Damien Chazelle does on 19th January - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 32, 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 15th January
- Mario Van Peebles - Born 1957, turns 60 - Actor | Director | Producer | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
- James Nesbitt - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor
- Ryan Corr - Born 1989, turns 28 - Actor
Monday 16th January
- John Carpenter - Born 1948, turns 69 - Director | Writer | Producer | Actor | Composer | Songwriter | Musician
- Debbie Allen - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actress | Producer | Director | Choreographer | Singer | Songwriter
Tuesday 17th January
- Zooey Deschanel - Born 1980, turns 37 - Actress | Producer | Singer | Songwriter | Composer
- James Earl Jones - Born 1931, turns 86 - Actor
- Kevin Reynolds - Born 1952, turns 65 - Director | Writer
- Brian Helgeland - Born 1961, turns 56 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Jim Carrey - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
- Naveen Andrews - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor
- Leigh Whannell - Born 1977, turns 40 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
Wednesday 18th January
- John Boorman - Born 1933, turns 84 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Kevin Costner - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Director
- Mark Rylance - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor
- David Ayer - Born 1968, turns 49 - Director | Producer | Writer
- Dave Bautista - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
- Jason Segel - Born 1980, turns 37 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer | Songwriter
Thursday 19th January
- Antoine Fuqua - Born 1966, turns 51 - Director | Producer
- Nash Edgerton - Born 1973, turns 44 - Stuntman | Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
- Damien Chazelle - Born 1985, turns 32 - Director | Producer | Writer
Friday 20th January
- Tom Baker - Born 1934, turns 83 - Actor
- David Lynch - Born 1946, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Editor | Composer | Singer | Songwriter
- Skeet Ulrich - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor
- Omar Sy - Born 1978, turns 39 - Actor | Producer | Writer
Saturday 21st January
- Luke Grimes - Born 1984, turns 33 - Actor
- Geena Davis - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actress | Producer
Damien Sayre Chazelle was born in Providence, Rhode Island to mother Celia Martin, a writer and Professor of History at The College of New Jersey, and father Bernard Chazelle, a Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University. He has a sister Anna, who is an actress and circus performer. He attended the comprehensive public Princeton High School in New Jersey where film making was a keen interest for him, but he got sidetracked by the possibility of a music career as a jazz drummer which was to become the inspiration for his breakout film 'Whiplash' courtesy of an intense music teacher. He knew though that he never had the talent to make it big musically, so instead he reverted back to his first love and studied film making in the Visual and Environmental Studies Department at Harvard University from where he graduated in 2007.
Chazelle's big screen debut came in 2009 with the jazz musical film 'Guy and Medeline on a Park Bench' which he Directed, Co-Produced, Wrote, Co-Edited and acted as Cinematographer on. The film performed very well critically, and was widely shown around the worldwide festival circuit where it picked up a handful of awards and nominations. The film features a cast of non-professional actors, but accomplished musicians nonetheless. Chazelle also provide the lyrics for the films original music score.
In 2013 Chazelle wrote and Directed an eighteen minute short film called 'Whiplash' which was to be the pre-cursor for his highly acclaimed feature film of the same name released in 2014. Telling the story of the relationship between an ambitious jazz student, played by Miles Teller and his abusive domineering music teacher played by J.K.Simmons, the film went on to win three Academy Awards, one Golden Globe, three BAFTA's and a SAG award amongst its haul of 91 wins in total and a further 135 nominations. The film cost just US$3.5M to make and raked in US$49M at the Box Office.
Also in 2013 Chazelle took Writer credits on the supernatural horror drama film 'The Last Exorcism Part II', and 'Grand Piano' an English language Spanish film telling the story of a pianist making a comeback performance under threat from a sniper who has targeted him for death if he dare play one wrong note. The film starred Elijah Wood and John Cusack, and received largely favourable Reviews. In 2016 Chazelle also Co-Wrote the Sci-Fi psychological thriller '10, Cloverfield Lane' which took US$109M at the Box Office from its US$15M production budget and again garnered generally positive Reviews.
This gave way to the recently released 'La La Land' which has received universal critical acclaim. This romantic musical comedy drama film was Written and Directed by Chazelle, made for US$30M and has so far grossed US$91M, and has picked up 112 award wins including a history making seven Golden Globe wins, and 180 nominations including eleven BAFTA nods yet to be announced and excluding the yet be announced Academy Award nominations also. The film stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in the two lead roles, with John Legend, J.K.Simmons and Rosemary DeWitt amongst others supporting. 
Next up for Chazelle is 'First Man' which will be Directed by Chazelle, teaming up with Ryan Gosling again in the lead role as Neil Armstrong in this biopic of the first man on the Moon based on the best selling book by James Hansen. All up Chazelle has seven Writer credits to his name, five as Director, three as Producer and two for Soundtrack lyrics. He has amassed 46 award wins and a further 104 nominations excluding this years Academy Award nominations for 'La La Land' which are still to be announced at the time of writing. Chazelle was married for four years to Writer, Producer and Director Jasmine McGlade from 2010 to 2014.
Damien Chazelle - the current toast of Hollywood and the Darling of Tinsel Town, riding the crest of a wave of success that started in no small way with a debut feature and is still gaining momentum. At just seven years in the movie business you've come a long way in a short period of time - congratulations on your achievements and recent awards success, and Happy Birthday to you Damien from Odeon Online.
-Steve, at Odeon Online-
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