Age, Biography, and Wiki
Bradley Cooper was born on January 5, 1975, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Gloria Campano and Charles Cooper. Cooper's early life was marked by a passion for acting, which was initially met with skepticism by his parents. However, after performing in a school play, they changed their minds. He attended Germantown Academy and later Georgetown University, where he graduated with a degree in English in 1997.
| Occupation | Film Producer |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 5 January 1975 |
| Age | 50 Years |
| Birth Place | Abington Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Capricorn |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
- Height: 6 feet (183 cm)
- Weight: Approximately 190 lbs (86 kg)
- Cooper's physical presence often complements his roles in films, making him a versatile actor.
| Height | 183 cm |
| Weight | 190 lbs |
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Dating & Relationship Status
As of recent reports, Bradley Cooper is in a relationship. His personal life has been subject to media attention, especially during his highly publicized relationship with Irina Shayk.
Cooper was named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive in 2011. He supports several charities that help fight cancer. Cooper was briefly married to actress Jennifer Esposito and has a daughter from his relationship with model Irina Shayk.
His mother, Gloria (née Campano), worked at KYW-TV, which was then Philadelphia's NBC affiliate. His father, Charles Cooper, worked as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. Cooper's father was of Irish descent, while his mother is of Italian ancestry (from Abruzzo and Naples). He was raised Catholic. He has an older sister, Holly. He had cholesteatoma in his ear soon after his birth and punctured his eardrum when he started diving at an early age.
Describing himself as a child, Cooper has said: "I never lived the life of 'Oh, you're so good-looking'. People thought I was a girl when I was little, because I looked like a girl – maybe because my mother would keep my hair really long." He excelled at basketball and enjoyed cooking: "I used to have buddies come over after kindergarten and I'd cook them food. I prided myself in taking whatever was in the fridge and turning it into lasagna." He initially wanted to attend Valley Forge Military Academy and move to Japan to become a ninja. At an early age, his father introduced him to films like The Elephant Man, which inspired him to be an actor. Coming from a family of non-actors, Cooper says his parents initially wanted him to pursue a career in finance and were against acting, but they eventually changed their perceptions when they saw Cooper play the part of Joseph Merrick in an excerpt from the play The Elephant Man.
Cooper's career prospects improved with a more prominent role in David Dobkin's comedy Wedding Crashers alongside Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, and Rachel McAdams. In the film, he played Sack Lodge, the competitive, arrogant, and aggressive boyfriend of Claire (McAdams), a role he described as "kind of a sociopath". Cooper believed the antagonistic character changed people's perception of him, as he had previously played the "nice guy". With a production budget of $40million, the film grossed over $285million worldwide. In September 2005, Fox debuted the sitcom Kitchen Confidential, based on a memoir by chef Anthony Bourdain, with Cooper in the leading role. Despite positive reviews for the series, the show was canceled after only four episodes due to low ratings.
Cooper voiced Rocket in the 2022 Disney+ series I Am Groot and special The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and did so again in the 2023 film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. The last of these focused on Rocket's traumatic past. It led Jackson Weaver of CBC News to term Cooper "one of the few genuinely talented live actor turned voice actors". Cooper next directed, produced, and co-wrote Maestro (2023), a biographical drama about the relationship between composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia Montealegre, in which he also portrayed Bernstein opposite Carey Mulligan's Montealegre. He was hired by filmmaker Steven Spielberg to direct the project after a screening of A Star is Born. Controversy arose over Cooper's use of a prosthetic nose to play Bernstein, which some considered an example of "Jewface". Cooper was defended by both Bernstein's children and the Anti-Defamation League. Reviewing the film for BBC Culture, Nicholas Barber wrote, "Maestro confirms what was suggested by Cooper's directorial debut, A Star Is Born. He has sky-high ambitions, and he has the technical virtuosity and big-hearted sincerity to fulfil those ambitions with flair". He earned two more BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for his direction and performance, in addition to three more Academy Award nominations for his production, writing, and performance. He also won another Grammy Award for the Maestro soundtrack.
Cooper became engaged to actress Jennifer Esposito in October 2006, and they married that December. In May 2007, she filed for divorce which was finalized in November. Regarding their short marriage, he explained, "It was just something that happened. The good thing is, we both realized it... Sometimes you just realize it." Before his marriage to Esposito, he met Renée Zellweger while filming Case 39 in 2006. The media speculated about the nature of their relationship in 2009, when the film was released. They reportedly broke up in 2011. He dated actress Zoe Saldaña from December 2011 to January 2013. He subsequently began dating English model and actress Suki Waterhouse in March 2013; their relationship ended two years later. Cooper was in a relationship with Russian model Irina Shayk from April 2015 to June 2019. They have a daughter together, Lea de Seine, born in March 2017. Cooper has been in a relationship with model Gigi Hadid since c. late 2023.
Cooper and his family share a close bond. Two years after the death of his father from lung cancer in 2011, he relocated to Los Angeles with his mother. He said that after his father's diagnosis "I was in a very lucky position because I was able to put everything on hold in all aspects of my life and completely focus on taking care of him." He has described the process of his father's treatment as "just simply overwhelming, incredibly stressful, complex and all consuming". He has since supported organizations that help fight cancer. In June 2014, he joined the board of directors for the charity Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a non-profit organization and summer camp that serves children with chronic illnesses and disabilities. In April 2016, he participated in the launch of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy that works for cancer patients. He served as an executive producer for Stand Up to Cancer's Fifth Biennial Telecast, a primetime fundraising special that aired in September.
| Parents | |
| Husband | Jennifer Esposito (m. 2006-2007) |
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Net Worth and Salary
Bradley Cooper's net worth is estimated to be $120 million. His annual salary can range from $800,000 to $20 million per film, depending on the project and backend participation. His significant earnings come from blockbuster films like "The Hangover" series and "American Sniper," as well as backend profits from movies such as "Avengers: Endgame".
Cooper's sex appeal has been picked up by several media outlets, including People magazine, which named him Sexiest Man Alive in 2011. He was initially uncomfortable with the accolade, but later found it funny. In a June 2011 interview with Esquire, Cooper said, "Fall in love with my looks, fine, but stay with me for my talent." Also that year, he was dubbed International Man of the Year by GQ and appeared in AskMen's 49 most influential men. He ranked tenth on Empire list of the 100 Sexiest Movie Stars in 2013. He was one of the highest-paid actors in the world from 2013 to 2015 and in 2019, earning $28million, $46million, $41.5million, and $57million, respectively. Forbes ranked him first on their Celebrity 100: Ones To Watch list in 2013. In 2014, 2015, and 2019, he was featured on Celebrity 100, a list based on the income and popularity of celebrities, as selected annually by Forbes. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2015. Cooper's films have earned a total of $13billion worldwide.
Career, Business, and Investments
Cooper's career has been marked by critical acclaim and commercial success. He rose to fame with his role in "The Hangover," which cemented his status as a leading man in Hollywood. His performances in "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Sniper" further solidified his acting prowess. Cooper also ventured into directing with "A Star Is Born," which earned him multiple awards and nominations. He has been involved in various business ventures, leveraging his production company to produce films and television shows.
Cooper began his television and film career in 1999 with a guest role in the television series Sex and the City. In 2000, he enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at the Actors Studio. Shortly after, he made his film debut with a starring role in the comedy Wet Hot American Summer (2001) and gained some recognition as Will Tippin in the television series Alias (2001–2006). After his role in the show was demoted, he began to have career doubts; however, he quickly gained additional recognition with a supporting part in the comedy film Wedding Crashers (2005). Cooper had his breakthrough in The Hangover (2009), a critically and commercially successful comedy that spawned sequels in 2011 and 2013. His career progressed with starring roles in Limitless (2011) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012).
Cooper had been interested in a career in diplomacy when he auditioned for the master class graduate degree at the Actors Studio and was selected by James Lipton. In 2000, he received an MFA in acting from the Actors Studio Drama School at The New School in New York City. There, he trained with the coach Elizabeth Kemp of whom he says: "I was never able to relax in my life before her." She advised him on many of his films. While studying in New York City, Cooper worked as a doorman at the Morgans Hotel, and briefly interacted with Robert de Niro and Sean Penn in question-and-answer master class sessions, which were later featured episodes of Inside the Actors Studio.
Cooper starred with Robert De Niro and Jennifer Lawrence in David O. Russell's romantic comedy-drama Silver Linings Playbook, an adaptation of Matthew Quick's serio-comic novel of the same name. He was cast as a divorced man with bipolar disorder, a former teacher who finds companionship in a young, depressed widow (Lawrence). Cooper was initially skeptical about playing the part which he thought was out of his depth, but he later accepted the role inspired by Russell's confidence in him. The director was impressed with his performance in Wedding Crashers, citing his "good bad-guy energy" and unpredictability as justification for casting; he also thought Cooper would be able to demonstrate emotion and vulnerability onscreen. To prepare, Cooper took dance training with choreographer Mandy Moore, who describes Cooper as having "some real natural dancing ability". The film was a box-office success, earning $236.4million on a production budget of $21million. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote that Cooper "seizes the juiciest role of his career and meets every comic and dramatic challenge. There's an ache in his funny, touching and vital performance that resonates." For his performance, he earned an MTV Movie Award for Best Performance, and nominations for an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor.
None of Cooper's films released in 2015 – Aloha, Burnt, or Joy – fared well at the box office. He starred in Cameron Crowe's Aloha with Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams. The project was the subject of controversy after the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans accused the filmmakers of whitewashing the cast. Despite the backlash, he was nominated for Choice Movie Actor – Comedy at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards. In John Wells' drama Burnt, Cooper played a chef who decides to regain his former glory after drug abuse takes a toll on his career. While the film was criticized for its "overdone clichés", Jon Frosch of The Hollywood Reporter said: "[Cooper] gives a fully engaged performance that almost makes us want to forgive the movie's laziness. Almost." His supporting role in the biopic Joy reunited him with David O. Russell and Lawrence. In 2016, he had a voice cameo in the thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane and played a supporting part in War Dogs, co-produced under his and Todd Phillips's production company Joint Effort. In 2017, Cooper again voiced Rocket Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
Social Network
Bradley Cooper maintains a private social media presence, focusing more on his professional life rather than personal updates. However, his public appearances and interviews often garner significant media attention.
In March 2006, Cooper starred as Pip/Theo in Three Days of Rain on Broadway with Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd. This was followed by minor roles in the romantic comedy Failure to Launch (2006) and the satirical comedy The Comebacks (2007). Cooper next appeared in the fifth season of Nip/Tuck (2007) as Aidan Stone, a television star on the fictional show Hearts 'N Scalpels. In 2008, he played the lead in Older than America and appeared in a production of Theresa Rebeck's play The Understudy at the Williamstown Theatre Festival alongside Kristen Johnston. Between his small roles of best friend to the main character in the 2008 comedies Yes Man and The Rocker, Cooper landed the lead role in the Ryuhei Kitamura-directed horror film The Midnight Meat Train (2008), based on Clive Barker's 1984 short story of the same name. Playing the dark character of a freelance photographer who tries to track down a serial killer was a departure from Cooper's previous comedic roles and an experience he found enjoyable. The film received positive reviews from critics, though it earned little at the box office.
In February 2009, Cooper hosted Saturday Night Live with musical guest TV on the Radio, portraying actor Christian Bale in one sketch, and appeared in a supporting role in the film He's Just Not That Into You. Cooper's breakthrough role came in Todd Phillips' comedy The Hangover (2009). He played Phil Wenneck, one of three friends (Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis) to wake up from a bachelor party in Las Vegas with no memory of the previous night. The Hangover was a commercial success and finished as among the highest-grossing R-rated films in the United States. A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, "Mr. Cooper... offers the most interesting variation on an old standard, playing his aggressive, cocky frat boy with a snarl of rage that masks an anxiety as hard to account for as it is to miss." For his performance, Cooper received an award at the 13th Hollywood Film Festival and his first nomination for the MTV Movie Awards (Best Comedic Performance). The Daily Telegraph opined that the film's success turned Cooper into "a bona fide leading man". Nevertheless, Cooper stated in a 2011 interview with Shave: "It's the same. I mean, look, more doors have been opened for sure, but it's not like I sit back with a cigar on Monday morning and go through the scripts that have been offered."
In 2013, Cooper reprised his role as Phil Wenneck in the third and final installment of The Hangover trilogy, The Hangover Part III, which was poorly reviewed by critics. The critic for The Independent argued that Cooper was "reduced to mugging for the camera, offering reaction shots to nothing". Nevertheless, like its preceding entries, the film was a commercial success, grossing $362million worldwide, and remains one of Cooper's highest-grossing releases. Later that year, he took on the supporting role of an unhinged FBI agent in David O. Russell's crime comedy-drama American Hustle. Inspired by the FBI's Abscam sting operation, the film is set against the backdrop of political corruption in 1970s New Jersey. It also starred Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence. American Hustle was a critical and commercial success with global revenues of $251.1million. Kim Newman of Empire wrote: "Cooper is stuck with the least rewarding role, but keeps finding brilliant little bits of business to hold the attention," and praised "[Cooper's] spot impersonations of his overly cautious (but smart) boss". Cooper was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Movie Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor but did not win any.
Cooper reunited with Lawrence in the Susanne Bier-directed drama Serena, an adaptation of Ron Rash's period novel. The pair starred as a married couple who become involved in criminal activities after realizing that they cannot bear children. The picture was filmed in 2012 but was released in 2014 to negative reviews and poor box office returns. The Canberra Times' Jake Wilson stated: "Cooper once again proves his value as a leading man who approaches his roles like a character actor." In 2014, Cooper provided the voice of Rocket Raccoon in the Marvel Studios film Guardians of the Galaxy. He returned to Broadway for the 2014 run of The Elephant Man as the severely deformed Joseph Merrick. Michael Coveney of Whatsonstage.com wrote of his performance: "Cooper avoids every trap of 'disability' acting by suffusing this outer appearance with soul and passion. It's a wonderful, and very moving, display." He garnered a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.
Also in 2014, Cooper co-produced and starred as United States Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle in American Sniper, a biographical war drama directed by Clint Eastwood. The film tells the story of Kyle, who became the deadliest marksman in US military history, and is loosely based on the eponymous memoir. To appear to be as large as Kyle, Cooper underwent extensive training and followed a rigorous diet, gaining 40 lb of muscle. Cooper's preparation also included lessons with a vocal coach and studying footage of Kyle. To learn how to use a rifle, the actor trained with US Navy SEAL veteran Kevin Lacz, who served with Kyle. The film, and Cooper's performance, received generally positive reviews. The critic for Variety wrote, "an excellent performance from a bulked-up Bradley Cooper, this harrowing and intimate character study offers fairly blunt insights into the physical and psychological toll exacted on the front lines." Similar sentiments were echoed by USA Today's Claudia Puig who asserted, "It's clearly Cooper's show. Substantially bulked up and affecting a believable Texas drawl, Cooper embodies Kyle's confidence, intensity and vulnerability." American Sniper earned $547million worldwide to become Cooper's highest-grossing live-action film and the third highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. Cooper won an MTV Movie Award for Best Male Performance and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor; the film was nominated for Best Picture. With these nominations, Cooper became the tenth actor in history to receive an Academy Award nomination for acting in three consecutive years.
After reprising the role of Rocket Raccoon in Avengers: Infinity War (2018), Cooper directed his first film, A Star Is Born, a remake of the 1937 film of the same name. Cooper starred in the film as an established singer, Jackson Maine, whose romance with a woman named Ally (played by Lady Gaga) becomes strained after her career begins to overshadow his. Having long aspired to direct a film, Cooper was keen on making a love story. People had warned him against directing a third remake, and he feared the film would end his directing career if it failed. The film premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival in August 2018 and was released worldwide in October to critical acclaim. On Cooper's direction, Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote that "to say that [Cooper] does a good job would be to understate his accomplishment" and that he "gets right onto the high wire". Brian Tallerico, writing for RogerEbert.com, said Cooper "does some of the best work of his career" and gives "an excellent performance", praising his singing abilities and chemistry with Gaga. The film earned over $436million at the box office against a production budget of $36million.
Cooper spent nearly four years working on the project, including spending five days a week taking voice, piano, and guitar lessons for six months in preparation for the role. He and Gaga co-wrote and produced most of the songs on the soundtrack for A Star Is Born, which she insisted they record live. Cooper undertook vocal training for 18 months to prepare, including with the help of vocal coach Roger Love. The album contains elements of blues rock, country, and bubblegum pop. Billboard says its lyrics are about wanting change, its struggle, love, romance, and bonding, describing the music as "timeless, emotional, gritty and earnest. They sound like songs written by artists who, quite frankly, are supremely messed up but hit to the core of the listener." The album's release coincided with the film's, and it contains 34 tracks, including 19 original songs. It received generally positive reviews from critics; Mark Kennedy of The Washington Post called it a "five-star marvel" and Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian termed it an "instant classics full of Gaga's emotional might". Commercially, the soundtrack reached number one in the US, Ireland, and the UK. The record's lead single, "Shallow", was released that September and reached number one in the US, Australia, Ireland, Switzerland, and the UK. Australia: Ireland: Switzerland: UK: US:
Cooper's early years in the entertainment industry were marred with difficulties. When his role in the second season of Alias was demoted to a minuscule part, he considered quitting show business. His substance addiction and doubts about his career triggered thoughts of suicide. Cooper credits his friend and fellow actor Will Arnett with helping him address his substance abuse and seek therapy. Cooper says he has abstained from alcohol and drugs since 2004, remarking that it would have destroyed his life. "I was at a party and deliberately bashed my head on the concrete floor – like, 'Hey, look how tough I am!' And I came up, and blood dripped down. And then I did it again. I spent the night... [in the] [h]ospital with a sock of ice, waiting for them to stitch me up. I was so concerned what you thought of me, how I was coming across, how I would survive the day. I always felt like an outsider. I just lived in my head. I realized I wasn't going to live up to my potential, and that scared the hell out of me. I thought, 'Wow, I'm actually gonna ruin my life; I'm really gonna ruin it.'"
As part of a career analysis, Oliver Lyttelton of IndieWire observed that early in his career, Cooper was typecast as "weaselly boyfriends or best friends in mainstream comedies", but later emerged as one of Hollywood's most accomplished actors after starring in several successful films. Cooper is known for appearing in a range of films; Phelps credited him for "opt[ing] for the challenging and provocative, the small and interesting, risking the laid-back image that propelled him to fame". The Daily Beast's Oliver Lyttelton similarly praised Cooper for stepping outside his comfort zone by accepting parts that might initially not seem like perfect matches. Time magazine wrote of Cooper's craft: "It's hard to make people, especially your friends, forget who you are onscreen. But Bradley's that good."
Cooper cites actor Daniel Day-Lewis as his favorite. Films that had influences include the French romantic drama Hiroshima mon amour (1959), the coming-of-age feature The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962), the war films The Deer Hunter (1978) and Apocalypse Now (1979), The Elephant Man (1980), and comedies featuring Richard Pryor. Reviewing his performances in Licorice Pizza and Nightmare Alley, critic Charles Bramesco likened Cooper's screen persona to Joseph Merrick, a severely deformed man in the Victorian era, whom Cooper played in the 2014 Broadway play The Elephant Man. Bramesco wrote: "[Merrick] declined external help and instead conjured a certain animalistic quality from within himself to be measured against his core humanity. That negotiation between civility and our baser impulses – the ego versus the id, for the psychoanalytically inclined – forms the foundation of Cooper's classical leading-man screen persona. One of our last true movie stars has spent the majority of his career reiterating the internal tension of the role he's clung to like Rosebud, coaxing out the troubled chaos from within put-together men."
Education
- Germantown Academy: Graduated with honors.
- Georgetown University: Bachelor of Arts in English, 1997. Cooper's educational background has been instrumental in shaping his writing and directing skills, evident in his work on projects like "A Star Is Born."
While attending Germantown Academy, he worked at the Philadelphia Daily News. He says that in school, he was neither "the smartest person" nor "the coolest kid" and "really didn't have anything going on!" After graduating from high school in 1993, Cooper attended Villanova University for one year before transferring to Georgetown University, where he majored in English and minored in French. Cooper graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts with honors. He was a member of the Georgetown Hoyas rowing team and acted with Nomadic Theatre. While at Georgetown, Cooper became fluent in French and spent six months as an exchange student in Aix-en-Provence, France. In his television debut, Sex and the City in 1999, he made a brief appearance opposite Sarah Jessica Parker. Cooper later served as a presenter on the tourism series Globe Trekker (2000), which took him to such places as Peru and Croatia, and had a recurring role in the short-lived series The Street.
Cooper missed his MFA graduation ceremony to film Wet Hot American Summer (2001), an ensemble comedy that marked his cinematic debut. Taking place at a fictional summer camp in 1981, the film had him play Ben, a counselor and the love interest of Michael Ian Black's character. Although the film was critically and commercially unsuccessful, it has since developed a cult following. Cooper reprised the role in the film's prequel Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015), an eight-episode Netflix series.
Conclusion
Bradley Cooper's net worth and career achievements reflect his dedication to the film industry and his ability to adapt to various roles, from acting to directing. His personal life and educational background have contributed significantly to his success, making him one of the most respected figures in Hollywood today.
