Chris Cooper
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Notes
Not to be confused with either the 1950s screenwriter or the editor Chris Cooper.
"Chris is one of those unsung heroes of the movie business--he's a consummate artist, one of the greatest actors working today." --director Joel Schumacher quoted in People, August 5, 1996.
Biography
An intense character actor with a knack for playing taciturn authority figures, Chris Cooper came to prominence following his third collaboration with director John Sayles, "Lone Star" (1996), which put him on Hollywood's radar and opened the doors to a wider range of projects. His first film with Sayles, "Matewan" (1987), was also his feature debut. Though critically acclaimed and recognized in the indie world, Cooper waited almost another decade before finally earning the recognition he deserved. Three years after "Lone Star," he had his breakout performance in "American Beauty" (1999) as a repressed former Marine, which called attention to his talents and put him very much in demand. Cooper had one of his greater triumphs with his turn as real-life orchid poacher John Laroche in "Adaptation" (2002), a role that earned him his first Academy Award. He soon found favor with audiences with strong supporting performances in "The Bourne Identity" (2002) and "Seabiscuit" (2003), while serving as the moral conscience to a suffering Truman Capote in "Capote" (2005). Though he offered a compelling leading turn as convicted turncoat Robert Hanssen in "Breach" (2007), Cooper's gifts were better served in co-starring roles in "The Town" (2010) and "August: Osage County" (2013), which offered the actor a more colorful palate from which to drawer richer characterizations, making him one of the most sought-after supporting actors in Hollywood. His move to television in the streaming limited series "11.22.63" (Hulu 2016) opened up a new range of options for the gifted actor.
Born on July 9, 1951 and raised in Kansas City, MO, Cooper spent his summers on a cattle ranch owned by his father, Charles, a military doctor, and his mother, Mary Ann, a homemaker. He had his first brush with performing as a singer in the Country Club Christian Church choir, where his father served as deacon. When he was in his mid-teens, Cooper began spending time at the Barn Player's Theater, where he started sweeping floors and changing sets between scenes. He soon worked his way up to the workshop by building sets until switching to the Resident Theatre, where he became shop foreman while moving toward acting with occasional walk-ons. After graduating Southwest High School, he enlisted for two years of active duty with the Coast Guard before enrolling at the University of Missouri, where he was a performing arts major starting in his sophomore year. Following a year of working construction in Kansas City, Cooper packed a U-Haul truck in 1975 and moved to New York City to try his luck with acting. There, he took classes with Wynn Handman at Carnegie Hall while also studying the craft with such luminaries as Bob McAndrew and Stella Adler.
Cooper made his stage debut in an off-Broadway production of David French's "Of the Fields, Lately" (1980), but made ends meet with carpentry jobs mainly for wealthy clients on the Upper East Side. After knocking around for a few years, he had his first significant part in a London production of Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1985) opposite Lauren Bacall and directed by Harold Pinter. At the time, Cooper came to the attention of director John Sayles through mutual friends, who was casting actors for the lead in "Matewan" (1987), an atmospheric look at the volatile 1920s labor dispute in the small West Virginia coal town. Though tied up with "Sweet Bird" for several months, Cooper managed to fly out for a one-day trip back to New York to audition for the role. Cooper was cast as union organizer Joe Kenehan, who scours Matewan looking to unite the coal workers after a group of illegal immigrants are brought in for cheap labor, leading to a bloody showdown in the streets. Though the film failed to producer ancillary work for Cooper, he did form a strong working relationship with Sayles that served him well in later years.
Turing to the small screen, Cooper made his television debut on "The Equalizer" (CBS, 1985-89), which he followed up with an episode of "Miami Vice" (NBC, 1984-1990). Following a role in the television movie "Eugene O'Neill: Journey into Genius" (PBS, 1988), he had a prominent supporting part as Sheriff July Johnson in the acclaimed miniseries, "Lonesome Dove" (CBS, 1989). John Sayles again tapped the actor for another major role; this time casting Cooper in "City of Hope" (1991), his searing crime drama about race, political corruption and petty crime. Following a turn as Eugene Debs in the American Playhouse special, "Darrow" (PBS, 1991), which explored the life of renowned attorney Clarence Darrow (Kevin Spacey), Cooper co-starred in "Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life" (CBS, 1992), a Western drama set in the Southwest of the 1880s that follows a young man (Daniel Baldwin) who hunts down the killers who murdered his father (Cooper). He next reprised Sheriff July Johnson for "Return to Lonesome Dove" (CBS, 1993), then had supporting roles in both "This Boy's Life" (1993) and "Money Train" (1995). In 1996, he took a turn to episodic television with a guest starring role on "Law & Order" (NBC, 1990-2010), which he followed with an appearance in the made-for-television movie, "The Deliverance of Elaine" (CBS, 1996), starring Mare Winningham and Lloyd Bridges.
Having amassed a number of supporting credits on screens both large and small, it was only a matter of time before Cooper had a breakout leading performance. That moment came when he made his third film with Sayles, "Lone Star" (1996), a rich and meditative mystery drama that utilized the discovery of the decades-old skeleton of a cruel and corrupt Texas sheriff (Kris Kristofferson) to explore racial prejudice, border politics, forbidden love and long-buried family secrets. Cooper played Sheriff Sam Deeds, who investigates the discovery of the skeleton and uncovers some uncomfortable truths about his father (played in flashbacks by Matthew McConaughey) and himself. A thoughtful, but compelling film, "Lone Star" was hailed by critics as being Sayles' best to date, while also finally calling attention to Cooper's own superb gifts. Because of his newfound recognition brought about by the role, Cooper was able to land supporting roles in higher profile projects. Right after "Lone Star" hit theaters, the actor was seen as a steely deputy in the legal thriller, "A Time to Kill" (1996). The following year, he starred alongside David Schwimmer in "Breast Men" (HBO, 1997), playing a cosmetic surgeon who goes into business with a medical resident (Schwimmer) after the two discover how to create a prosthetic breast with silicon.
After playing Ethan Hawke's humble caretaker in Alfonso Cuarón's adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations" (1998), Cooper landed high-profile turns in "The Horse Whisperer" (1998) and "October Sky" (1999), the latter in which he starred as Jake Gyllenhaal's coal-miner dad. He reached true stardom with his next performance, playing Colonel Frank Fitts, a retired Marine, Nazi paraphernalia collector and closeted homosexual whose unwarranted kiss with neighbor Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) was among the many seminal moments in Alan Ball's Oscar-winning "American Beauty" (1999). While much of the attention was steered toward Spacey and co-star Annette Bening for their inspired performances, Cooper's tortured portrayal of an unrelenting authoritarian repressing his true nature was one of the film's finest, leading to more high-profile film projects. He next played an American Revolutionary War general who joins forces with Mel Gibson in "The Patriot" (2000) and a tough cop after multiple-personality disorder-afflicted Jim Carrey in the hit-and-miss Farrelly Brothers comedy, "Me, Myself & Irene" (2000). A string of hard-nosed government and law enforcement types soon followed, starting with special ops chief Alexander Conklin, who aims to bring down super spy Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) in "The Bourne Identity" (2002), a role he reprised in the sequel, "The Bourne Supremacy" (2004).
With his next film, "Adaptation" (2002), Cooper went from rising star to Oscar winner, playing eccentric con man and orchid thief John Laroche in Charlie Kaufman's meta-comedy adaptation of Susan Orlean's award-winning nonfiction novel, The Orchid Thief. Starring Nicolas Cage as a fat, balding and perpetually sweaty Kaufman, who manages to write himself into his own script, and Meryl Streep as Orlean, "Adaptation" offered Cooper a sterling opportunity to deliver a deeply nuanced performance that captured the attention of critics while earning him a slew of awards, including a Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Continuing his newfound award recognition, Cooper netted an Emmy nomination as the grieving brother of a terrorist attack victim, who finds it difficult to bond with his niece (Emmy Clarke) in "My House in Umbria" (2003), starring Maggie Smith. He followed up with another acclaimed turn, earning a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for his subtle performance as "Silent" Tom Smith, trainer of the famous racehorse "Seabiscuit" (2003).
Now in full command of his talents and a host of creative forces wanting to work with him, Cooper was able to expand his range, as he did in John Sayles' broad political comedy, "Silver City" (2004), in which he played the bumbling and inept gubernatorial candidate Dickie Pilager, who was a not-too-subtle caricature of former U.S. President George W. Bush. He reunited with "American Beauty" director Sam Mendes and "October Sky" co-star Jake Gyllenhaal to play a gung-ho Marine colonel Kazinski in "Jarhead" (2005), while being featured in a small, but pivotal role as a former oil executive opposite George Clooney and Matt Damon in "Syriana" (2005). Cooper next delivered a subtle portrayal of Kansas lawman Alvin Dewey in "Capote" (2005), which depicted author Truman Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his writing of In Cold Blood, following the shotgun murder of a respected family by two drifters (Clifford Collins, Jr. and Mark Pellegrino). Though 2005 was a good year career-wise, Cooper and his wife, former actress Marianne Leone, were beset with personal tragedy when their son, Jesse, died from complications brought on by cerebral palsy. Jesse was born in 1987 three months premature and whose cerebral palsy necessitated the couple's move to Kingston, MA for proper schooling, while his parents became strong advocates for special needs children. Following Jesse's death, Copper and his wife set up the memorial Jesse Cooper Foundation fund.
In 2007, Cooper landed his first top-billed role in a major feature, playing real-life counter-intelligence expert Robert Hanssen, whose spying for the Soviets puts him at the center of an internal investigation by the FBI in "Breach," a critically acclaimed spy thriller that unfortunately struggled at the box office. He followed with turns as an FBI demolition expert hunting terrorists in Saudi Arabia in "The Kingdom" (2007) and as a husband who plots to murder his wife (Patricia Clarkson) in the nourish black comedy, "Married Life" (2007). Reteaming with "Adaptation" director Spike Jonze, Cooper voiced David, the bird-like best friend of Carol (voiced by James Gandolfini), in "Where the Wild Things Are" (2009). Staying with voiceover work, he voiced Walt Whitman in "American Experience: Walt Whitman" (PBS, 2008) while narrating "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" (PBS, 2009). In "The Town" (2010), directed by Ben Affleck, Cooper played the incorrigible father of a career criminal (Affleck) on the run from a dogged FBI agent (Jon Hamm). He rejoined Affleck for the John Wells-directed drama, "The Company Men" (2010), which followed the effects of corporate downsizing on families and communities. Cooper rounded out the year with a turn as Antonio in Julie Taymor's imagining of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" (2010), starring Helen Mirren as the gender-switched Prospera and David Strathairn as Alonso. After a comic turn in "The Muppets" (2011), Cooper shone in the film adaptation of Tracy Letts' family-meltdown drama "August: Osage County" (2013) and Jean-Marc Vallée's "Demolition" (2016). Cooper moved to television with his lead role as Al Templeton in "11.22.63" (Hulu 2016), a drama about the Kennedy assassination adapted from the Stephen King novel.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Music (Feature Film)
Animation (Feature Film)
Film Production - Main (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1980
Made stage debut in "Of the Fields, Lately"
1980
Made film debut in "Bad Timing"
1985
London stage debut, "Sweet Bird of Youth"
1987
Made primetime TV debut on "The Equalizer"
1987
Made major film debut in John Sayles' "Matewan"
1988
Made TV movie debut in "Eugene O'Neill: Journey into Genius"
1989
Appeared as July Johnson in "Lonesome Dove"
1991
Co-starred in Sayles' "City of Hope"
1993
Reprised role of July Johnson in sequel "Return to Lonsome Dove"
1996
Played Sheriff Sam Deeds in Sayles' "Lone Star"
1997
Co-starred with David Schwimmer in HBO movie "Breast Men"
1998
Played Robert Redford's brother in "The Horse Whisperer"
1999
Delivered a strong turn as the coal miner father of a boy with aspirations to work for NASA in "October Sky"
1999
Offered a fine turn as a martinet military man in Sam Mendes' "American Beauty"
2000
Cast as Lt. Gerke in Farrelly brothers comedy "Me, Myself and Irene"
2000
Portrayed a former comrade of Mel Gibson's in Revolutionary War drama "The Patriot"
2002
Seen as shadowy espionage orchestrator Konklin in "The Bourne Identity"
2002
Delivered award-winning performance as orchid thief John Larouche in offbeat film "Adaptation"
2003
Cast in Gary Ross directed drama "Seabiscuit"
2003
Co-starred in HBO war mini-series "My House in Umbria"
2004
Starred in John Sayles' political satire "Silver City"
2005
Joined cast of John Patrick Shanley's play "Chain of Command"
2005
Re-teamed with director Sam Mendes for "Jarhead"
2005
Co-starred with George Clooney and Matt Damon in geopolitical thriller "Syriana"
2007
Portrayed a government agent investigating the bombing of an American facility in Saudi Arabia in Peter Berg's "The Kingdom"
2007
Portrayed American traitor Robert Hanssen in drama "Breach"
2008
Co-starred in 1950s drama "Married Life"
2009
Voiced Douglas in Spike Jonze's live-action adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's classic "Where the Wild Things Are"
2010
Cast in ensemble crime drama "The Town," directed by Ben Affleck
2010
Played Emilie de Ravin's father in "Remember Me"
2010
Cast as Antonio in Julie Taymor's "The Tempest"
2010
Again starred opposite Ben Affleck in recession drama "The Company Men"; directed by John Wells
2011
Co-starred with Jason Segel and Amy Adams in family comedy "The Muppets"
2012
Re-teamed with director Robert Redford in thriller "The Company You Keep"
2015
Played author J.D. Salinger in biopic "Coming Through the Rye"
2015
Starred in family drama "Demolition"
2016
Cast as Al Templeton in historical sci-fi drama "11.22.63"
2016
Appeared in Ben Affleck-led crime drama "Live by Night"
2017
Voiced Smokey, a pick-up truck, in Pixar sequel "Cars 3"
Family
Companions
Bibliography
Notes
Not to be confused with either the 1950s screenwriter or the editor Chris Cooper.
"Chris is one of those unsung heroes of the movie business--he's a consummate artist, one of the greatest actors working today." --director Joel Schumacher quoted in People, August 5, 1996.
"I wanted to be an ACTOR, not a star."--Cooper in People, August 5, 1996.
