Risteárd Cooper
Encyclopedia
Risteárd Cooper is an Irish actor, comedian, singer and writer and is one third of comedy trio Aprés Match.
Cooper graduated from the acting programme at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College
. He lived in New York for several years where he worked at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Irish Rep and Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company
(founded by, amongst others, John Malkovich
) playing Mickey in the American premiere of Jez Butterworth's Olivier award-winning play, 'Mojo.
He has played lead roles in the major theatres in Ireland including "Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme" at the Abbey, "Auntie and Me" at the Gaiety, "I Keano" at the Olympia, and in numerous productions at the Gate Theatre such as "Arcadia", An Ideal Husband, See You Next Tuesday, Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Betrayal(Pinter Festival) and The Deep Blue Sea.
In 2009 he played the role of Dmitri in the critically acclaimed production of Brian Friel
's play "The Yalta Game" directed by Patrick Mason
for the Gate Theatre
at the 2009 Sydney and Edinburgh International Festivals.
He played the leading role of Michael in the RTÉ
/Element Pictures film Bittersweet for which he received a Best Actor nomination at the 2009 Monte Carlo Television and Film Awards.
Last year he starred as Setanta de Paor in 'An Crisis', an Irish language comedy series for TG4 for which he was also nominated at the 2010 Monte Carlo Awards, this time in the Best Comedy Actor category.
In 2011 he played Henry Higgins in the Abbey Theatre's first ever production of Shaw's Pygmalion and is currently playing Joxer Daly in O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock at the Abbey Theatre, before transferring to the National Theatre of Great Britain in November.
Cooper also writes for the newspaper, The Irish Times
.
Cooper graduated from the acting programme at the Samuel Beckett Centre, Trinity College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
. He lived in New York for several years where he worked at the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Irish Rep and Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
(founded by, amongst others, John Malkovich
John Malkovich
John Gavin Malkovich is an American actor, producer, director and fashion designer with his label Technobohemian. Over the last 25 years of his career, Malkovich has appeared in more than 70 motion pictures. For his roles in Places in the Heart and In the Line of Fire, he received Academy Award...
) playing Mickey in the American premiere of Jez Butterworth's Olivier award-winning play, 'Mojo.
He has played lead roles in the major theatres in Ireland including "Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme" at the Abbey, "Auntie and Me" at the Gaiety, "I Keano" at the Olympia, and in numerous productions at the Gate Theatre such as "Arcadia", An Ideal Husband, See You Next Tuesday, Eccentricities of a Nightingale, Betrayal(Pinter Festival) and The Deep Blue Sea.
In 2009 he played the role of Dmitri in the critically acclaimed production of Brian Friel
Brian Friel
Brian Friel is an Irish dramatist, author and director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He is considered to be the greatest living English-language dramatist, hailed by the English-speaking world as an "Irish Chekhov" and "the universally accented voice of Ireland"...
's play "The Yalta Game" directed by Patrick Mason
Patrick Mason
Patrick Mason is an award-winning theatre director.Mason was educated at Downside School and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. He was appointed fellow in drama at the University of Manchester in 1974 and then lecturer in performance studies...
for the Gate Theatre
Gate Theatre
The Gate Theatre, in Dublin, was founded in 1928 by Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir, initially using the Abbey Theatre's Peacock studio theatre space to stage important works by European and American dramatists...
at the 2009 Sydney and Edinburgh International Festivals.
He played the leading role of Michael in the RTÉ
Raidió Teilifís Éireann
Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...
/Element Pictures film Bittersweet for which he received a Best Actor nomination at the 2009 Monte Carlo Television and Film Awards.
Last year he starred as Setanta de Paor in 'An Crisis', an Irish language comedy series for TG4 for which he was also nominated at the 2010 Monte Carlo Awards, this time in the Best Comedy Actor category.
In 2011 he played Henry Higgins in the Abbey Theatre's first ever production of Shaw's Pygmalion and is currently playing Joxer Daly in O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock at the Abbey Theatre, before transferring to the National Theatre of Great Britain in November.
Cooper also writes for the newspaper, The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
.
Appearances
The following is a list of appearances by Risteard Cooper.- Après MatchAprès MatchAprès Match is an Irish comedy show normally screened after competitive Irish soccer matches on RTÉ. It is performed by Barry Murphy, Risteárd Cooper and Gary Cooke. It grew out of Barry Murphy and Risteárd Cooper's Frank's Euro Ting sketches which first enlivened RTÉ's coverage of Euro '96 for...
(1996 - present) - The Closer You Get (2000)
- The Big Bow Wow (2004)
- This is Ireland (2004)
- Chasing the Lions (2005)
- I, KeanoI, KeanoI, Keano is a comedy musical play about footballer Roy Keane leaving the Republic of Ireland national football team before the 2002 FIFA World Cup....
(2005) - Batman BeginsBatman BeginsBatman Begins is a 2005 American superhero action film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, directed by Christopher Nolan. It stars Christian Bale as Batman, along with Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Cillian Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson,...
(2006) - The State of UsThe State of UsThe State of Us is a four-part comedy sketch show which broadcast on Irish television channel RTÉ One on Sunday nights at 21:40. It stars Risteárd Cooper, well known in Ireland for his part in the Après Match sketches. It is written by Gerard Stembridge and Risteárd Cooper and focuses on the clash...
(2007) - Chasing The Blues (2007)
- "Bittersweet" (2008)
- "Chase the Lions" (2009)
- "An Crisis" (TG4 - 2010)