Birthday's to share this week : 30th July - 5th August 2017

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Sam Worthington does on 2nd August - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 41, 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 30th July

• Lisa Kudrow - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Singer
• Vivica A. Fox - Born 1964, turns 53 - Actress | Producer
• Hilary Swank - Born 1974, turns 43 - Actress | Producer
• Gina Rodriguez - Born 1984, turns 33 - Actress | Singer | Producer
• Peter Bogdanovich - Born 1939, turns 78 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Arnold Schwarzenegger - Born 1947, turns 70 - Actor | Producer
• Jean Reno - Born 1948, turns 69 - Actor
• Frank Stallone - Born 1950, turns 67 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
• Richard Linklater - Born 1960, turns 57 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Laurence Fishburn - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Terry Crews - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor | Producer
• Simon Baker - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Christopher Nolan - Born 1970, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer  

Monday 31st July

• Michael Biehn - Born 1956, turns 61 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Wesley Snipes - Born 1962, turns 55 - Actor | Producer
• Dean Cain - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Geraldine Chaplin - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actress
• J.K. Rowling - Born 1965, turns 52 - Writer | Producer 

Tuesday 1st August

• Demian Bichir - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Sam Mendes - Born 1965, turns 52 - Director | Producer
• Jason Momoa - Born 1979, turns 38 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Jack O'Connell - Born 1990, turns 27 - Actor  

Wednesday 2nd August

• Kevin Smith - Born 1970, turns 47 - Producer | Writer | Director | Actor | Editor
• Simon Kinberg - Born 1973, turns 44 - Producer | Writer | Director
• Sam Worthington - Born 1976, turns 41 - Actor | Producer
• Edward Furlong - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actor | Producer  

Thursday 3rd August

• Steven Berkoff - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Martin Sheen - Born 1940, turns 77 - Actor | Producer 
• John Landis - Born 1950, turns 67 - Producer | Director | Actor | Writer 
• John C. McGinley - Born 1959, turns 58 - Actor | Producer 
• Max Landis - Born 1985, turns 32 - Writer | Producer | Director | Actor
• Evangeline Lilly - Born 1979, turns 38 - Actress  

Friday 4th August

• Greta Gerwig - Born 1983, turns 34 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director
• Billy Bob Thornton - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Writer | Director
• Daniel Dae Kim - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actor    

Saturday 5th August

• John Jarratt - Born 1951, turns 66 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Mark Strong - Born 1963, turns 54 - Actor 
• James Gunn - Born 1966, turns 51 - Writer | Director | Producer | Actor | Songwriter

Samuel Henry John Worthington was born in Godalming, Surrey, in south-east England to mother Jeanne Martyn, a housewife, and father Ronald Worthington who worked in a power plant. When he was six months old the family relocated to Perth, in Western Australia where he was brought up with his sister Lucinda almost single handedly by their mother. He attended the John Curtin College of the Arts in Fremantle, south of Perth, specialising in dramatic arts, but he did not graduate. Upon leaving college, his father presented him with $400 and sent him off on a one way trip to Cairns in Far North Queensland, and told him to work his way back home. He worked odd jobs, mostly in construction, and ended up in Sydney working as a bricklayer. While doing that and at the age of nineteen he auditioned for Sydney's National Institute of Dramatic Art and won a scholarship. 

Worthington secured his first big screen role in the Australian comedy drama film 'Bootmen' in 2000, Directed by Dein Perry and also starring Adam Garcia and Sophie Lee. That same year he scored his US break through role on the 100th episode of 'JAG' in the aptly titled 'Boomerang : Part 1'. He followed this up with single episodes on Aussie television drama series 'Water Rats' and 'Blue Heelers'. This was followed by WWII POW drama thriller 'Hart's War' with Bruce Willis, Colin Farrell and Terence Howard; then local Aussie '60's crime drama film 'Dirty Deeds' with Bryan Brown, Toni Collette, Sam Neill and John Goodman; then another Aussie crime caper offering 'Gettin' Square' with David Wenham, Timothy Spall and Gary Sweet; Aussie independent drama 'Somersault' with Abbie Cornish; and then Aussie AC/DC fandom inspired film 'Thunderstruck'. 

2005 saw WWII film 'The Great Raid' about the Raid at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon in the Philippines also starring James Franco, Benjamin Bratt, Marton Csokas, Joseph Fiennes and Connie Nielsen. This was followed up in 2006 by an Australian modern day gangster themed adaptation of 'Macbeth' set in Melbourne in which Worthington plays the title character. 'Rogue' followed - the Aussie horror thriller about a giant man eating crocodile running amok in the Kakadu National Park in Australia's Northern Territory. The film also starred Radha Mitchell and John Jarratt. Perhaps Worthington's breakout role came in 2009 with a reboot of the post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi action offering 'Terminator : Salvation' Directed by McG and also starring Christian Bale, Anton Yelchin, Common, Michael Ironside, Helena Bonham Carter and Bryce Dallas Howard. The film received mixed Reviews but grossed US$372M from its US$200M budget costs.  

Also in 2009 came another very wise casting decision for Worthington, with James Cameron's Written, Directed, Produced and Edited record breaking Sci-Fi epic 'Avatar' in which the Actor takes top billing as Jake Sully - a disabled former Marine who becomes part of the Avatar Programme. Also starring Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez and Giovanni Ribisi, the film cost US$237M to make and grossed US$2.8B making it the highest grossing film in cinema history - a record that still stands eight years after its release. The film bagged three Academy Awards and was nominated for another six, won two Golden Globes and two other nominations, won two BAFTA's and received another six nods and all up took a total awards haul of 88 wins and 128 other nominations. Four sequels are currently in the works with James Cameron helming his blockbuster franchise filming all these instalments concurrently, with release dates set for December 2020, December 2021, December 2024, and December 2025. Worthington, Saldana and Weaver all signed on for sequels.

The new decade saw a remake of the 1981 film of the same name 'Clash of the Titans' based loosely on the Greek myth of Perseus as played by Worthington in this updated Louis Leterrier Directed version, and also starring Ralph Fiennes, Liam Neeson, Mads Mikkelsen, Liam Cunningham, Nicholas Hoult, Danny Huston, Luke Evans, Pete Postlethwaite and Gemma Arterton. The film received lacklustre Reviews although it recovered US$494M from its US$125M budget investment, spawning a sequel in 2012 with 'Wrath of the Titans' with Worthington, Fiennes, Neeson and Huston all reprising their roles joined this time around by Bill Nighy, Edgar Ramirez, Toby Kebbell and Rosamund Pike. This film was negatively received by Critics and returned US$305M from its US$150M budget. On the strength of this performance 'Revenge of the Titans' planned for a 2013 release, was canned.

Also released in 2010 was romantic drama 'Last Night' with Keira Knightley and Eva Mendes; straight to video offering 'Love & Distrust' with Robert Pattinson, James Franco, Robert Downey Jnr. and Amy Adams; and then 'The Debt' Directed by John Madden and starring also Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Wilkinson and Marton Csokas. The inspired by true events 'Texas Killing Fields' followed in 2011 with Jessica Chastain and Chloe Grace Moretz, and in 2012 'Man on a Ledge' with Jamie Bell, Edward Burns, Anthony Mackie, Ed Harris and Elizabeth Banks.  

2013 saw an Australian film about the birth of the modern Australian surfing industry back in the '70's with 'Drift' and also starred Xavier Samuel and this was followed up in 2014 with the David Ayer Written, Directed and Co-Produced actioner 'Sabotage' with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Later that year came 'Cake' with Jennifer Aniston, American Civil War action thriller 'The Keeping Room' with Hailee Stansfield and then locally Produced Australian children's drama offering 'Paper Planes' with David Wenham.

Next in 2015 came the historical drama 'Kidnapping Mr. Heineken' about the 1983 kidnapping of the Chairman and CEO of the brewing company Heineken International and one of the wealthiest individuals in Holland, Freddy Heineken. Anthony Hopkins plays the lead role here with Worthington playing Willem Holleeder - one of five friends who hit upon a get rich quick scheme by kidnapping the said business tycoon and demanding a ransom of almost sixteen million pounds sterling. That same year also saw biographical drama film 'Everest' about the ill fated 1996 Mount Everest disaster in which eight people died when caught in a blizzard trying to either ascend of descend the summit. With an all star cast that included Jake Gyllenhaal, Josh Brolin, Jason Clarke, Robin Wright, Emily Watson and Keira Knightley the film returned US$204M from its US$55M budget, and was well received by Critics.

2016 saw Mel Gibson's highly acclaimed WWII biographical wartime drama film 'Hacksaw Ridge' about the experiences of Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield) during the Battle of Okinawa, as an American pacifist combat medic and Seventh Day Adventist who refused to carry a weapon or firearm of any kind. He saved the lives of some seventy soldiers during that bloody conflict against heavily dug in Japanese forces. The film made US$176M from its US$40M budget outlay. Earlier this year saw the Christian drama film 'The Shack' with Octavia Spencer and Radha Mitchell and has so far grossed US$96M from its US$20M budget.

This brings us up to date. In between time there were other television series appearances on the likes of 'Love My Way' in which Worthington appeared in ten of the thirty episodes televised between 2004 and 2005, then 'The Surgeon' appearing in all eight episodes of this short-lived 2005 series, and then television mini-series 'Deadline Gallipoli' in which Worthington portrays one of three reporters sent out to Gallipoli to report on the conflict there that ultimately saw extensive Australian and New Zealand casualties in 1915 together with those of British and other allied forces.

Next up for Worthington is the Jonathan Moscow Directed 'The Hunter's Prayer' then Sci-Fi thriller 'The Titan' of how a military serving family take part in a ground breaking experiment of genetic evolution and space exploration. This has wrapped filming and will be released in 2018. Currently in production is anthology television series 'Manhunt : Unabomber' for the Discovery Channel taking an in depth look at how an FBI Profiler, Jim Fitzgerald (Worthington) helped track down Ted Kaczynski (Paul Bettany) and the terror he inflicted through a bombing campaign that lasted close to twenty years between 1978 and 1995. Also in Pre-Production are the aforementioned 'Avatar' sequels.

All up Worthington has 48 Acting credits to his name, five as Producer, and one each as Writer and Director on the 2004 seven minute short film 'Enzo'. He has six award wins under his belt so far and a further seventeen nominations including two wins by the Australian Film Institute as Best Actor in 2004's 'Somersault' and 2009's 'Avatar'.

Worthington is married to Australian advertising model and media personality Lara Bingle, with whom he has two sons - Rocket (born in 2015) and Racer (born in 2016). In 2014 Worthington attracted the attention of the world's press for all the wrong reasons when he was arrested in New York City for assault on a paparazzo in retaliation for allegedly kicking Bingle in the shin. The case went back and forth with both sides claiming no wrongdoing. Ultimately a US$3.7M lawsuit against Worthington was raised which was settled out of court before going to trial in September 2015.

Sam Worthington - has been voted as Australia's Most Stylish Male Celebrity, Man of the Year, and one of Australia's Most Likeable Young Leading Men in his time. Before being cast in 'Avatar' he had AU$2K to his name, had sold almost all his worldly possessions and was living in his car - what a turn around! Has played across just about all genres from romance, to horror, to comedy, to wartime, to biographical, Sci-Fi, fantasy and is equally at home in playing small local Aussie independent fare to big budget epic Hollywood blockbusters and in the process has worked with some of the biggest names in the business. Good luck to you Sam, and good on ya for keeping us entertained and for keeping us guessing as to what's next. Happy Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-