Dominic Cooper

Dominic Cooper

Dominic Cooper returns to the big screen this week as he adds another string to his bow... the romantic comedy with new movie Tamara Drewe.

In recent years the actor has not bee shy in mixing and matching his roles moving from drama such as The History Boys to musical Mamma Mia and period piece The Duchess.

Born and raised in London Cooper trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) graduating in 2000. Like many young actors before him he began his career working in television and radio working on The Infinite Worlds of H.G Wells: Davidson's Eyes and Down to Earth.

He then moved into the theatre treading the boards at the National Theatre in the 2001 production of Mother Clap's Molly House before working with the Royal Shakespeare Company in A Midsummer Night's Dream, as well as taking on small movie roles in From Hell and The Final Curtain.

But it would be Alan Bennett's The History Boys that would propel Cooper to stardom when he landed the role of Dakin for the National Theatre production, which went on tour in Hong Kong, Wellington and Sydney.

In 2006 the stage show was adapted by Alan Bennett for the big screen featuring all of the original stage cast, including Cooper.

The British film was met well by the critics and was nominated for the 2007 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film as well as launching the film career of Cooper.

Since then he has gone on to star in Starter for Ten with James McAvoy, an adaptation of the novel by David Nicholls, and The Escapist with Brian Cox and Joseph Fiennes.

In summer 2008 the young actor enjoyed major success as part of Mamma Mia's ensemble cast that includes Meryl Streep and former 007 Pierce Brosnan.

Streep headed the cast as single mother Donna Sheridan. Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard play the three potential fathers to Donna's daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) who is about to marry Sky (Cooper).

Despite receiving mixed reviews from the critics the film has enjoyed major box office success this summer sand took in excess of $609 million worldwide, not bad going for a musical.

He swapped the musical for costume drama next as he starred alongside Keira Knightley in the excellent The Duchess as politician Charles Grey before going onto An Education.

He is back on the big screen this week as he stars alongside Gemma Arterton in Stephen Frears' latest movie Tamara Drewe. When Tamara Drewe sashays back to the bucolic village of her youth, life for the locals is thrown upside down.

Tamara -- once an ugly duckling -- has been transformed into a devastating beauty (with help from plastic surgery). As infatuations, jealousies, love affairs and career ambitions collide among the inhabitants of the neighbouring farmsteads, Tamara sets a contemporary comedy of manners into play using the oldest magic in the book: sex appeal.

And it's set to be a very busy few months for the actor as he is currently filming Captain America: The First Avenger, playing a young Howard Stark, and has already finished work on The Devil's Double.

Hello Darkness and The Laureate are just two projects that the actor also has in the pipeline.

Tamara Drewe is released 10th September.


by for www.femalefirst.co.uk
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