Christopher Walton Cooper He has an older brother, Chuck Cooper (born 1948). His father was both a United States Air Force doctor and a cattleman, and his mother was a housewife. Both of his parents were from Texas. Cooper grew up in the suburbs of Kansas City, and spent his summers at his family's cattle ranch, located about 15 miles west of Leavenworth, Kansas. While attending Southwest High School in Kansas City, Cooper worked for a local theater company: "I had a background in carpentry, so I could build sets and work in the wings and shift scenes in the evening." After he graduated from high school, Cooper became the shop foreman for another repertory company.
Cooper attended the University of Missouri and enrolled in the theater program, originally majoring in set design. In 1989, he played Ty Cobb in Cobb at the Yale Repertory Theatre.
Career
Cooper's early performances include John Sayles' 1987 film Matewan; the 1989 CBS Western miniseries Lonesome Dove; the 1991 indie Western drama Thousand Pieces of Gold, and the 1992 ABC docudrama Bed of Lies, opposite Susan Dey.
Some of his more notable later performances include: Money Train, as a psychotic pyromaniac who terrifies toll booth operators; Lone Star, in a leading role as a Texas sheriff charged with solving a decades-old case; as Deputy Dwayne Looney in director Joel Schumacher's 1996 film A Time to Kill (based on the John Grisham novel); as Frank Booker in 1998's The Horse Whisperer; and as a closeted homophobic Marine Corps colonel in American Beauty, a role that garnered him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. To get into character, Cooper said he "depended on a friend who'd fought in Vietnam. I asked him to go deep. What would this man have done? What would be on his walls? On his desk?"
In 2000, Cooper played Colonel Harry Burwell (inspired by Lieutenant Colonel Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee) in The Patriot. He was nominated for another Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA Award, and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe Award in 2003 for playing the role of John Laroche in Adaptation. In 2002, Cooper also appeared in The Bourne Identity as a ruthless CIA special ops director, a role he reprised (in flashbacks) in The Bourne Supremacy.
Cooper received another Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his supporting role as racehorse trainer Tom Smith in 2003's Seabiscuit. In 2004, Cooper starred in Silver City, playing an inept Republican gubernatorial candidate, a character noted for similarities to U.S. President George W. Bush.
Cooper appeared in three acclaimed films in 2005: Jarhead (which reunited him with American Beauty director Sam Mendes and October Sky actor Jake Gyllenhaal); Capote; and Syriana. He also acted in the thriller Breach, playing real-life FBI agent and traitor Robert Hanssen. Cooper commented that Breach was "the first studio film where they've considered me the lead [actor]". In 2007, he appeared as a government agent in dangerous territory in the action thriller The Kingdom and voiced the character Douglas in the film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's book, Where the Wild Things Are (2009).
At the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, Cooper appeared alongside Ben Affleck in The Company Men, early reviews of which praised Cooper's performance as "pitch-perfect".
In 2011, Chris Cooper appeared in The Muppets as Tex Richman, the antagonistic oil tycoon who is unable to laugh. In the musical film, Cooper performed the rap and dance number "Let's Talk About Me".
In 2013, he played Charles Aiken, Sr. in August: Osage County alongside an all-star cast that included Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts.
Cooper portrayed Norman Osborn in the 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2. He appeared in an uncredited role in Ben Affleck's crime drama Live by Night, which was released in December 2016.
In 2017, he and Laurie Metcalf starred in A Doll's House, Part 2, a Broadway play by Lucas Hnath based on Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. Cooper played Nora Helmer's husband, Torvald.
In 2019, Cooper starred in two acclaimed films, Marielle Heller's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, with Tom Hanks, and Greta Gerwig's adaptation of Little Women with an ensemble cast featuring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, Laura Dern, and Meryl Streep.
In 2024, Cooper served as an executive producer of the documentary My Own Normal about Alexander Freeman, a filmmaker from Newton, Massachusetts who has cerebral palsy, following his journey of becoming a partner and father and confronting the pain of his parents' reaction. The documentary premiered at Independent Film Festival Boston.
Personal life
thumb|Cooper and wife [[Marianne Leone Cooper, April 2007]]
Cooper met his future wife, Marianne Leone, in 1979 at an acting class in New York City. was born three months prematurely in October 1987. Three days after he was born, Jesse suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and developed cerebral palsy. Jesse was eventually mainstreamed into Silver Lake Regional High School, where he became an honor student. Cooper has said that the death of his son has somewhat helped him understand several characters he played, such as Charles Aiken in August: Osage County (2013) and Phil Eastwood in Demolition (2015).
Cooper formerly maintained residences in Hoboken, New Jersey, and Plymouth, Massachusetts. He has been close friends with frequent collaborator John Sayles since 1985. On May 14, 2016, Cooper received an honorary doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
He and his wife Marianne adopt and live with rescue dogs.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="sortable" | Notes
|-
| 1987
| Matewan
| Joe Kenehan
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1991
| Guilty by Suspicion
| Larry Nolan
|
|-
| Thousand Pieces of Gold
| Charlie
|
|-
| City of Hope
| Riggs
|
|-
| 1993
| This Boy's Life
| Roy
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1995
| Pharaoh's Army
| Captain John Hull Abston
|
|-
| Money Train
| Terry the "Torch" Edwards
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1996
| Boys
| John Baker
|
|-
| Lone Star
| Sheriff Sam Deeds
| Nominated–Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
|-
| A Time to Kill
| Deputy Dwayne Powell Looney
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1998
| Great Expectations
| Joe Coleman
|
|-
| The Horse Whisperer
| Frank Booker
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 1999
| The 24 Hour Woman
| Ron Hacksby
|
|-
| October Sky
| John Hickam
|
|-
| American Beauty
| Colonel Frank Fitts, USMC
| Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast<br>Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture<br />Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2000
| Me, Myself & Irene
| Lieutenant Gerke
|
|-
| The Patriot
| Colonel Harry Burwell
|
|-
| rowspan="4" | 2002
| Interstate 60
| Bob Cody
|
|-
| The Bourne Identity
| Alexander Conklin
|
|-
| The Ring
| Child Murderer
| Deleted role
|-
| Adaptation
| John Laroche
| Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture<br />Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Village Voice Film Poll for Best Supporting Performance<br />Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role<br />Nominated–Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Nominated–National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor<br>Nominated–New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor<br />Nominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast<br>Nominated–Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor<br>Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture<br />Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture<br />Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
|-
| 2003
| Seabiscuit
| Tom Smith
| Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role<br />Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2004
| Silver City
| Richard 'Dicky' Pilager
|
|-
| The Bourne Supremacy
| Alexander Conklin
| Uncredited
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2005
| Capote
| Alvin Dewey
| Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture<br />Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|-
| Jarhead
| Lieutenant Colonel Kazinski
|
|-
| Syriana
| Jimmy Pope
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2007
| Breach
| Robert Hanssen
|
|-
| The Kingdom
| FBI Agent Grant Sykes
|
|-
| Married Life
| Harry Allen
|
|-
| rowspan="2" | 2008
| New York, I Love You
| Alex Simmons
|
|-
| Extreme Movie
| FBI Agent Mike
|
|-
| 2009
| Where the Wild Things Are
| Douglas (voice)
|
|-
| rowspan="5" | 2010
| The Tempest
| Antonio
|
|-
| The Company Men
| Phil Woodward
| Nominated–Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
|-
| Remember Me
| Neil Craig
|
|-
| Amigo
| Colonel Hardacre
|
|-
| The Town
| Stephen MacRay
| National Board of Review Award for Best Cast<br>Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble<br>Nominated–Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
|-
| 2011
| The Muppets
| Tex Richman
|
|-
| 2012
| The Company You Keep
| Daniel Sloan
|
|-
| 2013
| August: Osage County
| Charles Aiken
| AARP Annual Movies for Grownups Award for Best Supporting Actor<br>Capri Ensemble Cast Award<br>Hollywood Film Award for Ensemble of the Year<br>Nominated–Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|-
| 2014
| The Amazing Spider-Man 2
| Norman Osborn
| Uncredited cameo
|-
| rowspan="3" |2015
| Fastball
| Clifford Blankenship (voice)
| Documentary
|-
| Demolition
| Phil Eastwood
|
|-
| Coming Through the Rye
| J. D. Salinger
|
|-
| 2016
| Live by Night
| Irving Figgis
|
|-
| 2017
| Cars 3
| Smokey (voice)
|
|-
| 2018
| Intelligent Lives
| Narrator
|
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2019
| A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
| Jerry Vogel
|
|-
| Little Women
| Mr. Laurence
|
|-
| Henrietta Bulkowski
| Danny Wilcox (voice)
| Short film
|-
| 2020
| Irresistible
| Marine Colonel Jack Hastings
|
|-
| 2021
| With/In: Volume 2
|
| Segment: "Nuts"; also director
|-
| 2023
| Boston Strangler
| Jack MacLaine
|
|-
| 2024
| My Own Normal
|
| Documentary, executive producer
|-
| rowspan="3" | 2025
| The History of Sound
| Dr. Lionel Worthing
|
|-
| Everything's Going to Be Great
| Walter
|
|-
|True Value
|Narrator
|Documentary
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1987
| The Equalizer
| Michael
| Episode: "The Rehearsal"
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1988
| American Playhouse
| Louis Halladay
| Episode: "Journey Into Genius"
|-
| Miami Vice
| Jimmy Yagovitch
| Episode: "Mirror Image"
|-
| 1989
| Lonesome Dove
| July Johnson
| Miniseries
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1990
| Lifestories
| Mr. Hawkins
| Episode: "The Hawkins Family"
|-
| To the Moon, Alice
| Frank Wiliker
| rowspan="6" | Television film
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1991
| In Broad Daylight
| Jack Wilson
|-
| Darrow
| Eugene V. Debs
|-
| rowspan="2" | 1992
| Bed of Lies
| Price Daniel Jr.
|-
| Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life
| Anthony Blessing
|-
| 1994
| One More Mountain
| James Reed
|-
| 1996
| Law & Order
| Roy Payne
| Episode: "Blood Libel"
|-
| 1997
| Breast Men
| Dr. William Larson
| Television film
|-
| 2003
| My House in Umbria
| Thomas Riversmith
| Television film<br />Nominated–Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor – Miniseries or a Movie<br />Nominated–Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film
|-
| 2008
| American Experience
| Walt Whitman (voice)
| Episode: "Walt Whitman"
|-
| 2009
| American Experience
| rowspan="3" |Narrator (voice)
| Episode: "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln"
|-
| 2010
| Bloom: The Plight of Lake Champlain
| rowspan="2" |Documentary
|-
| 2012
| Bloom: The Emergence of Ecological Design
|-
| 2016
| 11.22.63
| Al Templeton
| Miniseries
|-
| 2020
| Homecoming
| Leonard Geist
| 6 episodes (season 2)
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Voice role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 2017
| Cars 3: Driven to Win
| Smokey
|
|}
Stage
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
| 1980
| Of the Fields, Lately
| Ben Mercer
| Broadway debut
|-
| 2017
| A Doll's House, Part 2
| Torvald Helmer
| Nominated–Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Award
!Category
!Nominated work
!Result
!Ref.
|-
|rowspan= "2"|2000
| rowspan= "2"|Screen Actors Guild Awards
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
| rowspan= "2"|American Beauty
|
|rowspan="2"|
|-
|Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|
|-
|rowspan="6"|2003
|Academy Awards
|Best Supporting Actor
|rowspan="5"| Adaptation
|
|
|-
|Golden Globe Awards
|Best Supporting Actor
|
|
|-
|BAFTA Film Awards
|Best Actor in a Supporting Role
|
|
|-
|rowspan="2"| Screen Actors Guild Awards
| Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
|
|rowspan="2"|
|-
|Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|
|-
|Primetime Emmy Awards
|Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie
|My House in Umbria
|
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2004
|rowspan="2"|Screen Actors Guild Awards
|Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
|rowspan="2"|Seabiscuit
|
|rowspan="2"|
|-
|Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|
|-
|2006
|Screen Actors Guild Awards
|Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|Capote
|
|
|-
|2014
|Screen Actors Guild Awards
|Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
|August: Osage County
|
|
|-
|2017
|Tony Awards
|Best Actor in a Play
|A Doll's House, Part 2
|
|
|}