Chris Cooper Detailed Biography

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.

Cooper resides in Massachusetts with his wife and son.