Chris Cooper

BIRTHDATE: July 9, 1951
BIRTHPLACE: Kansas City, Missouri
MARITAL STATUS: Married to actress Marianne Leone, one child
WHY HE DESERVES HIS BIG BREAK:
Is it possible that an abusive, disturbed, repressed homosexual army colonel could actually be sympathetic? Well, yes, if you saw Chris Cooper's performance as Colonel Frank Fitts in American Beauty. Amongst the shouting of Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey's performances, Cooper managed to convey most of his character's feelings simply by way of a mournful stare and posture so painfully stiff it looks as if he had a curtain rod fused to his spine, quite appropriate for a career military man faced with the possibility that not only his son might be gay (not true), but so might he (true). When his shocking attempt at kissing next door neighbor Kevin Spacey is kindly but firmly rebuffed, you can almost hear something snap inside of him. It's as if he's finally realizing what the audience has known all along--that he has no one to blame but himself for his miserable life, and that everything he touches is destroyed. And he never says one word.

Born in Kansas City, MO, Chris Cooper did a stint in the Coast Guard and studied at the University of Missouri drama school before performing in off-Broadway theater. He got a relatively late start in film, already 35 years old when John Sayles cast him in the lead role of the coal mining drama Matewan (1987). Loved by critics but largely ignored by audiences, Cooper spent the next couple of years doing TV movies, then got the starring role in another Sayles movie, Lone Star (1996). Cooper's unforgettable performance as a smalltown Texas sheriff who discovers that his dead father may have been involved in an unsolved murder, finally rescued him from TV movie hell. Since then, he's been putting in more than capable performances in movies that mostly don't deserve him, like Great Expectations and The Horse Whisperer.

FILMOGRAPHY
Films highlighted in yellow present Chris at his best
Adaptation (2002)--John Laroche
Interstate 60 (2002)--Bob Cody
The Bourne Identity (2002)--????
The Patriot (2000)--Colonel Harry Burwell
Me, Myself & Irene (2000)--Lieutenant Gerke
American Beauty (1999)--Colonel Frank Fitts
October Sky (1999)--John Hickam
The 24 Hour Woman (1999)--Ron Hacksby
The Horse Whisperer (1998)--Frank Booker
Great Expectations (1998)--Uncle Joe
Alone (TV Movie--1997)--Gus Jr.
Breast Men (TV Movie--1997)--Dr. William Larson
The Deliverance of Elaine (TV Movie--1996)--Charlie Skyler
A Time to Kill (1996)--Deputy Dwayne Powell Looney
Lone Star (1996)--Sam Deeds
Boys (1996)--Mr. John Baker
"Law & Order" (1996)--Ron Payne (TV guest appearance)
Pharaoh's Army (1995)--John Hull Abston
Money Train (1995)--Torch
One More Mountain (TV Movie--1994)--James Reed
This Boy's Life (1993)--Roy
Return to Lonesome Dove (TV Movie--1993)--July Johnson
Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life (TV Movie--1992)--Anthony Blessing
Bed of Lies (TV Movie--1992)--Price Daniel, Jr.
City of Hope (1991)--Riggs
Guilty by Suspicion (1991)--Larry Nolan
Darrow (TV Movie--1991)-- Eugene Debs
In Broad Daylight (TV Movie--1991)--Jack Wilson
A Little Piece of Sunshine (TV Movie--1990)--Ernie Favaro
Thousand Pieces of Gold (1990)--Charlie
To the Moon, Alice (TV Movie--1990)--Frank Wiliker
"Lifestories" (1990)--Father (TV guest appearance)
Lonesome Dove (TV Movie--1989)--July Johnson
Eugene O'Neill: Journey Into Genius (TV Movie--1988)--Louis Halladay
"Miami Vice" (1988)--Jimmy Yagovitch (TV guest appearance)
Matewan (1987)--Joe Kenehan
"The Equalizer" (1987)--Michael (TV guest appearance)