Bradley Cooper Was ‘Terrified’ When He Landed His ‘Sex and the City’ Role
Bradley Cooper got his big break when he was cast as one of Sarah Jessica Parker’s love interests on Sex and the City. But the actor wasn’t exactly prepared for success. He was so used to being rejected after auditions that when he learned he’d gotten the part, fear took over.
Bradley Cooper played Jake on ‘Sex and the City’
Cooper was honored with the Outstanding Performer Of The Year Award at the 39th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Feb. 8. At the ceremony, he opened up about his first onscreen acting role.
“I auditioned for [Sex and the City],” Cooper recalled at the event at the Arlington Theater. “At that time, I didn’t even realize you could get the job. I remember when I got the call to do it, I was terrified. What do you mean I have to do it?”
Cooper appeared in the season 2 episode “They Shoot Single People, Don’t They?” He played Jake, a guy who Carrie meets at a bar after an unflattering photo of her is published on the cover of New York magazine.
To get the part – which involved his character making out with Carrie in a car – Cooper lied and said he could drive stick, Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon told Andy Cohen during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live (via YouTube).
“He told them he knew how to drive a stick because it was his first job and he was desperate to get it,” she said.
“And then the time came for him to pull out, and he was like, ‘I don’t know how to drive a stick.’”
The Oscar nominee ‘always’ wanted to be an actor
Athe SBIFF event, Cooper – who is up for Best Actor at the 2024 Academy Awards – also opened up about how he “always” wanted to be an actor, “since I was like 11.”
“There was a movie theater, my backyard was train tracks and a movie theater,” he said. “I watched movies like The Godfather, Popeye, and I just knew then. and television. I always knew I wanted to do it, but I was terrified, I was shy. But I knew I wanted to do it.”
Years later, Cooper is still grateful for having the chance to do what he loves.
“Good things, you gotta hold onto them. Because there’s so much rejection in this business,” he said.
“People made movies, I watched them, they changed me, inspired me, kept me alive,” Cooper added. “Now that I get to do these things, the thing I benefit from is the doing. Seeing these projects that I’ve been a part of, these memories, magical made-up stories, it’s such a privilege. In life, I’ve been so privileged, so blessed.”
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