Birthday's to share this week : 4th - 10th September 2016

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Martin Freeman does on 8th September - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad 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 4th September

• Jocelyn Moorhouse - Born 1960, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Damon Wayans - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Noah Taylor - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor

Monday 5th September

• George Lazenby - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor
• Werner Herzog - Born 1942, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Michael Keaton - Born 1951, turns 65 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Paddy Considine - Born 1974, turns 42 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Raquel Welch - Born 1940, turns 76 - Actress | Singer
• Rose McGowan - Born 1973, turns 43 - Actress | Singer
• Carice van Houten - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actress  

Tuesday 6th September

• Rosie Perez - Born 1964, turns 52 - Actress | Producer | Choreographer
• Naomi Harris - Born 1976, turns 40 - Actress
• Idris Elba - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director  

Wednesday 7th September

• Dario Argento - Born 1940, turns 76 - Writer | Director | Producer | Actor
• Toby Jones - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor
• Leslie Jones - Born 1967, turns 49 - Actress | Writer
• Julie Kavner - Born 1950, turns 66 - Actress | Singer
• Evan Rachel Wood - Born 1987, turns 29 - Actress | Singer  

Thursday 8th September

• Martin Freeman - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor
• David Arquette - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director  

Friday 9th September

• Hugh Grant - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actor
• Adam Sandler - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
• Eric Stonestreet - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor
• Michelle Williams - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actress | Singer  

Saturday 10th September

• Chris Columbus - Born 1958, turns 58 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Colin Firth - Born 1960, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Guy Ritchie - Born 1968, turns 48 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Ryan Phillippe - Born 1974, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director  
• Harry and Luke Treadaway - Born 1984, turn 32 - Actors

Martin John Christopher Freeman was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, England to mother Philomena Norris and father Geoffrey Freeman, an officer in the Royal Navy. His parents separated when he was young, and his father passed away when Martin was ten years of age. He attended the Salesian School, in Chertsy, Surrey - a Comprehensive Roman Catholic Secondary School, and then Brooklands College in Weybridge, Surrey to undertake media studies. At fifteen he joined a youth theatre group before deciding to make a career out of acting, when he joined the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

His screen acting career launched with television in 1997 with an episode on 'The Bill', and then 'This Life' and 'Casualty' and 'Picking Up The Pieces', with his appearance in the 1998 short film 'I Just Want to Kiss You'. His first feature length film role came with 'The Low Down' in 2000, with his next in 2002 with 'Ali G Indahouse' with Sasha Baron Cohen, Michael Gambon and Charles Dance.

Six episodes on 'Bruiser', two on 'Lock, Stock . . .', five on 'World of Pub', three on 'Helen West', four as Lord Shaftesbury on 'Charles II : The Power and the Passion' with singular turns on 'Black Books' and 'Linda Green' kick started the new decade. In the meantime there were made for television movies including 'Men Only', 'The Debt', 'Margery and Gladys' before 2003's 'Love Actually' with Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson and Keira Knightley.

All of these gave way to what is probably regarded as his breakout role as Tim Canterbury on the iconic television series 'The Office' which ran for just two seasons over fourteen episodes from 2001 to 2003 with Ricky Gervais. This was followed dup with two seasons running over twelve episodes on 'Hardware' from 2003 to 2004 and then a single series over six episodes on 'The Robinsons' in 2005. He had a cameo appearance in the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost 'Shaun of the Dead' film, followed up by his starring role in 2005 as Arthur Dent in 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' with Sam Rockwell, Bill Nighy and John Malkovich.

'Confetti' came next in 2006, with Anthony Minghella's 'Breaking and Entering' that year with Jude Law. 2007 saw Justin Theroux's 'Dedication' with Tom Wilkinson, Billy Crudup and Mandy Moore; 'The Good Night' with Gwyneth Paltrow, Penelope Cruz, Michael Gambon and Simon Pegg; then 'Hot Fuzz' with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost once again. 'The All Together'; Peter Greenaway's 'Nightwatching' and made for television films - 'The Old Curiosity Shop', 'Svengali', ''Micro Men' and the mini-series 'Boy Meets Girl' and 'Nativity' brought the decade to close.

2010 began with 'Wild Target' with Bill Nighy once more and Emily Blunt; 'Swinging with the Finkles' with Mandy Moore once more; 'What's Your Number' and 'Animals' before his turn as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's ''The Hobbit : An Unexpected Journey' in 2012, 'The Hobbit : The Desolation of Smaug' in 2013 and 'The Hobbit : The Battle of the Five Armies' in 2014. The full length feature film of 'Svengali', and 'The World's End' with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost completed their 'Three Flavours Cornetto' trilogy.

Made for television movie 'The Eichmann Show' in 2015, 'Whiskey Tango Foxtrot' and 'Captain America : Civil War' bring his big screen features up to date. Of course let's not forget the highly acclaimed 'Fargo' Season One with Colin Hanks and Billy Bob Thornton with Freeman's turn as Lester Nygaard in 2014/15, and the equally acclaimed 'Sherlock' which has run for fifteen feature length episodes since 2010 with Freeman as Dr. John Watson to Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock Holmes.

Over the years Freeman has lent his voice talents also to the short film 'Lonely Hearts' in 2007; 'The Pirates! Band of Misfits' in 2012; 'Saving Santa' in 2013; 'Robot Chicken' in 2015 and another short film 'Stick Men' in 2015 too. Next up and currently filming is 'Cargo', new Miami based crime thriller television series 'StartUp', and in pre-production 'Official Secrets' with Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Bettany, and Gillian Anderson, and then 'Funny Cow' and 'Ghost Stories' all due in 2017.

All up Freeman has 74 acting credits to his name and has seven award wins including a Primetime Emmy and BAFTA for 'Sherlock' and another 26 nominations. Freeman lives with his partner of fifteen years, Actress Amanda Abbingdon with whom he has starred in the likes of 'Sherlock', 'The Debt', 'The Robinsons', and 'Swinging with the Finkles'. They have two children together, Joe (born in 2006) and Grace (born in 2008). 

Martin Freeman - known for playing passive, restrained, mild-mannered characters often put in extraordinary situations that often reach a breaking point; has played his fair share of literary heroes - Arthur Dent in 'The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy', Dr. Watson in 'Sherlock' and Bilbo Baggins in 'The Hobbit'; is a pescatarian (eats fish and seafood, but not the flesh of other animals); and keeps his roles grounded, real and always varied. A very Happy Birthday to you Martin, from Odeon Online, and a neighbour who grew up just down the road in Salisbury.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-