Age: 68
male
Sir Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an British-American 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.
Gary Oldman
General Wellington
for General Wellington in Corpse Bride
Suggested by nickienicks
This live-action remake of Corpse Bride, directed by Guillermo del Toro, reimagines the stop-motion classic as a breathtakingly macabre, practical-effects-heavy gothic fairy tale (Guillermo del Toro). The film masterfully splits its visual identity into two contrasting worlds. The Land of the Living is a rigid, suffocating Victorian town rendered in an ultra-matte, bloodless color palette of chalky white skin tones, charcoal tailcoats, and suffocating, high-collared gowns that mirror the social desperation of the nouveau-riche Van Dorts and the icy, aristocratic decay of the Everglots. Here, the repressed, melancholic Victor (Connor Storrie) accidentally binds himself to the afterlife during a botched rehearsal when he places a wedding band onto what he believes is a gnarled tree branch.In stark contrast, the Land of the Dead explodes onto the screen in a vibrant, bioluminescent spectacle. Bathed in a stark green cinematic glow, the underworld is a chaotic cabaret of hyper-realistic skeletal prosthetics and eccentric, larger-than-life characters. Olivia Rodrigo delivers a tragic, magnetic performance as Emily, the Corpse Bride, cascading in vibrant turquoise locks and a tattered, water-logged wedding gown. This world thrives on theatrical dark comedy, populated by a jazz-club big band led by the bare-boned Bonejangles (Sterling K. Brown) belting out brassy anthems, alongside a miniature, dueling military duo composed of a bombastic royal blue General Bonesapart (Ralph Fiennes) and a comically slow-witted, red-coated General Wellington (Gary Oldman). Driven by Jane Goldman’s sharp, emotionally sincere screenplay and Danny Elfman’s indispensable, whimsical score, the film evolves from a spooky comedy of errors into a visually stunning, bittersweet romance. It balances the suffocating prisons of high-society greed against the joyful, liberated chaos of the underworld, culminating in a spectacular, heartbreaking sacrifice.
