A true "Melting pot" product: His mother is Irish, his father is Italian, and he is American. Here is the story of Cooper, who was noticed by the masses with the movie Hangover:
Brandley Cooper was born on January 5, 1975, in Abington Township, near Philadelphia. His mother was Gloria and his father was Charles Cooper. At a young age, his father introduced him to movies like The Elephant Man, which inspired him to become an actor. Coming from a non-acting family, Cooper said his parents initially wanted him to pursue a career in finance and were against acting. But he said they eventually changed their perception when they saw Cooper play a role in an excerpt from the play.
Cooper worked for the Philadelphia Daily News while studying at the Germantown Academy. After graduating from high school in 1993, Cooper attended Villanova University for a year and then transferred to Georgetown University. He did a minor in English and French here. Thus, he can speak French fluently. Cooper graduated from Georgetown with honors in 1997.
Cooper started his acting career in 1999 with the TV series Sex And The City. In 2000, he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in acting from the Actors Studio Drama School at The New School in New York City. While studying in New York, Cooper worked as a janitor at the Morgans Hotel in Manhattan.
He acted in the movie Wet Hot American Summer in 2001. He took a role in the TV series Alias (2001-2006), where he had great success. He considered quitting acting when his role in the second season of the show was reduced to a very small part. His substance abuse and doubts about his career triggered suicidal thoughts. Cooper says his friend and fellow actor Will Arnett helped him deal with his substance abuse and seek therapy. Cooper has been abstaining from alcohol since 2004 because he thought it would ruin his life.
Despite everything, he continued his career with a role in Wedding Crashers (2005) in 2004. He starred in the 2002 psychological thriller Changing Lanes. The scenes he starred in were extracted from the final cut of the film and edited. But he was featured on the DVD and Blu-ray versions of the movie.
Cooper's career prospects improved with a more prominent role in David Dobkin's comedy Wedding Crashers. With a production budget of $40 million, the film grossed over $285 million worldwide. Cooper played the lead role of Anthony Bourdain in the TV series Kitchen Confidential, which aired on Fox in 2005. Although the series received positive reviews, the channel announced that it was canceled due to low ratings.
Cooper later appeared as Aidan Stone, a television star, in the fictional program Hearts 'N Scalpels in the fifth season of Nip/Tuck (2007). Cooper landed the lead role in the horror movie The Midnight Meat Train (2008), directed by Ryuhei Kitamura. This role was different from Cooper's previous comedy roles and was an experience he found entertaining. The film received positive reviews from critics, although it earned little at the box office.
Cooper's breakthrough role came in Todd Phillips' comedy The Hangover (2009). The Hangover was a commercial success. Cooper received an award at the 13th Hollywood Film Festival for his performance and was nominated for the MTV Movie Awards (Best Comedy Performance) for the first time. Also in 2009, Cooper starred in the psychological horror Case 39, a delayed production filmed in 2006. It reached a wide audience and earned them the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst On-Screen Combo.
In 2010, he starred in the movie Valentine's Day, directed by Garry Marshall. The movie was a huge success. In the same year, he played the character of Templeton "Faceman" Peck in the screen adaptation of the legendary TV series A-Team. To prepare for the role, he avoided consuming sugar, salt, and flour, and went through tough training. However, the film received negative reviews and was a low-grossing film.
In 2011, Cooper starred in the techno-thriller Limitless, based on Alan Glynn's 2001 novel The Dark Fields. Despite all the financial concerns, the movie turned out to be a commercial success. An even greater commercial success was with the comedy sequel The Hangover Part II (2011), which grossed over $580 million worldwide. Reviews for the film were generally negative, but Cooper's performance was appreciated.
Cooper co-starred with Robert De Niro and Jennifer Lawrence in David O. Russell's romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook (2012). Cooper was initially skeptical about playing the role, which he felt had transcended his depth, but later accepted the role, inspired by Russell's confidence in him. The movie was also successful at the box office. He was nominated for an MTV Movie Award and Academy Award for Best Performance, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor for his performance.
In 2013, Cooper reprized the role of Phil Wenneck in The Hangover Part III, the third and final part of The Hangover trilogy, to mixed reviews by critics. Nevertheless, the film was a huge worldwide commercial success and became one of Cooper's top-grossing films.
In 2014, Cooper reunited with Jennifer Lawrence in the drama Serena, directed by Susanne Bier. Also in the same year, Cooper co-produced and co-starred US Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle in American Sniper, a biographical war drama directed by Clint Eastwood. Cooper received extensive training for the role and gained 18kg of muscle by following a strict diet. The film and Cooper's performance received generally positive reviews.
For his performance in American Sniper, Cooper won an MTV Movie Award for Best Actor and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. The movie was nominated for Best Picture. With these nominations, Cooper becomes the tenth actor in history to receive an Academy Award nomination for acting three years in a row.
Cooper directed his first feature, A Star Is Born, a remake of the 1937 musical of the same name. Cooper played the singer Jackson Maine in the movie. Cooper, who had long wanted to direct a movie, was eager to shoot a love story. People had warned him not to direct a third remake, and he feared that if the film failed, it would end his directing career. It was released worldwide in August 2018 and in October to critical acclaim.
Cooper worked on the project for nearly four years, taking singing, piano and guitar lessons to prepare for the role. To prepare, Cooper spent 18 months of voice training with vocal coach Roger Love. It was rated generally positively from critics. In 2019, Cooper co-produced Todd Phillips' psychological thriller Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix. It grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. Cooper was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and a BAFTA Award for Best Picture.
He will direct, produce, co-wrote and star in Leonard Bernstein's biopic The Maestro for Netflix. He will also produce Phillips' sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Phoenix and Lady Gaga.
Private life
Cooper was in a relationship with Russian model Irina Shayk from April 2015 to June 2019. They have a daughter named Lea de Seine who was born in March 2017. Cooper and his family have a close bond. He moved to Los Angeles with his mother in 2011, two years after his father died of lung cancer. After his father's death, he supported organizations that helped fight cancer.