Gary Oldman Biography

Gary Oldman wowed audiences playing punk rocker Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy (1986) and playwright Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987), then matured into a respectable character actor and leading man who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in the 2017 movie The Darkest Hour.

He had previously been nominated as best actor for 2011’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.

Considered by many to be one of the best actors of his generation, Oldman has played a wide variety of roles over the years, reliably playing hellraisers and villains with exuberance.

He is best known for such films as JFK (1991, as Lee Harvey Oswald), Bram Stoker‘s Dracula (1992, as Dracula), Air Force One (1997, with Harrison Ford), The Fifth Element (1997, with Bruce Willis) and Hannibal (2001, with Anthony Hopkins).

During the 2000s, he played Sirius Black in the film versions of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter books: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004, starring Daniel Radcliffe), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005, with Emma Watson), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007, with Rupert Grint), and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011).

His other films include Criminal Law (1988, with Kevin Bacon), True Romance (1993, with Christian Slater) and Immortal Beloved (1994, as Beethoven).

Comics-oriented audiences know him as Gotham City’s best cop, Jim Gordon, in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (2005 and 2008, starring Christian Bale).