Gary Oldman
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Categories: 1958 births | Alumni of Rose Bruford College | BAFTA winners (people) | English film actors | English film directors | English screenwriters | English stage actors | English television actors | Living people | People from London | People self-identifying as alcoholics | Saturn Award winners
Gary Leonard Oldman[1] (born March 21, 1958) is a critically acclaimed English actor and filmmaker.[2][3][4] He is well known for his portrayal of Count Dracula in 1992 blockbuster Dracula, with other notable film credits including State of Grace, True Romance, León, The Fifth Element, The Contender, Batman Begins and the Harry Potter film series. Oldman is noted for often portraying villainous and morally corrupt characters.[5] He has also portrayed a significant number of real-life historical figures on screen, such as Joe Orton, Lee Harvey Oswald, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Pontius Pilate and perhaps most notably, Sid Vicious, his portrayal of whom in 1986 biopic Sid & Nancy was listed as one of Premiere Magazine's "100 Greatest Performances of All Time".[6] Oldman has used a different speaking voice for practically every film role,[2] and is generally considered to be one of the most versatile actors of his generation.[7][8] In 1997 Oldman directed, produced, and wrote the award-winning Nil by Mouth, a movie partially based on his own childhood.[9]
BiographyEarly lifeOldman was born in Underwood, Nottinghamshire, England, the son of Kathleen, an Irish-born homemaker, and Len Oldman, a former sailor who worked as a welder.[10][11] Oldman has said that his father was an abusive alcoholic who left his family when Oldman was seven.[12] Oldman was an accomplished singer and pianist as a child, but gave up music to pursue an acting career.[13] His inspiration was Malcolm McDowell's performance in 1970 movie The Raging Moon.[14] In a 1995 interview with Charlie Rose, Oldman said: "Something about Malcolm [McDowell] just arrested me, and I connected, and I said 'I wanna do that'."[15] Oldman retained his love for music, however, and can be seen singing and playing piano in the 1988 movie Track 29, and tracing over pre-recorded versions of Beethoven's music in Immortal Beloved. TheatreOldman won a scholarship to the Rose Bruford College, where he received a BA in Drama in 1979. He had initially applied for enrollment into Britain's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, but was refused entry. Oldman told Charlie Rose in 1995[15] that he was told to "find something else to do for a living". Rose, surprised, asked jokingly, "Have you reminded them of this?", to which Oldman replied that "the work speaks for itself." Following his graduation from Rose Bruford College, he later studied with the Greenwich Young People's Theatre and went on to appear in a number of stage plays including The Pope's Wedding, for which he received Time Out's Fringe Award for Best Newcomer of 1985–1986 and the British Theatre Association's Drama Magazine Award as Best Actor of 1985. MusicOldman appeared on Reeves Gabrels' album The Sacred Squall of Now, performing a duet with David Bowie on the track "You've Been Around".[16] Film career1980sImage:Oldmanassid.jpg
Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious.
After graduating from drama school in 1979, Oldman spent almost eight years in theater, winning various awards. During this time he appeared in several minor television films such as Remembrace (1982) and Morgan's Boy (1984). In 1986 he won his first starring role as the Sex Pistols' ill-fated bassist Sid Vicious in the 1986 motion picture Sid & Nancy. The role launched Oldman's career and paved the way for work in Hollywood. Oldman's performance was highly regarded by many, perhaps most notably ex-Sex Pistols vocalist John Lydon, who despite questioning the authenticity of some parts of the film, said of Oldman in his biography: "The chap who played Sid, Gary Oldman, I thought was quite good", and later called him a "bloody good actor".[17] Oldman reportedly lost considerable weight for the role and was briefly hospitalised.[18] His portrayal was ranked #62 on Premiere Magazine's "100 Greatest Performances of All Time."[6] Oldman starred in another real-life portrayal the following year, portraying playwright Joe Orton in the 1987 film Prick Up Your Ears. He played a violent football hooligan in The Firm (1988), and starred opposite Christopher Lloyd in Track 29 the same year. Oldman's first foray into American cinema came later in 1988, when he played a troubled young Boston lawyer opposite real-life friend Kevin Bacon in Criminal Law. It marked the first time Oldman had performed on screen successfully using an American accent.[19] In late 1988, he starred opposite long-time hero[15] Alan Bates in We Think The World of You, and alongside Dennis Hopper and Frances McDormand in Chattahoochee (1989). 1990sImage:Garyoldman1997.GIF
Oldman in 1997
In 1991, Oldman starred in what was at that point the most significant role of his career as alleged Presidential assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone's JFK. The following year, however, Oldman would reach new heights of fame. In arguably the most famous performance of his career, he starred as lovesick Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's romance-horror blockbuster Dracula. By far the most commercially successful film adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel,[20] it was a major box office success worldwide, and spawned various merchandise and video games.[21][22] Oldman's performance is regarded by many as a staple of the horror genre, and was recognised by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films as the best male performance of 1992, who awarded Oldman the prestigious Best Actor award.[23] The film established Oldman as a popular portrayer of villains in American cinema,[5] playing the role of the antagonist in films such as True Romance (1993), León (1994), Murder in the First (1995) and The Fifth Element (1997). Oldman also displayed a skill for world accents; along with Count Dracula, Oldman played German-born Vienese composer Ludwig Van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved, and Russian terrorist Ivan Korshunov in 1997 blockbuster Air Force One. He also appeared as a grinning demon in the 1993 promo video to the Guns'n'Roses single Since I Don't Have You. 2000sImage:Gary oldman 11.jpg
Oldman recording a voice role for The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning, 2006
Oldman appeared opposite Jeff Bridges as zealous Republican congressman Sheldon Runyon in The Contender (2000), in which he was also credited as a producer. He received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for his performance. The following year he starred opposite Anthony Hopkins in Hannibal, as Mason Verger, the only surviving victim of Hannibal Lecter. Oldman reportedly spent six hours per day in the make-up room to achieve the hideously disfigured appearance of the character.[24] It marked the second time Oldman had appeared opposite friend Anthony Hopkins, who was part of the supporting cast of Dracula. Oldman received an Emmy Award nomination for two guest appearances in Friends in 2001, appearing in the two-part episode "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding" as Richard Crosby, a pedantic actor who insists that "real" actors spit on one another when they enunciate, leading to the famous spitting scene between Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and himself. Oldman agreed to appear in the series after meeting LeBlanc on the set of Lost in Space in 1998. Oldman later landed a major role in the Harry Potter film series, playing Potter's godfather Sirius Black. Oldman and star Daniel Radcliffe reportedly became very close during the filming of the series.[25] In 2005, Oldman starred as James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's commercially and critically acclaimed Batman Begins, a role he is set to reprise in the forthcoming sequel The Dark Knight (2008). Oldman will reportedly be appearing in the 2009 version of A Christmas Carol.[26][27] He is also confirmed for the starring role in David Goyer's Holocaust-themed supernatural thriller Unborn, slated for a 2009 release.[28][29] Film-makingIn 1997, Oldman directed, produced, and wrote the award-winning Nil by Mouth, a movie partially based on his own childhood.[30] Nil By Mouth went on to win the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, a BAFTA Award (shared with Douglas Urbanski) and also the British Academy Award for Best Screenplay, the Channel 4 Director's Award, and the Empire Award, and was declared by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts as one of the one hundred best films of all time. Recently Nil By Mouth was listed by Time Out as number two of the top 50 best British films ever. Oldman and producing partner Douglas Urbanski formed the SE8 GROUP to produce Nil By Mouth. The company also produced The Contender, which also starred Oldman. He was also credited as a producer. Oldman has finished his latest screenplay, Chang & Eng, co-written with Darin Strauss, based on the author's book of the same name; SE8 Group will produce. In September 2006 Nokia, Nseries Studio[31] released the Oldman directed short Donut with music by Tor Hyams. The film was shot with an N93 in order to promote the phone. Oldman also directed the music video for "Red Rover", a song from Jewish Rap Group Chutzpah's 2nd CD "Hip Hop Fantasy," shot entirely on the N93. So it appears they did know him after all! Cult statusOldman has long established a cult following among film fans, perhaps due to his apathetic stance on fame and fortune,[32] his versatile performances,[2] and affable real-life personna.[33] As well as a staggering number of fan-made tribute videos on YouTube,[34] Oldman remains one of the most popular portrayers of movie villains amongst film fans: his array of villainous roles, such as Count Dracula in Dracula, Zorg in The Fifth Element, Norman Stansfield in Léon, and Ivan Korshunov in Air Force One have seen a page dedicated entirely to him on the movievillains.com website.[5] In October 2007, movie website TheShiznit.co.uk ran a countdown of the "Top 20 Crazy Bastards" of cinema, citing the film title and character name for each. #6 on the countdown, however, was simply "Gary Oldman, period."[35] MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch also aired a match between Oldman and Christopher Walken to determine who was the greatest cinematic villain.[36] Additionally, Oldman's famous "spitting scene" with Matt LeBlanc during his appearance on Friends, where Oldman's character insists that "real" actors spit on one another when they enunciate, and the ensuing spitting confrontation between the two, has become one of the more popular cameos of the series, and saw Oldman receive an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.[37] Oldman's character also has to dispel Joey's belief that despite his formidable acting abilities, he has never won an Academy Award. This was perhaps a subtle knock on the much-questioned fact, among Oldman fans, that he has never been nominated for such an award, despite a number of critically acclaimed roles.[2] In 2006, fledgling Hip-hop group Chutzpah turned up at Oldman's home un-announced in order to ask him to talk up their CD, which was filmed for their DVD, Chutzpah, This Is?. Oldman's influence has often been cited by younger stars such as Daniel Radcliffe[38], Christian Bale[39][40] and in particular, Ryan Gosling, who cites Oldman as his all time favourite actor.[41][42][43] In contrast to his often dark-themed on-screen roles, Oldman's down-to-earth real-life nature is often cited in articles,[33] and he was recently named as one of Empire magazine's "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History."[44] Motion pictures starring Oldman as leading actor or supporting co-star have grossed over $1.8 billion at the United States box office, and over $4.6 billion worldwide.[45] CriticismOldman's acting style has occasionally been referred to as being excessive and over-the-top by critics,[46][47] which may perhaps be due to a long run of being casted as eccentric and outlandish villains,[5] something which he eventually grew tired of.[48][49] Oldman, however, is also noted for playing reserved, non-villainous roles such as in The Contender, Batman Begins, and Harry Potter film series.[50][51] ControversyIn 1991, Oldman was arrested for drunk driving along with friend and fellow actor Kiefer Sutherland.[52] After a string of alcohol-fuelled debacles he checked himself into Marworth treatment facility in Waverly, Pennsylvania for alcoholism treatment in 1993.[53] In subsequent interviews Oldman acknowledged his problems with alcohol and called himself a "recovering" alcoholic on a 2001 interview with Charlie Rose.[15] In 2001, former wife Donya Fiorentino claimed that Oldman had a drug habit and subjected her to domestic abuse,[54] a claim which was investigated by the family courts, child custody evaluator, the police, and Los Angeles city attorney—Oldman was awarded legal custody of their children; Fiorentino was granted short court-monitored visits. As of 2007, Oldman lives a teetotal lifestyle and attributes his success in beating his addiction to Alcoholics Anonymous, and has since publicly praised the organization.[55] It has been said that Winona Ryder and Oldman did not get along while filming Dracula.[56] Director Francis Ford Coppola said: "The issue was not only that they did not get along... they got along and then one day they didn't – absolutely didn't get along. None of us were privy to what had happened." False rumours of an affair between the two also circulated in the media in 1992.[57] Ryder has since been complimentary of Oldman,[56] praising his acting talents and has conversed and had photos taken with Oldman at social events.[58] In late 2000, Oldman gave controversial interviews expressing his disdain for Dreamworks studio heads, who he felt had used their sway to have The Contender edited to reflect their Democratic affiliation, thus resulting in a politically biased product.[59] Oldman stated on the Charlie Rose show[15] that he felt his character, Republican congressman Sheldon Runyon, was the true patriot of the film and that it was no co-incidence that the product was released shortly before a Presidential election. Oldman stated in the same interview that he had had "more than my wrist slapped" for expressing his sentiments in previous interviews. Personal lifeDespite numerous lead and supporting roles in major Hollywood productions, Oldman is intensely private with his personal life and is known for his stance on celebrity and the ideals of Hollywood, once stating that "being famous, that's a whole other career. And I haven't got any energy for it."[32] Oldman was born and raised in London, England, but moved to the United States in the early 1990s.[60] He currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his young family.[61] Oldman has been married three times:
He has three sons: Alfie (b. 1988) from his marriage to Manville, Gulliver Flynn (b. Aug 20, 1997) and Charlie John (b. Feb 1999) from his marriage to Fiorentino.[62] His sister, Laila Morse, is also an actress, best known as Mo Harris in the BBC's long-running series EastEnders. Filmography
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