CHRIS

Oscar-winning actor Chris Cooper is a master of his craft who brings a secret weapon to every role

- By Brian O'Keefe

Coat ($10,400), shirt ($1,090), and trousers ($1,600), Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello; Portugieser Automatic watch ($7,300) by IWC. Opposite: Coat ($5,100), trousers ($1,590), and loafers ($1,200) by Prada.

CHRIS COOPER WAS THE TALK OF THE Upper East Side. When he first moved to Manhattan in the mid-1970s to pursue acting, he brought his tools with him. And between auditions, he began to pick up home-renovation and handyman jobs-installing custom shelves, building a wet bar, putting in a kitchen, wallpapering, painting. Soon the quiet young man from Missouri with carpentry skills and a toolbox on wheels was a hot commodity in one of New York's toniest neighborhoods. "The thing that worked was I did one job at a time, from beginning to end, right to their satisfaction," says Cooper, pointing his finger at me for emphasis. "And my name spread like wildfire. Wildfire."

In the decades since, the now-seventy-four-year-old Cooper has built his career in much the same way-as a skilled craftsman who brings methodical preparation and total commitment to every project he takes on. That professionalism has long endeared him to directors, casting directors, and his fellow actors. But there's another rare quality about Cooper that resonates with both filmmakers and audiences. Onscreen, he has a certain ineffable intensity that grabs you no matter how deeply submerged he is in his character, how big the part is, or what kind of project he's in.

"The main thing that I felt about him as an actor is, this is a guy who can play a subtext," says the screenwriter and director John Sayles, who gave Cooper his first movie role, as a fiery union organizer in 1987's Matewan, and has subsequently worked with him on four more films. "He'll do the lines, and he'll do them well. And you'll feel like he's really connecting with the people in the scene with him. But there's something else going on there."