Gary Leonard Oldman (born March 21, 1958) is a critically acclaimed English actor and filmmaker. blank">http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000198/bio He is well known for his portrayal of _Count Dracula in 1992 blockbuster Dracula, with other notable film credits including State of Grace, True Romance, León, The Fifth Element, The Contender, Batman Begins and the Harry Potter film series. Oldman is noted for often portraying villainous and morally corrupt characters. oldman/" target="_blank">http://www.movievillains.com/archives/gary_oldman/ He has also portrayed a significant number of real-life historical figures on screen, such as _Joe Orton, Lee Harvey Oswald, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Pontius Pilate and perhaps most notably, Sid Vicious, his portrayal of whom in 1986 biopic Sid & Nancy was listed as one of Premiere Magazine's "100 Greatest Performances of All Time". show.cfm/content_id.23334/Movies" target="_blank">http://www.listology.com/content_show.cfm/content_id.23334/Movies Oldman has used a different speaking voice for practically every film role, and is generally considered to be one of the most versatile actors of his generation. http://www.nndb.com/people/550/000022484

In 1997 Oldman directed, produced, and wrote the award-winning _Nil by Mouth, a movie partially based on his own childhood.

Gary Oldman, the son of a welder and a homemaker, won a scholarship to Britain's Rose Bruford Drama College, where he received a B.A. in theatre arts in 1979. He subsequently 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 for 1985. His film debut was in the 1986 biopic Sid and Nancy (1986), wherein 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'. His ability to transform himself physically and his command of accents have allowed him to play a broad range of characters and a number of historical figures, including, in addition to those mentioned above, Lee Harvey Oswald (JFK (1991)) and Ludwig van Beethoven (Immortal Beloved (1994)).