Bradley Charles Cooper is an American actor and producer. A three-time Academy Award nominee and an alumnus of the Actors Studio Drama School, Cooper made his feature film debut with the 2001 satirical romantic comedy Wet Hot American Summer. His breakout role came in 2009, when he starred in the blockbuster comedy film The Hangover. Since then, Cooper has appeared in a slew of critically and commercially successful films like Limitless (2011), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), American Hustle (2013), American Sniper (2014) and Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). In 2015, Cooper became only the tenth actor in history to receive an Academy Award nomination in three consecutive years.

Early Life
Bradley Cooper was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Gloria Campano and Charles Cooper. While his mother worked at a local NBC station, Cooper`s father was a stockbroker. After graduating from Germantown Academy, Cooper attended Villanova University and subsequently, Georgetown University, from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Cooper then moved to New York City and joined the Masters of Fine Arts program at the Actors Studio Drama School, from where his professional acting journey began.

Personal Life
Cooper married actress Jennifer Esposito in December 2006, but the marriage barely lasted a year and they got divorced in November 2007. The actor was rumoured to be in a relationship with Renee Zellweger, and it was reported in 2011 that they had broken up. Between 2011 and early 2013, Cooper dated Zoe Saldana. This was followed by a two-year relationship with English model Suki Waterhouse, who is 17 years younger than him. The couple broke up in 2015. A month later, he started dating Russian model Irina Shayk. They have a daughter together, named Lea de Seine Shayk Cooper.

During his struggling years in the industry, Bradley Cooper had trouble with alcoholism. Consequently, he has abstained from alcohol since 2004.

Movie Career
Cooper made his feature film debut with a minor role in the satirical romantic comedy Wet Hot American Summer (2001), which turned out to be a critical and commercial failure at the time of its release but has since gone on to attain cult classic status. Prior to his heydays in the industry, he appeared in supporting roles in hit films like Wedding Crashers (2005), Failure to Launch (2006) and Yes Man (2008), but was often typecast in these roles. Cooper`s first significant outing as a lead actor came with The Midnight Meat Train (2008), a horror thriller which follows a photographer`s quest to track down a serial killer known as the `Subway Butcher`. Critical response to the film was largely positive, though it failed to make an impact among the audience. In 2009, Cooper starred alongside Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms in the comedy film The Hangover, the plot of which revolved around a bachelor party in Las Vegas which goes hilariously awry. The film opened to rave reviews and became a blockbuster, raking close to $470 million against a budget of $35 million. The Hangover also proved to be the turning point in Cooper`s career, catapulting him into stardom and opening up a whole avenue of opportunities. The ensemble romantic comedy-drama film He`s Just Not That Into You, which came out in the same year, also did well at the box office despite the mixed critical reception.

Among the actor`s 2010 releases were the ensemble romantic comedy film Valentine`s Day and the action-comedy film The A-Team, both of which fared well at the box office though the critics were largely unimpressed. In 2011, Cooper starred alongside Robert De Niro and Abbie Cornish in the thriller film Limitless, which was based on the novel The Dark Fields by Alan Glynn. The film`s premise centred around a struggling writer (played by Cooper) who turns into a financial wizard after taking a mind enhancing drug, and is eventually dragged into the murky world of greed and deception. Cooper received praise for his performance in the film, which turned out to be a critical and commercial success. The Hangover Part II, which came out in the same year, bettered its predecessor in terms of box office returns, but was trashed by the critics.

In 2012, Cooper earned the first Academy Award nomination of his career for his portrayal of a man suffering from bipolar disorder in the acclaimed romantic comedy-drama film Silver Linings Playbook. The crime drama film The Place Beyond the Pines, which was released in the same year, saw the actor turning out yet another impressive performance as a conscientious cop. Both these films underlined Cooper`s evolution into an acting heavyweight, and he continued his fine form with the black comedy-crime film American Hustle (2013), where he starred alongside Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence. Cooper earned his second Academy Award nomination for his work in the film, in the Supporting Actor category this time. The third and final film in The Hangover trilogy, The Hangover Part III, also came out in 2013, and though dismissed by the critics as a lowbrow comedy, the film grossed over $360 million at the box office. In the following year, the actor joined the Marvel cinematic universe with the superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy, where he starred in a voice role as Rocket the Raccoon. The film received rave reviews upon its release and raked in over $770 million at the box office globally.

Cooper then starred in the controversial biographical war drama film American Sniper (2014), which was based on the bestselling autobiography of the same name by United States Navy SEAL veteran Chris Kyle. Besides becoming the highest-grossing war film of all time, the film earned six Academy Award nominations, which included a nomination in the Best Actor category for Cooper. Though he had served as an executive producer on a handful of movies before, American Sniper marked his debut as a producer. In 2015, Cooper had three releases: the romantic comedy-drama film Aloha, the drama film Burnt and the biographical comedy-drama film Joy. All the three films opened to mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office, though some critics singled out the actor`s earnest performances in these movies. In 2016, Cooper appeared in a supporting role in the black comedy-drama film War Dogs, which he also produced. The film, which currently holds a 60% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, was a commercial success. In the same year, he also appeared in a minor voice role in the critically acclaimed psychological thriller film 10 Cloverfield Lane.

In 2017, Cooper reprised his voice role as Rocket the Raccoon in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, where he starred alongside Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista and Vin Diesel. Cooper also ventured into direction with the musical romance drama A Star is Born (2018), in which he also stars, alongside Lady Gaga. In 2019, he acted as an executive producer for the drama-thriller film Joker.

Television Career
Bradley Cooper made his television debut while pursuing his graduate degree at Actors Studio, with a minor role in the popular romantic comedy series Sex and the City. Subsequently, he became a main cast member of the television series Alias, appearing in 46 episodes in the course of the show`s five-year, 105-episode run. Before getting his big break in Hollywood, Cooper continued to appear in recurring and guest roles in several television shows, most notably Touching Evil, Jack & Bobby and Law & Order. He also starred in the sitcom Kitchen Confidential, which was cancelled after just 13 episodes. Since finding mainstream success in Hollywood, Cooper has appeared on the long-running sketch comedy and variety show Saturday Night Live thrice and has hosted it once. In 2015, he returned to television to reprise his roles from Wet Hot American Summer and Limitless in their respective television adaptations.