Early life

Cooper was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Mary Ann (Walton), a homemaker, and Charles Sherwood Cooper, who served as a doctor in the United States Air Force and operated a cattle ranch. He has an older brother, Chuck, and grew up as a self-described "blue-collar cowpoke" in Houston, Texas, and Kansas City. During his time in Kansas City, Cooper performed with The Barn Players, a local community theater that has operated since 1955. He went on to serve in the United States Coast Guard Reserve. He attended Stephens College, where he studied ballet, and then the University of Missouri, where he double-majored in the school of Agriculture and the school of Drama, and received his honorary Doctorate from the University of Lowell on May 14, 2016. After graduation, Cooper moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.

Career

Cooper's early performances include John Sayles' 1987 film Matewan; the 1989 CBS-TV Western miniseries Lonesome Dove; the 1991 indie Western drama Thousand Pieces of Gold, and the 1992 ABC-TV docudrama Bed of Lies, opposite Susan Dey.

Some of his more notable later 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; as Deputy Dwayne Looney in director Joel Schumacher's 1996 film A Time to Kill (based on the John Grisham novel); as Frank Booker in 1998's The Horse Whisperer; and as a homophobic Marine Corps colonel in American Beauty, a role that garnered him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. To get into character, Cooper said he "depended on a friend who’d fought in Vietnam. I asked him to go deep. What would this man have done? What would be on his walls? On his desk?"

In 2000, Cooper played Colonel Harry Burwell (inspired by "Lighthorse Harry" Lee) in The Patriot. He was nominated for another Screen Actors Guild Award, a BAFTA Award, and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe Award in 2003 for playing the role of John Laroche in Adaptation. In 2002, Cooper also appeared in The Bourne Identity as a ruthless CIA special ops director, a role he reprised (in flashbacks) in The Bourne Supremacy.

Cooper received another Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his supporting role as racehorse trainer Tom Smith in 2003's Seabiscuit. In 2004, Cooper starred in Silver City, playing an inept Republican gubernatorial candidate, a character noted for similarities to U.S. President George W. Bush.

Cooper appeared in three acclaimed films in 2005: Jarhead (which reunited him with American Beauty director Sam Mendes and October Sky actor Jake Gyllenhaal); Capote; and Syriana. He also acted in the thriller Breach, playing real-life FBI agent and traitor Robert Hanssen. Cooper commented that Breach was "the first studio film where they've considered me the lead ". In 2007, he appeared as a government agent in dangerous territory in the action thriller The Kingdom and voiced the character Douglas in the film adaptation of Maurice Sendak's book, Where the Wild Things Are (2009).

At the 2010 Sundance film festival, Cooper appeared alongside Ben Affleck in the drama, The Company Men, early reviews of which praised Cooper's performance as "pitch-perfect".

Cooper portrayed Norman Osborn in the 2014 film The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in an uncredited role. He will appear in Ben Affleck's crime drama Live by Night, scheduled for release in October 2017.

Personal life

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, where they became strong advocates for exceptional children. Jesse was eventually mainstreamed into Silver Lake Regional High School, where he became an honor student. On January 3, 2005, Jesse Cooper died suddenly and unexpectedly from epilepsy. A memorial fund was set up in his name, the Jesse Cooper Foundation.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	Matewan	Joe Kenehan
1991	Guilty by Suspicion	Larry Nolan
1991	Thousand Pieces of Gold	Charlie
1991	City of Hope	Riggs
1993	This Boy's Life	Roy
1995	Pharaoh's Army	Captain John Hull Abston
1995	Money Train	Torch
1996	Boys	John Baker
1996	Lone Star	Sam Deeds	Nominated - Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead
1996	A Time to Kill	Deputy Dwayne Powell Looney
1997	Breast Men	Dr. William Larson
1998	Great Expectations	Joe
1998	The Horse Whisperer	Frank Booker
1999	The 24 Hour Woman	Ron Hacksby
1999	October Sky	John Hickam
1999	American Beauty	Colonel Frank Fitts, USMC	Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2000	Me, Myself & Irene	Lieutenant Gerke
2000	The Patriot	Colonel Harry Burwell
2002	Interstate 60	Bob Cody
2002	The Bourne Identity	Alexander Conklin
2002	Adaptation.	John Laroche	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Village Voice Film Poll for Best Supporting Performance Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast Nominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
2003	Seabiscuit	Tom Smith	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2004	Silver City	Richard "Dicky" Pilager
2004	The Bourne Supremacy	Alexander Conklin
2005	Capote	Alvin Dewey	Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2005	Jarhead	Lt. Col. Kazinski
2005	Syriana	Jimmy Pope
2007	Breach	Robert Hanssen
2007	The Kingdom	Grant Sykes
2007	Married Life	Harry Allen
2009	New York, I Love You	Alex Simmons
2009	Where the Wild Things Are	Douglas (voice)
2010	The Tempest	Antonio
2010	The Company Men	Phil Woodward	Nominated - Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
2010	Remember Me	Neil Craig
2010	Amigo	Colonel Hardacre
2010	The Town	Stephen MacRay	National Board of Review Award for Best Cast Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Ensemble Nominated — Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
2010	Bloom: the Plight of Lake Champlain	Narrator	Documentary (2011 New England Emmy Award, Environmental Program)
2011	The Muppets	Tex Richman
2012	The Company You Keep	Daniel Sloan
2012	Bloom: the Emergence of Ecological Design	Narrator	Documentary 3-part series (2013 New England Emmy Award, Environmental Program)
2013	August: Osage County	Charles Aiken	AARP Annual Movies for Grownups Award for Best Supporting Actor Capri Ensemble Cast Award Hollywood Film Award for Ensemble of the Year Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2014	The Amazing Spider-Man 2	Norman Osborn	Uncredited
2015	Demolition	Phil
2017	Live by Night		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1987	The Equalizer	Michael	Episode: "The Rehearsal"
1988	American Playhouse	Louis Halladay	Episode: '"Journey Into Genius'"
1988	Miami Vice	Jimmy Yagovitch	Episode: '"Mirror Image'"
1989	Lonesome Dove	July Johnson	Miniseries
1990	Lifestories	Mr. Hawkins	Episode: '"The Hawkins Family'"
1991	In Broad Daylight	Frank Wiliker	Television film
1991	Darrow	Eugene Debs	Television film
1992	Bed of Lies	Price Daniel, Jr.	Television film
1992	Ned Blessing: The True Story of My Life	Anthony Blessing	Television film
1994	One More Mountain	James Reed	Television film
1996	Law & Order	Roy Payne	Episode: "Blood Libel"
2003	My House in Umbria	Thomas Riversmith	Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Miniseries or a Movie Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
2008	American Experience	Walt Whitman	Documentary
2016	11.22.63	Al Templeton	Miniseries

[ Source: Wikipedia ]