Chuck Cooper (actor)

Cooper made his Broadway debut in 1983 in the musical Amen Corner, playing the role of Brother Boxer.{{cite web |url=http://www.chuckcooper.net/Resume.htm |title=Chuck Cooper Bio & Resume |accessdate=August 1, 2008 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509080547/http://www.chuckcooper.net/Resume.htm |archivedate=May 9, 2008 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/news/article/114009.html |title=Playbill News: Chuck Cooper Appears in Free Opera in Eden Concert Jan. 7 |website=www.playbill.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080110121324/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/114009.html |archive-date=2008-01-10}} He was an understudy in the original Broadway casts of his next three shows: Someone Who'll Watch Over Me (he eventually took over the role of Adam), Passion, and Getting Away with Murder.

Cooper won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for his performance as the pimp Memphis in the 1997 Broadway production of the musical The Life.

Cooper has also appeared in Chicago as Billy Flynn, Caroline, or Change in the dual role of The Bus and The Dryer, and Finian's Rainbow as Bill Rawkins, as well as benefit performances of Hair and A Wonderful Life. In February 2010 he was the narrator in the U.S. premiere of Seven Scenes from Hamlet, by the Spanish composer Benet Casablancas, at the Miller Theatre in Manhattan.{{Cite web|url=http://www.millertheatre.com/Events/EventDetails.aspx?nid=1290|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714094943/http://www.millertheatre.com/Events/EventDetails.aspx?nid=1290|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 14, 2011|title=Miller Theatre at Columbia University.|date=July 14, 2011}}

In 2015, Cooper appeared on Broadway as the slave Thomas in the new musical Amazing Grace, at the Nederlander Theatre.[http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=500421 Amazing Grace] on the Internet Broadway Database The musical is about John Newton, the redeemed slave-trader who wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace". In 2021, he returned for the Broadway debut production of Alice Childress's 1955 play Trouble in Mind, at Roundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre.{{Cite news|last=Green|first=Jesse|date=2021-11-19|title=Review: 'Trouble in Mind,' 66 Years Late and Still On Time|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/theater/trouble-in-mind-review.html|access-date=2022-01-11|issn=0362-4331}} For this performance, he has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play.

Cooper has three children—Eddie, Alex, and Lilli—from his first marriage.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theatermania.com/broadway/news/chuck-cooper-lilli-cooper-eddie-cooper-interview_73562.html|title=It's an Actor's Life for Broadway Papa Chuck Cooper and His Kids Eddie and Lilli | TheaterMania|website=www.theatermania.com}} His son Eddie and daughter Lilli have performed on television and on stage.{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadway.com/buzz/180904/eddie-cooper-replaces-his-dad-chuck-cooper-in-little-shop-of-horrors-starring-jake-gyllenhaal-ellen-greene/|title=Eddie Cooper Replaces His Dad Chuck Cooper in Little Shop of Horrors, Starring Jake Gyllenhaal & Ellen Greene|website=Broadway.com}} In May 2009, Cooper and playwright Deborah Brevoort were married in Carmel, New York, after almost ten years of dating.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/31/fashion/weddings/31BREVOORT.html|title=Deborah Brevoort and Chuck Cooper|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 30, 2009}} Their initial meeting and eventual engagement were covered in a New York Times website video.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/video/fashion/weddings/1194840588050/vows-chuck-and-deborah.html |title=Vows: Chuck and Deborah - Video Library - The New York Times |website=The New York Times|date=May 31, 2009 |last1=Monteleone |first1=Michele }}

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• {{Official website|http://www.chuckcooper.net/}}
• {{IBDB name}}
• {{iobdb name|7182|Chuck Cooper}}
• {{IMDb name|0177946|Chuck Cooper}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070423055643/http://www.tonyawards.com/en_US/interactive/video/index.html#c TonyAwards.com "Tony Memory" interview with Chuck Cooper]

{{TonyAward MusicalFeaturedActor 1976–2000}}

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Category:1954 births

Category:Living people

Category:American male film actors

Category:American male musical theatre actors

Category:Male actors from Cleveland

Category:Tony Award winners

Category:20th-century African-American male actors

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:21st-century American male actors

Category:20th-century African-American male singers

Category:20th-century American male singers

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:21st-century African-American male actors