Birthday's to share this week : 7th - 13th August 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Michael Shannon does on 7th August - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 42, 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 7th August

• Charlize Theron - Born 1975, turns 41 - Actress | Producer
• Abbie Cornish - Born 1982, turns 34 - Actress
• Tobin Bell - Born 1942, turns 74 - Actor | Producer
• David Duchovny - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Michael Shannon - Born 1974, turns 42 - Actor

Monday 8th August

• Dustin Hoffman - Born 1937, turns 79 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter
• Keith Carradine - Born 1949, turns 67 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
• Donald P. Bellisario - Born 1935, turns 81 - Producer | Writer | Director

Tuesday 9th August

• Sam Elliott - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actor | Producer
• Eric Bana - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• McG - Born 1968, turns 48 - Producer | Director
• Gillian Anderson - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Melanie Griffith - Born 1957, turns 59 - Actress | Producer
• Audrey Tatou - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actress
• Rhona Mitra - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actress
• Anna Kendrick - Born 1985, turns 31 - Actress  

Wednesday 10th August

• Rosanna Arquette - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Antonio Banderas - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Singer  
• Brenton Thwaites - Born 1989, turns 27 - Actor

Thursday 11th August

• Chris Hemsworth - Born 1983, turns 33 - Actor
• Hulk Hogan - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Wrestler
• Ian McDiarmid - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actor
• Viola Davis - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actress | Producer  

Friday 12th August

• Cara Delevingne - Born 1992, turns 24 - Actress
• Casey Affleck - Born 1975, turns 41 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Editor | Cinematographer
• Bruce Greenwood - Born 1956, turns 60 - Actor | Producer
• George Hamilton - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor | Producer  

Saturday 13th August

• Sebastian Stan - Born 1982, turns 34 - Actor
• John Slattery - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Paul Greengrass - Born 1955, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Writer

Michael Corbett Shannon was born in Lexington, Kentucky to mother Geraldine Hine, a lawyer, and father Donald Sutherland Shannon an accounting professor at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. Whilst his parents were divorced, he was raised jointly by them dividing his time between Lexington and Chicago. He is the grandson of noted entomologist Raymond Corbett Shannon (1894-1945) who published over one hundred articles on the characteristics, environment and behaviour of insects and their disease carrying properties. He discovered in 1930 that mosquitoes carried malaria to the New World and upon his death his library and insect collection was left to the Smithsonian Institute. Michael attended the New Trier High School - a public secondary high school in Winnetta, Illinois. He has a brother Dave and a sister Rebecca.

His acting career began on stage in 1991 in 'Loving Little Egypt' and then 'Fun/Nobody' in 1992. That same year  he secured his small screen debut in the television films 'Overexposed' and 'Angel Street' before his big screen debut in 1993 in 'Groundhog Day'. He continued to work in theatre throughout those early days of film and television appearances, with roles in 'Killer Joe', 'Bug', 'The Killer' and 'The Idiot' on stage, with two episodes in 1998 on televisions 'Early Edition' and film roles in 'Chain Reaction', 'Chicago Cab', 'Jesus' Son' and 'The Ride' seeing out the 90's. His role in the stage play 'Bug' in 1996 he would replicate in the 2006 big screen adaptation Directed by William Friedkin with Ashley Judd and Harry Connick Jnr.

From there he worked consistently year on year churning out typically three or four films a year, whilst still finding time for stage work. He kicked off the new decade with 'The Photographer', 'Tigerland' for Joel Schumacher, 'Cecil B. DeMented' for John Waters, 'Pearl Harbour' for Michael Bay, 'Vanilla Sky' for Cameron Crowe, '8 Mile' for Curtis Hanson, 'Kangaroo Jack', 'Bad Boys II', 'The Woodsman', 'World Trade Centre' for Oliver Stone, 'Shotgun Stories' for Jeff Nichols, 'Lucky You' for Curtis Hanson again and 'Before the Devil Knows You're Dead' for Sidney Lumet.

'Revolutionary Road' for Sam Mendes garnered Shannon his first Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and then two films followed in quick succession for Werner Herzog - 'Bad Lieutenant : Port of Call New Orleans' and 'My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done'. He continued his stage presence too throughout this time appearing in a dozen or so theatre productions often at the 'A Red Orchid Theatre' in Old Town, Chicago.

2010 kicked off with 'The Runaways' based on the 70's rock band of the same name, then '13', 'Jonah Hex' and the highly acclaimed 'Take Shelter' for Jeff Nichols again. This was followed up by 'Return', 'The Broken Tower' for James Franco, 'Machine Gun Preacher' for Marc Forster and the also critically acclaimed 'Mud' for Jeff Nichols once more. 'Premium Rush' followed for David Koepp and 'The Iceman' starring as the real life contract killer convicted of five known murders Richard Kuklinski who died in prison aged 70 in 2006.

2013 saw Shannon's first appearance as General Zod in Zack Snyder's 'Man of Steel' - a role he would reprise in cameo in this years 'Batman v. Superman : Dawn of Justice'. Horror thriller 'The Harvest', then 'Young Ones' and '99 Homes', 'Freeheld', 'The Night Before', 'Midnight Special' for Jeff Nichols once more and 'Elvis and Nixon' bring us up to date, in terms of Australian releases at least.

Still to come are 'Complete Unknown' with Rachel Weisz, 'Frank and Lola' with Imogen Poots, 'Poor Boy' and 'Loving' for Jeff Nichols again by the end of this year. In post production is 'Salt and Fire' for Werner Herzog again too, 'Nocturnal Animals' with Jake Gyllenhaal, 'The Price' with Noomi Rapace, and 'Pottersville' with Christina Hendricks. 'The Shape of Water' is in pre-production for Guillermo del Toro and 'State of Sleep' recently announced.

All up Shannon has 77 acting credits to his name, he has 28 award wins and another 45 nominations. He has also appeared in a number of short films and in acclaimed television series 'Boardwalk Empire' between 2010 and 2014. In 2002 he also formed his own indie rock band 'Corporal' and in 2010 the band released its debut album. He has been in a long term relationship with actress Kate Arrington, with whom he has two daughters, Sylvia and Marion.

Michael Shannon - frequent collaborator with Director Jeff Nichols; has worked tirelessly on stage, television and screen for twenty years; works repeatedly with the same Directors (Nichols, Herzog, Hanson); can never be accused of being typecast starring in thrillers, drama, comedy, Sci-Fi, horror and biographies, small independent fare and large scale epic offerings; often plays it slightly or totally unhinged; and has a physically imposing stature accentuated by piercing blue eyes, a square anvil like jaw, and a deep penetrating voice. Michael just keep on keeping on, 'cos we love you for it. Happy Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.  

-Steve, at Odeon Online-