Bradley Cooper: Snapshot

Name
Bradley Cooper
Date of Birth
January 05, 1975
Birth Place
Philadelphia, Pa.
Bradley Cooper has made a Hollywood career of playing the jerk-next-door, but with 2009's blockbuster The Hangover, the rugged, handsome actor proved he had the makings of a leading man and the qualities to be named PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive in 2011.

Really, Cooper was always a scene-stealer-in-the-making: Before starring in the third highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, he pined for Jennifer Garner on spy drama Alias, cooked up charming sarcasm in TV’s Kitchen Confidential and, in 2005, laughingly bullied the Wedding Crashers as Rachel McAdams's bad-guy fiancé.

The in-demand actor, who's romanced Renée Zellweger and Zoë Saldana, continued to gain box office attention with The A-Team and the Hangover sequel, as well as critical acclaim for Silver Linings Playbook.

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Bradley Cooper:From the PEOPLE TV Archive

Bradley Cooper: Five Fun Facts

  1. As a kid, Bradley Cooper cooked for his elementary school mates. "I prided myself in taking whatever was in the fridge and turning it into lasagna," he told EW.
  2. During his audition for the role of Green Lantern, Bradley Cooper couldn't stop himself from mimicking Christian Bale. "I actually said 'I'm Batman' in the Green Lantern screen test," he told Conan O'Brien.
  3. Bradley Cooper is fluent in French, which he was inspired to learn after watching Chariots of Fire as a kid. "There's a scene where a guy was speaking French and I thought, 'Man, that sounds so cool,'" he said.
  4. Bradley Cooper has six scars on his forehead. "My biggest one goes from my left eyebrow to my scalp," he told PEOPLE. "In eighth grade a big glass lamp fell off the wall and onto my face."
  5. Bradley Cooper's ''cinephile'' father inspired him to become an actor. "Living next to a movie theatre, that was utopia. I think it was a real influence," he told The Toronto Sun.

Bradley Cooper: Biography

1997

Acting Out

After graduating from Georgetown University, Cooper enrolls in the Actors Studio Drama School at The New School in New York City. While there, he lands bit parts in Sex and the City and 2001's Wet Hot American Summer.

2001

Bradley Cooper

September 30

Girl's Best Friend

In the ABC drama Alias, Cooper plays superspy Sydney Bristow's (Jennifer Garner) best bud Will Tippin. "I would be crossing the street, and I would hear 'Hey, Will, I love your character. I love the show,'" he tells The Boston Herald. He stars on the show for three seasons, before his character is written off the series.

2005

Bradley Cooper

July 15

Comedy Crasher

As Rachel McAdams's jerk fiancé–whom Cooper describes as "kind of a sociopath"–the actor goes toe-to-toe with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers. The hit comedy earns more than $200 million at the box office. That fall, Cooper returns to TV in the short-lived FOX series Kitchen Confidential.

Read More on Bradley Cooper's Life

Photo Credits

Top Left: Doug Peters/Landov

BIOGRAPHY (top to bottom): Everett; Everett

Edited by Julia Wang

Bradley Cooper

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