Gary Leonard Oldman (Eng. Gary Leonard Oldman) - British actor, director, producer and musician.
Oldman became famous after starring in the films "Sid and Nancy" and "Prick Up Your Ears", after which film critic Roger Ebert called Oldman "the best young British actor of our time." In the 1990s, the actor starred in many popular films, usually playing dark and morally ambiguous characters. In the 2000s, Oldman took part in the filming of two successful franchises, roles that have become strongly associated with his name. In the Harry Potter series, he played the wizard Sirius Black, and in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy, he appeared on screen as the incorruptible police officer James Gordon. Throughout Oldman's creative career, the attention of critics and audiences was also drawn to his work in the films "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead", "John F. Kennedy. Shots in Dallas", "Dracula", "Leon", "The Fifth Element", "Airplane president", "Spy, get out!" and others. The actor is known as a master of disguise, able to create an image of both a highly positive character and a scoundrel with equal ease.
Oldman won his only career Oscar nomination for his role as British MI6 agent George Smiley in the thriller Get Out Spy!
Place of Birth. Education. Gary Oldman was born March 21, 1958 in London. Mother - Kathleen Cheriton - a housewife of Irish origin. Father - Leonard Bertram Oldman - a sailor in the past, worked as a welder. Lived with his mother and two sisters since his father left the family when Gary was 7 years old.
As a child he played the piano and sang. As a child, Gary was fond of music and wanted to become a singer or pianist, but soon left music for an acting career. In 1974 Oldman graduated from South East London Boys' School in Deptford, London.
Film career. After graduating from Rose Bruford College Theater School with a bachelor's degree in 1978, Oldman took a job with Greenwich Young People's Theatre, where he won several awards in nearly nine years, including the Time Out's Fringe Award for Best Newcomer and the British Theater Association's Award. Drama Magazine Award for Best Actor.
In 1986, he got his first significant role - in the project "Sid and Nancy" he played the bassist of the Sex Pistols. For this role, Oldman lost a lot of weight, and he even had to be hospitalized. Oldman's performance in this film paved his way to Hollywood, garnering a huge amount of accolades, including from former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon, who in his memoirs called him "a damn good actor."
After the film "Sid and Nancy" Oldman came to popularity. He begins acting in cult films: the role of playwright Joe Orton (film "Prick Up Your Ears").
The roles of the 90s are considered successful for Oldman's career. In 1991, Oliver Stone invited Oldman to play the role of Lee Harvey Oswald in his famous film "John F. Kennedy. Shots in Dallas." The following year, the actor played in the film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. In fact, Oldman played two roles - the young handsome Vlad Tepes and his own, transformed into a vampire, Count Dracula. At the box office, the film was commercially successful, grossing over $215 million worldwide. Oldman's acting was praised by many respected film critics. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films presented the actor with a Saturn Award for Best Movie Actor.
Since that time, Oldman is considered the best actor who brings to life the images of the greatest villains. He later played a pimp in True Love (1993), a corrupt DEA officer in Leon (1994), a tyrant in The Fifth Element (1997).
In 2000, Oldman appeared as zealous Republican Congressman Sheldon Ryan in the film The Contender (he also acted as the film's director).
In 2001, he worked in the film "Hannibal" - played Mason Vergerio - the only living victim of Hannibal Lecter. He spent 6:00 a day in the dressing room in order to achieve the necessary resemblance to the hero.
In the same year, he received an Emmy Award for a cameo role in the TV series Friends. He played Richard Crosby, a pedantic actor who taught Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc).
After the release of "Hannibal" in February 2001 and until the beginning of 2004, Oldman did not star in a single feature film. During this period, the actor played in the films "Route 60" and "Little Fingers", which were almost unnoticed by film critics, and also voiced several video games.
In 2004, Oldman's luck returned in the form of the Harry Potter film series, where he played Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. During filming, Oldman and actor Daniel Radcliffe, who played the wizard himself, became good friends.
In 2005, the actor received an offer to play in Christopher Nolan's new project "Batman Begins", where he was destined for the role of Police Commissioner James Gordon. The film collected a large box office worldwide and was positively received by film critics. In 2008, Nolan directed an even more successful sequel, The Dark Knight, which earned over a billion dollars in worldwide box office and rave press. The role of Oldman also did not go unnoticed: the actor received Scream Awards and People's Choice Awards. Gary Oldman returned as Commissioner James Gordon in the final installment of the Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, which was released in 2012.
Together with Jim Carrey in 2009 he worked on a new version of the film "A Christmas Carol" ("A Christmas Carol"), where he played three roles. He was also approved for a role in the thriller The Unborn, released in 2009.
In the mid-2010s, Oldman appeared in several films that received poor critical and box office reviews: War (2015), Outlaw (2016) and The Space Between Us (2017); the latter film was considered the low point of Oldman's career by The Times reviewer. In 2017, he portrayed the dictator of Belarus in the action comedy Killer's Bodyguard.
On September 5, 2011, at the 68th Venice Film Festival, Thomas Alfredson's detective thriller "Spy Get Out!" premiered. Based on the novel by John Le Carre, where Oldman played the role of George Smiley.
In Joe Wright's Darkest Hour (2017), Oldman played Winston Churchill at the start of World War II. Immediately after the premiere, many critics called the British actor, almost unrecognizable in the make-up created by Katsuhiro Tsuji, the favorite of the Oscar race.
Directing. In 1997, Gary Oldman directed the semi-autobiographical drama Don't Swallow, which was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 50th Cannes Film Festival. The film received two BAFTA awards in the categories "Best British Film" and "Best Original Screenplay". The British Film Institute included the picture in the list of the hundred best British films of the 20th century, certifying Oldman's directorial debut as "stunning".
To produce Do Not Swallow, Oldman formed the SE8 Group with friend Douglas Urbansky, through which the actor would later release several films.
In addition to directing the feature film, Gary Oldman directed two videos: "Red Rover" for a song by Jewish rap group Chutzpah and "Kiss Me Like the Woman You Loved" for a song by his wife Alexandra Edenborough.
Music. Gary Oldman showed interest in music from an early age. He was fond of playing the piano and in an interview with Charlie Rose admitted that he would rather become a musician than an actor. Oldman taught his friend Daniel Radcliffe how to play the bass guitar.
For the soundtrack to the film "Sid and Nancy" Oldman recorded two songs previously performed by Sid Vicious himself: "My Way", which is a cover version of an old Frank Sinatra hit, and "I Wanna Be Your Dog", an arrangement of the famous proto-punk composition The Stooges. The actor also collaborated with David Bowie on the song "You've Been Around", included in the 1995 album "The Sacred Squall of Now" by musician Reeves Gabrels. In 2013, he appeared in Bowie's music video for the song "The Next Day" from the album of the same name, where he played the role of a priest.
Personal life. Gary Oldman was married five times: to actress Lesley Manville (1987-1990); on actress Uma Thurman (1990-1992); on the photographer Don Fiorentino (Eng. Donya Fiorentino; 1997-2001); on jazz singer Alexandra Edenborough (eng. Alexandra Edenborough; 2008-2015); on the writer Gisele Schmidt (Eng. Gisele Schmidt; since 2017).
The actor has four sons: Alfie (b. 1988, from Leslie Manville), Gulliver Flynn (b. 1997, from Doni Fiorentino), Charlie John (b. 1999, from Doni Fiorentino) and adopted with actress Isabella Rossellini Roberto (b. 1992).
03/19/2021