Gary Oldman

Gary Leonard Oldman

(born 21 March 1958) is an English screen and stage actor, filmmaker and musician, noted for his chameleonic performances in diverse roles.^[2] Oldman made his film acting debut in 1982 and rose to prominence with his portrayals of Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy(1986) and Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987), receiving a Best Actor BAFTA Award nomination for that of Orton. Oldman's work in those films prompted pre-eminent US film critic Roger Ebert to hail him as "the best young British actor around."^[3] Oldman increased his profile by playing a football firm leader in The Firm (1989) and an Irish-American gangster in State of Grace (1990), and gained international fame with two blockbuster roles: Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991) and Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992), with the latter bringing him the Saturn Award for Best Actor.

Oldman subsequently became a popular casting choice for villains,^[2] starring as the antagonist of films such as True Romance (1993), Léon: The Professional (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), Air Force One (1997), and The Contender (2000), for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor; Norman Stansfield from Léon: The Professional has been named as one of cinema's greatest villains.^[4] Meanwhile, he played Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved (1994). During the 1990s, Oldman was spoofed on popular television shows, appeared in music videos and on magazine covers, and was dubbed by Empire as Hollywood's "psycho deluxe".^[5] He later earned greater renown as heroic characters like Sirius Black in Harry Potter films Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Goblet of Fire (2005), Order of the Phoenix(2007) and Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011); James Gordon in the Dark Knight trilogy (2005-2012); and George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), which brought him BAFTA- and Academy Award nominations in the Best Actor category.

Aside from film acting, Oldman is a Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Court Theatre alumnus who has appeared in many stage productions. He wrote and directed Nil by Mouth (1997), for which he won two BAFTA Awards (Best Original Screenplay and Best British Film) and was nominated for the Palme d'Or, and played an Emmy Award-nominated guest role in Friends in 2001. He has also performed on musical recordings alongside artists such as David Bowie and Glen Matlock. Oldman has garnered widespread critical, peer and audience respect throughout his career, and has been described as one of the greatest living actors.^[5]