Birthday's to share this week : 27th December 2015 - 2nd January 2016.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week?

Noomi Rapace does on 28th December - check out my tribute to this Birthday Girl, 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 27th December

• Gerard Depardieu - Born 1948, turns 67 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Maryam d'Abo - Born 1960, turns 55 - Actress | Producer | Writer

Monday 28th December

• Sienna Miller - Born 1981, turns 34 - Actress
• Noomi Rapace - Born 1979, turns 36 - Actress
• Maggie Smith - Born 1934, turns 81 - Actress
• Denzel Washington - Born 1954, turns 1954 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Stan Lee - Born 1922, turns 93 - Writer | Producer | Actor
• Alex Dimitriades - Born 1973, turns 42 - Actor

Tuesday 29th December

• Jude Law - Born 1972, turns 43 - Actor | Producer
• Ted Danson - Born 1947, turns 68 - Actor | Producer
• Jon Voight - Born 1938, turns 77 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Andy Wachowski - Born 1967, turns 48 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Bernard Cribbins - Born 1928, turns 87 - Actor
• Patricia Clarkson - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actress | Writer

Wednesday 30th December 

• Bennett Miller - Born 1966, turns 49 - Director | Producer
• Tyrese Gibson - Born 1978, turns 37 - Actor | Producer
• Tracey Ullman - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actress | Producer | Writer | Television Personality

Thursday 31st December 

• Val Kilmer - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Director
• Anthony Hopkins -Born 1937, turns 78 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer | Composer
• Ben Kingsley - Born 1943, turns 72 - Actor | Producer
• Taylor Hackford - Born 1944, turns 71 - Director | Producer | Writer

Friday 1st January

• Frank Langella - Born 1938, turns 77 - Actor
• Verne Troyer - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Stuntman

Saturday 2nd January

• Cuba Gooding Jnr. - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actor | Producer
• Todd Haynes - Born 1961, turns 54 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Tia Carrere - Born 1967, turns 48 - Actress | Producer
• Paz Vega - Born 1976, turns 39 - Actress
• Kate Bosworth - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actress | Producer

Noomi Noren was born in Hudiksvall, Sweden to mother Nina Noren, a Swedish Actress, and father Rogelio Duran a Spanish Flamenco Singer from Badajoz close to the border with Portugal on the River Guadiana. Her father died in late 2006 just before his 53rd birthday. She has a sister Saerun Noren, a photographer. Her mother and father separated when she was young, and at age five she moved from her home in Sweden with her mother and stepfather to Iceland. Two years later in 1988 she made her big screen debut in a non-speaking part in 'In the Shadow of the Raven' - an Icelandic Viking film. It was this film experience that even at such a young age made her want to be an Actress. At 15, she left home and took up Acting at a Stockholm theatre school.

In 1996 she won her small screen debut in the long running soap series 'Tre kronor' for twelve episodes. The next, her second film was released with the Swedish movie 'Sanning eller konsekvens' with the balance of the decade spent as a jobbing actor and at acting school. The new decade brought a number of theatre productions in the first half and all staged throughout Stockholm's theatre land. During this time too more film roles and television series were to follow with fairly regular work coming in year on year too through until 2007 when she gained critical acclaim in the Danish film 'Daisy Diamond' for which she won two major awards for Best Actress and the film was up for competition at the San Sebastian International Film Festival.

2009 was however, the year that changed her life forever, starring as Lisbeth Salander in the highly acclaimed trilogy of the films based on the Steig Larsson hugely successful novels in the 'Millennium' series - 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo', and then 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' and finally 'The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest'. For her role in the first film she won Sweden's highest Guldbagge Award, and was nominated for a BAFTA and a European Film Award.

'Beyond' came next in 2010 and then 'The Monitor' - Swedish and Norwegian films respectively, before her English language film debut in 2011 for Director Guy Ritchie in 'Sherlock Holmes : A Game of Shadows' opposite Robert Downey Jnr. and Jude Law. 2012 saw 'Prometheus' for Ridley Scott with Michael Fassbender and Idris Elba.

The last couple of years have seen 'Dead Man Down' in 2013 with Colin Farrell, and 'Passion' that same year for Brian De Palma with Rachel McAdams. Crime drama 'The Drop' with Tom Hardy followed in 2014, and then 'Child 44' with Tom Hardy once again.

Next up is 'Rupture' due in 2016 and currently in post-production, as is 'Unlocked' with Michael Douglas, John Malkovich and Orlando Bloom, and then 'What Happened to Monday' with Willem Dafoe and Glenn Close. After this will be 'Amy Winehouse' currently in pre-production with Rapace playing the title role as the tragic eclectic English singer/songstress. For 2017 there will be 'Enzo Ferrari' Directed by Michael Mann and starring Christian Bale in the title role as the Italian sports car entrepreneur, and then 'Alien : Covenant' with Rapace reprising her role from 'Prometheus' for Director Ridley Scott again.

All up Rapace has 36 acting credits to her name so far and has garnered thirteen award wins and another seventeen nominations including a 2011 BAFTA.

In 2001 Rapace married Swedish Actor Ola Norell, with whom she adopted the surname 'Rapace' meaning 'bird of prey' in both French and Italian. They filed for divorce in 2011, and have a son together born in 2003 - Lev.

Noomi Rapace - fluent in Swedish (her native tongue), Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and English; a reformed teenage punk rocker who had designs in her youth to emulate Nancy Spungen; insists on performing her own stunts no matter how dangerous; and judging by her current workload is very much in demand and destined for bigger things since starting out on her acting career aged less than ten! Happy Birthday Noomi, from all at Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

Birthday's to share this week : 1st - 7th March 2015.

Do you celebrate your Birthday this week? 

Daniel Craig does on 2nd March - check out the tribute to this Birthday Boy turning 47, 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 1st March

• Harry Belafonte - Born 1927, turns 88 - Actor | Producer | Singer
• Roger Daltrey - Born 1944, turns 71 - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actor
• Javier Bardem - Born 1969, turns 46 - Actor | Producer
• Ron Howard - Born 1954, turns 61 - Director | Producer | Actor
• Zack Snyder - Born 1966, turns 49 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Dirk Benedict - Born 1945, turns 70 - Actor | Producer
• Justin Bieber - Born 1994, turns 21 - Singer | Songwriter | Producer | Actor
• Lupita Nyong'o - Born 1983, turns 32 - Actress | Producer

Monday 2nd March

• Bryce Dallas Howard - Born 1981, turns 34 - Actress | Writer | Director
• Daniel Craig - Born 1968, turns 47 - Actor | Producer
• Jon Bon Jovi - Born 1962, turns 53 - Singer | Songwriter | Actor

Tuesday 3rd March

• George Miller - Born 1945, turns 70 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Jessica Biel - Born 1982, turns 33 - Actress | Producer
• Miranda Richardson - Born 1958, turns 57 - Actress

Wednesday 4th March

• Len Wiseman - Born 1973, turns 42 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Paul W. S. Anderson - Born 1965, turns 50 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Adrian Lyne - Born 1941, turns 74 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Scott Hicks - Born 1953, turns 62 - Director | Producer | Writer

Thursday 5th March

• Dean Stockwell - Born 1936, turns 79 - Actor
• Matt Lucas - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actor | Writer | Producer | Television Personality
• Eva Mendes - Born 1974, turns 41 - Actress
• Samantha Eggar - Born 1939, turns 76 - Actress

Friday 6th March 

• Rob Reiner - Born 1947, turns 68 - Director | Producer | Writer | Actor | Singer | Songwriter | Composer
• Tom Arnold - Born 1959, turns 56 - Actor | Producer | Writer
• Alan Davies - Born 1966, turns 49 - Actor | Writer | Television Personality

Saturday 7th March

• Matthew Vaughn - Born 1971, turns 44 - Director | Producer | Writer
• Bryan Cranston - Born 1956, turns 59 - Actor | Producer | Director | Writer
• Peter Sarsgaard - Born 1971, turns 44 - Actor | Producer
• Cameron Daddo - Born 1965, turns 50 - Actor | Producer
• Rachael Weisz - Born 1970, turns 45 - Actress | Producer

Daniel Wroughton Craig was born in Chester, Cheshire, England to Carol Olivia Williams - an art teacher, and father Timothy John Wroughton Craig a publican and former Merchant Navy midshipman. He attended primary school in the small country towns of Frodsham and Holyoke and then Hilbre High School in West Kirby. At 16, he moved to Calday Grange Grammar School also in West Kirby as a sixth form student - but only briefly. His interest in acting started at age six and his mother took him to acting classes at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. He appeared in several school productions, including 'Oliver', 'Romeo & Juliette' and 'Cinderella'. He moved to London at 16 following his brief time at Calday Grange Grammar School, having been accepted into the National Youth Theatre to tour Manchester and then Valencia and Moscow. 

He joined the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied for three years graduating in 1991 having studied with the likes of Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis, Joseph Fiennes and Alistair McGowan. In 1993, Craig appeared in a Royal National Theatre production of 'Angels in America', but it was in 1992 that his big screen debut came in the adaptation of the Bryce Courtenay novel 'The Power of One'. For the next few years he worked in television starring in 'Anglo Saxon Attitudes', 'Boon' and 'Covington Cross' in 1992 and then 'Sharpe's Eagle', episodes of 'Zorro', 'Drop the Dead Donkey', 'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, 'Between the Lines' 'Heartbeat' and 'Screen Two' all in 1993. Over the following years he appeared in 'A Kid in King Arthur's Court' with Kate Winslet, 'Saint Ex' with Bruno Ganz, 'Elizabeth' with Cate Blanchett, and a few others that flew under the radar to close out the decade.

From here on things began to ramp up for Craig with 'Love & Rage', 'I Dreamed of Africa', 'Some Voices' and 'Hotel Splendide' all in 2000. It was however, he role opposite Angelina Jolie in the 2001 'Lara Croft : Tomb Raider' that brought him to Hollywood's attention with the Sam Mendes Directed and Tom Hanks and Paul Newman starring 'Road to Perdition' that followed in 2002. His starring role in 'Layer Cake' in 2004 added further shine to his rising star which was followed up by 'The Jacket' with Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley, 'Munich' starring Eric Bana and Directed by Steven Spielberg, 'Infamous' with Toby Jones, and then his first outing as James Bond, 007, in 'Casino Royale'  Directed by Martin Campbell.

Cementing his role as Bond for the first time with a Box Office haul of US$600M and numerous award wins and nominations, before his next outing as everybody's favourite spy he appeared with Nicole Kidman in 'The Invasion', and again with Nicole Kidman in 'The Golden Compass'. 2008 followed up with 'Quantum of Solace' for Bond once again bringing in US$586M and again a slew of award wins and nominations - but not quite the success of its 'Casino Royale' predecessor. 

'Defiance' was next with Live Schreiber and Jamie Bell later in 2008, 'Cowboys and Aliens' with Harrison Ford in 2011, 'Dream House' in 2011 also with Naomi Watts and Rachael Weisz, 'The Adventures of Tin Tin' for Director Steven Spielberg to which Craig gave his voice talents to Red Rackham and Sakharine, and then the Hollywood remake of 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' with Rooney Mara for Director David Fincher.

Craig's third outing as James Bond came in 2012 with the hugely successful 'Skyfall' which also marked the 50th anniversary of the franchise that kicked-off with 'Dr. No' in 1962. 'Skyfall' to a global Box Office of US$1.1B+ making it the most financially successful Bond film of all time and putting it in the Top 10 of most successful films of all time . . . currently sat in ninth place.






2012 saw Craig playing perhaps the role of his life as James Bond saving (the real) HRH Queen Elizabeth II as part of an opening ceremony sketch for the London Summer Olympic games which was seen by a global audience of in excess of 1.5 billion television viewers.  From late 2013 to early 2014 Craig and his wife Rachael Weisz starred in the Broadway play 'Betrayal'. 'Spectre' is currently filming for a late 2015 release which will be Craig's fourth starring role as Bond with 'Bond 25' recently released to which Craig has committed. In the meantime 'The Girl who Played with Fire' has been announced with David Fincher on Directing duty and Craig reprising his role as Mikael Blomqvist.

Craig has 65 acting credits to his name, and a total 12 award wins and 23 other nominations. In 1992 he married actress Fiona Loudon and divorced two years later in 1994. This led to a seven year relationship with German actress Heike Makatsch which ended in 2001 and then Satsuki Mitchell from 2005 until 2010. In late 2010 he began dating long term friend and former co-star Rachael Weisz (whose birthday it is later on this week on 7th March) and the two were married in mid-2011. Craig has a daughter - eighteen year old daughter Ella from his first marriage. He supports several charities such as 'S.A.F.E. Kenya' using street theatre to tackle social issues, HIV/AIDS, water supply and violence against women. Also 'Opportunity Network' is supported to provide education access to New York's low income students, and Craig has worked too with former co-star Judi Dench on International Women's Day causes.

Daniel Craig - blond haired, blue eyed, rugged appearance, muscular framed, deep smooth voiced and the man who reinvigorated Bond into a Box Office sensation. Firmly established now as a bona fide cinematic draw card, and all round nice guy, Happy Birthday to you from Odeon Online.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-