Trivia

Did not make his first screen appearance until he was thirty-six years old.

Said he was afraid of taking the role in American Beauty (1999); his wife convinced him to take the role of the repressed soldier.

Studied ballet at Stephens College in Columbia.

Son, Jesse Cooper (with Leone), born 1987, died January 2005 from causes related to cerebral palsy.

As a young man, he did some construction work, including helping with the construction of Royals Stadium in Kansas City, now known as Kaufman Stadium.

His first foray into acting came when he was drafted from the set-builder ranks of his local community theater to serve as a last-minute substitute for Tom Berenger in a production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" as the paper boy.

Turned down the role of Jim Gordon in Batman Begins (2005).

He majored in agriculture and acting at the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri.

Lives in Kingston, Massachusetts, USA.

His parents were from Texas. His mother, Mary Ann (Walton), was a homemaker, and his father, Charles Sherwood Cooper, was an internist who served as a doctor in the US Air Force, and a cattleman.

Filmed scenes for The Ring (2002) that were cut, though a picture of him in a newspaper remains in the film.

One of his first notable roles was in Lonesome Dove (1989), in which he worked opposite Anjelica Huston. In The Kingdom (2007), he appears with her brother Danny Huston, as well as Jennifer Garner, who played Anjelica's character in the Lonesome Dove prequel Dead Man's Walk (1996).

As of 2024, has appeared in four films that were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: American Beauty (1999), Seabiscuit (2003), Capote (2005), and Little Women (2019). American Beauty (1999) won in the category.

He filmed a few scenes in Her (2013), which would reunite him with Spike Jonze right after their successful partnership in Adaptation. (2002), but his part was deleted from the final film.

Graduated from Southwest High School in 1969. Southwest High School closed down in 1998 and reopened in 1999 as Southwest Charter School. Southwest High School is located in the Kansas City, Missouri School District.

Older brother, Chuck Cooper (born in 1948), is a contractor.

While under going acting training in New York he spent his spare time restoring apartments.

He spent a year in Kansas City helping to build the football and baseball stadium in 1970.

As of 2023, he has appeared in six films directed by John Sayles: Matewan (1987), City of Hope (1991), Lone Star (1996), Silver City (2004), Amigo (2010) and the documentary short Them That Work (2019).

He has appeared in one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Matewan (1987).

His father had a cattle ranch in Kansas.