Usually, it's ladies first, but today I'll go gents first, if only because it allows me to save the best for the last spot IMHO. I could also apply a saying we have in Germany, "Alter vor Schönheit", which translates to "age before beauty".
Here we go:
Dennis Quaid (60)
Sixty is a big birthday for sure. It also means he has a big career behind him, and hopefully also some ahead of him. But I won't discuss his whole filmography now, nor will I say anything about his marriage to Meg Ryan in the 90's, or remind anyone how it ended... I won't even state which of his performances is the best. I will only say for which role I will always remember him most, and I may be alone here. This clip is the closest I could find in a rather short time to my favorite quote from the 1989 movie "Great Balls of Fire":
By the way, Dennis Quaid was 35 when he played that role, but Jerry Lee Lewis is actually "only" 21 throughout most of the movie, as that is the age he was when he married Myra. Not that this makes it okay...
Kristen Stewart (24)
I don't really know why everybody seems to hate K-Stew. Probably because of the Twilight movies. It would maybe be an exaggeration if I stated that I wouldn't be caught dead watching them, but I really have no interest to. Maybe it's also because she refuses to act like a fame whore. Anyway, I first saw her in "Panic Room", but I really loved her the most in "The Runaways", the 2010 movie about the 70's girl band of the same name, wherein K-Stew portrays Joan Jett.
I can't really tell if Joan Jett, who's music I enjoy, is or was anything like she was protrayed in the movie by K-Stew, but for me she just inhabited the role, I can't help it. It seemed to suit her like a second skin. I couldn't find a clip from my favorite scene with her, so the random pic above and a description of the scene will have to do: After Michael Shannon's more than eccentric Kim Fowley discovers Cherrie Currie (Dakota Fanning) in a nightclub, he introduces her to Joan Jett outside the club, with the words "and this is Joan Jett, some sort of guitar goddess", and K-Stew as Joan coyly replies "um, I never said 'goddess'" - it's just so K-Stew! It's that infamous awkwardness of hers, and even if it may not be IRL, here it's just totally cool and cute in a funny way.
Elle Fanning (16)
I've somehow always suspected her to be capable of great stuff, and what really signed the deal for me is her performance in rather a hidden little gem of a movie, "Phoebe in Wonderland"(2008), her first starring role as a - let's say "special" - young girl. I've only seen the movie once, on TV, and it has probably been the only time it has been on in my country, on a network that is known to show rather unknown not so big movies that others don't show. I wanted to write a review on letterboxd out of my distinct memory on the movie as a tribute on her birthday, but I won't have time due to some professional obligations. I will do it some time later. For now I just want to state that the movie, while it has little flaws, is very touching and empathetic, and that Elle is just wonderful in it, and of course share some clips that never fail to remind me what I find so special about it:
That's the best quote from the movie, if not one of the best, most thought-provoking and most uplifting quotes from any movie ever, but since it's delivered by the teacher played by Patty Clarkson, but it's Elle's birthday, here are two more clips that focus more on Elle as "Phoebe":
and last, but not least...
Jackie Evancho (14)
Child prodigy. Singer of opera and popular music, often making the latter a whole different experience to what it normally is. A regular on the stages of Las Vegas and other places. Owner of a powerful voice, that will take you some time to believe it belongs to someone that young after you first experience it, and an angelic smile.
She's been around for a while, but I've only discovered her less then a year ago.
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