Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper (born January 5, 1975, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.) is an American actor who first gained fame in comedic films and later had success in action and dramatic roles.

Cooper enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Actors Studio Drama School, then based at the New School, following his graduation (1997) from Georgetown University with a degree in English. He made his acting debut in 1999 in the TV sitcom Sex and the City and had a recurring role in the spy drama Alias (2001–06). During that time he also starred in Kitchen Confidential (2005–06) and appeared in a number of TV series and movies.

Cooper’s first feature film was the comedy Wet Hot American Summer (2001). He was then cast in supporting roles in such buddy movies as Wedding Crashers (2005) and Failure to Launch (2006). The films raised Cooper’s profile, and in 2009 he scored his breakthrough with the highly lucrative The Hangover, which centres on a group of men who search for their lost friend after waking from a bachelor party that none can remember; sequels followed in 2011 and 2013. Cooper earned notice for work in He’s Just Not That into You (2009) and the ensemble comedy Valentine’s Day (2010). Action roles followed, notably in Limitless (2011), Hit and Run (2012), and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012).

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Cooper then appeared in a series of acclaimed films that earned him Academy Award nominations. The first came for his portrayal of a man trying to reclaim his life after a sojourn in a mental institution in Silver Linings Playbook (2012). The dramedy was directed by David O. Russell and costarred Jennifer Lawrence, both of whom became frequent collaborators. Cooper’s second Oscar nomination was for best supporting actor for his performance as a wacky FBI agent in Russell’s American Hustle (2013), which also featured Lawrence. In 2014 he starred as Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sharpshooter, in the biographical war drama American Sniper, which was directed by Clint Eastwood, and, for his riveting performance, Cooper earned another Oscar nod. His other credits from 2014 included Guardians of the Galaxy, in which he voiced the computer-animated character Rocket; he reprised the role in the sequel (2017) and in Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). In 2015 he starred in a series of movies, most notably Burnt, about a chef seeking redemption, and Joy, in which he reteamed with Russell and Lawrence.

Although Cooper largely focused on film work, in 2014–15 he starred as the severely disfigured Joseph Merrick in a Broadway revival of Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man. His bravura performance in the physically challenging role earned him a Tony Award nomination. Cooper continued with the production when it moved to London in May 2015. That year he also reprised his role (although as a younger version of his 2001 film character) in Wet Hot American Summer, an eight-episode TV series on Netflix. In 2016 he joined the cast of the horror film 10 Cloverfield Lane.

Cooper received critical acclaim for his directorial debut, a remake of the movie A Star Is Born, in 2018. He also cowrote the script and played the lead role, as a hard-drinking musician who facilitates the meteoric rise of a singer-songwriter (played by Lady Gaga). The film earned numerous Oscar nominations, and Cooper received nods for best actor and best adapted screenplay. Also in 2018 he portrayed an agent trailing an elderly courier (Eastwood) for a drug cartel in The Mule. His credits from 2021 included Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, a 1970s coming-of-age dramedy in which he played a movie director, and the film noir Nightmare Alley. In the latter, which was directed by Guillermo del Toro, Cooper was cast as a scheming carnival worker who meets a manipulative psychoanalyst (Cate Blanchett).