Sir Gary Oldman’s Best Movies

The King finally did what Hollywood somehow stalled on for decades—he put a sword on Gary Oldman’s shoulder. About time, really. Because if there’s one actor who’s made a career out of slipping into skins like a shapeshifter in a three-piece suit, it’s him. Gary Oldman really dissolves into a role; until you’re not watching Oldman anymore, you’re watching Sid Vicious, Dracula, George Smiley, Commissioner Gordon, or, hell, Winston Churchill scowling through a cigar cloud.

Sixty-seven years in, a knackered liver of roles later, and Oldman’s finally “Sir Gary.” But for most of us, he’s been royalty for years.

Best Roles & Performances of Sir Gary Oldman

Here’s a look back at the roles that cemented Oldman as the ultimate actor’s actor.

Sid & Nancy (1986)

Oldman once said he almost didn’t take the role of Sid Vicious because he wasn’t that into punk. Thank God he did, because what came out was one of the most electrifying debuts in modern cinema. His Sid is messy, magnetic, tragic, and oddly romantic in a “two junkies against the world” way. You watch it now and it still reeks of cigarette smoke, piss-stained club floors, and doomed youth. Every actor since trying to play “punk” should study this and then go home.

Prick Up Your Ears (1987)

As Joe Orton, Oldman dialled it down and gave us the quiet, unsettling tension of a man too clever and too cocky for his own good. The chemistry with Alfred Molina's Kenneth Halliwell is devastating too. The movie is dark, sharp, and unforgettable.

JFK (1991)

If Oliver Stone’s film was a Rorschach test for conspiracy theorists, Oldman’s Lee Harvey Oswald was the ink blot that haunted the whole thing. He barely has that much screen time, but it doesn’t matter. The twitchy stillness, the paranoia that leaks through his pores—you buy him as a man who could kill a president or be the perfect patsy. It’s a small role but one one that left a mark.

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Francis Ford Coppola gave him the cape, and Oldman gave the world a Dracula that wasn’t just scary—it was sensual, operatic, and tragic. The costumes and wigs were insane, but under all that, Oldman played the vampire as a man hollowed out by love. One moment he’s a monster crawling on walls, the next he’s whispering heartbreak. He made Dracula hot again.

Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012)

Commissioner Gordon could’ve been wallpaper next to Batman, Joker, Bane, and the rest of Gotham’s lunatics. Instead, Oldman made him the trilogy’s beating heart. His Gordon is a weary, decent man trying to hold the line in a city gone mad—a dad, a cop, and the closest thing to moral gravity in Nolan’s universe. His monologue at the end of The Dark Knight? Still goosebumps. Oldman proved you don’t need the cape to be the hero.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

George Smiley is a cigarette burn in slow motion. He barely raises his voice in the entire film, yet it’s riveting. Watching him out-think everyone in the Circus is like watching a chess game in silence. It’s all in the eyes, the pauses, the tiny shifts. This was his first Oscar nomination, and it should’ve been the win. An actor flexing restraint as hard as others flex noise.

Darkest Hour (2017)

The Oscar finally came, buried under latex and Churchill’s bulldog jowls. It could’ve been hammy, but Oldman resisted the trap. His Churchill is bombastic, sure, but also brittle, funny, insecure—a man who drank his breakfast but could still rally a nation. It’s acting as alchemy: a complete disappearance into history. By the time he mutters “we shall fight on the beaches,” you don’t see Gary Oldman anymore. You see Britain itself refusing to die.

Mank (2020)

Where Churchill was prosthetic-heavy gravitas, Herman Mankiewicz was loose, boozy charisma. Oldman plays Mank as both genius and burnout, sharp-tongued and self-sabotaging. Fincher’s black-and-white ode to Hollywood could’ve been too reverent, but Oldman gives it edge, bitterness, and wit. It earned him another Oscar nom, proving that even in his sixties, he’s still swinging like the young punks he once played.

Léon: The Professional (1994)

Norman Stansfield is Oldman at his most operatic villainy. The crooked DEA agent is unpredictable—sometimes whispering like a snake, sometimes exploding with psychotic rage, all while popping pills like candy. The “EVERYONE!” scene is basically villain Hall of Fame. It’s exaggerated, yes, but in that heightened Luc Besson world, it fits perfectly. A masterclass in making madness magnetic.