at a homeless shelter, as a Summer Holiday lifeguard and as a Busboy is a family friends restaurant - all to keep him grounded given the trappings of a Hollywood lifestyle enjoyed in his privileged upbringing. He graduated from Harvard-Westlake School in LA in 1998, and then attended Columbia University, but after two years dropped out to concentrate on an acting career.

His acting career started when he was just ten years old starring as Billy Crystal's son in 'City Slickers'. Two years later he starred in 'A Dangerous Woman' as Directed by his father and written for the screen by his mother, and starring alongside his sister with Gabriel Byrne, David Strathairn, Debra Winger and Barbara Hershey. His father would Direct him again in 1998 in 'Homegrown' with John Lithgow, Billy Bob Thornton, Hank Azaria and Jamie Lee Curtis; with Joe Johnston's 'October Sky' in 1999 closing out the decade with Chris Cooper and Laura Dern.

Critical acclaim would come with the first film of the new decade in 2002 with 'Donnie Darko' - set in 1988 Gyllenhaal plays the title character alongside his sister once again, and Patrick Swayze, Drew Barrymore and an eight feet tall menacing white rabbit called Frank. Whilst barely a commercial success, it has subsequently over the years risen to 'cult status'.

A number of teenage romance films followed the forgettable 'Highway' in which he starred with future Oscar winner Jared Leto, and these included 'The Good Girl', 'Lovely and Amazing', and 'Bubble Boy'.

The Roland Emmerich disaster epic 'The Day After Tomorrow' saw Gyllenhaal in the lead role as the Northern Hemisphere freezes over, and in the process grossing a cool US$545M at the Global Box Office. After this there was really no going back, with Ang Lee's 'Brokeback Mountain' starring Heath Ledger and winning a swag of awards including Academy Awards, BAFTA's and Golden Globes totalling 122 wins and another 106 nominations from around the traps.





That same year Gyllenhaal also put out 'Proof' with Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow, and the Desert Storm story of 'Jarhead' as Directed by Sam Mendes and starring brother-in-law and good friend Peter Sarsgaard, and Jamie Foxx. Afterwards came the murder mystery thriller for David Fincher, 'Zodiac', about the as yet unsolved serial killings by 'The Zodiac Killer' between December 1968 and October 1969. This was followed up later that year with 'Rendition' in which he co-starred with Peter Sarsgaard once again and Meryl Streep and Reese Witherspoon. The decade drew to a close with 'Brothers' - a wartorn film with Afghanistan as the backdrop with Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman. After this came the movie adaptation of the video game 'Prince of Persia : The Sands of Time' and then the RomCom 'Love and Other Drugs' with Anne Hathaway, for which Gyllenhaal received a Golden Globe nomination.

2012 saw 'End of Watch' - the highly acclaimed LA buddy cop movie starring Michael Pena. In between time there was 'Source Code' for Duncan Jones, and following 'Prisoners' with Hugh Jackman and Paul Dano, and then doppelganger 'Enemy' - the latter two films both Directed by Denis Villeneuve. 'Nightcrawler' was next in 2014 and one of this Reviewers favourite films of that year, with 'Accidental Love', 'Southpaw' and 'Everest' all released earlier this year. Next up is is 'Demolition' in early 2016 with Chris Cooper and Naomi Watts, with 'Nocturnal Animals' in post-production for a 2016 release, and then 'The Current War', 'Stronger', 'Okja' all currently in pre-production, and 'The Man Who Made It Snow' for Antoine Fuqua recently announced.

All up Gyllenhaal has 38 Acting credits and three Producer credits. He has garnered thirty Award wins including the 2006 BAFTA win for 'Brokeback Mountain' and a nomination for 'Nightcrawler' plus two Golden Globe nominations and an Academy Award nomination for 'Brokeback Mountain' too. He has a total 75 nominations all up to date.

Having been raised in the Hollywood Acting community, Paul Newman and Jamie Lee Curtis were/are his Godparents, and he is Godfather to Matilda Rose Ledger, daughter of the late Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams. He has been romantically linked to Kirsten Dunst, Reese Witherspoon, Taylor Swift, and model Alyssa Miller. He is politically active, supporting the Democrats and John Kerry in the past. He is also environmentally active supporting recycling, tree planting, climate change as well as supporting various charities too.

Jake Gyllenhaal - born into the industry and active in it already for 25 of his 35 years; has nobility in his ancestry; the recipient of numerous on-screen and off-screen official and unofficial awards; continues to draw a crowd with a diverse portfolio of work; and just keeps getting better with every role - Happy Birthday to you Jake, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-