Gary Oldman's 10 Best Movies And TV Shows

The best Gary Oldman movies and TV shows make it easy to see why he’s regarded as one of the most skilled character actors currently working. Born in London in 1958, Gary Oldman started his career on the stage appearing in various plays and theater productions in the late 1970s. He starred in his first movie in 1982, one of a wide ensemble cast in director Colin Gregg’s ensemble drama Remembrance.

Gary Oldman’s big break arguably came in 1986 when he co-starred in the biographical drama Sid and Nancy, in which he played the Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. From there, Oldman’s career picked up significant traction, and he cemented himself as having an uncanny ability to portray historical figures thanks to roles like that of Lee Harvey Oswald in 1991’s JFK. The best Gary Oldman movies and TV shows reveal just how wide his range truly is, and few actors working today can claim to have played such a varied roster of characters across their filmography.

10 The Fifth Element (1997)

Gary Oldman Plays Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg

There are many villains among the roles played by the actor in the best Gary Oldman movies and TV shows. However, few are as memorable or hilarious as Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg, the antagonist of director Luc Besson’s ambitious 1997 sci-fi The Fifth Element. While the film had a mixed response from critics upon release, The Fifth Element has since gone on to become a cult classic, and the performance of Oldman is a key reason why.

Gary Oldman’s Jean-Baptiste Emanuel Zorg is an ultra-rich industrialist who is secretly working for a “great evil” that threatens to throw the entire galaxy into chaos. He’s an incredibly quirky and distinctive character, and this is all thanks to Oldman’s performance. The actor managed to turn a villain that could have been forgettable into a hilarious presence that’s impossible to forget, and this cemented The Fifth Element as one of the best Gary Oldman movies of his career so far.

9 True Romance (1993)

Gary Oldman Plays Drexl Spivey

1993’s True Romance comes from director Tony Scott and is famously known for having a script written by Quentin Tarantino (a screenplay he solid to finance 1992’s Reservoir Dogs). It also stands out among the best Gary Oldman movies due to the fact that, unlike many other entries, his role in True Romance is a brief cameo rather than a central character. However, this doesn’t make it any less deserving of its place, nor does it mean that Drexl Spivey isn’t one of Oldman’s best performances.

Sporting scars, dreadlocks, and one milky eye, the criminal Drexl Spivey is a bizarre and over-the-top character in an otherwise relatively grounded film. Gary Oldman is also almost unrecognizable in the role. However, the reason the performance is rated so highly and counts among his best work is that Drexl, on paper, should be a laughing stock. This isn’t the case though, as there’s something incredibly chilling about the character, and it’s only because of Gary Oldman’s performance that this is possible.

8 Hannibal (2001)

Gary Oldman Plays Mason Verger

Hannibal is the 2001 sequel to 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, and sees the legendary Ridley Scott helming the story that brought Anthony Hopkins back as the titular killer cannibal, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. However, alongside Hopkins giving another chilling performance is Gary Oldman in an equally harrowing role as Mason Verger.

Thanks to some incredible prosthetic effects, Oldman is almost unrecognizable as Mason Verger, one of the few victims to ever survive an attack by Hannibal Lecter. Verger remains one of the most memorable antagonists Gary Oldman has ever played, with his performance as the sadistic and disfigured child abuser more than matching that of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. The role of Mason Verger showcases exactly why Gary Oldman has been cast as so many villains throughout his career, though no others he has portrayed are as nightmare-inducing as his Hannibal character.

7 The Dark Knight (2008)

Gary Oldman Plays James Gordon

2008’s The Dark Knight is the second chapter of director Christopher Nolan’s celebrated trilogy of Batman films, and is widely considered to be among the best superhero movies ever made. As well as featuring celebrated performances from Christian Bale as Batman and Heath Ledger as The Joker, The Dark Knight is also held together thanks to the performance of Gary Oldman as James Gordon, Gotham City’s grizzled police chief.

Gary Oldman’s subtle and grounded performance as James Gordon was the perfect counter-balance both to Bale’s intense portrayal of Batman and Ledger’s psychotic villain, providing viewers with a grounded presence amidst the superhero action. What’s more, Oldman also had incredible chemistry with Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. While it’s not a role that Oldman would receive any accolades for, The Dark Knight is undoubtedly one of his best movie performances and remains a career highlight.

6 Slow Horses (2022-Present)

Gary Oldman Plays Jackson Lamb

While he’s known mostly for his movie work, there have been several great Gary Oldman TV shows too, though none are as entertaining as Jackson Lamb in the Apple TV+ original series Slow Horses. In many ways, Slow Horses builds on several of Oldman’s earlier movie appearances, especially the likes of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. The show focuses on the worst branch of the UK intelligence service, with Oldman’s Jackson Lamb as their jaded leader.

Like many of his best movies and TV shows, Slow Horses has earned Gary Oldman several accolades. These include being nominated for Best Actor in a Television Series - Drama two years in a row, and winning a Satellite Award in the same category. No other small-screen project in Oldman’s filmography is anywhere near as strong, and Slow Horses perfectly brings his unique skills in portraying nuanced and troubled characters to the fore.

5 Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Gary Oldman Plays Count Dracula

There have been dozens of interpretations of the legendary vampire Count Dracula on screens, and one of the most memorable is portrayed by Gary Oldman in director Francis Ford Coppola’s 1992 epic Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Few roles in Oldman’s filmography have allowed him to flex so many different aspects of his skill set too, as he gets to play Dracula from the Count’s days as the mortal warlord Vlad the Impaler right through to him being a centuries-old undead immortal.

Gary Oldman won several accolades for his performance in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, including a Saturn Award for Best Actor and a Fangoria Chainsaw Award in the same category (which, in the horror genre, is seen as incredibly prestigious). Bram Stoker’s Dracula also stands out due to the strength of the ensemble cast that appears alongside Oldman, which includes the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Winona Ryder, and Keanu Reeves.

4 Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)

Gary Oldman Plays George Smiley

The 2011 Cold War drama Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy earned Gary Oldman his first Academy Award nomination, with his performance as George Smiley almost landing him a win in the coveted Best Actor category. Directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on the 1974 novel of the same name by John le Carre, Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy focuses on a hunt for a Soviet double agent working in the upper echelons of British intelligence.

Gary Oldman plays George Smiley in the movie, and the central character in other John le Carre novels in the series. Oldman makes the spy incredibly memorable, perfectly capturing him as the antithesis to James Bond that le Carre had intended when creating the character. Only an actor like Gary Oldman could have truly done justice to the many nuances required for George Smiley, and it’s this that ensures Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy will forever be ranked among the actor’s best movies.

3 Harry Potter & The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

Gary Oldman Plays Sirius Black

While it’s not his most critically acclaimed role, many fans who were children or teens in the 2000s were introduced to Gary Oldman thanks to him portraying Sirius Black, the godfather of Harry Potter, in the Harry Potter movies. While Oldman was terrific in every Sirius Black appearance, it’s the movie that introduced the character (2004’s The Prisoner of Azkaban) that stands out as the best.

Sirius Black was always a complex and nuanced character in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels, and Gary Oldman did a beyond-fantastic job in bringing him to life on the big screen. He had incredibly solid chemistry with the young Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, and also with David Thewlis as Black’s long-time friend Remus Lupin. What’s more, Gary Oldman was also nominated for a Saturn Award in 2005 for Best Supporting Actor for The Prisoner of Azkaban, further cementing it as his strongest Harry Potter performance (though The Order of the Phoenix is a close second).

2 Mank (2020)

Gary Oldman Plays Herman J. Mankiewicz

2020’s Mank is a biographical drama focusing on the life of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz and the long journey he took writing the classic 1941 film Citizen Kane. Directed by celebrated director David Fincher, Mank sees Gary Oldman taking on the role of Mankiewicz, once again proving his uncanny ability to bring historical figures to life and embody them completely.

Mank almost earned Gary Oldman the second Academy Award of his career, as he was nominated for Best Actor in 2021 for his performance as Herman J. Mankiewicz, and he was also nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award for the movie too. Oldman also had great chemistry with his co-stars in Mank, especially Amanda Seyfried (who played Marion Davies) and Lily Collins (who portrayed Herman’s secretary Rita Alexander).

1 Darkest Hour (2017)

Gary Oldman Plays Winston Churchill

Directed by Joe Wright (who is also known for, among other projects, the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice), 2017’s Darkest Hour easily stands out as Gary Oldman’s best movie performance. Oldman takes on the central role in the WW2 biopic, playing the legendary UK wartime prime minister Winston Churchill. Oldman has displayed his exceptional skills when it comes to playing real-life historical figures, and no film displays this talent better than Darkest Hour.

For his performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, Gary Oldman won the first Academy Award of his career, in the category of best actor. He also won a BAFTA and Golden Globe in comparable categories. While he’s given dozens of beyond-memorable performances across his celebrated filmography, Darkest Hour solidly ranks as the best Gary Oldman movie or TV show.