Chris Cooper

Christopher Walton Cooper was born on July 9, 1951, in Kansas City, Missouri. His father was a cattleman and a US Air Force internist, and his mother was a homemaker. Cooper spent parts of his youth in various states due to his father’s military service and his summers on the family’s cattle ranch in Kansas. He attended the University of Missouri, initially studying set design before shifting to acting to address his shyness. After graduating, he relocated to New York City in 1976, where he supported himself with various jobs while studying acting with Stella Adler and Wynn Handman. For 12 years, he honed his craft through stage work, appearing on Broadway in “Of the Fields Lately” (1980) and off-Broadway in productions like “The Ballad of Soapy Smith” (1983) and “A Different Moon” (1983). He also performed in a London revival of “Sweet Bird of Youth” in 1985, directed by Harold Pinter.

Cooper made his film debut in John Sayles’s “Matewan” (1987), portraying a stalwart union organizer, which, despite a positive reception for his performance, was not a commercial success. This marked the beginning of a significant collaboration with director John Sayles, working together on films such as “City of Hope” (1991), “Lone Star” (1996), “Silver City” (2004), and “Amigo” (2010). His career gained momentum with a string of notable roles in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including his portrayal of Colonel Frank Fitts in “American Beauty” (1999), for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. In 2003, Cooper received both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as John Laroche in “Adaptation.” His career also includes prominent roles in films like “The Bourne Identity” (2002), where he played CIA special ops director Alexander Conklin, and “Seabiscuit” (2003), where he received another Screen Actors Guild Award nomination as racehorse trainer Tom Smith.

Throughout his career, Cooper has consistently delivered performances in diverse roles across Hollywood. He also branched into television with the miniseries “Lonesome Dove” (1989) and “Return to Lonesome Dove” (1993), and later in the Hulu miniseries “11.22.63” (2016). His voice acting credits include “Where the Wild Things Are” (2009) and “Cars 3” (2017). In 2017, he earned a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in “A Doll’s House, Part 2,” playing Torvald Helmer. More recently, Cooper received acclaim for his roles in “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (2019) and Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of “Little Women” (2019). He also served as an executive producer for the documentary “My Own Normal” (2024), which premiered at the Independent Film Festival Boston.