Bradley Cooper

• 1. Early Life And Education

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  Bradley Charles Cooper was born on the 5th of January 1975, in Abington Township, Pennsylvania. He grew up near Philadelphia in the communities of Jenkintown and Rydal. His mother Gloria worked at KYW-TV while his father Charles served as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. Cooper had cholesteatoma in his ear soon after birth and punctured his eardrum when he started diving early in life. He described himself as a child who never lived the life of someone considered good-looking. People thought he looked like a girl because his mother kept his hair long. He excelled at basketball and enjoyed cooking lasagna for friends after kindergarten. Cooper initially wanted to attend Valley Forge Military Academy and move to Japan to become a ninja. His father introduced him to films like The Elephant Man which inspired him to be an actor. Cooper attended Germantown Academy where he worked at the Philadelphia Daily News. After graduating from high school in 1993 he attended Villanova University for one year before transferring to Georgetown University. He majored in English and minored in French. Cooper graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors. He rowed for the Georgetown Hoyas team and acted with Nomadic Theatre. While at Georgetown he became fluent in French and spent six months as an exchange student in Aix-en-Provence, France.

• 2. Television Breakthrough Era

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  Cooper began his television career in 1999 with a guest role on Sex and the City opposite Sarah Jessica Parker. In 2000 he enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts program at the Actors Studio Drama School at The New School in New York City. He received an MFA in acting from that institution shortly after enrolling. There he trained with coach Elizabeth Kemp who advised him on many of his films. While studying in New York City Cooper worked as a doorman at the Morgans Hotel. He briefly interacted with Robert de Niro and Sean Penn during question-and-answer master class sessions. These sessions were later featured episodes of Inside the Actors Studio. Cooper made his film debut with a starring role in Wet Hot American Summer which was released in 2001. The film took place at a fictional summer camp in 1981 where he played Ben. Although the film was critically and commercially unsuccessful it has since developed a cult following. Cooper achieved some success with the role of Will Tippin in the television series Alias which ran from 2001 to 2006. His character served as a local reporter for a newspaper and best friend to Jennifer Garner's Sydney Bristow. As his screen time decreased Cooper grew frustrated and requested creator J.J. Abrams to write his character off the show. During recovery from a torn Achilles tendon while playing basketball he considered quitting acting permanently. In 2004 he was cast in Wedding Crashers which helped revive his career prospects.

• 3. Comedy Stardom And Franchises

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  Cooper's breakthrough came with the comedy The Hangover which was released in 2009. He played Phil Wenneck alongside Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis. The film finished among the highest-grossing R-rated films in the United States. A.O. Scott of The New York Times wrote that Cooper offered the most interesting variation on an old standard. The Daily Telegraph opined that the film's success turned him into a bona fide leading man. Cooper reprised his role in The Hangover Part II which earned over $580 million worldwide in 2011. Mary Pols of Time magazine complimented Cooper giving a knowing performance that made every line funnier. The third installment The Hangover Part III grossed $362 million worldwide despite poor reviews. Cooper also provided the voice of Rocket Raccoon across six films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe beginning with Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014. Jackson Weaver of CBC News termed Cooper one of the few genuinely talented live actors who became voice actors. He returned as Rocket in Avengers: Infinity War in 2018 and Avengers: Endgame in 2019. The latter briefly became the highest-grossing film of all time. Cooper voiced Rocket again in the 2022 Disney+ series I Am Groot and the 2023 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

• 4. Critical Acclaim And Dramatic Range

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  Cooper earned Academy Award nominations for Silver Linings Playbook released in 2012. He played a divorced man with bipolar disorder opposite Jennifer Lawrence. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that Cooper seized the juiciest role of his career. The film earned $236.4 million on a production budget of $21 million. He received an MTV Movie Award for Best Performance and nominations for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor. In 2013 he took on the supporting role of an unhinged FBI agent in American Hustle. Kim Newman of Empire praised Cooper's spot impersonations of his overly cautious boss. The film grossed $251.1 million worldwide but Cooper did not win any major awards despite nominations. Cooper starred alongside Clint Eastwood in American Sniper which was released in 2014. To appear as large as Chris Kyle Cooper underwent extensive training and gained muscle. The film earned $547 million worldwide to become Cooper's highest-grossing live-action film. It was also the third highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. With these nominations Cooper became the tenth actor in history to receive an Academy Award nomination for acting in three consecutive years.

• 5. Directorial Debut And Music Career

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  Cooper directed his first film A Star Is Born which premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in August 2018. He starred as Jackson Maine opposite Lady Gaga who played Ally. The film earned over $436 million at the box office against a production budget of $36 million. Cooper spent nearly four years working on the project including five days a week taking voice piano and guitar lessons for six months. He undertook vocal training for 18 months with help from vocal coach Roger Love. Cooper and Gaga co-wrote and produced most songs on the soundtrack which reached number one in the US, Ireland, and UK. The album contained 34 tracks including 19 original songs. Mark Kennedy of The Washington Post called it a five-star marvel while Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian termed it an instant classic. The record's lead single Shallow reached number one in multiple countries. Cooper received two Grammy nominations for Shallow winning Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. At the 72nd British Academy Film Awards he won only the last of seven nominations for Best Film Music. As a result Cooper became the first person with five nominations in a single ceremony in BAFTA history.

• 6. Personal Struggles And Recovery

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  Cooper's early years in the entertainment industry were marred with difficulties when his role in Alias was demoted to a minuscule part. His substance addiction and doubts about his career triggered thoughts of suicide. Cooper credits his friend Will Arnett with helping him address his substance abuse and seek therapy. He has abstained from alcohol and drugs since 2004 remarking that it would have destroyed his life. Cooper became engaged to actress Jennifer Esposito in October 2006 and married that December. They divorced in November 2007 after she filed for divorce in May 2007. Before his marriage to Esposito he met Renée Zellweger while filming Case 39 in 2006. They reportedly broke up in 2011. Cooper dated Zoe Saldaña from December 2011 to January 2013 and Suki Waterhouse from March 2013 until two years later. He was in a relationship with Russian model Irina Shayk from April 2015 to June 2019. They have a daughter together named Lea de Seine born in March 2017. Two years after the death of his father from lung cancer in 2011 he relocated to Los Angeles with his mother.