Actors Forest Whitaker, Brian Austin Green and Diane Kruger are all celebrating their birthdays today.
Forest Whitaker, 53
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Actor, producer and director Forest Whitaker turns 53 today. His first notable film role was a small role playing a high school football player in the 1982 film, Fast Times at Ridgemont High alongside Judge Reinhold, Phoebe Cates, Sean Penn and Robert Romanus. In 1986, he appeared in Martin Scorsese's film, The Color of Money, Oliver Stone's Platoon and the following year, he co-starred with Robin Williams in the comedy Good Morning, Vietnam.
Whitaker had his first lead role starring as musician Charlie Parker in Clint Eastwood's Bird. His role earned him the Best Actor award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival and a Golden Globe nomination. He went on to portray Idi Amin in the film, The Last King of Scotland. His performance earned him the 2007 Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, making him the fourth African-American actor in history to do so, a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild Award, BAFTA Award, and accolades from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, and the Broadcast Film Critics Association among others.
Whitaker's other notable film roles include Panic Room, Phone Booth, The Great Debaters, Where the Wild Things Are, Our Family Wedding, Black Nativity, The Last Stand and The Butler.
In 1996, Whitaker married actress Keisha Nash, whom he met on the set of Blown Away. They have four children; two daughters, Sonnet and True, together, and his son, Ocean, and her daughter, Autumn, from previous relationships.
Brian Austin Green, 41
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Actor Brian Austin Green turns 41 today. Green became well known after playing David Silver on the television series, Beverly Hills, 90210, from 1990 to 2000. In '90s, Green guest starred on numerous television shows including Growing Pains, Melrose Place, Saved by the Bell: The College Years, MADtv, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac. He appeared on the 2005 ABC sitcom Freddie, starring Freddie Prinze, Jr. before the program's cancellation in May 2006. He was a guest star on The Twilight Zone, Las Vegas and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
In 2008, Green was cast as Derek Reese in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, a Resistance fighter sent to the past by the future John Connor. Green was recurring in the first season but became a series regular at the start of the second. In 2010, Green appeared in a multi-episode story on the ABC series Desperate Housewives. In 2012, Green had a guest appearance in the sitcom Anger Management playing Sean. In June 2013, Green was promoted to series regular.
Green began dating actress Megan Fox in 2004, having first met on the set of Hope & Faith. In 2006, they became engaged, and then broke off their engagement in February 2009. They announced they were engaged again in June 2010, and several days later the two wed in a private ceremony. Fox and Green have two sons; Noah Shannon Green and Bodhi Ransom Green, along with Green's son, Kassius Lijah, from a previous relationship.
Diane Kruger, 38
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Actress and former fashion model Diane Kruger turns 38 today. In 1992, Kruger started modeling and appeared in television ads for Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Salvatore Ferragamo, Giorgio Armani, Jil Sander, Christian Dior, Burberry and Louis Vuitton. She also appeared in runway shows from Marc Jacobs, D&G and Sonia Rykiel and appeared on the covers of Vogue Paris, Marie Claire? and Cosmopolitan. She left acting to pursue a career in acting. Kruger landed some small appearances in several French films. She made her onscreen debut in 2002, opposite Dennis Hopper and Christopher Lambert in The Piano Player, a TV film by Jean-Pierre Roux. She made her big screen debut in her former husband's directorial debut, Mon Idole.
In 2004, Kruger played Julie Wood in Wicker Park, alongside Josh Hartnett and Rose Byrne. One of her more high-profile roles to date is her portrayal of Helen of Sparta in Wolfgang Petersen's epic Troy. In 2004, Kruger played Dr. Abigail Chase, alongside Nicolas Cage and Sean Bean, in the film National Treasure. She reprised her role in National Treasure: Book of Secrets in 2007. In 2009, she co-starred as a German actress turned Allied spy in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, picking up nominations from the Screen Actors' Guild for Best Supporting Actress and Outstanding Performance by a Cast of a Motion Picture.
Kruger has been in a relationship with actor Joshua Jackson (Cruel Intentions, Dawson's Creek, Fringe) since 2006. She currently plays El Paso, Texas, police officer Sonya Cross on FX's The Bridge.