(Photo: Getty Images)

The great Gary Oldman celebrates his 65th birthday this week, so we're taking the opportunity to look back on his remarkable career. Here are 10 things we admire about the incredibly versatile star of Darkest Hour, Mank, Bram Stoker's Dracula, JFK, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. 

1. He is truly committed to his craft.

During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, Oldman revealed the lengths he went to in order to give an authentic performance as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. In addition to spending four hours in makeup each day, he smoked so many of Churchill's favorite cigars during shooting that he had to have a colonoscopy. Still, there's no denying that Oldman's all-in approach worked – he went on to win an Oscar for his performance.

2. At the same time, he isn't afraid to be playful.

In Ridley Scott's 2001 movie Hannibal, Oldman plays the horrifically disfigured pedophile Mason Verger, starring opposite Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore. It's a super-dark and pretty substantial role, but Oldman isn't billed in the end credits, and this is no accident. In fact, it's a witty nod to his ability to disappear into roles. 

"As I'm unofficially the man of many faces, you know, of [playing] Lee Harvey Oswald, Dracula, and Sid Vicious, and Beethoven, we thought that [here] I would be playing the man with no face," he explained to IGN. "So we just had a bit of fun with it: the man with no face and no name, and sort of do it anonymously. It's no secret that I'm in the film. We just had fun with it, really."

3. He was close friends with the late, great David Bowie.

Oldman and Bowie, who both hail from South London, worked together on the 1996 movie Basquiat. Oldman later played a priest in Bowie's 2013 music video for "The Next Day." So, when Bowie received a posthumous prize at the 2016 Brit Awards, Oldman was a fitting choice to accept it on his behalf. It's a deeply poignant moment.

4. His résumé contains a few surprises.

Did you know that Oldman is the voice of Sergeant Reznov in the Call of Duty video games? During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, he offered an insight into what this role involves – namely, a hefty amount of screaming at the top of his voice.

5. He even popped up in Friends.

Oldman gamely sends himself up in the 2001 episode "The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding: Part 1." He plays Richard Crosby, an accomplished Shakespearean actor who keeps spitting on Matt LeBlanc's Joey Tribbiani when they shoot scenes for a war movie. But when Joey challenges him on this icky habit, Crosby has the perfect riposte: "That's what real actors do! Enunciation is the mark of a good actor, and when you enunciate, you spit!" Oldman even picked up an Emmy nomination for his guest spot.

6. He is revered by his peers.

Oldman is very much an "actor's actor" who has been hailed as an influence by many of his contemporaries. Christian Bale has revealed that he "studied" Oldman to hone his technique, while Tom Hardy has described him as "basically God." Meanwhile, Daniel Radcliffe said modestly: "If I was to emulate someone’s career, if I could, I would try, and probably fail, to emulate Gary's."

7. He is also an award-winning director.

Oldman has only ever directed one film, but it definitely made an impact. In fact, he won two BAFTA Film Awards for 1997's Nil by Mouth, an unflinching portrait of a dysfunctional South London family beset by substance abuse and domestic violence. Its star, Kathy Burke – now the director of Acorn TV's Holding – won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her haunting portrayal of a working-class woman trying to survive her husband's physical and emotional abuse. 

8. He comes from a humble background.

Oldman grew up on a council estate in South London. His father, a sailor-turned-welder, walked out on the family when he was eight years old. Though it isn't strictly autobiographical, Oldman made Nil by Mouth to portray the tough, working-class patch of London where he was raised.

“It's very colloquial and I made it for a specific audience," he told Virgin Radio when the film was re-released last year. "I felt at the time that the London I grew up in had not been fully represented on screen, but [I wanted] to show those women, [like] my mum, who sadly passed a couple of years back – they really don't make them like that anymore. It was really my love letter to those wonderful, resilient women that hold it all together."

9. He has spoken candidly about being an alcoholic.

Oldman was a functioning alcoholic for around two decades before going teetotal in 1997. Since then, in his interviews, he has given strikingly frank accounts of his drinking years, refusing to glamorize his addiction in the slightest.

"I used to sweat vodka. It becomes such a part of you," he told the LA Times in 2021. "My tongue would be black in the morning. I blamed it on the shampoo. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, to be in the grip of it. It's hell. And that self-effacing humor? That’s just there to mask the inadequacy."

10. And finally, he intends to end his acting career on his own terms.

Last year, Oldman revealed that he doesn't intend to go on acting until he drops – so we should enjoy his performances while they're still coming. "I've had an enviable career, but careers wain, and I do have other things that interest me outside of acting," he told The Sunday Times. “When you're young, you think you're going to get round to doing all of them – read that book – then the years go by."

He added: "I'm 65 next year, 70 is around the corner. I don't want to be active when I’m 80."

Do you have a favorite Gary Oldman movie?