--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Bradley Cooper by Oliver Platt: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- Apr 15, 2015 # Bradley Cooper by Oliver Platt I met Bradley Cooper in 2007, shooting an arc on the FX drama _Nip/Tuck_. Our characters had this wonderfully twisted relationship: I was a closeted TV producer in mad, unrequited love with Bradley, the ambitious, manipulative star of my soap opera. During our first take, he grabbed me by the lapels, threw me against a wall and launched into this insane in-character, off-script rant about how my not going to the gym was breaking his disgusted heart. Apparently, in our line of work, this is how great friendships begin. Turns out this psycho was in fact a loving, grounded, hardworking fellow whose priorities in life are his dog Charlotte, the Philadelphia Eagles and showing up for people he cares about. And yes, he’s a dazzling actor. _Silver Linings Playbook_, _American Hustle_, _The Elephant Man_—these are increasingly brave, eccentric, breathtakingly diverse performances. I barely recognized him in _American Sniper_; physically and emotionally, he actually kind of disappeared. It’s hard to make people, especially your friends, forget who you are onscreen. But Bradley’s that good. And I think we’ve seen only a hint of what’s to come. _Platt is an actor who lives in New York City_ Pick up the TIME 100 issue on newsstands, or [click here to buy it online](http://backissues.time.com/storefront/subscribe-to-time/link/1028595.html "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822978/bradley-cooper-2015-time-100/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822978/bradley-cooper-2015-time-100/"},"headline":"Bradley Cooper","datePublished":"2015-04-15T21:45:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:29.178Z","description":"The cinematic chameleon","url":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822978/bradley-cooper-2015-time-100/","keywords":["TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822978/bradley-cooper-2015-time-100/","name":"Bradley Cooper"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Bradley Cooper on the Films that Shaped His Childhood","description":"“Ultimately you want to tell a story so that it can help heal and make people feel that they’re not alone,” says Cooper, who has been nominated for an Oscar three times.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/sxLupXWQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-04-16T01:25:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sxLupXWQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822978/bradley-cooper-2015-time-100/","duration":"PT2M20S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822978/bradley-cooper-2015-time-100/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```