Bradley Cooper | Before They Were Famous | A Star Is Born

Before Bradley Cooper starred in Wet Hot American Summer, Wedding Crashers, Limitless and The Hangover Series. Before Bradley Cooper received Academy Award nominations for Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle and American Sniper. Before Bradley Cooper was directing Lady Gaga, Andrew Dice Clay and Dave Chappelle as well as himself in the 2018 Oscar-Darling A Star Is Born. Before Bradley got to stretch his singing muscles with Lady Gaga for the A Star Is Born soundtrack with the song Shallow receiving some well-deserved Grammy attention. Bradley Cooper didn't look much like an actor, a male actor that is, when he was a child. He states his mom kept his hair so long that people thought he was a girl. He was just a young kid when he watched the 1980 David Lynch classic The Elephant Man with his dad that he had an epiphany. He wanted to be on the big screen. The journey to become a successful actor in Hollywood can be a long and treacherous one. It means spending tireless days and nights working to hone your craft as a performer and often for little or no pay. And that's just to become successful. Being famous is a different kind of animal. Bradley Cooper is someone who accomplished both. Fresh out of New York's world-famous The Actors Studio in 2000, he became known throughout various audition rooms as the Nice Guy. It wasn't until he landed the role of Sack in the 2005 Summer Smash Wedding Crashers that he instantly became known as the Asshole. Playing supportive roles in several more comedies including 2006's Failure to Launch and 2009's Yes Man, his role as Phil in The Hangover changed his life forever. Earning $467 million worldwide, the comedy was a phenomenon that catapulted Bradley into international super-stardom. Taking a more dramatic turn with 2012's Silver Linings Playbook, he has been known in more recent years as someone who sinks themselves into his roles. To play Navy SEAL Chris Kyle in Clint Eastwood's American Sniper, the actor trained twice a day and ate 6,000 calories a day. This resulted in 37 pounds of pure muscle, as well as his third Oscar nod. Yeah, we're just getting started. What's going on guys? It's your boy Michael McCrudden documenting the life and career of Bradley Cooper prior to fame, here for you on Before They Were Famous. The Oscars have everyone talking and we thought what better way to talk about this acting titan than to take a look back at where he came from. As always, you guys requested this video and we've done other videos on big name actors including Samuel L. Jackson, Jack Black and Jason Momoa. If you want to check those out, you gotta let us know who's next in the comments down below. Oh yeah, we have a playlist dedicated to actors and comedians, so if you like this one, there's more there. Alright, let's get into Bradley Cooper. Bradley Charles Cooper was born on January 5th, 1975 in Abington, Pennsylvania, a town of about 50,000 people located just outside of Philadelphia. While Bradley currently resides in the Big Apple, you can tell his heart still lies in the city of brotherly love. In a hometown talk show appearance from 2011, Bradley did a perfect Philly accent while recalling a hoagie commercial from his youth. We're your regular family, we watch your Phillies on TV. Outsiders might associate Philly with cheesesteak, Rocky Balboa and Drunken Eagle fans punching horses, while Bradley sees it for so much more. As it turns out, his family has historic roots in America's sixth-largest city. During an interview, he stated, Philly's a very idiosyncratic city. I have a tremendous amount of pride because my family's roots are embedded in Philly. The actor stays close to his roots by visiting the city anytime he can. In an interview from a few years back, he showed a journalist around his old neighborhood in the suburb of Jenkintown. He even took her to his favorite hoagie spot when he was a teenager, and he couldn't go a second without being accosted by a fan. Bradley's mother, Gloria, is of Italian descent, while his dad, Charles, is of Irish ancestry. He also has an older sister named Holly, who has gone with him to several Hollywood events. She also works at a mortgage company. Gloria worked for NBC, while Charles was a stockbroker with Merrill Lynch. This was a huge turnaround in Charles' family tree, as his father was a fireman, and according to sources, he was the first person in his family to go to college. He had to carry a knife to ******* school, so he just wanted to get the f**k out of there and make money. In another world, my father would be doing the same thing I'm doing. As a kid, Bradley had different careers in mind. Believe it or not, it had nothing to do with acting. As it turns out, the young Philly boy planned on getting into the culinary arts. His Italian grandmother, with whom he was extremely close, was apparently an incredible cook. The topic of food was a common one in the Cooper household, and Bradley just naturally thought he'd cook for a living. Reflecting on this period, he stated, I just sort of thought it was cool and that chefs were cool when I was a kid and I just thought that chefs were rock stars. So I thought maybe I'd be a chef and then I realized really early it's too hard. The pressure is too insane. I always thought I wanted to be a ninja, you know what I mean, but I realized that I only wanted to play them in movies. Yeah, you heard that correctly. There was a time when Bradley Cooper wanted a career as a ninja. Looking up the number to Valley Forge Military Academy, he begged his father to enroll him there. When he said no, he asked Charlie to send him to Japan where he could train until he was 21. But sadly, that would be really epic if the story went there. It didn't happen. Why not? Well, Bradley's father would introduce him to the beauty of cinema. The 1970s being a game changer for film, there was plenty to watch. Hanging out at the Highway Theater in Jenkintown, he would take in dozens of flicks, including Stand By Me, which he and his friends would emulate by walking around nearby train tracks. He treated the theater like it was his second home. Well, it actually pretty much was. In this place, it was located just behind his house. How convenient. I watched The Elephant Man like 10 times when I was 12 years old. The Highway was not his only source for movies. He would also catch classics on TV at home. It wasn't until he saw the legendary John Hurt in The Elephant Man when he realized that acting was for him. He would also be introduced to one of his heroes, Robert De Niro, watching The Deer Hunter, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull. Attending Germantown Academy, Bradley studied both Spanish and French. During Bradley's senior year, he briefly worked as an intern for the Philadelphia Daily News. During this time, he and a female friend named Deb wrote an article called When Best Friends Crossed the Line. The topic of the piece? Friends with Benefits. We tried our best to dig up this article, but as it turns out, an employee of the Philadelphia Enquirer beat us to it and shared it via Twitter post. Bradley says the day the article came out, he attended a lacrosse game where students and players began booing him. When he arrived back at work the next day, his boss suggested that writing about the topic for his first article was an epic mistake. After graduating from Germantown in 1993, he moved on to Villanova University. He only spent a year there before transferring over to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor in English. By the sounds of it, Bradley was your regular party hooligan. He states that he always took college seriously because he felt lucky to be there. He was even a rower on the school's rowing team. Bradley's dedication would soon be put to the test. This is the part of the story where we discuss his tenure as a student at the Actors Studio, something that is well known to the public because of this. As a student at the Actors Studio, the 24-year-old Bradley decided he would go for it and head to New York City to try his hand at acting. Auditioning in front of James Lipton himself, he got in. To support himself, he took up work as a doorman at the Old Morgans Hotel on Madison Avenue, and even has a funny antidote from that gig. He stated, I remember taking Leonardo Dicaprio up to his room when I was in the elevator with him and like seven of his friends. It was around the time of Titanic. I remember this guy who looked like a kid, even though we were about the same age. He looked like a little boy. I remember thinking how I was three feet away from this guy and we were worlds apart. It was experiences such as this that drove Bradley to school. It was either go hard or go home. His mom would often make the two-hour drive up from Philly to visit him in New York City. At one point, James Lipton pulled her aside and told her that her son was going to go all the way. In 1999, he made his TV debut in an episode of Sex and the City. Bradley would return to his old stomping grounds for his very own episode of Inside the Actors Studio. Accompanied by his parents, old instructor, and even a few classmates, it was an emotional state of affairs for everyone in attendance. I can't talk with tears. It's going to be like hyperventilating. James Lipton has gone on to state that his appearance on the show may be his all-time favorite. Graduating in the year 2000 with a Master of Fine Arts degree, one of his next roles was on the show Globe Trekker. Appearing in nine episodes, he got to travel the world and experience nature. In 2001, Bradley landed his first ever film role as Ben in the cult classic, Wet Hot American Summer. This video here is where we're going to wrap things up because, well, I guess it would be an after. Or an epic. Or an update. If we continue telling this story. So that's just a teaser for you guys now, but let us know if you want us to do more here on this channel because that's what we do on Before They Were Famous. My name is Michael McCrudden. I'm not sure if you're watching this on the main channel or our second channel. Wherever you are, be sure to subscribe. Thanks for tuning in. Bradley Cooper, if you're watching this, how'd I do? Maybe you can give me a little review. Be my James Lipton. I don't know. See you guys on another video. Boom!