The Young Bradley Cooper, in brief
Despite his lifelong talent for cooking, Cooper chose to pursue acting as his life career. Bradley grew up on the streets of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born on January 5th, 1975, to Italian-Americans parents. He studied English at George Town University. Interestingly, Bradley spent 6 months in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France studying French and perfecting his language skills. Eventually, he earned a masters degree in acting from the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University New York City.
Early career
Not long after that, he landed his first credited role in Sex and the City in 1999 playing Jake, a drunk jerky guy who tries to make out with Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker).
His first featured film, Wet Hot American Summer (2001) become a true cult classic in the satirical comedy genre. By the way, the success of this film gave the directors encouragement to create a Netflix television series, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017). However, Bradley wasn’t in the show since at the time the show was shooting he was directing a new adaptation of A Star is Born with Lady Gaga.
Following the success of Wet Hot American Summer, Bradley appeared in several movies and tv series, with mixed and average critics and ratings. These years were for Cooper, as we like to define them, the years of his rising up from a character actor to the leading man.
A Star is Born. Figuratively.
The time had come for him to make a breakthrough, which he did with several memorable roles in New York, I Love You (2008) and The Midnight Meat Train (2008). Finally, the leading role came in The Hangover (2009), where he took the opportunity to show all of his charm and personality along with his acting and entertaining talents – all that in one demanding role! His hangover suit and sunglasses are almost as memorable as Raoul Duke’s outfit in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998). OK, almost!
One of the most memorable and at the same time most confusing quotes from The Hangover is from his telephone answering message “Hey, this is Phil. Leave me a message, or don’t, but do me a favor, don’t text me, it’s gay.” Interesting. But do you really want to know what is interesting? The Hangover trilogy earned almost $1.5 billion worldwide! The huge success that brought Bradley Cooper enormous fame and glory and also made him one of the most wanted actors both among directors and women.
A Star is Born. Now Literally.
In the following years, among fantastic roles in The Hangover Part II and Part III, he played three equally significant and perfect roles. First was in a bipolar love story Silver Linings Playbook with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro. The second was in American Sniper (2014) – biographical war drama movie directed by Clint Eastwood where he portrayed the tragical role of Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL who served four tours of duty in the war in Iraq. The third is the musical romantic drama produced and directed by Bradley Cooper himself, A Star Is Born (2018), in which he played musician Jackson Maine with Lady Gaga in the role of struggling artist Ally. This is the third remake of the original 1937 film and already proclaimed as the greatest one amongst some of the movie critics.
Bradley Cooper lives his dream. He’s on the top-rated movie actors list of today. Currently in a relationship with one of the most beautiful women of today, Irina Shayk, with whom he has a daughter Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper.
On the other hand, Cooper has been nominated for seven Academy Awards. And this is where he’s headed to.
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Cover photo credit: GQ Magazine, January 2014.
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