When the Academy Award nominations were announced on Tuesday morning many expected debates were sparked about who was left out and who shouldn’t have been nominated in the first place, but for one of the nominees in the Best Actor category, the announcement was a long time in the making.

Gary Oldman has been acting for more than three decades, and in that time he has aged gracefully from an intense and hungry young actor to a classy and dignified performer who can bring great amounts of gravitas to every character he plays. Oldman has played punk rock icons (Sid & Nancy), classical music icons (Immortal Beloved), literary villains (Bram Stoker’s Dracula), grotesque villains (Hannibal, Leon, True Romance), not-so-grotesque villains (Air Force One), and many others. In recent years he has enhanced his acting resume with prominent roles with in the blockbuster Batman and Harry Potter franchises. In 1997 Oldman made his directorial debut with the acclaimed indie Nil By Mouth.