Chris Cooper
ALL ABOUT CHRIS COOPER
Full Name: Chris Cooper
Date of Birth: 9 July 1951
Place of Birth: Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Spouse: Marianne Leone (1983 - present) 1 child
Family: Father - Charles Cooper (internist; served as a doctor in the US Air Force), Mother - Mary Ann Cooper, Brother - Chuck Cooper (contractor; born in 1948), Son - Jesse Cooper (born in 1987, died January 2005 from causes related to cerebral palsy)
Education: Southwest High School (graduated in 1969)
University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri (majored in Agriculture and Acting)
Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri (studied Ballet)
Bio:
Academy Award winner Chris Cooper has established himself as an actor at the top of his form with an impressive string of honest and striking performances. Most recently, Cooper played the pivotal role of Laroche in Adaptation, written by Charlie Kauffman (Being John Malkovich) directed by Spike Jonze. The film is loosely based on Susan Orlean’s novel, The Orchid Thief, which follows a sexually frustrated screenwriter’s attempts to adapt Orlean’s anecdotal novel for the screen. The film also stars Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep. Cooper’s performance garnered him the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
Cooper was recently seen in The Bourne Identity for Universal Pictures in the strong supporting role as the mastermind of the CIA’s controversial clandestine operation, Treadstone. Directed by Doug Liman (Go), The Bourne Identity was based on Robert Ludlum’s 1980 novel of the same name, about an amnesiac who is rescued from near death by the crew of an Italian fishing boat and finds himself being pursued by hired killers.
In 2000, Cooper portrayed Colonel Burwell opposite Mel Gibson in The Patriot, a Revolutionary War epic directed by Roland Emmerich. In the same year, Cooper appeared with Jim Carrey in the comedy Me, Myself, and Irene for directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly.
Nominated for a 1999 Screen Actor’s Guild Award for his performance, Chris Cooper received outstanding acclaim for his supporting role alongside Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening in the Academy Award-winning film American Beauty. In a stunning and dramatic display, Cooper portrayed a stern ex-Marine Colonel who persistently monitored his son’s every move.
In 1999 Cooper starred as the father of an amateur rocket enthusiast in the acclaimed coming-of-age drama October Sky, which was screened at the 1999 Venice and Deauville Film Festivals with great notice. He had previously earned a Best Actor nomination in 1997 from the Independent Spirit Awards for his work in John Sayles’ Lone Star. Nearly a decade earlier, Cooper made his feature film debut in Sayles’ Matewan.
Among his previous film credits are Robert Redford’s The Horse Whisperer, Great Expectations, A Time to Kill, Money Train, This Boy’s Life, Guilty by Suspicion and City of Hope.
On the small screen, he has had roles in a number of longform projects, including the miniseries Lonesome Dove and Return to Lonesome Dove. He most recently starred in HBO’s Breast Men, and includes among his other credits Alone, One More Mountain, Ned Blessing, Bed of Lies, Darrow, In Broad Daylight, A Little Piece of Sunshine, Law and Order and .Tourney to Genius.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Cooper attended the University of Missouri School of Drama and started his professional career on the New York stage. His theater credits include Of the Fields Lately on Broadway, The Ballad of Soapy Smith and A Different Moon.
Trivia:
His 17-year-old son Jesse had died from causes relating to cerebral palsy. (January 7, 2005)
Has joined the cast of JARHEAD, a movie based on Marine Anthony Swofford’s memoir of his experiences in the Gulf War. (December 16, 2004)
Said he borrowed the voice from someone he knows when he played the soft-spoken trainer in the depression-era, horse racing epic SEABISCUIT. (July 29, 2003)
Cooper and character actor Tony Frank have worked or appeared together in all of the following productions: BED OF LIES (1992) (TV), IN BROAD DAYLIGHT (1991) (TV), LONE STAR (1996), and NED BLESSING: THE TRUE STORY OF MY LIFE (1992) (TV)
Was honored with a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Missouri (1997)
Lives in Kingston, Massachusetts, USA
Filmed scenes for THE RING (2000) that were cut, though a picture of him in a newspaper remains in the film.
Matthew McConaughey, in LONE STAR (1996) plays Chris’s father. Jeremy Sumpter in ADAPTATION (2001) plays the younger version of Chris’s character. In FRAILTY (2001), Jeremy Sumpter plays the younger version of Matthew McConaughey’s character’s brother. McConaughey also appeared with Cooper in A TIME TO KILL (1996).
Cooper appeared with Kevin Spacey in the TV movie DARROW (1991), wherein Spacey played the infamous Clarence Darrow, and Cooper played Eugene Debs. They appeared together again in the very popular AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999), as well as A TIME TO KILL (1996).
Appeared in both MATEWAN (1987) and the TV movie NED BLESSING: THE TRUE STORY OF MY LIFE (1992) with fabulous character actor Bob Gunton.
Appeared in both MATEWAN (1987) and the TV movie ALONE (1997) with actor James Earl Jones. And while Cooper’s image appears on the video cover of ALONE, his name does not.
During the filming of THE PATRIOT (2000), one extra reports that during one take, instead of reciting his line ‘Prime and load’, Cooper reportedly commanded the troops to ‘Lock and load’.
Was nominated for Best Actor for an Independent Spirit Award for LONE STAR.
Nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture at Screen Actors Guild Awards for SEABISCUIT (2004)
Nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role at Screen Actors Guild Awards for SEABISCUIT (2004)
Quotes:
“I don’t want to go bald, I don’t know what’s coming up next.”
“I had a couple come in with a negative amortization mortgage on a house that costs way too much relative to their income. They’re consuming real estate, not investing in it.”
“I like a very dry wit, not the big kind of humor like Robin Williams. I don’t think I’m capable of that.”
“I suspect that a lot of studio executives still think of me as ‘what’s-his-name’.”
“I’m thrilled with my body of work.”
“I’ve been around horses, but I certainly wouldn’t call myself a horseman by any means. It’s a combination of being very aware of them, and not trusting them.”
“I’ve got research, I have my own life experience I can apply, and I have my imagination.”
“You jot down ideas, memories, whatever, concerning your real life that somehow parallels the character you’re playing, and you incorporate that in your scene work.”
Filmography:
Chris Cooper Filmography as an Actor:
2009 New York, I Love You
2008 Hurricane Mary
2008 “The American Experience”
2007 Married Life
2007 The Kingdom
2007 Breach
2005 Syriana
2005 Jarhead
2005 Capote
2004 The Bourne Supremacy
2004 Silver City
2003 Seabiscuit
2003 My House in Umbria (TV)
2002 Adaptation.
2002 The Bourne Identity
2000 The Patriot
2000 Me, Myself & Irene
1999 American Beauty
1999 October Sky
1999 The 24 Hour Woman
1998 The Horse Whisperer
1998 Great Expectations
1997 Alone (TV)
1997 Breast Men
1996 A Time to Kill
1996 Lone Star
1996 Boys
1996 The Deliverance of Elaine (TV)
1995 Money Train
1995 Pharaoh’s Army
1994 One More Mountain (TV)
1993 “Return to Lonesome Dove” TV mini-series
1993 This Boy’s Life
1992 Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life (TV)
1992 Bed of Lies (TV)
1991 City of Hope
1991 To the Moon, Alice (TV)
1991 Darrow (TV)
1991 Thousand Pieces of Gold
1991 Guilty by Suspicion
1991 In Broad Daylight (TV)
1990 “Lifestories”
1989 “Lonesome Dove”
1988 “Miami Vice”
1987 “The Equalizer”
1987 Matewan
1987 Non date da mangiare agli animali
Chris Cooper Awards:
Academy
2002 Best Supporting Actor Adaptation
Broadcast Film Critics Association
2003 Best Supporting Actor Adaptation
2002 Best Supporting Actor Adaptation
Golden Globe
2002 Best Supporting Actor Adaptation
Independent Spirit Award
1996 Best Actor Lone Star
L.A. Film Critics Association
2002 Best Supporting Actor Adaptation
National Board of Review
2002 Best Supporting Actor Adaptation
National Society of Film Critics
2002 Best Supporting Actor (Runner-up) Adaptation
Screen Actors Guild
2003 Best Supporting Actor Seabiscuit
2002 Best Supporting Actor Adaptation
1999 Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role American Beauty
Toronto Film Critics Association
2002 Best Supporting Actor Adaptation
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