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One of the most respected character actors of our time, Chris Cooper was recognized in 2003 with an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of John Laroche in Adaptation, written by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) and directed by Spike Jonze. The film, loosely based on Susan Orlean's novel The Orchid Thief, followed a sexually frustrated screenwriter's attempts to adapt Orlean's anecdotal novel for the screen. Cooper was also recognized for his performance in this film by numerous critics associations including the Broadcast Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Toronto Film Critics Association.

This fall, along with Syriana, Cooper appears in two additional films: Capote, for director Bennett Miller and Jarhead, for director Sam Mendes, which will release in November. Up next, Cooper will soon begin production on the film Breach for director Billy Ray (Shattered Glass), in which he will play the lead character of Robert Hanssen, a former FBI agent turned traitor, based on a true story.

Cooper was most recently seen in Silver City, a political drama and murder mystery that chronicles the story of a small town in Colorado and the events leading up to a local election. Written and directed by John Sayles, the impressive cast includes Maria Bello, Thora Birch, Richard Dreyfuss, Tim Roth, Daryl Hannah and Billy Zane. The film screened at the Toronto Film Festival.

In 2003, Cooper starred in Seabiscuit, based on the best-selling novel. Cooper was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Seabiscuit's trainer, Tom Smith. Seabiscuit was directed by Gary Ross and also starred Tobey Maguire and Jeff Bridges. In the same year, Cooper was nominated for an Emmy Award for his supporting performance in the HBO film My House in Umbria, starring Maggie Smith.

In 2002, Cooper was seen in The Bourne Identity in the strong supporting role as the mastermind of the CIA's controversial clandestine operation, Treadstone. In 2004, he appeared in the flashback scenes in the second installment, The Bourne Supremacy.

In 2000, Cooper portrayed Colonel Burwell opposite Mel Gibson in The Patriot, a Revolutionary War epic directed by Roland Emmerich. In the same year, Cooper appeared with Jim Carrey in the comedy Me, Myself & Irene, for directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly.

In 1999, Cooper received a Screen Actor's Guild Award for his supporting performance alongside Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening in the Academy Award-winning film American Beauty. In a stunning and dramatic display, Cooper portrayed a stern ex-Marine Colonel who persistently monitored his son's every move.

In 1999, Cooper starred as the father of an amateur rocket enthusiast in the acclaimed coming-of-age drama October Sky, which was screened at the 1999 Venice and Deauville Film Festivals with great notice. He had previously earned a Best Actor nomination in 1997 from the Independent Spirit Awards for his work in John Sayles' Lone Star. Nearly a decade earlier, Cooper made his feature film debut in Sayles' Matewan.

Among his film credits are Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer, Great Expectations, A Time to Kill, Money Train, This Boy's Life, Guilty by Suspicion and City of Hope.

On the small screen, he has starred in a number of longform projects, including the miniseries Lonesome Dove and Return to Lonesome Dove. He most recently starred in HBO's Breast Men, and includes among his other credits Alone, One More Mountain, Ned Blessing, Bed of Lies, Darrow, In Broad Daylight, A Little Piece of Sunshine, Law and Order and Journey to Genius.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Cooper attended the University of Missouri School of Drama and started his professional career on the New York stage. His theater credits include Of the Fields Lately on Broadway, The Ballad of Soapy Smith and A Different Moon.

Cooper resides in Massachusetts.

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