Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker who has resided in the United States since the early 1990s, well-known for his portrayals of dark and morally corrupt characters. He found fame in roles such as Sid Vicious in Sid & Nancy and Lee Harvey Oswald in JFK, which led to his most successful, and arguably best known, leading role as Count Dracula in 1992 blockbuster Dracula. In addition to Dracula, Oldman is well-known to audiences as the villain of such films as State of Grace, True Romance, Léon, Murder in the First Air Force One, The Fifth Element, The Contender and the upcoming The Book of Eli. He is also known for his portrayals of real-life figures: as well as Vicious and Oswald, he portrayed Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears and Ludwig Van Beethoven in Immortal Beloved. In recent years he is recognisable as heroic characters such as Sirius Black in the Harry Potter film series and James Gordon in Christopher Nolan's reboot of the Batman film series.

Acclaimed for his on-screen diversity, Oldman has been referred to as an "actor's actor" and has been cited as an influence by a number of younger actors. Referred to by The Guardian as "arguably the best actor never Oscar-nominated," Oldman has been nominated for, among other awards: a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, three BAFTA Awards (winning two), three Saturn Awards (winning one) and the 1997 Palme d'Or. In addition to leading and central supporting roles in big-budget Hollywood films, Oldman has frequently acted in independent films, as well as having appeared on television shows such as Fallen Angels and Friends. He also directed, produced, and wrote the award-winning Nil by Mouth, a film partially based on his own childhood. Allmovie has characterised Oldman as having "consistently amazed viewers with his ability to completely disappear into his roles."

Oldman was born in London, England, the son of Kathleen Cheriton (28 Nov 1919 - ), an Irish-born housewife, and Leonard Bertram Oldman (21 May 1921 - Oct 1985), a former sailor who worked as a welder. Oldman has said that his father was an abusive alcoholic who left his family when Oldman was seven. Oldman was an accomplished singer and pianist as a child, but gave up music to pursue an acting career. His inspiration was Malcolm McDowell's performance in 1970 movie The Raging Moon. In a 1995 interview with Charlie Rose, Oldman said: "Something about Malcolm just arrested me, and I connected, and I said 'I wanna do that'." Oldman retained his love for music, however, and can be seen singing and playing piano in the 1988 movie Track 29, and tracing over pre-recorded versions of Beethoven's music in Immortal Beloved. Oldman attended the South East London Boys' School on Creek Road (A200) in Deptford, leaving school at 16.