Birthdays Today

Very weak birthdays today -- what's up with that?   All I've got is two character actors, Joe Mantegna, born in 1947, and Steve Zahn, born in 1967.   Mantegna has been very good in a number of David Mamet plays and films, including originating the role of Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway, for which he won a Tony.  He also starred in a great movie about con men called House of Games.   Here's a cool scene about pulling a short con:

Zahn has been in a few good movies -- he was the funny guitar player in That Thing You Do -- but the role he was born for is in the new HBO series, Treme, set in New Orleans after Katrina.  Zahn plays a ne'er-do-well DJ and musician always on the edge of bankruptcy.   Here he is singing a song the character wrote about President Bush called "Shame, Shame, Shame": 



You have to ignore the politics a little (OK, maybe a lot), but it's a great, great show.  Can't wait until the second season premiere, hopefully in April 2011.