British stage actor Gary Oldman, otherwise known as Leonard Gary Oldman, is part of the Brits' answer to the eighties favorite Hollywood group the brat pack.
Oldman's peers, including colleagues Tim Roth and Daniel Day Lewis, were the Brit pack when they started showing up at Hollywood functions in the same decade. His group was in decided demand at the time with their ability to conquer things like the American accent, despite their British roots, and their adaptability to almost any role.
The now three-time divorcee stood out among his group though for his vision when it came to picking the right roles and never limiting himself to any stereotype. Known as one of the industry's actor's actor, Oldman was famous, almost before his time, for not limiting himself to serious roles no matter how outlandish the movie's premise might have been. Critics said he was always watchable. Colleagues bowed down to his unforgettable performances like Sid Vicious, Joe Orton, Beethoven, Dracula, Lee Harvey Oswald and the vicious Alcatraz warden in Murder In The First.
Long before Oldman came to America to discover stardom, he would perform, throughout his lifetime in less stellar places like South London's Hatcham Park Road's Sombrero Club or Britain's Rose Bruford Drama College, where he received a BA in Theatre Arts in 1979. It wasn't until he studied with the Greenwich Young People's Theatre and went on to appear in a number of plays throughout the early 1980s, including The Pope's Wedding that he abandoned England.
Stage made way for film and Oldman made his first film debut in the 1986 film Sid and Nancy where he played Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, picking up the Evening Standard Film Award as Best Newcomer. In 1988, he received a Best Actor nomination from the British Academy of Film and TV Arts for his portrayal of 60s playwright Joe Orton'. Other commanding roles for Oldman have included his part in the 1991 version of JFK and his portrayal of Ludwig Van Beethoven in the 1994 classic Immortal Beloved.