Gary Oldman

AKA Leonard Gary Oldman

Born: 21-Mar-1958

Birthplace: New Cross, South London, England



Gender: Male

Race or Ethnicity: White

Sexual orientation: Straight

Occupation: Actor

Nationality: England

Executive summary: Sid Vicious in Sid and Nancy

Gary Oldman is a British actor, famous for his rogue's gallery of demented film characters. Oldman was Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, and Pontius Pilate in Jesus. He was Sid Vicious in Sid & Nancy, subversive gay playwright Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears, the murderous Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a drug-addicted DEA agent who loved Beethoven in The Professional (aka Leon), and a bitter Beethoven in Immortal Beloved. In True Romance, Oldman played a white gangster who seemed to think he was black, and in Hannibal he played a wheelchair-bound murderer with no eyelids, lips, or nose.

Oldman's father was a machinist and seaman with a fondness for the bottle, and his parents divorced when he was a grade-schooler. Many years later, Oldman wrote and directed his unpleasant masterpiece Nil By Mouth, dedicated to his father and clearly inspired by him. Raised by his mother and two older sisters, young Oldman taught himself to play the piano, though the family didn't have one, by laying out cardboard 'keys' on the kitchen table. Oldman says he "was marvelous on the silent keyboard", but he decided he'd be a better actor than pianist.

At 15 he signed on with the Greenwich Young People's Theater, and at 17 he applied at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but was rejected. He studied instead at the Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama in Kent, and within a few years he was on stage in London's West End. His first film work was a small part in the BBC TV movie Remembrance (1982), and his first leading role was in Sid & Nancy, four years after. To research that role and completely capture the over-the-top singer's personality, Oldman hung out with Vicious's mother, as well as with heroin addicts. He also lost thirty pounds (which led to a brief hospitalization), and taught himself to play a Fender bass. That was really Oldman singing "My Way" and "I Wanna Be Your Dog" in Sid & Nancy.

He was arrested for drunk driving in 1991, and checked himself into an extended rehab program in 1995. Booze has been a key factor in the end of most of Oldman's romantic relationships. Oldman met his future ex-wife, Donya Fiorentino, at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. In the divorce case, she maintained he'd beaten her and had serious drug and alcohol addictions. In subsequent custody trials she's testified that their son Charlie says he's beaten him.

Oldman says he's uncomfortable with Hollywood-style schmoozing, and his disinterest in doing publicity has cost him several roles. At his agent's suggestion, he once briefly hired a publicist and spent several weeks doing the talk show circuit, but couldn't stand it.

Father: (welder-alcoholic; d. 1984)

Mother: Kathleen Oldman

Sister: Laila Morse (actress, EastEnders; b. 1-Aug-1945)

Wife: Lesley Manville (actress, Other People's Children, div.)

Son: Alfred Oldman (b. 1988)

Wife: Uma Thurman (actress, m. Oct-1990, div. 1992)

Girlfriend: Isabella Rossellini (actress, Blue Velvet, engaged Jul-1994, sep. 1996)

Wife: Donya Fiorentino (photographer; m. 16-Feb-1997; div. 13-Apr-2001)

Daughter: Phelix Imogen Fincher (step-daughter, b. Apr-1994, Fiorentino's from a previous marriage)

Son: Gulliver Flynn Oldman (b. 20-Aug-1997)

Son: Charlie John Oldman (b. Feb-1999)

Girlfriend: Ailsa Marshall (model-actress)



University: BA Theatre Arts, Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama (1979)



unknown detox facility 1994

Driving While Intoxicated Los Angeles, with passenger Kiefer Sutherland (8-Aug-1991)

Alcoholics Anonymous

Risk Factors: Alcoholism



FILMOGRAPHY AS DIRECTOR

Nil by Mouth (8-May-1997)



FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR

Hunter Killer (19-Oct-2018)

Tau (29-Jun-2018) [VOICE]

Darkest Hour (1-Sep-2017)

The Hitman's Bodyguard (10-Aug-2017)

The Space Between Us (1-Feb-2017)

Criminal (5-Apr-2016)

Child 44 (15-Apr-2015)

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (26-Jun-2014)

Robocop (30-Jan-2014)

Paranoia (15-Aug-2013)

Guns, Girls and Gambling (5-Sep-2012)

The Dark Knight Rises (19-Jul-2012)

Lawless (19-May-2012)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (5-Sep-2011) · George Smiley

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (7-Jul-2011) · Sirius Black

Kung Fu Panda 2 (26-May-2011) · Shen [VOICE]

Red Riding Hood (10-Mar-2011) · Solomon

The Book of Eli (14-Jan-2010) · Carnegie

Planet 51 (14-Nov-2009) · Gen. Grawl [VOICE]

A Christmas Carol (3-Nov-2009) · Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, Marley

The Unborn (9-Jan-2009)

The Dark Knight (16-Jul-2008)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (3-Jul-2007)

BackWoods (18-May-2006) · Paul

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (6-Nov-2005)

Batman Begins (15-Jun-2005)

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (31-May-2004) · Sirius Black

Dead Fish (2004)

Sin (3-Dec-2003) · Charlie Strom

Tiptoes (8-Sep-2003) · Rolfe

Interstate 60 (13-Apr-2002)

Hannibal (9-Feb-2001) · Mason Verger

Nobody's Baby (21-Jan-2001) · Buford Dill

The Contender (10-Sep-2000) · Shelly Runyon

Jesus (25-Dec-1999)

Quest for Camelot (15-May-1998) [VOICE]

Lost in Space (3-Apr-1998)

Air Force One (25-Jul-1997) · Ivan Korshunov

The Fifth Element (9-May-1997) · Zorg

Basquiat (9-Aug-1996) · Albert Milo

The Scarlet Letter (13-Oct-1995) · Arthur Dimmesdale

Murder in the First (20-Jan-1995) · Associate Warden Glenn

Immortal Beloved (16-Dec-1994)

Léon the Professional (14-Sep-1994) · Stansfield

Romeo Is Bleeding (13-Sep-1993)

True Romance (10-Sep-1993)

Bram Stoker's Dracula (13-Nov-1992) · Dracula

JFK (20-Dec-1991) · Lee Harvey Oswald

Henry & June (28-Sep-1990)

State of Grace (14-Sep-1990)

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (12-Sep-1990) · Rosencrantz

Chattahoochee (16-Sep-1989) · Emmett Foley

We Think the World of You (16-Sep-1988) · Johnny

Criminal Law (15-Sep-1988) · Ben Chase

Track 29 (10-Sep-1988)

The Firm (1988)

Prick Up Your Ears (8-May-1987)

Sid and Nancy (7-Nov-1986) · Sid Vicious

Meantime (Feb-1984)







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