Gary Oldman: The Movies and TV Shows That Define His Career — From ‘Sid and Nancy’ to ‘Slow Horses’

A good actor can wear many hats, and the versatility of Gary Oldman proves he’s just that. The 66-year-old London-born star of stage and screen has brought to life countless characters, both fictional and based on real people, across several different genres. Whether it be Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols in the 1986 film Sid and Nancy , Winston Churchill in 2017’s Darkest Hour or James Gordon in The Dark Knight (2008), Gary Oldman has range. Read about his early life, career highs and recent projects.

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A young Gary Oldman takes an interest in the craft

At a mere 16 years old, Oldman said goodbye to the schoolyard, dropping out to work in a store. It wasn’t long after when acting moved into focus, as youth theater brought the hobby into focus, and soon enough, he was studying at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance in London, earning himself a theater degree.

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Like many English actors, Oldman found fame on the stage for much of his early career before making his screen debut in 1982’s Remembrance . However, it would be 1986’s Sid and Nancy that put him on people’s radar.

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From there, his fame only grew and before long, he was starring in major blockbusters.

Gary Oldman best movies

Throughout the 90s, Oldman brought to life characters like Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK (1991) and Dracula in Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Throughout the early 2000s, he could be seen in some of the biggest film series of the decade including the Harry Potter and Batman series.

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In 2011, he earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and in 2017, brought home the sought after award for his role of Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour . He was nominated again in 2020 for his role in Mank (2020).

What is Gary Oldman doing now?

These days, Oldman has found fame on the small screen in Apple TV+’s hit series, Slow Horses . He plays the part of Jackson Lamb, who leads a team of MI5 Agents with less-than-stellar track records as they await re-assignment in the wake of their mistakes. His portrayal of the character, though brutish, has become celebrated since the show’s inception.

While Oldman isn’t exactly known for his television work, he’s found his foray into the medium to be extremely fulfilling. “ Early on, there was a sort of snobbishness , wasn’t there, about television?” he explained to The Wrap . “You were either a movie actor or you were a television actor. And like theater people who looked down on movie actors, the movie actors looked down on TV actors. Even though there were great one-offs on television, we tended to look down on television.” He continued, “Now everybody wants to get in the game. They all want a show. We’re in this golden age of it now, aren’t we?”

Watch season four of Slow Horses on Apple TV+, September 4.

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