Chris Cooper | |
|---|---|
 Cooper at the 2009Tribeca Film Festival | |
| Born | Christopher Walton Cooper (1951-07-09)July 9, 1951 (age 73) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Missouri |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1977–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
Christopher Walton Cooper[1] (born July 9, 1951) is an American actor. Having made his debut as a stage actor, he made his breakthrough on television as Sheriff July Johnson in the acclaimed Western television miniseriesLonesome Dove (1989). He has appeared in several major Hollywood films includingA Time to Kill (1996),October Sky (1999),American Beauty (1999),The Bourne Identity (2002),Seabiscuit (2003),Capote (2005),Syriana (2005),The Kingdom (2007),Where the Wild Things Are (2009),The Town (2010),The Muppets (2011),Live by Night (2016),Cars 3 (2017),A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), andLittle Women (2019). He won both theAcademy Award andGolden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor forAdaptation.
Cooper also played a lead role in the historical and political thrillerBreach (2007), playing FBI agent and traitorRobert Hanssen. He played Daniel Sloan in the 2012 political thrillerThe Company You Keep, andNorman Osborn inThe Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). He also portrayed Al Templeton on the 2016Hulu miniseries11.22.63. He is a frequent collaborator with directorJohn Sayles, includingMatewan (1987),City of Hope (1991),Lone Star (1996),Silver City (2004) andAmigo (2010).
Cooper's other accolades include aScreen Actors Guild Award, and nominations for aBAFTA Award, aPrimetime Emmy Award, anIndependent Spirit Award, and threeSatellite Awards. In 2017, he was nominated for theTony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance inA Doll's House, Part 2.
Cooper was born on July 9, 1951, inKansas City, Missouri, the son of Charles and Mary Ann (Walton) Cooper.[1][2] He has an older brother, Chuck Cooper (born 1948).[3] His father was both aUnited States Air Force doctor and a cattleman, and his mother was a housewife.[4][5][6] Both of his parents were fromTexas.[4] Cooper grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City, and spent his summers at his family's cattle ranch, located about 15 miles west ofLeavenworth, Kansas.[4][6] As his father was in the Air Force, he and his family moved toLas Vegas, Nevada,Phoenix, Arizona, andHouston, Texas.[7] While attending Southwest High School in Kansas City, Cooper worked for a local theater company: "I had a background in carpentry, so I could build sets and work in the wings and shift scenes in the evening."[8] After he graduated from high school, Cooper became the shop foreman for another repertory company.[8] He also considered helping his father raise cattle for a living.[6] Cooper served in theCoast Guard Reserve.[4][9]
Cooper attended theUniversity of Missouri and enrolled in the theater program, originally majoring in set design.[4][8] It was during his sophomore year when Cooper changed his major to acting to overcome his "overpowering shyness."[4] Cooper took acting classes at the University of Missouri.[6] He recalled in a 1996 interview withThe Philadelphia Inquirer, "I started going in and watching some shows at the theater department. I started taking theater classes and auditioned for plays. And once I got into it, it was pretty immediate. I really felt right, felt at home."[8] Cooper also took dance classes atStephens College.[5][9]
After he graduated from the University of Missouri, Cooper moved toNew York City in 1976.[5][10] While living in New York, Cooper shared a one-bedroom railroad flat with four other aspiring actors and dancers.[4] He supported himself by renovating apartments.[4] In addition, he worked in construction and served as a janitor and a chauffeur.[5] At the same time, he studied withStella Adler andWynn Handman.[4][5][8] Prior to his film debut withMatewan (1987), Cooper spent the previous 12 years doing stage work with theActors Theater of Louisville and theSeattle Repertory.[5][6] In 1985, Cooper appeared in theLondon revival ofSweet Bird of Youth.[10]
Cooper's early performances includeJohn Sayles' 1987 filmMatewan; the 1989 CBS-TV Western miniseriesLonesome Dove; the 1991 indie Western dramaThousand Pieces of Gold, and the 1992 ABC-TV docudramaBed of Lies, oppositeSusan Dey.
Some of his more notable later performances include:Money Train, as a psychoticpyromaniac who terrifiestoll booth operators;Lone Star, in a leading role as a Texassheriff charged with solving a decades-old case; as Deputy Dwayne Looney in directorJoel Schumacher's 1996 filmA Time to Kill (based on the John Grisham novel); as Frank Booker in 1998'sThe Horse Whisperer; and as a closeted homophobicMarine Corps colonel inAmerican Beauty, a role that garnered him aScreen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. To get into character, Cooper said he "depended on a friend who'd fought in Vietnam. I asked him to go deep. What would this man have done? What would be on his walls? On his desk?"[11]
In 2000, Cooper played Colonel Harry Burwell (inspired by Lieutenant ColonelHenry "Light Horse Harry" Lee) inThe Patriot. He was nominated for another Screen Actors Guild Award, aBAFTA Award, and won anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor and aGolden Globe Award in 2003 for playing the role of John Laroche inAdaptation. In 2002, Cooper also appeared inThe Bourne Identity as a ruthlessCIAspecial ops director, a role he reprised (in flashbacks) inThe Bourne Supremacy.
Cooper received another Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his supporting role as racehorse trainer Tom Smith in 2003'sSeabiscuit. In 2004, Cooper starred inSilver City, playing an ineptRepublican gubernatorial candidate, a character noted for similarities to U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush.[citation needed]
Cooper appeared in three acclaimed films in 2005:Jarhead (which reunited him withAmerican Beauty directorSam Mendes andOctober Sky actorJake Gyllenhaal);Capote; andSyriana. He also acted in the thrillerBreach, playing real-lifeFBI agent and traitorRobert Hanssen. Cooper commented thatBreach was "the first studio film where they've considered me the lead [actor]". In 2007, he appeared as a government agent in dangerous territory in the action thrillerThe Kingdom and voiced the character Douglas in the film adaptation ofMaurice Sendak's book,Where the Wild Things Are (2009).
At the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, Cooper appeared alongsideBen Affleck inThe Company Men, early reviews of which praised Cooper's performance as "pitch-perfect".[12]
In 2011, Chris Cooper appeared inThe Muppets as Tex Richman, the antagonistic oil tycoon who is unable to laugh. In the musical film, Cooper performed the rap and dance number "Let's Talk About Me".[13]
In 2013, he played Charles Aiken, Sr. inAugust: Osage County alongside an all-star cast that includedMeryl Streep andJulia Roberts.
In 2017, he andLaurie Metcalf starred inA Doll's House, Part 2, a Broadway play by Lucas Hnath based onHenrik Ibsen'sA Doll's House, for which he received aTony Award nomination. Cooper playedNora Helmer's husband, Torvald.[14]
Cooper portrayedNorman Osborn in the 2014 filmThe Amazing Spider-Man 2. He appeared in an uncredited role in Ben Affleck's crime dramaLive by Night, which was released in December 2016.
In 2019, Cooper starred in two acclaimed films,Marielle Heller'sA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, withTom Hanks,[15] andGreta Gerwig'sadaptation ofLittle Women with an ensemble cast featuringSaoirse Ronan,Emma Watson,Florence Pugh,Timothée Chalamet,Laura Dern, andMeryl Streep.[16]
In 2024, Cooper served as an executive producer of the documentaryMy Own Normal aboutAlexander Freeman, a filmmaker fromNewton, Massachusetts who hascerebral palsy, following his journey of becoming a partner and father and confronting the pain of his parents' reaction. The documentary premiered atIndependent Film Festival Boston.[17][18]
Cooper met his future wife,Marianne Leone, in 1979 at an acting class in New York City.[3][4][8] On their first date, she helped him carry sheet rock up eight flights of stairs: "That's when I knew this was the girl for me."[4] They married in July 1983.[2][3] Their son, Jesse Lanier Cooper,[19] was born three months prematurely in October 1987.[20] Three days after he was born, Jesse suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and developed cerebral palsy.[6][20][21] Jesse was eventually mainstreamed intoSilver Lake Regional High School, where he became an honor student.[19][20] Cooper recalled in a 2003 interview withThe Morning Call, "(Jesse) is the best thing that ever happened to us. He's in a wheelchair and he communicates only by computer, but he's taught me so much because he's just so incredibly focused. Now he's in a regular school, which we fought to get him into. He's an honors student, and he's doing great."[6] On January 3, 2005, Jesse Cooperdied suddenly and unexpectedly from epilepsy.[19][20] A memorial fund was set up in his name, the Jesse Cooper Foundation.[22] Cooper has said that the death of his son has somewhat helped him understand several characters he played, such as Charles Aiken inAugust: Osage County (2013)[23] and Phil Eastwood inDemolition (2015).[24]
Cooper formerly maintained residences inHoboken, New Jersey, andPlymouth, Massachusetts.[8] As of 2003, he resides inKingston, Massachusetts.[25][26] He has been close friends with frequent collaboratorJohn Sayles since 1985.[8][27] On May 14, 2016, Cooper received an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Massachusetts Lowell.[28]
He and his wife Marianne adopt and live with rescue dogs.[29]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Equalizer | Michael | Episode: "The Rehearsal" |
| 1988 | American Playhouse | Louis Halladay | Episode: "Journey Into Genius" |
| Miami Vice | Jimmy Yagovitch | Episode: "Mirror Image" | |
| 1989 | Lonesome Dove | July Johnson | Miniseries |
| 1990 | Lifestories | Mr. Hawkins | Episode: "The Hawkins Family" |
| To the Moon, Alice | Frank Wiliker | Television film | |
| 1991 | In Broad Daylight | Jack Wilson | |
| Darrow | Eugene V. Debs | ||
| 1992 | Bed of Lies | Price Daniel Jr. | |
| Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life | Anthony Blessing | ||
| 1994 | One More Mountain | James Reed | |
| 1996 | Law & Order | Roy Payne | Episode: "Blood Libel" |
| 2003 | My House in Umbria | Thomas Riversmith | Television film Nominated–Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |
| 2008 | American Experience | Walt Whitman | Documentary |
| 2009 | American Experience | Narrator (voice) | Episode: "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" |
| 2010 | Bloom: The Plight of Lake Champlain | Narrator (voice) | Documentary |
| 2012 | Bloom: The Emergence of Ecological Design | ||
| 2016 | 11.22.63 | Al Templeton | Miniseries |
| 2020 | Homecoming | Leonard Geist | Season 2 |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Of the Fields, Lately | Ben Mercer | Broadway debut[31] |
| 2017 | A Doll's House, Part 2 | Torvald Helmer | Nominated–Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play |
| Year | Title | Voice role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Cars 3: Driven to Win | Smokey |
