Bradley Cooper's Real Name: Bradley Charles Cooper

Quick answer: Bradley Cooper's birth name is Bradley Charles Cooper. He was born on January 5, 1975, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He broke through in The Hangover (2009) and later earned Academy Award nominations as an actor, writer, and director, including for A Star Is Born (2018). He works under his birth name (Library of Congress; Britannica).

Real name and early life

The Library of Congress name authority files him as "Cooper, Bradley." One citation reads "b. Bradley Charles Cooper, January 5, 1975 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA." Another LOC note credits him as a composer and singer of recorded tracks. Charles is his middle name.

Britannica says he graduated from Georgetown University in 1997 with a degree in English. He then entered the Master of Fine Arts program at the Actors Studio Drama School, then based at the New School in New York.

Career highlights

He made his acting debut in 1999 on Sex and the City, had a recurring role on the spy drama Alias (2001–06), and starred in Kitchen Confidential (2005–06). His first feature film was Wet Hot American Summer (2001). Supporting parts in Wedding Crashers (2005) and Failure to Launch (2006) raised his profile. The Hangover (2009), about friends searching for a groom after a forgotten bachelor party, was his breakthrough and led to sequels in 2011 and 2013. He followed with Limitless (2011) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012).

His first Oscar nomination came for David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook (2012), opposite Jennifer Lawrence. His second was a supporting nomination for American Hustle (2013), and his third was for playing Navy SEAL sniper Chris Kyle in Clint Eastwood's American Sniper (2014). He also voiced Rocket in Guardians of the Galaxy and later Marvel films. On Broadway he played Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man (2014–15), which earned a Tony nomination, and he took the production to London.

He made his directing debut with A Star Is Born (2018). He co-wrote it and starred as a hard-drinking musician opposite Lady Gaga, earning Oscar nominations for best actor and adapted screenplay. Later credits include The Mule (2018), Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza (2021), and Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley (2021).

Name notes for searchers

Cooper is his family surname, and he has no stage name. Russian-script forms in the LOC record, such as Купер, Брэдлеи, are transliterations for foreign editions. Searches for "Bradley Charles Cooper" and "Bradley Cooper" refer to the same actor-director.