Bradley Cooper in a scene from The Hangover. Photo / Supplied
Bradley Cooper in a scene from The Hangover. Photo / Supplied
Bradley Cooper was front and centre at every awards show this year, thanks to his critically-acclaimed turn as director and lead in A Star Is Born alongside Lady Gaga.
At this point in his career, his films have collectively grossed nearly $8 billion worldwide and Cooper himself has a net worth of more than $100 million — making him one of Hollywood's highest-paid stars.
But only a little more than 10 years ago, at the age of 34 and tired of being just a supporting cast member, the struggling actor was ready to give up on his dream.
With the exception of his appearance as the incredibly hateable Sack Lodge in Wedding Crashers (2005), you'd be forgiven for forgetting what you'd seen him in before his fame skyrocketed in 2009 blockbuster The Hangover.
Cooper made his acting debut in a small role in Sex and the City in 1999. That was followed by several other minor TV roles, before a five-year stint (2001-2006) as Will Tippin in Alias alongside Jennifer Garner.
It was at this point in his life that Cooper later claimed things took a dark turn.
In an interview with Barbara Walters in 2016, he admitted that a growing sense of failure in his life contributed to him self-medicating with alcohol.
"I would only work three days a week," Cooper explained in a 2013 issue of GQ. "And then for the second season, I got even more sidelined. I was like, 'Ugh.' And then next thing you know, I was like, 'I want to f***ing kill myself'."
Eventually, he asked to be written out of the show, and began to ponder whether to give up on acting altogether.
"At some point, you have to come to terms with, 'the business just doesn't want you,' you know what I mean?"
The situation was exacerbated by Cooper's drinking, which was spiralling out of control.
"I was at a party and deliberately bashed my head on the concrete floor — like, 'hey, look how tough I am!'" he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012.
"And I came up, and blood dripped down. And then I did it again. I spent the night (in hospital) with a sock of ice, waiting for them to stitch me up."
He added: "I was so concerned what you thought of me, how I was coming across, how I would survive the day. I always felt like an outsider. I just lived in my head. I realised I wasn't going to live up to my potential, and that scared the hell out of me. I thought, 'Wow, I'm actually gonna ruin my life; I'm really gonna ruin it.'"
Meanwhile, Cooper's attempt at a movie career was hardly taking off. After landing his first big screen role in Wet Hot American Summer in 2001, he went on to play Matthew McConaughey's buddy in 2006 rom-com Failure To Launch, and then the cheating husband Ben in He's Just Not That Into You, released in 2009 — just a few months before he became a household name thanks to director Todd Phillips' The Hangover.
So what took so long for Cooper to win over audiences?
Before The Hangover, and after missing out on yet another major role, Cooper finally pressed his agent on why he kept getting knocked back.
"The feedback (from directors) was, 'You're not really f***able'," he later recalled.
But a short time later — and only after Jack Black and Paul Rudd turned it down — the relatively unknown actor finally got lucky with the role of Phil in The Hangover and became a bona fide heart-throb.
Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, Justin Bartha and Bradley Cooper in a scene from The Hangover. Photo / Supplied
Realistically speaking, with a storyline centred solely around a stag party and a fairly clichéd Vegas plot, The Hangover seemed destined to be a fun yet mediocre movie.
In fact, its stars, Cooper, Zach Galifianakis and Ed Helms were all paid less than $1 million to sign on.
Instead, it was a box office smash and spawned two more movies which collectively raked in almost $1.5 billion globally (and saw a huge pay rise for the stars — each collected more than $10 million for The Hangover Part II and $15 million for Part III.
It's hard to pinpoint just one reason why it became such a monster hit, but in a 2011 interview with GQ, Cooper had a stab at it.
"It's very slapstick, verbally comedic, but also physically comedic and I think that's probably why it's been so internationally successful," he explained.
By any stretch, Cooper was definitely a late bloomer once "leading man" success finally arrived.
But a string of hits quickly followed, including his Oscar-nominated role in 2013's Silver Linings Playbook alongside Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle and sci-fi thriller Limitless, cementing his place at the top of the food chain in Hollywood.
And then, of course, came A Star Is Born.
Seven Oscar nominations, a round as People magazine's Sexiest Person Alive, and even a Grammy award later — it's safe to say Cooper's evolution to leading man is complete.
