People

Gary Oldman

Acting · follow into films and chains

Biography

Sir Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, he is known for his versatility and intense acting style. He received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild 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. Oldman began acting in theatre in 1979 and made his film debut in Remembrance (1982). He continued to follow a stage career in London's Royal Court. He 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 Sid and Nancy (1986), Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987) and Rosencrantz in Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990), while also attracting attention as the leader of a gang of football hooligans in the television film The Firm (1989). Regarded as a member of the "Brit Pack", he achieved greater recognition as a New York gangster in State of Grace (1990), Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991) and Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Oldman portrayed the villains in films such as True Romance (1993), The Fifth Element (1997), Air Force One (1997) and The Contender (2000); corrupt DEA agent Norman Stansfield, whom he played in Léon: The Professional (1994), was called one of cinema's best villains. He also played Ludwig van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved (1994). He later appeared in franchise roles such as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series, James Gordon in The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012) and a human leader, Dreyfus in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014). He won the Academy Award for Best Actor as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour (2017). He was nominated for his portrayals of George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) and Herman J. Mankiewicz in Mank (2020). Oldman was executive producer of films like The Contender, Plunkett & Macleane (1999) and Nil by Mouth (1997), the latter of which he also wrote and directed. He featured in television shows such as Fallen Angels, Tracey Takes On... and Friends, voiced Ignitius and Viktor Reznov, respectively, in The Legend of Spyro and Call of Duty video games and appeared in music videos for David Bowie, Guns N' Roses and Annie Lennox.

Notable films

Where to start

Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.

The Dark Knight

As Gordon

The Dark Knight Rises

As Commissioner Gordon

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

As Sirius Black

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

As Sirius Black

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

As Sirius Black

The Book of Eli

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Appears in a KinoChain journey

The Contender

Appears in a KinoChain journey

Chains

KinoChain journeys

Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.

Browse all chains

Love in the Ruins

From the Sex Pistols' collapse to the quiet ache of post-punk, a chain of films where rebellion and romance burn together, and the fallout is everything.

8 films

The Show Must Go On

From Freddie Mercury's operatic excess to the raw defiance of punk, this chain traces how cinema captures the transformative power of self-expression.

8 films

When Studios Marry: Films Born of Corporate Chaos

From the ashes of mergers and acquisitions come some of cinema's most fascinating experiments. This chain traces how boardroom decisions shaped the art on scree...

8 films

When the Sequel Outshines the Original

From gritty crime epics to mind-bending sci-fi, these sequels didn't just continue stories, they redefined them. Here's a chain of films that prove the second (...

8 films

The Weight of Command: Eight Faces of Authority

From courtroom to battlefield, from boardroom to the Oval Office, these eight performances explore the many masks of power and the human cost of wearing them.

8 films

Signals in the Ash

From a father's vigil to a robot's devotion, eight films trace the fragile threads that hold humanity together when the world falls quiet.

8 films

Love in the Time of Espionage

From Berlin to Buenos Aires, a journey through films where romance and espionage entwine, revealing the human cost of secrets.

7 films

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