Birthday's to share this week : 6th - 12th March 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Matthew Vaughn does on 7th March - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 45, 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 6th March

• Rob Reiner - Born 1947, turns 69 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Singer | Songwriter
• Tom Arnold - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Alan Davies - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor | Writer | Television Personality

Monday 7th March

• Bryan Cranston - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Peter Sarsgaard - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor Producer
• Matthew Vaughn - Born 1971, turns 45 - Director | Producer
• Rachel Weisz - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actress | Producer

Tuesday 8th March

• Freddie Prinze Jnr. - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Micky Dolenz - Born 1945, turns 71 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
• James Van Der Beek - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actor
• Aidan Quinn - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor

Wednesday 9th March

• Oscar Isaac - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor | Singer
• Juliette Binoche - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actress

Thursday 10th March

• Olivia Wilde - Born 1984, turns 32 - Actress | Producer
• Sharon Stone - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actress | Producer
• Jon Hamm - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Producer
• Chuck Norris - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Rafe Spall - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actor
• Paul Haggis - Born 1953, turns 63 - Director | Producer | Writer

Friday 11th March

• Terrence Howard - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Jerry Zucker - Born 1950, turns 66 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Johnny Knoxville - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Peter Berg - Born 1964, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Actor | Writer
• Anton Yelchin - Born 1989, turns 27 - Actor

Saturday 12th March

• Aaron Eckhart - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
• Rob Cohen - Born 1949, turns 67 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Liza Minelli - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actress | Singer

Matthew de Vere Drummond was born Matthew Allard Robert Vaughn, in London, England to mother Kathy Ceaton who passed away in mid-2013 and . . . here's where it gets complicated! His father was believed to be the American Actor Robert Vaughn following an affair with his mother. Before a paternity investigation was carried out, Robert Vaughn sought for the young lad to bear his surname and so from birth Matthew Vaughn was it. That subsequent investigation in fact revealed that the young lad's true father was George de Vere Drummond - an English aristocrat and Godson of King George VI. As a consequence of all of this, Matthew goes by the de Vere Drummond name in his personal life and by the Vaughn name in his professional life. Matthew was educated at the prestigious independent boys and girls boarding school - Stow School - in Stow, Buckinghamshire. Taking a gap year before university, he travelled the world and ending up in Los Angeles found work assisting a Director. Following his gap year he returned to England and attended University College, London, but dropped out after a matter of weeks.

Having been bitten by the film bug, he returned to LA after dropping out of university to begin his career in the movie business. His first foray in to the world of film was as Producer on a little known thriller in 1996 called 'The Innocent Sleep' which starred Michael Gambon, Rupert Graves and John Hannah. Having forged a close friendship with Guy Ritchie in the meantime, Vaughn went onto Produce Ritchie's critical and financially successful films - 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' and then 'Snatch' with 'Swept Away' thereafter which he probably wishes had been well & truly swept away! 'Mean Machine' can along in the meantime which he also Produced with Guy Ritchie and starring many of those names from the two aforementioned films, including Vinnie Jones in the lead role.

His Directorial debut came in 2004 with 'Layer Cake' which he also Produced, and starring Daniel Craig, Tom Hardy, Michael Gambon, Ben Whishaw and Sienna Miller. The film was nominated for several awards and Vaughn picked up the Empire Award for Best British Director on his first such outing.

'Stardust' came next in 2007 which he Directed, Wrote and Produced and which starred a Who's Who of A-List acting talent including Ian McKellen, Robert De Niro, Peter O'Toole, Mark Strong, Henry Cavill, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais, Dexter Fletcher, Jason Flemyng, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes and Sienna Miller. The film picked up five award wins and six other nominations and made US$136M off its US$89M budget. After this he Produced 2009's British vigilante revenge thriller 'Harry Brown' with Michael Caine in the title role.

A year later came 'Kick-Ass' which he again Directed, Produced and wrote the Screenplay for based on the comic book of the same name, and which helped launch the career of eleven year old wise cracking gun totting Chloe Grace Moretz, and which also starred Mark Strong and Nicolas Cage. The film was marred by its use of graphic violence and profanity but it gelled with audiences (including this Reviewer!) making US$97M from its US$30M production budget, and along the way it picked up sixteen award wins and 61 further nominations. Vaughn also served as Producer on the 2013 sequel 'Kick-Ass 2' which fared less well as the Box Office bringing home just US$61M, but off a slightly reduced budget. He also Produced the video game spin-off.

That same year in 2010 he Produced and Wrote 'The Debt' which John Madden Directed and starred Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Sam Worthington and Tom Wilkinson. 'X-Men : First Class' in 2011 saw a return to the Directors chair with a writing credit too on this fifth film in the 'X-Men' franchise taking the story back to the 1960's and the origin of 'The X-Men' and 'The Brotherhood of Mutants' with James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender in the younger Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen roles respectively as Charles Xavier and Magneto respectively. With an ensemble cast the film made US$354M off its US$140M budget and so was deemed a critical and commercial success. Vaughn also gained a further Writing credit on 2014's follow-up 'X-Men : Days of Future Past' which made US$750M globally.

2015 saw 'Kingsman : The Secret Service' based on the comic book of the same name which again saw Vaughn serve as Director, Producer and Writer, and off a budget of US$81M brought home US$415M and launching the career of Taron Egerton in the process, taking a much needed change of direction for Colin Firth and staying true to form Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Caine in strong supporting roles. A sequel is in the works with filming due to begin in April of this year with a release date of June 2017 announced. Vaughn is again writing the Screenplay and is believed to be Directing once again.

He served as Producer on the 2015 Marvel reboot of 'Fantastic Four', as Producer on the about to be released 'Eddie the Eagle' with Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman and Christopher Walken, and 'I Am Pilgrim' announced with Vaughn taking on Director and Producer duties with a release date yet to be finalised.

All up Vaughn has twenty Producer credits to his name, seven Director credits and seven as Writer, and so far en route he has garnered five award wins and another 15 nominations. He often calls upon Mark Strong, Dexter Fletcher and Jason Flemyng to star in his films and he dropped out of 'Thor', 'Casino Royale' and 'X-Men : Days of Future Past' for which he was slated to Direct. Vaughn also has his own Production Company 'Marv Films' which he founded in 2004. He married German Supermodel Claudia Schiffer in 2002 with whom he has three children - Casper Matthew (born in 2003), Clementine (born in 2004) and Cosima Violet (born in 2010).

Matthew Vaughn - favoured genre is clearly the comic book adaptation, was Best Man to Guy Ritchie when he married Madonna, has made some classic films which have been referenced here both recently and in the past, and looks set to continue doing so. Keep doing what you do best Matthew, and we'll keep watching . . . and writing! Happy Birthday to you - from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-