Just a decade ago, who could have predicted the guy known primarily for “The Hangover” movies and TV shows like “Alias” would become a 12-time Oscar nominee? Bradley Cooper has had one of the strongest Academy Awards narratives since 2012, first being recognized for his starring role in “Silver Linings Playbook” and nominated again for his most recent trio of Oscars for producing, writing and acting in “Maestro” (2023). While all of those bids are wonderful, the fact remains that Cooper still has yet to win the little gold man. Scroll through our photo gallery below to see all of his Oscar nominations/losses to date. Gallery originally published January 2020.
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‘Silver Linings Playbook’ (2012)
Image Credit: Mirage Enterprises/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Best Actor nominee
The Oscars first took notice of Bradley Cooper in 2012 for his performance as Pat Solitano Jr., a man with bipolar disorder, in “Silver Linings Playbook.” The actor got to showcase his dramatic skills as audiences saw him in a new light, after years of being known as the guy from “The Hangover” films. Cooper would go on to lose the Oscar to Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln,” an insurmountable competitor.
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‘American Hustle’ (2013)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Best Supporting Actor nominee
Just one year later, Cooper reunited with his “Silver Linings Playbook” director David O. Russell and co-star Jennifer Lawrence for “American Hustle.” In this film, Cooper had a supporting role as Richie DiMaso, an FBI agent who aligns himself with a pair of con artists, sporting a curly wig in the process. Just like the previous year, Cooper would lose to another showy performance in Best Supporting Actor, Jared Leto for “Dallas Buyers Club.”
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‘American Sniper’ (2014)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Best Actor nominee
Cooper pulled off a rare three-peat of nominations a year later, with his surprise Best Actor bid for “American Sniper.” In the film, Cooper played Chris Kyle, a real-life U.S. marine responsible for hundreds of kills in the Iraq War. The star hadn’t been nominated for any major precursors leading up to the Oscars. He would go on to lose yet again, this time to Eddie Redmayne in “The Theory of Everything.”
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‘American Sniper’ (2014)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Best Picture nominee
Starting with “American Sniper,” Cooper would begin to earn multiple nominations per year as not only an actor but producer. For “American Sniper’s” Best Picture nomination, Cooper was nominated alongside Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar and Peter Morgan. Shortly after Cooper lost the Best Actor award, he would and the rest of the producing team lost Best Picture to “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).”
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‘A Star Is Born’ (2018)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Best Actor nominee
Cooper’s fourth acting nomination came in the form of the fourth edition of “A Star Is Born,” which he also directed, co-wrote and co-produced. In the film, the actor starred as Jackson Maine, a washed-up country singer who falls in love with a promising young singer (Lady Gaga) while battling alcoholism and his inner demons. While considered an unofficial frontrunner to win Best Actor early in the season, he lost the Oscar and most other awards to the star of another musical film, Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
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‘A Star Is Born’ (2018)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Best Adapted Screenplay nominee
Cooper was also nominated for his screenwriting talent for the first time in 2018 for penning “A Star Is Born” with Eric Roth and Will Fetters. It became the rare music-driven film to do so. Cooper, Roth and Fetters would end up losing the Oscar to “BlacKkKlansman” writers Spike Lee, Kevin Willmot, David Rabinowitz and Charlie Wachtel.
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‘A Star Is Born’ (2018)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Best Picture nominee
Cooper’s third Oscar nomination in 2018 came for Best Picture as a producer on “A Star Is Born,” with fellow producers Bill Gerber and Lynette Howell Taylor. After losing Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor, Cooper once again sat in the audience as a bridesmaid during the Best Picture announcement when “Green Book” was revealed to be the winner. He did have one highlight during the ceremony, though, when he performed “Shallow” live with Gaga.
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‘Joker’ (2019)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Best Picture nominee
Cooper the producer is now catching up to Cooper the actor in Oscar mentions, with “Joker” marking his third nomination as a producer. Cooper was nominated with fellow producers Todd Phillips and Emma Tillinger Koskoff for “Joker’s” Best Picture bid. The comic book movie lost to “Nomadland” on Oscar night.
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‘Nightmare Alley’ (2021)
Image Credit: Kerry Hayes/20th Century Studios Best Picture nominee
Cooper, Guillermo del Toro and J. Miles Dale served as the nominated producers of the haunting noir film from Searchlight Pictures. The actor played Stanton “Stan” Carlisle, a drifter who earns a job at a 1939 carnival and then later meets a con artist named Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett). “Nightmare Alley” lost Best Picture to “CODA” that year.
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‘Maestro’ (2023)
Image Credit: Netflix Best Picture nominee
Cooper shares in the producer nominations for “Maestro” with Steven Spielberg, Fred Berner, Amy Durning and Kristie Macosko Krieger. The Netflix biopic about American composer Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and his wife Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan) conducted itself to seven total bids this year: picture, original screenplay, actor, actress, cinematography, makeup & hairstyling and sound.
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‘Maestro’ (2023)
Image Credit: Netflix Best Actor nominee
“Maestro” marks Cooper’s fifth Best Actor citation after “Silver Linings Playbook,” “American Sniper” and “A Star Is Born.” For his acclaimed role as Bernstein, he wore a prosthetic nose and aged on-camera from 25 to 71. He studied intimately for this role for six years, learning absolutely everything about the composer’s family and career.
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‘Maestro’ (2023)
Image Credit: Netflix Best Original Screenplay nominee
Cooper and Josh Singer co-wrote the script based on the life of the popular figure. Watch our Gold Derby interview with Singer in which he mentions Cooper’s “uncompromising passion,” noting, “He likes to go deep, and he likes to work hard, and he likes to get it right, which is very much how I like to work.”
