Biographic - Sunday April 17, 2016 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Born in London on March 21, 1958, welder's son Gary Oldman won a scholarship to drama school, then spent the early years of his acting career honing his talent in the theater and on TV. He made his movie debut portraying punk rocker Sid Vicious in 1986's "Sid and Nancy" shedding so much weight to play the tragic Sex Pistols star that he ended up in the hospital! After his portrayal of playright Joe Orton in "Prick Up Your Ears" earned great acclaim, he made his Hollywood debut in 1989's taut thriller "Criminal Law" opposite Kevin Bacon. The likes of "State Of Grace" with Sean Pen, and "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" with Tim Roth and Richard Dreyfuss severed to underscore his versatility. The early 1990s saw Oldman undertake a series of diverse, high-profile roles. He portrayed assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Oliver Stone's controversial 1991 movie "JFK" took the title role in Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation of "Bram's Stoker's Dracula" and turned in an off-the-wall cameo in 1993's "True Romance." Subsequent roles included a corrupt lawman in "The Professional" the movie that launched the career of 13-year-old Natalie Portman- to Ludwig Van Beethoven in "Immortal Beloved" from a futuristic archvillain opposite Bruce Willis in "The Fifth Element" to Russian terrorist battling Harrison Ford's president in "Air Force One." He also starred with Anthony Hopkins in "Hannibal" played the nefarious Dr. Smith in a big-screen remake of TV's "Lost In Space" and portrayed Pontius Pilate in the 1999 tv movie "Jesus." He earned praise for his directoral deubut, the harrowing "Nil By Mouth" a film he also wrote and produced. In recent years, a new generation of film fans has been intorduced to Oldman through his role as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series and his portrayal of Commissioner Gordon in the Batman movies. He has also voiced a number of projects, from video games in the "Call Of Duty" and "Legend of Spyro" series to such animated movies as "A Christmas Carol" and "Kung Fu Panda 2" His starring role in 2011's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" earned him a best actor academy award nomination, and he went on to take major roles in the likes of "Robocop" and "Dawn Of The Planet Of Apes" His latest movie teams him up with Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones and "Criminal."

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