Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman

Gary Leonard Oldman is an English actor and filmmaker. He has won an Academy Award, three British Academy Film Awards, two Critics’ Choice Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. His films have grossed over USD 11 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. He is regarded as a member of the ‘Brit Pack’

About Gary Oldman in brief

Summary Gary OldmanGary Leonard Oldman is an English actor and filmmaker. He has won an Academy Award, three British Academy Film Awards, two Critics’ Choice Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. His films have grossed over USD 11 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors of all time. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he is regarded as a member of the ‘Brit Pack’ Oldman was born in New Cross, London, on 21 March 1958. He is the son of Leonard Bertram Oldman, a former sailor who also worked as a welder, and Kathleen. His older sister, Maureen, is an actress better known as Laila Morse; she performed in Oldman’s directorial debut Nil by Mouth before taking on her most famous role of Mo Harris in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. Oldman has also featured in television shows such as Fallen Angels, Tracey Takes On… and Friends, as well as providing the voice of Viktor Reznov in the Call of Duty video games and appearing in music videos for artists such as David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, and Annie Lennox. His father represented Millwall after World War II: “Just after the war, ran a boarding house for football players—Millwall players. And I knew that my dad was involved somehow with the reserve team. But two weeks ago my mum said, ‘Oh yeah, your dad played for Millwall’s Young People’s team”’ ‘Oldman studied with the Young People’s Theatre in Greenwich during the mid-1970s, while working jobs on lines, as a porter in an operating room, and selling shoes in an abattoir.

He won a scholarship to attend the Rose Bruford College of Dramatic Art, which he graduated with a BA in Acting in 1979. He began acting in theatre in 1979 and made his film debut in Remembrance. He continued to lead a stage career, during which he performed at London’s Royal Court and was aMember of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with credits including Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Saved, The Country Wife, and Hamlet. He later appeared in franchise roles such as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, James Gordon in The Dark Knight Trilogy, and a human leader, Dreyfus in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. He portrayed George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, and eventually won the award for his role as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. He also played Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved, and later appeared as a New York gangster in State of Grace. He went on to portray the villain in films such as True Romance, The Fifth Element, Air Force One, and The Contender ; corrupt DEA agent Norman Stansfield, portrayed by Oldman in Léon: The Professional, has been ranked as one of cinema’s best villains.