Gary Oldman

Gary Oldman is the actor who plays Sirius Black in the Harry Potter films. So far, he has appeared in Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, and Order of the Phoenix and Deathly Hallows: Part 2. He also did the voice for Sirius in the video-game adaption of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.

Acting career
Oldman made his first significant impact upon Hollywood when he was cast as Sid Vicious, the bassist of the Sex Pistols, in Alex Cox's Sid and Nancy (1986). He gained critical acclaim for the role, as did his next significant role – playwright Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987).

In 1990, he appeared with Tim Roth and Richard Dreyfuss in the Tom Stoppard comedy Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead. He also played Lee Harvey Oswald, the suspected assassin of John F. Kennedy, in Oliver Stone's 1991 drama JFK.

Oldman is best known portraying villains. Throughout the 1990s, he made appearances as villains in several blockbusters including Dracula (1992) with Anthony Hopkins; Leon (1994) with Jean Reno; Air Force One (1997) with Harrison Ford; The Fifth Element (1997) with Bruce Willis; and Lost in Space (1998) with William Hurt.

Having become acquainted with Matt LeBlanc on the set of Lost in Space, Oldman agreed to appear in a 2001 episode of the sitcom "Friends". The memorable two-part episode "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding" featured a much talked-about spitting scene between Oldman and LeBlanc, after Oldman's character claimed that "real" actors spat on each other when they enunciated. For his role, Oldman earned an Emmy Award nomination.

In 2003, he was cast as Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; he reprised the role in the following two films. And in 2005, he co-starred in Christopher Nolan's "Batman" reboot Batman Begins as James Gordon. He played Gordon a second time in the 2008 Oscar winning sequel The Dark Knight.

In 2009, Oldman played the roles of Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchit, and Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol, and in 2010, he played the role of Carnegie in The Book of Eli with Denzel Washington.

In 2011, Oldman reprised the role of Sirius Black in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. He also played George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (with John Hurt, Toby Jones, Ciarán Hinds, Simon McBurney, and Roger Lloyd-Pack), for which he earned the first Academy Award nomination of his career.

Personal life

 * Oldman has been married four times, most famously to Oscar nominated actress Uma Thurman—who co-starred with Ralph Fiennes in The Avengers—from 1990 to 1992. He is currently married to Alexandra Edenborough, since 2008.


 * He has three sons from two other marriages: Alfie (b. 1988) from his marriage to Lesley Manville, and Gulliver (b. 1997) and Charlie (b. 1999) from his marriage to Donya Fiorentino.

Behind the scenes

 * Gary gave Daniel Radcliffe a bass guitar as a gift when they first met.