He was born in London, England as Leonard Gary Oldman to a welder and a homemaker. When he was older, he won a scholarship to Britain's Rose Bruford Drama College, where he received a BA in Theatre Arts in 1979. He later studied with the Greenwich Young People's Theatre and went on to appear in a number of plays throughout the early 80s, including The Pope's Wedding, for which he received Time Out's Fringe Award for Best Newcomer of 1985-1986 and The British Theatre Association's Drama Magazine Award as Best Actor of 1985.
He first appeared on the screen in the film Remembrance in 1982, going on the win his first starring role in Sid and Nancy in 1986 in which he played the rocker Sid Vicious. He has played a variety of characters including Dracula, Ludwig van Beethoven, Lee Harvey Oswald and Pontius Pilate.
In 1997 he directed, produced, and wrote Nil by Mouth, partially based on his life, which went on to win the Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film, a BAFTA Award, the Channel 4 Director's Award, and the Empire Award, and was declared by the British Film Academy as one of the 100 best films of all time.
Paradoxically, British singer Gary Numan is 13 days older than Gary Oldman.
Films, and Oldman's character: