Early life
Oldman was born Leonard Gary Oldman in New Cross, London,
to Len Oldman, a former sailor who worked as a welder,
and Kathleen, an Irish-born homemaker. Oldman later revealed
that his father was an abusive alcoholic. His sister,
Laila Morse, is also an actor.
Career
Oldman 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 and told
to "find something else to do for a living.".
Often quizzed about it in retrospect, his highly successful
career considered, he has stated 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.
Oldman first appeared on screen in the
film Remembrance in 1982, going on to win his first starring
role in Sid and Nancy (1986), in which he played the Sex
Pistols' ill-fated bassist Sid Vicious. He has played
a variety of famous characters including Count Dracula,
Ludwig van Beethoven, Joe Orton, Lee Harvey Oswald, James
Gordon, Dr. Zachary Smith, Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz,
Pontius Pilate, and the Devil. He has played many villains,
including a vampire (Bram Stoker's Dracula), a pimp (True
Romance), a disfigured pedophile (Hannibal), a futuristic
tyrant (The Fifth Element), a corrupt DEA officer (Léon),
a sadistic prison warden (Murder in the First), a terrorist
(Air Force One), a presidential assassin (JFK), and a
violent football hooligan (The Firm). He was cast as Sirius
Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Oldman has received more recent acclaim
in his recent films, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of
Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005),
and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007),
as well as the extremely successful Batman Begins (2005)
and the upcoming The Dark Knight (2008).
In 1997, he directed, produced, and wrote
Nil by Mouth, reportedly based on his life, but Oldman
himself later said that the movie was more biographical
than autobiographical[citation needed]. 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.
Oldman has finished his latest screenplay, Chang &
Eng, based on the novel by Darin Strauss, which SE8 Group
will produce. In September 2006 Nokia, Nseries Studioreleased
the Oldman directed short "[Donut]" (MPEG-4,
320x240 pixel, 23 MB) with music by Tor Hyams. The film
was shot with an N93 in order to promote the phone.
