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After being rejected for admission into Britain's Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he won a scholarship to the Rose Bruford College, where he received a BA in Drama in 1979. 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. Oldman first appeared on screen in the film Remembrance in 1982. His first starring role came in Sid and Nancy. He has become known for playing eccentrics and for his mastery of accents. He has played a variety of famous characters including Dracula, Ludwig van Beethoven, Lee Harvey Oswald, Commissioner Gordon, Dr. Zachary Smith, Shakespeare's Rosencrantz, Sirius Black, Pontius Pilate, and the Devil.
Oldman has long established a cult following among film fans, perhaps due to his apathetic stance on fame and fortune, his versatile performances, and affable real-life persona. As well as a staggering number of fan-made tribute videos on Youtube Oldman remains one of the most popular portrayers of movie villains amongst film fans: his array of villainous roles, such as Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg in The Fifth Element, Norman Stansfield in Leon, and Ivan Korshunov in Air Force One have seen a page dedicated entirely to him on the movievillains.com website. MTV's Celebrity DeathMatch also aired a match between Oldman and Christopher Walken to determine who was the greatest cinematic villain. Oldman's famous "spitting scene" with Matt LeBlanc during his appearance on Friends, where Oldman's character insists that "real" actors spit on one another when they enunciate. The ensuing spitting confrontation between the two, has become one of the more popular cameos of the series, and saw Oldman receive an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series. Oldman's character also has to dispel Joey's belief that despite his formidable acting abilities, he has never won an Acadeny Award. This was perhaps a subtle knock on the much-questioned fact, among Oldman fans, that he has never been nominated for such an award, despite a number of critically acclaimed roles. Younger stars cite Oldman's influence such as Daniel Radcliffe, Shia LaBeouf,Christian Bale and in particular, Ryan Gosling who cites Oldman as his all time favourite actor. Oldman has also received much acclaim from critics over the years for his diversity of roles and mastery of world accents. Revered film critic Roger Ebert has long been a fan of Oldman's work, hailing him as "one of the great actors, able to play high, low, crass, noble",while Janet Maslin called him a "phenomenal" actor who "since Sid and Nancy has taken on a string of new accents and dramatic identities with stunning ease.''Oldman's acting style has, however, occasionally been referred to as being excessive and over-the-top by some critics.This may perhaps be in part due to a long run of being cast as eccentric and outlandish villains, something of which he eventually grew tired. In contrast to his often dark-themed on-screen roles, Oldman's down-to-earth real-life nature is often cited in articles,and he was recently named as one of Empire magazine's "100 Sexiest Stars in Film History.Motion pictures starring Oldman as leading actor or supporting co-star have grossed over $2.1billion at the United States box office, and over $5.2 billion worldwide.
| VITAL STATS | | Full Name: Leonard Gary Oldman | | Height:5' 9" (1.75 m) | | Nickname(s): Gaz, Quick Change | | Notable feature(s): His characters are usually borderline psychotics. | | Education: BA Theatre Arts, Rose Bruford School of Speech and Drama (1979) | | Family: Mother Kathleen, Sister Laila, Sons Alfred, Gulliver and Charlie | | Resides in: Los Angeles | Other: Uses a different accent in every single movie he's ever done (except for sequels).
Considered a career in music.
Actor Ryan Gosling lists Oldman as his favorite actor. | | |
yona71posted 32 days ago
