Chris Cooper is an Oscar-winning actor who has brought his laconic, folksy presence to dozens of movies, many of which have become modern classics. Let’s take a look back at 17 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1951 in Kansas City, Missouri, Cooper cut his teeth in theater before making his film debut at the age of 36 with a lead role in John Sayles‘ “Matewan” (1987). The movie kicked off a decades long collaboration between the actor and director, with the two pairing up for such titles as “City of Hope” (1991), “Lone Star” (1996), “Silver City” (2004) and “Amigo” (2010).
He hit the Oscar jackpot with his supporting turn in Spike Jonze‘s “Adaptation” (2002), a self-reflective comedy about screenwriter Charlie Kaufman‘s (Nicolas Cage) struggles to adapt Susan Orlean‘s (Meryl Streep) nonfiction book “The Orchid Thief.” Cooper played John Laroche, the eccentric, swampy horticulturalist at the center of Orlean’s story. The role brought him additional victories at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice awards, plus nominations at SAG and BAFTA.
Cooper earned additional SAG bids as Best Supporting Actor for “American Beauty” (1999) and “Seabiscuit” (2003). He reaped Ensemble nominations for “Adaptation,” “Seabiscuit,” “Capote” (2005) and “August: Osage County” (2013), plus a victory for “American Beauty.” Additionally, he contended at the Independent Spirit Awards as Best Actor for “Lone Star.” On the TV side, he competed at the Emmys for his supporting turn in “My House in Umbria” (2003).
Tour through our photo gallery of Cooper’s 17 greatest films, including some of the titles listed above, as well as “October Sky” (1999), “The Bourne Identity” (2002), “Breach” (2007) and more.
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17. SYRIANA (2005)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/Shutterstock Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, based on the book ‘See No Evil’ by Robert Baer. Starring George Clooney, Matt Damon, Jeffrey Wright, Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Mazhar Munir, Tim Blake Nelson, Amanda Peet, Christopher Plummer, Alexander Siddig.
A sort of “Traffic” for the oil industry (from the same writer, no less), “Syriana” is a complex, ambitious look at the various players who get their hands dirty with the world’s biggest export. Director Stephen Gaghan juggles multiple storylines to tell a wider narrative, focusing on a CIA agent (Oscar-winner George Clooney), an energy analyst (Matt Damon), a Washington, D.C. lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) and a Pakistani migrant worker (Mazhar Munir). Cooper costars as the head of a small oil company that won a lucrative drilling deal in Kazakhstan, sparking a merger with a larger agency and a Justice Department investigation led by Wright. Gaghan earned an Academy Award bid for his screenplay.
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16. AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (2013)
Image Credit: Jean Doumanian Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by John Wells. Screenplay by Tracy Letts, based on his play. Starring Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepard, Misty Upham.
Cooper is one of several A-listers acting up a storm in this big screen adaptation of Tracy Letts’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama. “August: Osage County” centers on a large Oklahoma family dealing with the sudden suicide of their patriarch (Sam Shepard). Meryl Streep is front-and-center as the pill-popping, boozing momma, Violet Weston, who makes life a terror for her three daughters (Julia Roberts, Juliette Lewis, Julianne Nicholson). Cooper costars as Charles Aiken, married to Violet’s younger sister, Mattie Fae (Margo Martindale), and devoted to their ne’er-do-well son, Little Charles (Benedict Cumberbatch). The film earned Oscar bids for Streep and Roberts, plus a SAG Ensemble bid for its cast.
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15. LITTLE WOMEN (2019)
Image Credit: Sony Written and directed by Greta Gerwig, based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlan, Laura Dern, Timothee Chalamet, Meryl Streep, Tracy Letts, Bob Odenkirk, James Norton, Louis Garrel, Chris Cooper.
Although it’s the leading ladies who dominate “Little Women,” Cooper is a standout in Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel. He plays Mr. Laurence, neighbor to the March sisters (Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlan) and grandfather to their pal Laurie (Timothee Chalamet). He takes a liking to Beth (Scanlan), who reminds him of his dearly departed daughter, and he gifts her with a piano before she succumbs to scarlet fever. The film earned six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, winning for its costumes.
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14. THE COMPANY MEN (2013)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Wells. Starring Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Rosemarie DeWitt, Maria Bello, Craig T. Nelson.
The human cost of corporate downsizing is painfully examined in TV veteran John Wells’s feature debut, “The Company Men.” When a major corporation lays off a large portion of its employees to balance its budget during the recession, it affects the lives of three different men and their families. There’s Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck), the ambitious corporate climber who finds himself working for his blue collar brother-in-law (Kevin Costner); Phil Woodward (Cooper), a 60-year-old senior manager struggling to put his kids through school without a job; and Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones), the Chief Financial Officer who challenges the decision to cut back on staff, only to find himself fired by his own mistress (Maria Bello).
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13. THE MUPPETS (2011)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/Shutterstock Directed by James Bobin. Screenplay by James Segel and Nicholas Stoller, based on characters created by Jim Henson. Starring Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, Rashida Jones, Jack Black.
Jim Henson’s beloved puppets made a triumphant comeback with this 2011 musical comedy, their first big screen outing since 1999’s “Muppets From Space.” Jason Segel (who co-wrote the script) stars as an avid fan who teams up with his girlfriend (Amy Adams) and younger-Muppet brother (voiced by Peter Linz) to get the gang back together before a greedy tycoon (Cooper) can destroy their studio to drill for oil. Problem is, they haven’t been a team for a long time, and their star power isn’t what it used to be, so a slew of celebrities show up to help with their televised event. This is an absolute treat for Muppet enthusiast of all ages, and a reminder of their endearing charm. An Oscar winner for its original song (“Man or Muppet”).
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12. A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD (2019)
Image Credit: TriStar Pictures/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Marielle Heller. Screenplay by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, based on the article ‘Can You Say… Hero?’ by Tom Junod. Starring Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper.
With “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” director Marielle Heller uses a real life friendship between childrens TV host Fred Rogers and journalist Tom Junod (a.k.a. Lloyd Vogel) to explore how old wounds between parents and children can be passed down through generations. While writing a profile of the one and only Mr. Rogers (an eerily uncanny Tom Hanks in an Oscar-nominated turn), Lloyd (Matthew Rhys) encounters his estranged dad Jerry (Cooper), who hopes to make amends after walking out on his family decades ago. When Jerry’s health takes a turn for the worst, his son must decide whether or not to patch things up before it’s too late. Luckily, Mr. Rogers is here to offer some fatherly advice.
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11. THE TOWN (2010)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Ben Affleck. Screenplay by Peter Craig, Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard, based on the novel ‘Prince of Thieves’ by Chuck Hogan. Starring Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Slaine, Blake Lively, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper.
Ben Affleck’s “The Town” is a cracker-jack thriller that seeks to be about something more, burrowing underneath the psyche of career criminals to find out what makes them tick. Affleck stars as a professional thief who falls in love with the bank manager (Rebecca Hall) who was kidnapped during one of his heists by a loose-canon associate (Jeremy Renner in an Oscar-nominated role). Meanwhile, an intrepid FBI agent (Jon Hamm) is trying to track him down before he can pull off his next job. Cooper costars as Affleck’s father, a longtime crook rotting behind bars whose life was ruined by the vicious crime boss (Pete Postlethwaite) who got his wife hooked on drugs as a way of controlling him.
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10. SILVER CITY (2010)
Image Credit: Silver City/Anarchist'S Convention/Kobal/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Sayles. Starring Danny Huston, Chris Copper, Richard Dreyfuss, Michael Murphy, Maria Bello, Mary Kay Place, David Clennon, Tim Roth, Michael Murphy, Daryl Hannah, Sal Lopez, Miguel Ferrer, Ralph Waite, James Gammon, Billy Zane, Thora Birch.
Released in the lead-up to the 2004 election, John Sayles’s “Silver City” is a pointed take-down of then-President George W. Bush, with Cooper doing a spot-on imitation of Dubya’s folksy twang and mannerisms. He plays Dickie Pilager, the son of a successful U.S. Senator (Michael Murphy) who decides to run for Governor of Colorado. When a body is discovered on the campaign trail, a former journalist (Danny Huston) unravels a web of local corruption and crime that could bring his candidacy to a screeching halt. Though it did little to change the minds of voters (Bush won re-election over John Kerry), the film is nonetheless a funny, touching and timely political satire that gets better with age.
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9. BREACH (2007)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/Shutterstock Directed by Billy Ray. Screenplay by Billy Ray, Adam Mazer and William Rotko, story by Mazer and Rotko. Starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert, Caroline Dhavernas, Gary Cole.
Cooper gets a rare leading role in Billy Ray’s true life spy thriller. He plays Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who sold secrets to the Soviet Union for decades. Ryan Phillippe costars as Hanssen’s assistant, Eric O’Neill, who helped bring about his boss’s downfall. (The real O’Neill served as a consultant on this film.) Like Ray’s “Shattered Glass” — which detailed journalist Stephen Glass’s fabrication scandal — “Breach” delves into the psyche of a career professional who actively works against the ethical tenants of his occupation. Cooper gives a commanding performance, proving himself to be a bonafide leading man after a career built on steady character work.
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8. CAPOTE (2005)
Image Credit: Attila Dory/Ua/Infinity/Baron/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Bennett Miller. Screenplay by Dan Futterman, based on the book by Gerald Clarke. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Clifton Collins, Jr., Bruce Greenwood, Mark Pellegrino, Amy Ryan, Chris Cooper.
Most of the praise for this film rightfully goes to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s eerily uncanny transformation into Truman Capote, for which he won the Best Actor Oscar. But there’s an embarrassment of riches in Bennett Miller’s biographical drama, which centers on the Manhattan author’s trip to Kansas to pen his nonfiction bestseller “In Cold Blood.” Cooper plays Alvin Dewey, a detective investigating the brutal murder of a Midwestern family that served as the inspiration for Capote’s book. During his research, the writer forms a bond with one of the killers, Perry Smith (Clifton Collins, Jr.), while he’s on death row. The movie earned additional bids for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress for Catherine Keener as novelist Harper Lee.
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7. OCTOBER SKY (1999)
Image Credit: Van Redin/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Joe Johnston. Screenplay by Lewis Colick, based on the book by Homer Hickam. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, Chris Owen, Laura Dern.
Joe Johnston’s “October Sky” is the kind of film so full of heart and sincerity that it feels almost like it’s from another time. It tells the true story of Homer Hickman (Jake Gyllenhaal), a West Virginia teenager who decides to build his own rockets after the Soviets launch their satellite Sputnik in 1957. But his father (Cooper), the superintendent at the town mine, wants his son to give up this foolishness and follow in his footsteps. What’s most surprising about the movie is its handling of Homer’s relationship with his dad: Cooper plays him as a good, heroic man who only wants what’s best for his boy. So when he eventually leaves home to join NASA, it’s almost a fulfillment of his wishes, although it takes a while for him to realize that.
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6. MATEWAN (1987)
Image Credit: Red Dog/Cinecom/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Sayles. Starring Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell, Kevin Tighe, David Strathairn, Will Oldham.
Cooper made his film debut with a leading role in John Sayles’s “Matewan,” kicking off a decades-long collaboration between the actor and director. It tells the true story of a 1920 coal miner’s strike in a small town in the hills of West Virginia. Cooper plays Joel Kenehan, a labor union organizer who encourages the workers to stick up to the brutal and sadistic mining company. As is usually the case with Sayles, the movie creates an expansive world filled with colorful characters and animated by political activism. Haskell Wexler earned an Oscar nomination for his gorgeous, golden-hewed cinematography, which perfectly captures the dusty period.
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5. SEABISCUIT (2003)
Image Credit: Francois Duhamel/Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock Written and directed by Gary Ross, based on the book ‘Seabiscuit: An American Legend’ by Laura Hillenbrand. Starring Tobey Maguire, Jeff Bridges, Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Banks, Gary Stevens, William H. Macy.
“Seabiscuit” is one of those inspirational sports dramas that has you on your feet cheering while chocking back tears. It tells the true story of an undersized racehorse whose unlikely victories lifted the spirits of Depression-era audiences. Tobey Maguire is the jokey, Jeff Bridges is the owner and Cooper is the trainer, who believes wholeheartedly in the spirit of this plucky animal. The film earned seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. Surprisingly, Cooper was snubbed, despite earning a SAG bid as Best Supporting Actor (perhaps he split votes with his costar, William H. Macy, who competed at the Golden Globes for playing a motormouth radio announcer).
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4. THE BOURNE IDENTITY (2002)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Doug Liman. Screenplay by Tony Gilroy and William Blake Herron, based on the book by Robert Ludlum. Starring Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen, Brian Cox, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.
In addition to kicking off a highly successful movie franchise, Doug Liman’s “The Bourne Identity” helped redefine the stylistic approach to high octane action filmmaking, which Paul Greengrass took to the next level with his followups “The Bourne Supremacy” and “The Bourne Ultimatum.” Matt Damon stars as a man picked up by a fishing boat riddled with bullets and suffering from amnesia. He soon discovers that he’s Jason Bourne, a highly-trained CIA assassin wanted for dead by his own agency. Cooper costars as Bourne’s handler, Alexander Conklin, who dispatches a team of killers to track down his protege, making for a fascinating surrogate father-son dynamic.
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3. LONE STAR (1996)
Image Credit: Castle Rock/Kobal/Shutterstock Written and directed by John Sayles. Starring Ron Canada, Chris Cooper, Clifton James, Kris Kristofferson, Matthew McConaughey, Frances McDormand, Joe Morton, Elizabeth Pena.
John Sayles’s dense, labyrinthine “Lone Star” is the kind of film so full of riches that multiple viewings are a must. Cooper stars as Sam Deeds, sheriff of a small Texas border town whose father, Sheriff Buddy Deeds (played in flashbacks by Matthew McConaughey), was a local legend. When the skeleton of their predecessor, the cruel and dishonest lawman Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson), is discovered on an army base, Sam has reason to believe his dad was involved. During his investigation, he reunites with his high school sweetheart (Elizabeth Pena), reigniting a romance that was halted by their parents. Sayles’s Oscar-nominated screenplay employs a large, diverse ensemble of white, black, Hispanic and Native American characters to explore the history of racial disharmony that has haunted the town. Cooper earned an Independent Spirit bid for his performance, though the Academy overlooked him.
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2. AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999)
Image Credit: Dreamworks/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Sam Mendes. Written by Alan Ball. Starring Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch, Allison Janney, Peter Gallagher, Mena Suvari, Wes Bentley, Chris Cooper.
Though some of its relevance has dimmed with time, Sam Mendes’s suburban satire still retains the power to shock, entertain and ultimately move us. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine executive who falls in love with his daughter’s best friend (Mira Suvari). Annette Bening is Carolyn, his high-strung real estate agent wife, who’s shocked by her husbands abnormal behavior. Cooper costars as their new neighbor, Col. Frank Fitts, a deeply homophobic, retired marine who rules his house with an iron fist, alienating his wife (Allison Janney) and son (Wes Bentley), who’s dating the Burnham’s daughter (Thora Birch). Frank’s bigotry masks a deeper secret, one that will ultimately lead to tragedy. The role brought Cooper a SAG nomination as Best Supporting Actor, yet he was snubbed at the Oscars, despite the film reaping eight bids and five wins, including Best Picture.
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1. ADAPTATION (2002)
Image Credit: Ben Kaller/Good Machine/Propaganda/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Spike Jonze. Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman, based on the book ‘The Orchid Thief’ by Susan Orlean. Starring Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Brian Cox, Tilda Swinton, Ron Livingston, Maggie Gyllenhaal.
There are few films as wild, weird and labyrinthine as “Adaptation,” Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman’s self-referential satire about screenwriting and self-exploration. Kaufman centers the story on himself (played by Nicolas Cage) as he tries to adapt an unadaptable book: “The Orchid Thief” by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep). Cage also portrays his fictional twin brother, Donald, who’s having much more luck writing his own script. Cooper won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his turn as John Laroche, the eccentric, devil-may-care horticulturalist at the center of Orlean’s narrative (and, according to this movie, her lover). It’s a transformative performance, with his missing teeth and scraggly hair making him look like a creature from the swamp he inhabits. But Cooper also creates a funny and surprisingly touching character, a guy who’s smart enough to skirt the law while also harboring a deep pain from a tragic loss. It’s a dazzling tour-de-force in a film that’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
