Cinema Experts

“I've been around horses, but I certainly wouldn't call myself a horseman by any means. It's a combination of being very aware of them, and not trusting them.”
Cooper was born in Kansas City, Missouri to Mary Ann, a homemaker, and Charles Cooper, who served as a doctor in the United States Air Force and operated a cattle ranch. He has an older brother, Chuck, and grew up as a "blue-collar cowpoke" in Houston, Texas and Kansas City. Cooper attended Stephens College and the University of Missouri–Columbia, where he dual majored in the school of agriculture and the school of drama. After graduation, Cooper moved to New York City to pursue his career.
Cooper's early performances include Matewan, the 1987 picture by John Sayles, and the 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove. Some of his standout performances include Money Train as a psychotic pyromaniac who terrifies toll booth operators, Lone Star in a rare leading role as a Texas sheriff charged with solving a decades old case, and American Beauty as a homophobic Colonel of the United States Marine Corps. While many felt that Cooper should have been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in that film, he eventually won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 2003 for playing the role of John Laroche in Adaptation. Cooper also appeared in The Bourne Identity in 2001 as a ruthless CIA special ops director, a role he reprised (in flashbacks) in The Bourne Supremacy.
Cooper was busy in 2005, having appeared in three well-received and acclaimed films: Jarhead (reuniting him with American Beauty director Sam Mendes and October Sky actor Jake Gyllenhaal), Capote and Syriana. His most recent role is in the thriller Breach, playing real-life FBI operative and spy Robert Hanssen; Cooper has said that he believes Breach is the "first studio film where they've considered me the lead" actor.
Cooper will next appear as a government agent in dangerous territory alongside Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman in the action thriller The Kingdom.