Christopher Walton Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an American actor. He has appeared in several major Hollywood films, including American Beauty (1999), October Sky (1999), The Bourne Identity (2002), Seabiscuit (2003), Capote (2005), Syriana (2005), The Kingdom (2007), Where the Wild Things Are (2009), The Town (2010), The Muppets (2011), Cars 3 (2017), A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019), and Little Women (2019). He also portrayed Sheriff July Johnson in the acclaimed miniseries Lonesome Dove, which became one of the most successful Westerns in history.
Cooper won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as John Laroche in the 2002 film Adaptation. He played a lead role in the historical and political thriller Breach (2007), playing FBI agent and traitor Robert Hanssen. He played Daniel Sloan in the 2012 political thriller The Company You Keep, and Norman Osborn in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). He also portrayed Al Templeton on the 2016 Hulu miniseries 11.22.63.
He is a frequent collaborator with director John Sayles, including Matewan (1987), City of Hope (1991), Lone Star (1996), Silver City (2004) and Amigo (2010).
Early life :
Cooper was born on July 9, 1951, in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Charles and Mary Ann (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. He was also raised in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Houston. 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. He also considered helping his father raise cattle for a living. Cooper served in the Coast Guard Reserve.
Cooper attended the University of Missouri and enrolled in the theater program, originally majoring in set design. It was during his sophomore year when Cooper changed his major to acting in order to overcome his "overpowering shyness." Cooper, therefore, took acting classes at the University of Missouri. He recalled in a 1996 interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, "I started going in and watching some shows at the theater department. I started taking theater classes and auditioned for plays. And once I got into it, it was pretty immediate. I really felt right, felt at home." Cooper also took dance classes at Stephens College.
After he graduated from the University of Missouri, Cooper moved to New York City in 1976.While living in New York, Cooper shared a one-bedroom railroad flat with four other aspiring actors and dancers. He supported himself by renovating apartments.In addition, he worked in construction and served as a janitor and a chauffeur. At the same time, he studied with Stella Adler and Wynn Handman. Prior to his film debut with Matewan (1987), Cooper spent the previous twelve years doing stage work with the Actors Theater of Louisville and the Seattle Repertory. In 1985, Cooper appeared in the London revival of Sweet Bird of Youth.
