Birthday's to share this week : 2nd - 8th April 2017.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Hugo Weaving does on 4th April - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 57, 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 2nd April

• Christopher Meloni - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Pedro Pascal - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actor
• Michael Fassbender - Born 1977, turns 40 - Actor | Producer
• Jesse Plemons - Born 1988, turns 29 - Actor
• Linda Hunt - Born 1945, turns 72 - Actress  

Monday 3rd April

• Cobie Smulders - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress | Singer
• Alec Baldwin - Born 1958, turns 59 - Actor | Producer 
• Eddie Murphy - Born 1961, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer | Director
• Ben Mendelsohn - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor |   

Tuesday 4th April

• Craig T. Nelson - Born 1944, turns 73 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• David E. Kelley - Born 1956, turns 61 - Writer | Producer
• Hugo Weaving - Born 1960, turns 57 - Actor | Producer
• Robert Downey Jnr. - Born 1965, turns 52 - Actor | Producer | Singer | Songwriter
• Barry Pepper - Born 1970, turns 47 - Actor
• Estelle Harris - Born 1928, turns 89 - Actress   

Wednesday 5th April

• Hayley Attwell - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress 
• Roger Corman - Born 1926, turns 91 - Producer | Director | Actor | Writer 
• Peter Greenaway - Born 1942, turns 75 - Director | Writer | Editor | Actor
• Mitch Pileggi - Born 1952, turns 65 - Actor

Thursday 6th April

• Billy Dee Williams - Born 1937, turns 80 - Actor 
• Barry Levinson - Born 1942, turns 75 - Producer | Director | Writer | Actor
• Michael Rooker - Born 1955, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Paul Rudd - Born 1969, turns 48 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer  
• Zach Braff - Born 1975, turns 42 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer
• Sofia Boutella - Born 1982, turns 35 - Actress

Friday 7th April

• Francis Ford Coppola - Born 1939, turns 78 - Producer | Director | Writer 
• Ted Kotcheff - Born 1931, turns 86 - Director | Producer | Actor
• Jackie Chan - Born 1954, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Stuntman | Singer  

Saturday 8th April

• Taylor Kitsch - Born 1981, turns 36 - Actor | Director | Writer | Producer
• John Madden - Born 1949, turns 68 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Robin Wright - Born 1966, turns 51 - Actress | Producer | Director
• Patricia Arquette - Born 1968, turns 49 - Actress | Producer 

Hugo Wallace Weaving was born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria, Africa to mother Anne Lennard, a tour guide and former teacher and Wallace Weaving a seismologist. At a year old the family returned to England where they lived in Bedford and then Brighton, and then onto Melbourne and Sydney in Australia and then a time in Johannesburg, South Africa before returning back to England. While there, he attended The Downs School, a preparatory school located in Wraxall, near Bristol, Somerset and then Queen Elizabeth's Hospital independent boys school in Clifton, Bristol. In 1976 his family relocated back to Sydney, where Weaving attending the independent boys school, Knox Grammar School. After leaving school he studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney from where he graduated in 1981.

Weaving secured his first film role in a bit part in 1981's ' . . . Maybe This Time', and this was followed up in 1983 with 'The City's Edge'. In the meantime Weaving starred as English Cricket Captain Douglas Jardine in the seven part miniseries 'Bodyline' recounting the events of the 1932-33 English Ashes Test tour of Australia. 'For Love Alone', 'The Right Hand Man', television mini-series 'The Dirtwater Dynasty', made for television movie 'A Long Way From Home : Dadah Is Death' with Julie Christie and John Polson, and then television three part mini-series 'Bangkok Hilton' with Nicole Kidman, Denholm Elliott and Noah Taylor saw out the decade. 

The '90's kicked off with his AACTA Award winning turn in the Jocelyn Moorhouse Written and Directed 'Proof' with Russell Crowe. This was followed up by the likes of Ned Kelly send-up comedy 'Reckless Kelly' for Director and Co-star Yahoo Serious, then comedy crime thriller 'Frauds' with Phil Collins, and 'The Custodian' with Anthony LaPaglia, Naomi Watts, Barry Otto and Bill Hunter. Perhaps his breakout role however, came with 'Priscilla, Queen of the Desert' in which Weaving starred as drag queen Anthony 'Tick' Melrose aka Mitzi Del Bra alongside Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Bill Hunter again. Based on its US$2M budget the film grossed US$30M, spawned a stage show, became a cultural touchstone for the LGBT community especially, and reaped in numerous award wins and nominations including an Academy Award for Best Costume Design. 

In 1995 Weaving voiced the character of Rex, the Sheepdog in the hugely popular 'Babe' which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and picked up six other nominations, together with a Golden Globe win for Best Motion Picture and four BAFTA nods too amongst its total haul of nineteen wins and 24 other nominations. The film took US$254M from its US$30M budget outlay, and as a result of this success Weaving reprised his voice role in the 1998 George Miller Directed, Written and Produced sequel 'Babe : Pig in the City'. Ten part television mini-series 'Bordertown' with Cate Blanchett followed in 1995, and then 'True Love and Chaos' with Ben Mendelssohn, Noah Taylor, Miranda Otto and Naveen Andrews. 1998 saw RomCom 'Bedrooms and Hallways' and then his AFI Award winning turn in crime drama thriller 'The Interview' with Tony Martin and Michael Caton. In between there was further television work on short-lived mini-series and a couple of short films too.

All this led to his starring role as Agent Smith in the ground breaking Sci-Fi actioner 'The Matrix'. Weaving would reprise his role in the two sequels both released back to back in 2003 'The Matrix Reloaded' and 'The Matrix Revolutions'. The first instalment won four Academy Awards and two BAFTA's among its haul of 37 award wins and 45 nominations, with the two subsequent films bringing home another ten award wins and 59 nominations. All up the three films grossed US$1.63B from its combined US$363M budget outlay. Weaving also voiced his character in the video game release 'Enter the Matrix'.

'Strange Planet', 'The Old Man Who Read Love Stories', 'Russian Doll' came before Weaving's recurring role as Elrond in Peter Jackson's immensely popular and successful 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, kicking off with 'The Fellowship of the Ring' in 2001, then 'The Two Towers' in 2002 and culminating with 'The Return of the King' in 2003. The three films were made for a combined budget of US$281M and grossed worldwide US$2.9B. All up the three film series won seventeen Academy Awards, took a further eleven Oscar nominations, and all up won 438 award wins and took another 375 nominations. Subsequently Weaving his lent his Elrond voice talents to three video game releases - two in 2006 and one in 2009. 'Peaches', 'Little Fish' with Cate Blanchett and Sam Neill and then dystopian political thriller 'V for Vendetta' based on the limited edition DC Comics series of the same name was released in 2006 and took in an all star cast including Natalie Portman, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Eddie Marsan and Tim Pigott-Smith.

The following year Weaving lent his voice talents to hugely successful franchise opener 'Transformers' as Megatron, the leader of the Deceptions who transforms into a silver Cybertronian jet. Weaving voiced Megatron for the first three films - taking in 2009's 'Transformers : Revenge of the Fallen' and 2011's 'Transformers : Dark of the Moon'. These first three films took US$2.67B at the global Box Office against a budget investment of US$545M with 'Transformers : Age of Extinction' released in 2014 and 'Transformers : The Last Knight' due for release imminently. 'The Tender Hook' and 'Last Ride' saw out the decade, with Weaving lending his voice talents once again to George Miller's Academy Award winning animated 'Happy Feet' as Noah the Elder, a role he would reprise in 2011's sequel, 'Happy Feet 2'.

2010 kicked off with Joe Johnston's horror fantasy 'The Wolfman' with Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Asa Butterfield, and Emily Blunt, with more voice work following on 'Legends of the Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole'.  'Oranges and Sunshine', 'The Key Man', and the Marvel adaptation introducing us for the first time to 'Captain America : The First Avenger' as Johann Schmidt/Red Skull followed. The Sci-Fi multi-dimensional, time travelling 'Cloud Atlas' that divided Critics and just about clawed back its US$130M budget featured an ensemble cast headed up by Tom Hanks and Halle Berry and ended up picking up seventeen award wins from around the traps and another 72 nominations. 

Weaving then reprised his role of Elrond in Peter Jacksons adaptation of 'The Hobbit' launching with 'The Unexpected Journey' in 2012 and culminating with 'The Battle of the Five Armies' in 2014. Weaving's character did not appear in the middle instalment 'The Desolation of Smaug' in 2013. The three films were made for a combined US$675M and grossed worldwide US$2.9B and picked up seven Academy Award nominations and a total awards haul of 45 wins and 200 other nominations.

In between time there was 'Mystery Road' with Aaron Pederson, 'The Mule' with Leigh Whannell, 'Healing' with Don Hany, 'Strangerland' with Nicole Kidman and most recently Jocelyn Moorhouse's 'The Dressmaker' with Kate Winslet, Mel Gibson's 'Hacksaw Ridge' with Andrew Garfield, and just out 'Jasper Jones' with Toni Collette. This brings us up to date with drama television series 'Seven Types of Ambiguity' due for airing later this year in Australia, and historical drama film 'Black 47' with Jim Broadbent and Stephen Rea currently filming. 

All up Weaving has 84 Acting credits to his name and two as Producer. He has so far accumulated 23 award wins and another 25 nominations. Aside form an extensive film and television career he has also appeared in numerous stage plays for the Sydney Theatre Company more recently in 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' in 2012, 'Waiting for Godot' in 2013 and 'Macbeth' in 2014. Weaving has been with his long term partner Katrina Greenwood since 1984 with whom he has two children - Harry (born in 1989) and Holly (born in 1993). Harry has followed in his fathers footsteps and has become an Actor too under the name Harry Greenwood. Weaving is an ambassador for 'Voiceless' the animal protection institute campaigning for animal rights.

Hugo Weaving - a diverse and successful career on film, television and stage; has starred in four mega franchise films series - 'The Matrix', The Lord of the Rings', 'The Hobbit' and 'Transformers' as well as an eclectic collection of local independent fare. Continues to be in demand, like a fine wine is maturing with age, has an instantly recognisable voice, loves working in Australia, and is always surprising us with his roles. Happy Birthday to you Hugo, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 9th-15th October 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Ben Whishaw does on 14th October - check out my tribute to this Birthday Lad turning 36, 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 9th October

• Brian Blessed - Born 1936, turns 80 - Actor | Director
• Tony Shalhoub - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Scott Bakula - Born 1954, turns 62 - Actor | Producer | Director | Singer
• Guillermo del Toro - Born 1964, turns 52 - Director | Producer | Writer | Consultant | Actor
• Pete Docter - Born 1968, turns 48 - Director | Producer | Writer | Animator  
• Steve McQueen - Born 1969, turns 47 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor
• Chris O'Dowd - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Brandon Routh - Born 1979, turns 37 - Actor

Monday 10th October

• Charles Dance - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director
• Martin Kemp - Born 1961, turns 55 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Director | Singer | Songwriter  

Tuesday 11th October

• David Morse - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer
• Sean Patrick Flanery - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Luke Perry - Born 1966, turns 50 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Dawn French - Born 1957, turns 59 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Singer 
• Joan Cusack - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actress | Writer  

Wednesday 12th October

• Hugh Jackman - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Josh Hutcherson - Born 1992, turns 24 - Actor | Producer  

Thursday 13th October

• Chris Carter - Born 1956, turns 60 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Sacha Baron Cohen - Born 1971, turns 45 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Singer
• Kelly Preston - Born 1962, turns 54 - Actress  

Friday 14th October

• Lori Petty - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actress | Writer | Producer | Director
• Mia Wasikowska - Born 1989, turns 27 - Actress | Writer | Director
• Roger Moore - Born 1927, turns 89 - Actor | Producer
• Steve Coogan - Born 1965, turns 51 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Singer
• Ben Whishaw - Born 1980, turns 36 - Actor  

Saturday 15th October

• Todd Solondz - Born 1959, turns 57 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Dominic West - Born 1969, turns 47 - Actor
• Tanya Roberts - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actress  

Benjamin John Whishaw was born in Clifton, Bedfordshire, England to mother Linda Hope - a worker in cosmetics, and father Jose Whishaw - a worker in the field of Information Technology. He has a twin brother, James. He was raised in the central Bedfordshire villages of Clifton and Langford, and he attended the Henlow Middle School nearby, and then the Samuel Whitbread Community College in Shefford, also close by. It was here through the allied theatre company, 'Big Spirit' that Whishaw first become involved with play acting, and, to some local critical acclaim. He went on to study at London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art from which he graduated in 2003.

He gained his first screen role in the 1999 film 'The Trench' - a story of young soldiers in the trenches preparing to go over the top in the WWI Battle of the Somme as Directed by William Boyd and also starring Daniel Craig, James D'Arcy and Cillian Murphy. 'The Escort' came later that year too, with small screen roles following on 'Black Cab', 'Other People's Children' and then short film 'Baby'. 'My Brother Tom' in 2001 garnered Whishaw a British Independent Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer, which was followed up with 'Ready When You Are Mr. McGill' in 2003 with Bill Nighy and Tom Courtenay and then made for television film 'Booze Cruise', with short films 'Spiritual Rampage' and '77 Beds' in the meantime. 

Next up was 'Enduring Love' in 2004 with Daniel Craig again and Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans and Andrew Lincoln, and then Matthew Vaughn's 'Layer Cake' later that year with Daniel Craig once more and Tom Hardy, Michael Gambon and Sienna Miller. 'Stoned' came next in 2005 with Whishaw playing the role of Keith Richards in this bio-pic about the (short) life of Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones. That same year he appeared in the Channel 4 sitcom over one single season of six episodes - 'Nathan Barley' with Benedict Cumberbatch and Richard Ayoard. He gained perhaps his breakout role in 'Perfume : The Story of a Murderer' for Director Tom Tykwer with co-stars Alan Rickman and Dustin Hoffman. The film was generally well received and it was a commercial success. Whishaw gained two further award nominations for his role as perfumer and murderer Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. 

Todd Haynes 'I'm Not There' inspired by the life and music of Bob Dylan saw Whishaw alongside Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Christian Bale, with the big screen adaptation of 'Brideshead Revisited' opposite Matthew Goode, and then 'The International' for Tom Tykwer again with Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, 'Bright Star' for Jane Campion based on the final three years of poet John Keats with Whishaw in the lead role of Keats alongside Abbie Cornish, and short film 'Love Hate' seeing out the decade. In the meantime there had also been five episodes on the highly acclaimed drama series 'Criminal Justice' which also garnered Whishaw further award wins and nominations.

The new decade landed with a big screen adaptation of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' with Julie Taymor Directing an all star cast including Helen Mirren, David Strathairn, Chris Cooper, Djimon Hounsou, Russell Brand and Alfred Molina. Another BBC drama series followed airing over twelve episodes - 'The Hour' with Dominic West and Peter Capaldi. 2012 gave rise to another Daniel Craig partnership in his role as Bond, James Bond and Whishaw as the new, younger, tech savvy 'Q' in 'Skyfall' - a role he would reprise in 2015's 'Spectre'. The multi-dimensional, time travelling 'Cloud Atlas' for the Wachowski's and Tom Tykwer once more and an ensemble cast including Tom Hanks, Jim Sturgess, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving with Halle Berry and Susan Sarandon came next, with his leading role in 'Richard II' in the made for television film for BBC2 following.

Terry Gilliam's 'The Zero Theorem' was up next, then a screen version of 'The Seagull' by Anton Chekov titled 'Days and Nights' with a backdrop of New England sometime in the 1980's, which despite its strong cast bombed critically and commercially. 'Lilting' followed, and then Whishaw lent his voice talents to Paddington Bear in the live action film of 'Paddington' - the story of a bear thrust from the deepest darkest jungles of Peru into deepest darkest London.

2015 was a big year with short film 'The Muse', and then feature length films 'The Lobster', documentary 'Unity', 'Suffragette', 'The Danish Girl', 'Spectre' and 'In The Heart of The Sea' all released that year, as well as a five part BBC 2 series 'London Spy'. 'A Hologram for The King' was released earlier this year with Tom Hanks, as was short film 'Family Happiness'. Next up and due in December 2018 and currently in pre-production is 'Mary Poppins Returns' with Emily Blunt in the lead role, and also staring Meryl Streep.

Since 2003 Whishaw also has amassed numerous stage credits at London's National Theatre, The Old Vic, The Royal Court Theatre, the West End Noel Coward and Harold Pinter Theatres and most recently on Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre. He has appeared in 'Hamlet' to much critical praise, 'The Seagull', 'Cock', 'Peter and Alice' alongside Judi Dench, 'Mojo' and 'The Crucible'. All up Whishaw has forty-four screen and television acting credits to his name and has so far accumulated eight award wins including a BAFTA for television mini-series 'The Hollow Crown' and another fifteen nominations including three BAFTA nods.

In 2012 Whishaw 'married' Australian composer Mark Bradshaw in a civil partnership, and they reside in London.

Ben Whishaw - fiercely private and guarded about his life away from the cameras; shuns celebrity status; enjoys simple pleasures such as gardening, reading, painting and travel; clearly is on the rise and in demand as evidenced by his prolific output as seen in recent years; and already has been critically praised for his work on film, on television and on the boards - and we're happy to keep watching Ben. Happy Birthday to you, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 15th-21st May 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Jim Sturgess does on 16th May - check out my tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 38, 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 May

• Chaz Palminteri - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director
• Grant Heslov - Born 1963, turns 53 - Actor | Producer | Writer | Director 

Monday 16th May

• Pierce Brosnan - Born 1953, turns 63 - Actor | Producer  
• Jim Sturgess - Born 1978, turns 38 - Actor | Singer | Songwriter
• Danny Trejo - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actor | Producer
• Debra Winger - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actress | Producer
• Megan Fox - Born 1986, turns 30 - Actress  

Tuesday 17th May

• Bill Paxton - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actor | Producer | Director

Wednesday 18th May

• Hugh Keays-Byrne - Born 1947, turns 69 - Actor | Director
• Yin-Fat Chow - Born 1955, turns 61 - Actor | Writer
• Miriam Margolyes - Born 1941, turns 75 - Actress
• Tina Fey - Born 1970, turns 46 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Singer 

Thursday 19th May

• Claudia Karvan - Born 1972, turns 44 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Director 
• Amanda De Cadenet - Born  1972, turns 44 - Actress | Producer
• Grace Jones - Born 1948, turns 68 - Actress | Singer | Songwriter
• Peter Mayhew - Born 1944, turns 72 - Actor 
• James Fox - Born 1939, turns 77 - Actor

Friday 20th May

• Louis Theroux - Born 1970, turns 46 - Television Personality | Writer | Producer  
• Anton Corbijn - Born 1955, turns 61 - Director
• Timothy Olyphant - Born 1968, turns 48 - Actor | Producer
• Cher - Born 1946, turns 70 - Actress | Producer | Singer  

Saturday 21st May

• Nick Cassavetes - Born 1959, turns 57 - Actor | Writer | Director  
• Judge Reinhold - Born 1957, turns 59 - Actor
• Mr. T. - Born 1952, turns 64 - Actor  

James Anthony Sturgess was born in Wandsworth, London, England to mother Jane Martin and father Peter Sturgess. He is the middle of three children, with an older brother Will, and a younger sister Tia. He grew up in Farnham, Surrey, and attended Frensham Heights School - an independent co-educational school and sixth form college. He spent much of his young teenage years skateboarding and forming his first band at about fifteen years of age playing gigs wherever and whenever they could. His first acting experience was in a play for a local theatre group that he auditioned for. Landing the part it became clear early on to his parents and teachers that he had a natural ability, but music was always his first love. After school he relocated to Manchester to attend Salford University to be close to the burgeoning music scene coming from that city. There he got to know a bunch of budding film-makers and actors, and so his interest in acting was sparked once more. He began writing his own plays and short films, and graduated in 1999 with a Higher National Diploma in Media and Performance.

His big screen debut came in 1994 with a small part in Mike Figgis' 'The Browning Version' with Albert Finney, Matthew Modine, Michael Gambon and Greta Scachi. The film was well received critically, but commercially less so. It would be eleven years before he appeared on the big screen again, but, in the meantime there were multiple appearances in television series and made for TV films, including 'Heartbeat', 'A Touch of Frost', 'Judge John Deed', 'The Residents' and 'Other People's Children'.

In 2005, his next film appearance came in the road movie 'Mouth to Mouth' for Writer/Director Alison Murray and starring Ellen Page. This was followed two years later by 'Across the Universe' for Director Julie Taymor with the backdrop of the Vietnam War and everything the 60's stood for set with a Beatles heavy soundtrack. The film features an unfolding romance between an upper-class American girl (Evan Rachel Wood) and a young lad from Liverpool (Jim Sturgess). The film gained an Academy Award and a Golden Globe nomination amongst nineteen all up wins and other nominations.

2008 saw three films released - 'The Other Boleyn Girl' with Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Scott Thomas, Eric Bana and Mark Rylance; '21' in which Sturgess took the lead role in this blackjack card counting college drama starring Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne and Kate Bosworth. The film was a commercial success. The there was 'Fifty Dead Men Walking' with Ben Kingsley and Rose McGowan with Sturgess in the lead role in this true story of an IRA infiltrator set during the Northern Ireland Troubles of the late 80's.

'Crossing Over' came next with Harrison  Ford, Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd in this US crime drama about illegal immigrants seeking legal status in LA. The film made just US$3.5M in Box Office and subsequent DVD sales. 'Heartless' followed as Written and Directed by Philip Ridley - this British horror film also starred Timothy Spall and Clemence Poesy and was critically well received, garnering several awards and nominations, including a Best Actor win for Sturgess.

The WWII Russian prison escape drama 'The Way Back' followed in 2010 for Director/Producer and Writer Peter Weir with Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Mark Strong and Saoirse Ronan - an acclaimed film critically, but it failed to make back its US$30M budget. Later that same year Sturgess lent his voice talent to the animated 'Legend of the Guardians : The Owls of Ga'Hoole' for Director Zack Snyder and and all star voice ensemble.


Romantic Drama 'One Day' with Anne Hathaway starring as the female lead to Sturgess male lead was knocked critically but it did return US$57M from its US$15M outlay. This gave way to 'Ashes' with Ray Winstone and Luke Evans, with 'The Best Offer' starring Geoffrey Rush and Donald Sutherland in this romantic mystery English language Italian film of high end antique art, portraits and auctions.


The multi-layered time travelling epic 'Cloud Atlas' for Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski's with an ensemble cast including Tom Hanks, Ben Whishaw, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent and Halle Berry, was next up. This film polarised audiences and critics alike and barely recovered its US$129M budget, but, it did win sixteen awards and was nominated for another 71 from around the circuit.

'Upside Down' with Kirsten Dunst followed, with crime drama bio 'Electric Slide' that same year with Patricia Arquette and Christopher Lambert. 'Stonehearst Asylum' based on an Edgar Allen Poe story was next in 2014 with Michael Caine, Ben Kingsley, Brendan Gleeson and Kate Beckinsale, followed up by 'Kidnapping Mr. Heineken' based on the true story of that kidnapping which made the headlines in 1983 and starring Anthony Hopkins, Sam Worthington and Ryan Kwanten.


Up next is 'London Fields' starring Billy Bob Thornton, Theo James, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard currently in post-production, and 'Geostorm' for Dean Devlin with Gerard Butler, Ed Harris, Andy Garcia and Abbie Cornish also in post-production for release next year. In the meantime, awaiting release on our small screen are wartime TV mini-series 'Close to the Enemy' for the BBC, and Brooklyn set 'Feed the Beast' for AMC. All up Sturgess has 35 acting credits, two award wins for 'Heartless' and '21' and three other nominations. Aside from carving out an increasingly successful movie career he continues with his musical exploits having played for many years in 'Saint Faith' and 'Dilated Spies' and he wrote music included in 'Crossing Over' and 'Heartless'.

Jim Sturgess - never typecast having appeared on TV and film across all genres - horror, drama, thriller, Sci-Fi, comedy, animation and bio; a musical and acting talent at times combining both together; inspired by River Phoenix growing up; plays the piano, drums and guitar; possesses boyish good looks; has not let celebrity get to him and remains firmly grounded; and clearly has much more to offer, and is doing so just quietly. Happy Birthday to you Jim, from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-