Bradley Cooper

Teaming up with Lady Gaga as his co-star, Hollywood actor Bradley Cooper transformed himself into a gruff country rocker for the romantic drama 'A Star Is Born' in 2018, his stellar performance producing a soundtrack that sold of copies and won two Grammy Awards.

Cooper originally grew up in Pennsylvania and rose to fame playing newspaper reporter Will Tippin in long-running TV crime series 'Alias', before he established himself as a leading movie actor with roles in hit blockbusters 'American Hustle', 'The Hangover' and 'American Sniper'. After more than two decades in the industry he was looking for new opportunities, and when Clint Eastwood pulled out of producing the classic musical love story 'A Star Is Born', it became Cooper's job to update a film which was first created in 1937, and then re-made in 1954 with Judy Garland and James Mason, and again in 1976 with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson. Making his directorial debut, the film became an all-consuming passion project with Cooper spending three years preparing for the job, learning the guitar and lowering his voice by an octave. Tracing the tender, personal journey of a burnt-out Southern rock star called Jason Maine who discovers and kickstarts the career of unheralded, torch singer Ally (Lady Gaga), Cooper worked with Willie Nelson's son Lukas and his band Promise of the Real to form the character and craft the soundtrack. Songs for the movie were partly written by Nelson, Cooper and Gaga along with tracks by Jason Isbell, Diane Warren, Mark Ronson and Lori McKenna. Stand-out hits 'Shallow' and 'Always Remember Us This Way' were both released as singles and the soundtrack album went on to top the charts in the US, UK, Canada before Cooper joined Gaga live on stage during her residency in Las Vegas, and the pair reunited for a performance at the Academy Awards in 2019.