
Age: 51
male
Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor, filmmaker and musician. He has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and three Grammy Awards. In addition, he has been nominated for twelve Academy Awards, six Golden Globe Awards, and a Tony Award. Cooper appeared on the ForbesCelebrity 100 list three times and on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2015. His films have grossed $13 billion worldwide, and he has been placed in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actors four times. Cooper began his television and film career in 1999 with a guest role in and the City. In 2000, he enrolled in the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at the Actors Studio. Shortly after, he made his film debut with a starring role in the comedy Wet Hot American Summer (2001) and gained some recognition as Will Tippin in the television series Alias (2001–2006). After his role in the show was demoted, he began to have career doubts; however, he quickly gained additional recognition with a supporting part in the comedy film Wedding Crashers (2005). Cooper had his breakthrough in The Hangover (2009), a critically and commercially successful comedy that spawned sequels in 2011 and 2013. His career progressed by starring in Limitless (2011) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012). Cooper found greater success with the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook (2012), the black comedy American Hustle (2013), and the war biopic American Sniper (2014), which he also produced. In 2014, he portrayed Joseph Merrick in a Broadway revival of The Elephant Man. He began voicing Rocket in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Cooper produced, wrote, directed, and starred in the musical romance A Star Is Born (2018). He won a BAFTA Award and two Grammys for his contributions to the film's U.S. Billboard 200 number-one soundtrack and its chart-topping lead single "Shallow". He has since produced the thrillers Joker (2019) and Nightmare Alley (2021) and co-wrote and directed the biographical drama Maestro (2023), in which he also starred as Leonard Bernstein. Cooper was named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive in 2011. He supports several charities that help fight cancer. Cooper was briefly married to actress Jennifer Esposito and has a daughter from his relationship with model Irina Shayk.

Bradley Cooper

Thomas Ford
for Thomas Ford in Kingdom of Nauvoo
Suggested by jamesvalentine

Founded in Western Illinois in 1839 by the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith and his followers... situated on a hill and protected on three sides by the Mississippi River, the industrious Mormons quickly built a religious empire; at its peak, the city surpassed Chicago in population, with more than 12,000 inhabitants. The Mormons founded their own army, with Smith as its general; established their own courts; and went so far as to write their own constitution, in which they declared that there could be no separation of church and state, and that the world was to be ruled by Mormon priests. A raucous, violent, character-driven story, Kingdom of Nauvoo raises many of the central questions of American history, and even serves as a parable for the American present. How far does religious freedom extend? Can religious and other minority groups survive in a democracy where the majority dictates the law of the land? The Mormons of Nauvoo, who initially believed in the promise of American democracy, would become its strongest critics. Throughout his absorbing chronicle, Park shows the many ways in which the Mormons were representative of their era, and in doing so elevates nineteenth century Mormon history into the American mainstream.