Fantastic Almanac: Natalie Portman, Johnny Depp, Michael J Fox & James Newton Howard

Four of Holloywood's big names born on June 9th

Mark Turner

Fantastic Almanac

06/09/2014

Science Fiction/Fantasy fans have cause for celebration today, the day 4 major names in the filed of fantastical entertainment were born.

Johnny Depp got his screen debut way back in 1984's A Nightmare on Elm Street. Since then, Depp has been in a number of films that have fired movie goers imaginations. Teaming up with cinema's dark knight, Tim Burton for 1990's Edward Scissorhands. Other films of genera note: The Ninth Gate, The Astronaut's Wife, 4 Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, The Lone Ranger, and Transcendence, just to name a few. Johnny Depp was born in Owensboro Kentucky on June 9th in 1963.

Fan-boys everywhere know the face and roles of one of cinema's most arresting beauties, Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel on this day in 1981. She has been working in films at the tender age of 13, co-starring in Luc Besson's Leon: The Professional. Though known for her Academy Award winning performance in 2010's The Black Swan, she is also know for her more far-out film roles, including: Mars Attacks!, The role that made her a household name, when she took on the title of Princess Leia's mother, Padmé Amidala in Star Wars Episodes I, II, & III, her next journey into the realms of unusual, was the dystopian world of V for Vendetta, the fantasy comedy Your Highness, and Marvels Thor, and Thor: The Dark World.

Michael J Fox was born today in 1961 in Alberta Canada. Fox began his acting career at the age of 12 working in various television roles until landing the title role in 1985's multi-year run of the successful situation comedy Family Ties. Michael J. Fox's performances in films like The Secret of My Success and Bright Lights, Big City showed that he was capable of dramatic work and that he could carry a film. His films of the fantastic include: his starring role in 1985's Teen Wolf , three Back to the Future films, an appearance in HBO's Tales from the Crypt, The Frighteners, Mars Attacks!, the animated Atlantis, the Lost Empire. He also continued to appear in numerous television roles, like the successful Spin City of which he was the star. After being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, he has continued to work in television on both Boston Legal and CBS's The Good Wife.

Grammy and Emmy award winning composer James Newton Howard has scored many of Hollywood's biggest films. His work can currently be heard in Disney's Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie. Born on this day in 1951 in Los Angeles, California, his film work began as a musician playing keyboards on the 1983 Jerry Goldsmith score for Twilight Zone: The Movie. He went on to work as an orchestrator and composer for numerous films. His works in cinema of the fantastique spans 4 decades and includes: Flatliners, Waterworld, The Devils Advocate, The Postman, Stir of Echos, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Signs, Dreamcatcher, all three of the Christian Bale Batman films (with co-composer Hans Zimmer), I Am Legend, The Green Hornet, The Hunger Games, Snow White and the Huntsman, After Earth, and Maleficent.