Tritt, Pesci lead GenX birthdays
Feb. 9 — Entertaining birthdays for GenX’ers and others we love …
I smell B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y for Travis Tritt (1963). Born OTD in Marietta, Ga., James Travis Tritt first took an interest in music when singing for his Sunday school choir. He got his first guitar at age 8 and played and sang well enough for his class that he was invited to perform for other classes in his school. He went on to score five no. 1 singles: “Help me hold on” (1990), “Anymore” (1991), “Can I trust you with my heart” (1992), “Foolish pride” (1994), and “Best of intentions” (2000). But his greatest hit may have been when he publicly called out then-upstart Billy Ray Cyrus for turning country music into an “ass-shaking contest.”
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Joe Pesci (1943), who turns 78 today, may be the Curse King of Hollywood (rivaled or surpassed only by Samuel L. Jackson). Despite his physical stature, he brilliantly portrayed guys you just didn’t want to screw with in “Raging Bull” (1980), “Goodfellas” (1990), “Casino” (1995), and “The Irishman” (2019). But he had comedic chops, too — “What, like a clown? Do I amuse you?” — in the “Home Alone” franchise (1990, 1992), “My Cousin Vinny” (1992), and the “Lethal Weapon” franchise.
Having seen Charlie Day (1976) in a few films as well as “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” (2005-), I’m convinced he’s not actually acting. He’s taken his easily frazzled, hyperactive character to “Horrible Bosses” (2011), “The Lego Movie” (2014), and others. Yet he’s a skilled musician who played violin at age 3, and can play piano, accordion, trombone, guitar, and harmonica. He married “The Waitress” in 2006, and they had a son in 2011.
Most of us know Tom Hiddleston (1981) as Loki, the Norse god of mischief, from his six Marvel movies beginning in 2011. But as someone born into an acting family with ties to British military history, he’s excelled on the stage as well in ways only an English gentleman could. He originally auditioned to play Thor in the Marvel films, hitting the gym hard enough to gain 20 pounds of muscle in six weeks. But casting agents saw something in him that translated to Loki, which Empire magazine ranked as the 19th greatest movie character of all time.
