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Chris Cooper
Chris Cooper and wife Marianne Leone Cooper
Born	July 9, 1951 (1951-07-09) (age 56) Kansas City, Missouri
Spouse(s)	Marianne Leone (1983 - present) 1 child
Awards Academy Awards Best Supporting Actor 2002 Adaptation. Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture 2003 Adaptation.

Christopher W. Cooper (born July 9, 1951) is an Academy Award-winning American film actor. He became well known in the late 1990s, having appeared in supporting performances in several major Hollywood films, including American Beauty, Capote, and Seabiscuit.

Cooper was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Mary Ann, a homemaker, and Charles Cooper, who served as a doctor in the United States Air Force and operated a cattle ranch.^[1] He has an older brother, Chuck, and grew up as a "blue-collar cowpoke"^[2] 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^{[citation needed]} 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^{[citation needed]} 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. He 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.^[3]

His most recent role is as a government agent in dangerous territory alongside Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman in the action thriller The Kingdom.

Cooper resides in Kingston, Massachusetts, with his wife, Marianne Leone Cooper, whom he married in 1983. In 1987, their son Jesse Lanier Cooper was born. Three months premature, Jesse developed a cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral palsy. After searching for the best schools for children with special needs, Cooper and Leone moved to Kingston, Massachusetts, where they became strong advocates for exceptional children.^[4] Jesse was eventually mainstreamed into Silver Lake Regional High School, where he became an honor student.^[5] On January 3, 2005, Jesse Cooper died from complications of cerebral palsy. A memorial fund was set up in his name, the Jesse Cooper Foundation.

Cooper has described his political views as "pretty left of left".^[3]

• Matewan (1987) - Joe Kenehan
• Lonesome Dove (1989) - Sheriff July Johnson
• City of Hope (1991) - Riggs
• This Boy's Life (1993) - Roy
• Return to Lonesome Dove (1993) - Sheriff July Johnson
• Money Train (1995) - Torch
• Lone Star (1996) - Sam Deeds
• A Time to Kill (1996) - Deputy Dwayne Powell Looney
• Breast Men (1997) - Dr. William Larson
• Great Expectations (1998) - Joe
• The Horse Whisperer (1998) - Frank Booker
• October Sky (1999) - John Hickam
• American Beauty (1999) – Col. Frank Fitts
• The Patriot (2000) – Col. Harry Burwell
• Me, Myself and Irene (2000) - Lt. Gerke, Massena PD
• The Bourne Identity (2002) - Alexander Conklin
• Adaptation. (2002) – John Laroche
• Interstate 60 (2002) – Bob Cody
• My House in Umbria (2003) – Thomas 'Tom' Riversmith
• Seabiscuit (2003) – Tom Smith
• Silver City (2004) – Dickie Pilager
• The Bourne Supremacy (2004) - Alexander Conklin
• Jarhead (2005) - Lt. Col. Kazinski
• Capote (2005) - Alvin Dewey
• Syriana (2005) – Jimmy Pope
• Breach (2007) - Robert Hanssen
• The Kingdom (2007) - Grant Sykes
• Married Life (2007) - Harry Allen

• Chris Cooper at the Internet Movie Database
• official Homepage Breach-Movie