Chris Cooper facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Chris Cooper
Cooper at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Christopher Walton Cooper (1951-07-09) July 9, 1951 (age 73) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1977–present
Spouse(s)	Marianne Leone ​ (m. 1983)​
Children	1

Christopher Walton Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an American actor. He is known for playing many different types of characters in films and TV shows. He first became famous as Sheriff July Johnson in the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989).

Chris Cooper has been in many popular movies. These include American Beauty (1999), The Bourne Identity (2002), Seabiscuit (2003), and The Muppets (2011). He also voiced a character in Cars 3 (2017). He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his role in the movie Adaptation.

He has also worked with director John Sayles many times. Some of their movies together are Matewan (1987) and Lone Star (1996). In 2017, he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his work on Broadway in A Doll's House, Part 2.

Early Life and Learning to Act

Chris Cooper was born on July 9, 1951, in Kansas City, Missouri. His father was a doctor and also raised cattle. His mother was a housewife. Chris grew up in different places, including Kansas City, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, Arizona.

During his summers, he helped out on his family's cattle ranch. When he was in high school, Chris worked for a local theater group. He built sets and helped backstage. He even thought about becoming a cattle rancher like his dad.

Chris went to the University of Missouri. He first studied set design for plays. But in his second year, he decided to try acting. He wanted to overcome his shyness. He found that acting felt "right" and like "home." He also took dance classes.

After college, Chris moved to New York City in 1976. He lived with other actors and dancers. He worked different jobs like renovating apartments and being a chauffeur. At the same time, he studied acting with famous teachers like Stella Adler. Before his first movie in 1987, he spent 12 years acting in plays.

Chris Cooper's Acting Career

Chris Cooper's first big movie was John Sayles' Matewan in 1987. He then appeared in the TV miniseries Lonesome Dove in 1989.

Some of his well-known roles include:

• In Money Train, he played a character who caused trouble for toll booth workers.
• He played a sheriff solving an old case in Lone Star.
• In A Time to Kill (1996), he was Deputy Dwayne Looney.
• He played Frank Booker in The Horse Whisperer (1998).
• In American Beauty, he played a Marine Corps colonel. He was nominated for an award for this role.

In 2000, Chris Cooper played Colonel Harry Burwell in The Patriot. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe Award in 2003 for his role as John Laroche in Adaptation. In 2002, he was in The Bourne Identity as a CIA director. He played this role again in flashbacks in The Bourne Supremacy.

He was also nominated for an award for his role as horse trainer Tom Smith in Seabiscuit (2003). In 2004, he starred in Silver City, playing a politician.

In 2005, Chris Cooper was in three movies: Jarhead, Capote, and Syriana. He also played a real-life FBI agent in the thriller Breach. In 2007, he was in the action movie The Kingdom. He also voiced the character Douglas in the movie Where the Wild Things Are (2009).

In 2011, Chris Cooper played Tex Richman, a bad guy who couldn't laugh, in The Muppets. He even performed a rap song in the movie! In 2013, he was part of an all-star cast in August: Osage County.

In 2017, he acted with Laurie Metcalf in the Broadway play A Doll's House, Part 2. He was nominated for a Tony Award for playing Nora Helmer's husband, Torvald.

He played Norman Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). In 2017, he voiced Smokey in the animated movie Cars 3. In 2019, he was in two popular films: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood with Tom Hanks, and Little Women.

In 2024, Chris Cooper was an executive producer for a documentary called My Own Normal. It was about a filmmaker with cerebral palsy.

Personal Life

Chris Cooper and his wife Marianne Leone Cooper in 2007

Chris Cooper met his wife, Marianne Leone, in 1979 in an acting class. They got married in July 1983. Their son, Jesse Lanier Cooper, was born early in 1987. Jesse had cerebral palsy but was a very bright student. He went to a regular high school and was an honor student. Chris has said that Jesse taught him a lot because he was so focused.

Jesse Cooper passed away in 2005. A special fund, the Jesse Cooper Foundation, was set up in his name. Chris has shared that his son's life and passing helped him understand some of the characters he played in movies.

Chris Cooper lives in Kingston, Massachusetts. He has been good friends with director John Sayles since 1985. Chris and Marianne also adopt and care for rescue dogs.

Selected Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Video games

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: Chris Cooper para niños