Birthday's to share this week : 17th-23rd April 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Andy Serkis does on 20th April - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 52, 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 17th April

• Rooney Mara - Born 1985, turns 31 - Actress | Producer  
• Olivia Hussey - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actress
• Jennifer Garner - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actress | Producer
• Nick Hornby - Born 1957, turns 59 - Writer | Producer
• Sean Bean - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer 

Monday 18th April

• Eli Roth - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director  
• Eric Roberts - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor
• David Tennant - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor
• Edgar Wright - Born 1974, turns 42 - Producer | Director | Writer | Actor
• Rick Moranis - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• James Woods - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actor | Producer  

Tuesday 19th April

• James Franco - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Tim Curry - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actor | Singer
• Hayden Christensen - Born 1981, turns 35 - Actor | Producer
• Kate Hudson - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actress
• Ashley Judd - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actress | Producer   

Wednesday 20th April

• Jessica Lange - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actress  
• Andy Serkis - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Michael Brandon - Born 1945, turns 71 - Actor
• Ryan O'Neal - Born 1941, turns 75 - Actor | Producer
• George Takei - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actor
• Leslie Phillips - Born 1924, turns 92 - Actor | Producer  

Thursday 21st April

• James McAvoy - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor | Producer  
• Tony Danza - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor | Producer
• Charles Grodin - Born 1935, turns 81 - Actor | Writer
• Andie MacDowell - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actress | Producer
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actress  

Friday 22nd April

• Amber Heard - Born 1986, turns 30 - Actress  
• Jeffrey Dean Morgan - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor
• John Waters - Born 1946, turns 70 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor
• Lee Tamahori - Born 1950, turns 66 - Director
• Jack Nicholson - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer

Saturday 23rd April

• Michael Moore - Born 1954, turns 62 - Writer | Producer | Director  
• Dev Patel - Born 1990, turns 26 - Actor
• John Cena - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actor | WWF Wrestler | Television Personality
• John Hannah - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actor | Producer
• Lee Majors - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Producer
• Judy Davis - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actress

Andrew Clement Serkis was born and raised in Ruislip Manor, Middlesex, England to mother Lylie Weech - a teacher of disabled children and father Clement Serkis - an Iraqi gynaecologist of Armenian descent. His father often returned to the Middle East to work while he was growing up, and the young Serkis would often holiday in those Middle Eastern lands with his siblings during their younger years. He attended St. Benedict's School - a co-educational independent Catholic School in the London suburb of Ealing. Open leaving school, Serkis attended Lancaster University and studied visual arts with the aim of designing posters. As a member of the University's County College and student radio station, he joined a studio to get involved in play design and production. Toward the end of his first year, he agreed to act in several productions and was so taken by acting that he changed his major subject to acting. In his third year he joined the local playhouse to gain his Equity Card and upon graduation joined as an Actor, working in a diverse range of stage productions from the classics including Shakespeare right through to the modern day contemporary playwrights.

His small screen debut came in 1989 in a couple of episodes of 'The New Statesman' with Rik Mayall, with the next eight years or so taken up with appearances in a string of television series including 'Streetwise', 'The Darling Buds of May', 'The Bill', 'Grushko', 'Finney' and 'Kavagnah QC'.

In 1994 he took a small role in 'Royal Deceit' - a retelling of 'Hamlet' with Gabriel Byrne, Christian Bale, Brian Cox, Tom Wilkinson and Helen Mirren. The mid-90's continued with smaller fare including 'The Near Room', 'Stella Does Tricks', 'Career Girls' for Director Mike Leigh, 'Loop' and 'Among Giants' with Rachel Griffiths and Pete Postlethwaite. 'Sweety Barret' with Brandan Gleeson and Mike Leigh's 'Topsy Turvey' saw out the decade with Jim Broadbent, Timothy Spall and Dexter Fletcher. In the meantime , there were further television series appearances with the likes of 'Jump', 'Touching Evil' and 'Oliver Twist' in which Serkis plays Bill Sikes.

2000 kicked off with 'The Jolly Boys Last Stand', Julien Temple's 'Pandaemonium' with John Hannah, Linus Roache and Dexter Fletcher, 'Shiner' with Michael Caine and Martin Landau, and 'Five Seconds to Spare' with Ray Winstone.

The turning point came for Serkis in 2001 with the release of Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings : The Fellowship of the Ring' in which he appears as Smeagol/Gollum through cutting edge Motion Capture technology as it was back then, and as the voice of the character. Serkis received much critical acclaim for his role although his performance did begin a debate over the legitimacy of CGI supported acting and whether this was therefore award worthy. And in some quarters it was, and in others not so! He reprised the character in all its Mo-Cap CGI glory in both successive films 'Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers' and 'Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King'.

In the meantime there was '24 Hour Party People', 'The Escapist', 'Deathwatch', '13 Going On 30' and 'Blessed' before his Mo-Cap skills were summonsed once again by Peter Jackson on 2005's 'King Kong' remake with Serkis playing the giant ape of the film's title. As the latter half of the decade wore on Christopher Nolan's 'The Prestige', 'Longford', 'Extraordinary Rendition', 'Sugarhouse', 'The Cottage', 'Einstein and Eddington', 'Inkheart' before his turn as the polio affected rock musician Ian Dury in the 'Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll' biopic of 2010.

That same year a remake of the classic Graham Greene novel and film of 1947, 'Brighton Rock'  co-starring with Helen Mirren and John Hurt was released, with 'Burke & Hare' and Serkis and Simon Pegg playing the title historical characters.

Returning to Mo-Cap again Serkis portrayed super intelligent chimpanzee 'Caesar' in the reboot of the classic 60's and 70's film franchise - 'Planet of the Apes' with the first instalment 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes', a role he would again reprise in 2014 in 'Dawn of the Planet of the Apes' and again currently filming 'War for the Planet of the Apes' due in 2017.

Meanwhile 'Death of a Superhero', 'Wild Bill' for Dexter Fletcher, and more Mo-Cap with Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson in the CGI animated 'The Adventures of Tintin' with Serkis lending his voice to Captain Haddock, which he is set to do another two times with 'The Adventures of Tintin : Prisoners of the Sun' announced, and a third instalment as yet untitled.







He returned to the Gollum character once more for Peter Jackson in 2012 with 'The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey' before 'The Avengers : Age of Ultron' as Ulysses Klaue - a role he'll reprise too in late 2017's 'The Black Panther'. Last up we saw Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke in 'Star Wars : Episode VII - The Force Awakens'  - a role he also reprise in 'Episode VIII' which is currently filming.

Also in the works is his Directorial debut with the Warner Bros. adaptation of 'Jungle Book' due for release originally in October 2016, then shifted back to October 2017, and now slated for release in October 2018. With an all star cast that includes Christian Bale, Benedict Cumberbatch and Cate Blanchett, Serkis will also star as Baloo, as well as Produce through his own Production Company 'The Imaginarium Studios' based in Ealing, London which he established to further progress performance capture technology in film making.

All up, Serkis has 92 acting credits to his name, three Producer credits and one as Director. He has also lent his voice talents to to the likes of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit', 'Tintin', 'The Simpsons', 'Flushed Away', 'Arthur Christmas' and several video game characters. He has thirty award wins and another 42 nominations. He married Actress Lorraine Ashbourne in July 2002 with whom he has three children - Ruby (born in 1998), Sonny (born in 2000) and Louis (born in 2004). He is an accomplished painter and a keen mountaineer, and a supporter of The Hope Foundation.



Andy Serkis - the Motion Capture go to guy . . . anywhere and for everything; better known for your CGI characters that the real life humans you portray - 'Tintin', 'Gollum', 'Caesar', 'Snoke' and 'Kong'; is certainly multi-talented and increasingly sought after and in demand; and you would probably not recognise him unless you are in the know - but Andy - keep blazing a trail, we love you for it and the characters you bring so convincingly to life - Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-