Kristen Wiig does on 22nd August - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl turning 43, 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 21st August
- Peter Weir - Born 1944, turns 72 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Carrie-Anne Moss - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actress | Producer
- Kim Catrall - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actress | Producer
- Hayden Panettiere - Born 1989, turns 27 - Actress | Producer | Singer
Monday 22nd August
- Kristen Wiig - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer
- Valerie Harper - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actress
- Honor Blackman - Born 1925, turns 91 - Actress
- Ty Burrell - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor
- Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Richard Armitage - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor
- Rodrigo Santoro - Born 1975, turns 41 - Actor
Tuesday 23rd August
- Alexandre Desplat - Born 1961, turns 55 - Composer | Conductor | Songwriter
- Roger Avery - Born 1965, turns 51 - Writer | Producer | Director
- Charley Boorman - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Scott Caan - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
Wednesday 24th August
- Rupert Grint - Born 1988, turns 28 - Actor
- James D'Arcy - Born 1975, turns 41 - Actor
- Steve Guttenberg - Born 1958, turns 58 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
- Stephen Fry - Born 1957, turns 59 - Actor | Television Personality | Writer | Producer | Director
- Kevin Dunn - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor
- Anne Archer - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actress | Producer
Thursday 25th August
- Blake Lively - Born 1987, turns 29 - Actress
- Alexander Skarsgard - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actor
- Tom Hollander - Born1967, turns 49 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Tom Skerritt - Born 1933, turns 83 - Actor | Director
- Tim Burton - Born 1958, turns 58 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Animator
- John Savage - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actor | Producer
- John Badham - Born 1939, turns 77 - Director | Producer | Actor
- Sean Connery - Born 1930, turns 86 - Actor | Producer
Friday 26th August
- Chris Pine - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Macaulay Culkin - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actor
- Melissa McCarthy - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer
Saturday 27th August
- Tuesday Weld - Born 1943, turns 73 - Actress
- Peter Stormare - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Writer
- Tom Ford - Born 1961, turns 55 - Director | Producer | Writer | Fashion Designer
- Dean Devlin - Born 1962, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
- Aaron Paul - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor | Producer
- Ellar Coltrane - Born 1994, turns 22 - Actor
Kristen Carroll Wiig was born in Canandaigua, New York to mother Laurie Johnston, an artist, and father Jon Wiig who managed a lakeside marina in Western New York. Her father is of Norwegian decent hence the surname which originates from a county in Western Norway. The family moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania when Kristen was three years old, attending Nitrauer Elementary School and then Mannheim Township Middle School. At age thirteen the family moved to Rochester, New York where she attended Allendale Columbia School before graduating from Brighton High School. Undecided about her career aspirations she attended a local community college participating in a three month long outdoor living programme. She went on to the University of Arizona from where she majored in Art. Needing to complete her course programme she took acting classes and was persuaded by her teacher to continue the craft, whereupon she moved to Los Angeles to begin eeking out an acting career. She was nineteen years of age.
Upon arrival in LA she found work performing with the 'Empty Stage Comedy Theatre' and 'The Groundlings' - an improvisational and sketch comedy troupe and school located on Melrose Avenue in LA, feeling that improv. was more suited to her talents than straight acting. In 2003 she appeared on the reality television hoax show - 'The Joe Schmo Show' which ran for three seasons with her appearance as 'The Quack Marriage Counsellor' Patricia 'Dr. Pat' Lane. She was encouraged to try for 'Saturday Night Live' and she gained her debut in November 2005 on Season 31, and became a full member of the cast from Season 32 in 2006 through until 2012. Along the way she picked up Primetime Emmy Award nominations for 'Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series' in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, and in 2009 'Entertainment Weekly' voted her in their list of Top 25 Funniest Women in Hollywood.
Over the years Wiig has had numerous television series roles on single and multiple episodes. These have included 'The Drew Carey Show', '30 Rock', 'Flight of the Conchords', Bored to Death', 'The Cleveland Show', 'The Simpsons', 'Portlandia', 'Arrested Development', 'The Spoils of Babylon', 'The Spoils Before Dying' and made for TV movie 'A Deadly Adoption'. She was also the voice of Lola Bunny on the 'Looney Tunes Show' from 2011 until 2014.Wiig got her big screen break in the 2006 Christmas film 'Unaccompanied Minors' for Director Paul Feig. 2007 brought 'Knocked Up' for Director Judd Apatow with Seth Rogen, and then 'Meet Bill' with Aaron Eckhart, 'The Brothers Solomon' with Will Arnett and Will Forte, and rounding out a year of comedy 'Walk Hard : The Dewey Cox Story' with John C. Reilly.
2008 saw more comedy fare with 'Semi-Pro', 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall', 'Pretty Bird' and 'Ghost Town', and then in 2009 more of the same with 'Adventureland', 'Whip It' in Drew Barrymore's Directorial debut and 'Extract'. 2010 followed up with 'Date Night', 'MacGruber' before her first non-comedic offering 'All Good Things' with Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst which made just US$645K back of its US$20M budget outlay. Sci-Fi comedy 'Paul' with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and then 'Bridesmaids' came next in 2011 which Wiig also wrote. That film became a critical and commercial success grossing US$289M off its US$33M budget with Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations forthcoming for Wiig in the Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay categories.
'Friends with Kids', 'Revenge for Jolly', 'Girl Most Likely', 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' for Director and Co-Star Ben Stiller and 'Anchor Man 2 : The Legend Continues' saw out 2013. 'Hateship, Loveship', 'The Skeleton Twins' and 'Welcome To Me' which Wiig also Co-Produced wrapped up 2014. A mixed bag of commercial success and failures here with 'Walter Mitty' bringing in US$203M and 'Anchor Man' US$174M compared to 'Friends with Kids' at US$12.2M, 'The Skeleton Twins' at US$5.7M, 'Welcome To Me' just US$625K and 'Hateship, Loveship' a very poor US$81K despite its strong cast including Nick Nolte, Guy Pearce, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Hailee Steinfeld.
The next year brought 'The Diary of a Teenage Girl', 'Nasty Baby', 'The Martian', 'Zoolander 2' for Director and Co-Star once again Ben Stiller, the all girl 'Ghostbusters' for Paul Feig again with Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Lesley Jones and still out on general release, and 'Sausage Party' just released bringing us up to date.
Next up and due later this year is 'Masterminds' with Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson, Jason Sudekis and 'Ghostbusters' Co-Stars Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones. Also due out this year is 'The Heyday of Insensitive Bastards' and 'Downsizing' with Matt Damon due in 2017. Wiig has lent her voice talents over the years to 'Ice Age : Dawn of the Dinosaurs', 'How to Train Your Dragon', 'Despicable Me', 'Despicable Me 2', 'Her', 'How to Train Your Dragon 2', 'Sausage Party' and is reprising her roles as Agent Lucy Wilde in 'Despicable Me 3' and Ruffnut Thorston in 'How to Train Your Dragon 3' due in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Also announced is 'Now That's What I Call' with Leonard Di Caprio and 'The Greatest Showman on Earth' with Hugh Jackman.
All up Wiig has 82 acting credits to her name, nine as Producer, three as a Writer, and, she can sing too. She has nine award wins and 59 other nominations including one Academy Award, one Golden Globe, one BAFTA and six Primetime Emmy nods. Wiig was married to Actor Hayes Hargrove from 2005 until 2009, and is currently dating Actor, Writer and Producer Avi Rothman. She is a vegetarian and is known for her love of chocolate.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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