Gary Oldman

Actors

Gary Leonard Oldman (born March 21, 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation, he is known for his versatility and intense acting style. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Winston Churchill in Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour (2017), with Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Ben Mendelsohn, Stephen Dillane, and Ronald Pickup; and was also nominated for his portrayals of George Smiley in Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), with Colin Firth, Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ciarán Hinds, David Dencik, and Kathy Burke; and Herman J. Mankiewicz in David Fincher‘s Mank (2020), with Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Arliss Howard, Tom Pelphrey, Sam Troughton, Ferdinand Kingsley, Tuppence Middleton, Tom Burke, Joseph Cross, Jamie McShane, Toby Leonard Moore, Monika Gossmann, and Charles Dance.

Oldman has received several other accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and three British Academy Film Awards. His films have grossed over $11 billion worldwide, making him one of the highest-grossing actors to date. He began acting in theatre in 1979 and made his film debut in Remembrance (1982), with Timothy Spall, Lisa Maxwell, and John Altman. He continued to lead a stage career, during which he performed at London’s Royal Court and was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, with credits including Cabaret, Romeo and Juliet, Entertaining Mr Sloane, Saved, The Country Wife and Hamlet.

He rose to prominence in British film with his portrayals of Sid Vicious in Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy (1986), with Chloe Webb; Joe Orton in Stephen Frears‘s Prick Up Your Ears (1987), with Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, and Wallace Shawn; and Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), with Tim Roth, Richard Dreyfuss, Iain Glen, Ian Richardson, Joanna Miles, and Donald Sumpter; while also garnering attention as the leader of a gang of football hooligans in the controversial TV movie The Firm (1989), with Lesley Manville, Phil Davis, Charles Lawson, and Steve McFadden.

Other roles during this period include Nicholas Roeg’s Track 29 (1988), with Theresa Russell, Colleen Camp, Sandra Bernhard, Seymour Cassel, and Christopher Lloyd; We Think the World of You (1988), with Alan Bates; Martin Campbell’s Criminal Law (1989), with Kevin Bacon, Tess Harper, Karen Young, Joe Don Baker; and Chattahoochee (1989), with Dennis Hopper, Frances McDormand, Pamela Reed, Ned Beatty, M. Emmet Walsh.

Regarded as a member of the “Brit Pack” (which included Rupert Everett, Miranda Richardson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth, Spencer Leigh, Paul McGann, Bruce Payne, and Roth), he achieved greater recognition as a New York gangster in State of Grace (1990), with Sean Penn, Robin Wright, John Turturro, and John C. Reilly; Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone‘s JFK (1991), with Kevin Costner, Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones, Laurie Metcalf, Michael Rooker, Jay O. Sanders, Sissy Spacek, and John Candy; and Count Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992), with Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, Keanu Reeves, Richard E. Grant, Cary Elwes, Tom Waits, and Monica Bellucci.

Oldman went on to portray the villain in films such as Tony Scott’s True Romance (1993), with Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, James Gandolfini, Hopper, Michael Rapaport, Bronson Pinchot, Samuel L. Jackson, Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, and Christopher Walken; Luc Besson’s Léon: The Professional (1994), with Jean Reno, Natalie Portman, and Danny Aiello; The Fifth Element (1997), with Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker; and Wolfgang Petersen‘s Air Force One (1997), with Harrison Ford, Wendy Crewson, Xander Berkeley, William H. Macy, Dean Stockwell, and Paul Guilfoyle.

Other notable films from this period include Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), with Lena Olin, Annabella Sciorra, Juliette Lewis, and Roy Scheider; Bernard Rose’s Immortal Beloved (1994), with Jeroen Krabbé, Isabella Rossellini, Johanna ter Steege, Valeria Golino; Murder in the First (1995), with Slater, Bacon, Embeth Davitz, Brad Dourif, Macy, and R. Lee Ermey; The Scarlett Letter (1995), with Demi Moore, Robert Duvall, Robert Prosky, Edward Hardwicke, Joan Plowright; Julian Schnabel’s Basquait (1996), with Jeffrey Wright, David Bowie, Hopper, Benicio del Toro, Claire Forlani, and Michael Wincott; and Lost in Space (1998), with William Hurt, Matt LeBlanc, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert, Jack Johnson, and Jared Harris.

Films in the 2000s include Ridley Scott‘s Hannibal (2001), with Anthony Hopkins, Julianne Moore, Ray Liotta, Frankie R. Faison, Giancarlo Giannini, and Francesca Neri; Interstate 60 (2002), with James Marsden, Amy Smart, Christopher Lloyd, Chris Cooper and Kurt Russell; Matthew Bright’s Tiptoes (2003), with Kate Beckinsale, Arquette, Matthew McConaughey, and Peter Dinklage; Dead Fish (2005), with Robert Carlyle, Andrew-Lee Potts and Elena Anaya; The Backwoods (2006), with Virginie Ledoyen, Paddy Considine, and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón; and The Unborn (2009), with Odette Yustman, Meagan Good, Cam Gigandet, James Remar, Jane Alexander, and Idris Elba

Oldman appeared in franchise roles such as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, with Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, among others; James Gordon in Christopher Nolan‘s Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012), with Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Liam Neeson, Heath Ledger, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, among others; and a human leader, Dreyfus in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), with Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Other films in the 2010s include The Book of Eli (2010), with Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals, Frances de la Tour, and Gambon; Red Riding Hood (2011), with Seyfried, Billy Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas, and Julie Christie; Girls, Guns and Gambling (2011), with Slater, Megan Park, Helena Mattsson, Tony Cox, Chris Kattan, Powers Boothe, Michael and Eddie Spears, and Jeff Fahey; Lawless (2012), with Shia LaBeouf, Hardy, Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, and Guy Pearce; Paranoia (2013), with Liam Hemsworth, Amber Heard, Ford, Lucas Till, Davidtz, Julian McMahon, Josh Holloway, and Dreyfuss; and RoboCop (2014), with Joel Kinnaman, Michael Keaton, Jackson, Abbie Cornish, and Jackie Earle Haley.

Films in the mid to late 2010s include Child 44 (2015), with Hardy, Noomi Rapace, Kinnaman, Considine, Clarke, and Cassel; Man Down (2016), with LaBeouf, Jai Courtney, Kate Mara, and Clifton Collins Jr.; Criminal (2016), with Costner, Jones, Alice Eve, Gal Gadot, Michael Pitt, Jordi Mollà, Antje Traue, Scott Adkins, Amaury Nolasco, and Ryan Reynolds; The Space Between Us (2017), with Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, and Carla Gugino; The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017), with Reynolds, Jackson, Salma Hayek, Élodie Yung, Joaquim de Almeida, Kirsty Mitchell; Tau (2018), with Maika Monroe and Ed Skrein; Hunter Killer (2018), with Gerard Butler, Michael Nyqvist, Common, Linda Cardellini, and Toby Stephens; Killer’s Anonymous (2019), with Tommy Flanagan, Rhyon Nicole Brown, Jessica Alba, MyAnna Buring, Michael Socha, Tim McInnerny, and Sam Hazeldine; Mary (2019), with Emily Mortimer, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Stefanie Scott, Chloe Perrin, Douglas Urbanski, Jennifer Esposito, and Owen Teague; Steven Soderbergh‘s The Laundromat (2019), with Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, Jeffrey Wright, David Schwimmer, Matthias Schoenaerts, James Cromwell, and Sharon Stone; and The Courier (2019), with Olga Kurylenko, Amit Shah, Alicia Agneson, Greg Orvis, Craig Conway, William Moseley and Dermot Mulroney.

Films in the 2020s include Crisis (2021), with Armie Hammer, Evangeline Lilly, Greg Kinnear, Michelle Rodriguez, Luke Evans, Lily-Rose Depp, Scott Mescudi, and Martin Donovan; The Woman in the Window (2021), with Amy Adams, Anthony Mackie, Fred Hechinger, Wyatt Russell, Brian Tyree Henry, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Moore.

Oldman has served as executive producer of various films such Plunkett & Macleane (1999), with Carlyle, Jonny Lee Miller, Liv Tyler, Ken Stott, Alan Cumming, and Gambon; The Contender (2000), with Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Slater, William Petersen, Philip Baker Hall, Saul Rubinek, and Sam Elliott; Nobody’s Baby (2001), with Skeet Ulrich, Radha Mitchell, and Mary Steenburgen; and Nil by Mouth (1997), with Ray Winstone; the latter of which he also wrote and directed. He has also featured in television shows such as Fallen Angels, Tracey Takes On… and Friends. TV movies include Mike Leigh’s Meantime (1983), with Roth, Marion Bailey, Phil Daniels, and Pam Ferris; Heading Home (1991), with Joely Richardson, Stephen Dillane, and Stella Gonet; and Jesus (1999), with Jeremy Sisto, Jacqueline Bisset, Armin Mueller-Stahl, and Debra Messing.

He’s also done voice acting in Quest for Camelot (1998), with Jessalyn Gilsig, Elwes, Eric Idle, Don Rickles, Jaleel White, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, Gabriel Byrne, and John Gielgud; Robert Zemeckis‘s A Christmas Carol (2009), with Jim Carrey, Firth, Bob Hoskins, Wright, and Elwes; Planet 51 (2009), with Dwayne Johnson, Biel, Justin Long, Seann William Scott, and John Cleese; and Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011), with Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Jackie Chan, Michelle Yeoh, Danny McBride, Dennis Haysbert, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Victor Garber.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

• Remembrance (1982) – directed by Colin Gregg
• Meantime (1983) – directed by Mike Leigh – TV movie
• Sid and Nancy (1986) – directed by Alex Cox
• Honest, Decent and True (1986) – directed by Les Blair – TV movie
• Prick Up Your Ears (1987) – directed by Stephen Frears
• Rat in the Skull (1987) – directed by Glyn Edwards & Max Stafford-Clark – TV movie
• Track 29 (1988) – directed by Nicolas Roeg
• We Think the World of You (1988) – directed by Colin Gregg
• The Firm (1989) – directed by Alan Clarke – TV movie
• Criminal Law (1989) – directed by Martin Campbell
• Chattahoochee (1989) – directed by Mick Jackson
• Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) – directed by Tom Stoppard
• State of Grace (1990) – directed by Phil Joanou
• Henry & June (1990) – directed by Philip Kaufman – credited as Maurice Escargot
• Heading Home (1991) – directed by David Hare – TV movie
• JFK (1991) – directed by Oliver Stone
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) – directed by Francis Ford Coppola
• True Romance (1993) – directed by Tony Scott
• Romeo Is Bleeding (1993) – directed by Peter Medak
• Léon: The Professional (1994) – directed by Luc Besson
• Immortal Beloved (1994) – directed by Bernard Rose
• Murder in the First (1995) – directed by Marc Rocco
• The Scarlet Letter (1995) – directed by Roland Joffé
• Basquiat (1996) – directed by Julian Schnabel
• The Fifth Element (1997)** – directed by Luc Besson
• Air Force One (1997) – directed by Wolfgang Petersen
• Nil by Mouth (1997) – director, writer, producer only
• Lost in Space (1998) – directed by Stephen Hopkins
• Quest for Camelot (1998)* – directed by Frederik Du Chau
• Plunkett & Macleane (1999) – directed by Jake Scott – executive producer only
• Jesus (1999) – directed by Roger Young – TV movie
• The Contender (2000) – Rod Lurie – also executive producer
• Nobody’s Baby (2001) – directed by David Seltzer – also producer
• Hannibal (2001) – directed by Ridley Scott
• Interstate 60 (2002) – directed by Bob Gale
• The Hire: Beat the Devil (2002) – directed by Tony Scott – short
• Tiptoes (2003) – directed by Matthew Bright
• Elf (2003)* – directed by Jon Favreau – uncredited
• Who’s Kyle? (2004) – directed by Gerald Emerick – short
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)* – directed by Alfonso Cuarón
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)* – directed by Mike Newell – cameo
• Batman Begins (2005)* – directed by Christopher Nolan
• Dead Fish (2005) – directed by Charley Stadler
• The Backwoods (2006) – directed by Koldo Serra
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)* – directed by David Yates
• The Dark Knight (2008)* – directed by Christopher Nolan
• The Unborn (2009) – directed by David S. Goyer
• Rain Fall (2009) – directed by Max Mannix
• A Christmas Carol (2009) – directed by Robert Zemeckis
• Planet 51 (2009) – directed by Jorge Blanco
• The Book of Eli (2010)* directed by Albert & Allen Hughes
• Countdown to Zero (2010) – Lucy Walker – narrator – documentary
• One Night in Turin (2010) – directed by James Erskine – narrator – focumentary
• Red Riding Hood (2011) – directed by Catherine Hardwicke
• Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)* – directed by Jennifer Yuh Nelson
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011)* – directed by David Yates – cameo
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) – directed by Tomas Alfredson
• Guns, Girls and Gambling (2011) – directed by Michael Winnick
• The Dark Knight Rises (2012)* – directed by Christopher Nolan
• Lawless (2012) – directed by John Hillcoat
• Paranoia (2013) – directed by Robert Luketic
• RoboCop (2014) – directed by José Padilha
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014) – directed by Matt Reeves
• Child 44 (2015) – directed by Daniel Espinosa
• Man Down (2016) – directed by Dito Montiel
• Criminal (2016) – directed by Ariel Vromen
• The Space Between Us (2017) – directed by Peter Chelsom
• The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017)* – directed by Patrick Hughes
• Darkest Hour (2017) – directed by Joe Wright
• Tau (2018) – directed by Federico D’Alessandro
• Hunter Killer (2018) – directed by Donovan Marsh
• Killers Anonymous (2019) – directed by Martin Owen
• Mary (2019) – directed by Michael Goi
• The Laundromat (2019) – directed by Steven Soderbergh
• The Courier (2019) – directed by Zackary Adler
• Mank (2020) – directed by David Fincher
• Crisis (2021) – directed by Nicholas Jarecki
• The Woman in the Window (2021) – directed by Joe Wright