Gary Oldman is a renowned English movie star and character actor, celebrated for his expressive acting style. He is one of the most celebrated thespians of his generation, with a diverse career spanning theatre, film, and television.
Born on March 21, 1958, in New Cross, London, England, Gary Leonard Oldman was raised by his parents, Kathleen and Leonard Bertram Oldman. He won a scholarship to Britain's Rose Bruford Drama College, where he received a B.A. in theatre arts in 1979.
Oldman's early career saw him appearing in a number of plays throughout the early '80s, including "The Pope's Wedding," for which he received Time Out's Fringe Award for Best Newcomer of 1985-1986 and the British Theatre Association's Drama Magazine Award as Best Actor for 1985.
Before fame, he worked in assembly lines, as a porter in an operating theater, and had jobs selling shoes and beheading pigs while supporting his early acting career.
Oldman's film debut was Remembrance (1982),though his most-memorable early role came when he played Sex Pistol Sid Vicious in the biopic Sid and Nancy (1986),picking up the Evening Standard Film Award as Best Newcomer. He then received a Best Actor nomination from BAFTA for his portrayal of '60s playwright Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987).
In the 1990s, Oldman brought to life a series of iconic real-world and fictional villains, including Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991),the title character in Dracula (1992),Drexl Spivey in True Romance (1993),Stansfield in Léon: The Professional (1994),Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in The Fifth Element (1997),and Ivan Korshunov in Air Force One (1997).
Oldman played the coveted role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004),giving him a key part in one of the highest-grossing franchises ever. He reprised that role in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007).
Oldman also took on the iconic role of Detective James Gordon in writer-director Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005),a role he played again in The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
Oldman co-starred with Jim Carrey in the 2009 version of A Christmas Carol in which Oldman played three roles. He had a starring role in David Goyer's supernatural thriller The Unborn, released in 2009. In 2010, Oldman co-starred with Denzel Washington in The Book of Eli.
In 2011, Oldman portrayed master spy George Smiley in the adaptation of John le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011),and the role scored Oldman his first Academy Award nomination.
