Birthday's to share this week : 31st July - 6th August 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

M.Night Shyamalan does on 6th August - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 46, 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 31st July

• J.K.Rowling - Born 1965, turns 51 - Writer | Producer
• Geraldine Chaplain - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actress | Writer 
• Michael Biehn - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Wesley Snipes - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actor | Producer
• Dean Cain - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director 

Monday 1st August

• Adrian Dunbar - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Demian Bichir - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Sam Mendes - Born 1965, turns 51 - Producer | Director
• Jason Mamoa - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Jack O'Connell - Born 1990, turns 26 - Actor  

Tuesday 2nd August

• Simon Kinberg - Born 1973, turns 43 - Writer | Producer
• Kevin Smith - Born 1970, turns 46 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor | Editor
• Sam Worthington - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor | Producer
• Edward Furlong - Born 1977, turns 39 - Actor | Producer
• Mary-Louise Parker - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actress  

Wednesday 3rd August

• Evangeline Lilly - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actress
• Steven Berkoff - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Martin Sheen - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actor | Producer | Director
• John Landis - Born 1950, turns 66 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Stuntman
• John C.McGinley - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Max Landis - Born 1985, turns 31 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor  

Thursday 4th August

• Billy Bob Thornton - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Daniel Dae Kim - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor
• Greta Gerwig - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director
• Abigail Spencer - Born 1981, turns 35 - Actress | Writer | Producer  

Friday 5th August

• John Jarratt - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Mark Strong - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor
• James Gunn - Born 1970, turns 46 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor | Songwriter  

Saturday 6th August

• M.Night Shyamalan - Born 1970, turns 46 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Barbara Windsor - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actress
• Michelle Yeoh - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actress | Producer | Writer
• Vera Farmiga - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actress | Director
• Melissa George - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actress  

Manoj Shyamalan was born in Mahe, Pondicherry in south west India to mother Jayalakshmi, an obstetrician and gynaecologist , and father Nelliate C. Shyamalan a graduate with a medical degree from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, located in Pondicherry. In the 60's following the birth of their first child, Veena, the parents relocated to the USA, with the mother returning to India during the latter half of her pregnancy with Manoj to be at the family home in Chennai. Following his birth, the young lad spent the first six weeks in Pondicherry (now known as Puducherry) and was raised thereafter in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania. He was raised a Hindu and attended Waldron Mercy Academy - a Roman Catholic grammar school in Philadelphia, and then the Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pennsylvania. From here he gained a New York University Merit Scholarship in 1988 and attended the Tisch School of Arts in Manhattan from where he graduated in 1992. It was at this time that he gave himself the 'Night' as a middle name.

The young Shyamalan had always fancied himself as a film maker having been given a Super 8 camera as a young boy. By age 17, he had made forty-five or so home movies, and was an ardent fan of Steven Spielberg. His first film was made while studying at University - 'Praying with Anger' - a semi-autobiographical film released in 1992 which he wrote, Produced, Directed and starred in at a cost of US$800K, and it returned US$1.4M from its limited release. His next film came in 1998 with 'Wide Awake' which he wrote and Directed for US$6M and starred Denis Leary, Robert Loggia, Rosie O'Donnell and Julia Stiles - again only with a limited release it made just US$306K, but this comedy drama offering picked several award nominations on the circuit.

This was followed up by the critically acclaimed and commercially successful 'The Sixth Sense' with Bruce Willis, Toni Collette and Hayley Joel Osment. Made for US$40M it returned US$673M and remains Shyamalan's most commercially successful film to date. The film picked up 32 awards wins and 53 further nominations including six Academy Award, two Golden Globe, four BAFTA and one SAG nomination. The film was Written and Directed by Shyamalan. He followed this up quickly with 'Unbreakable' in 2000 which he again wrote, Directed and Co-Produced too. Starring Bruce Willis again with Samuel L. Jackson with Robin Wright this film returned US$248M from its US$75M budget and was hailed both a critical and commercial success picking up two award wins and another twelve nominations.

This success was followed up in 2002 with 'Signs' with Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix and Rory Culkin. Made for US$72M it made US$408M and was again critically acclaimed and a commercial hit picking ups three award wins and a further thirty nominations. 2004's 'The Village' which was Writen, Produced and Directed by Shyamalan fared less well with the critics but commercially was worthwhile returning US$275M from US$60M and starred Joaquin Phoenix, William Hurt, Adrien Brody and Bryce Dallas Howard.

'Lady in the Water' in 2006 was Shyamalan's poorest performing feature film both critically and at the Box Office yielding just US$72M from its US$70M outlay. 'The Happening' came next which fared better at the Box Office making US$164M against a budget of uS$48M but less so critically. 'The Last Airbender' in 2010 represented more big budget family oriented action fantasy adventure fare at a cost of US$150M - it returned US$320M but was panned by the critics and picked up five Razzie Awards.

2013 brough 'After Earth' with Will and Jaden Smith and Zoe Kravitz based on a story by Will Smith, and written for the screen, Produced and Directed by Shyamalan. It returned US$244M from a budget cost of US$130M but it too was slated by the critics. This was followed up in 2015 by the found footage horror film 'The Visit' that Shyamalan wrote, Co-Produced and Directed out of his own US$5M to fund the film. It retuned a tidy US$99M based on that meagre investment and was hailed positively by the critics stating that Shyamalan had returned to form - lets's hope so!

Next up and due in January 2017 is 'Split' - a psychological horror thriller with James McAvoy that again is Written, Produced and Directed by Shyamalan. In the meantime he has had various television network productions on the go or in the pipeline including 'Proof' for Syfy, 'Lost Horizon' for NBC and 'Wayward Pines' which has just finished its second season with Matt Dillon in the lead role for Fox. There was also 'Devil' a 2010 film which he wrote and Produced, and the new television series of 'Tales from the Crypt' recently announced for 2017 which he is writing and Directing for. Next up is 'Labour of Love' just announced for a 2018 release and starring Bruce Willis.

All up Shyamalan has seventeen Writer credits to his name, fourteen as Producer and fourteen as Director with nine cameo appearances in his own films. He has twelve award wins and 36 other nominations including two Academy Award nods for Direction and Writing on 'The Sixth Sense', one Golden Globe and two BAFTA's for the same film.  He has been married to Bhavna Vaswani since 1993 whom he met while studying at New York University, and with whom he has three daughters. He set up his own Production Company with Ashwin Rajan - 'Blinding Edge Pictures' which has produced all his films since 'Unbreakable' in 2000.


M.Night Shyamalan - the lord of the plot twist ending that often we never see coming; still commanding our attention largely because of his more notable early cutting edge body of work; always place ordinary everyday people in extraordinary circumstances; Writes, Produces, Directs and often cameo's in his own films; and is a big fan of Spielberg and Hitchcock and you can see their touchstones in much of his work. Despite the very mixed views about his career and film making choices, his films have grossed US$2,85B from a combined US$800M budget - so that's not such a bad statistic, and this humble Blog Writer remains a fan! Happy Birthday to you Manoj - from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-