CooperTalk

Steve Cooper talks with actor Chris Caldovino. Chris booked the recurring role of Billy Leotardo in 2004, on HBO's The Sopranos. After working on the famed show, Chris went on to book many more roles on TV and film, including FOX's The Good Guys and the film Brooklyn Rules with Alec Baldwin. As of late Chris has had roles in Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated film The Wolf Of Wall Street and the film Stealing Cars produced by Oscar-nominee Rachel Winter of Dallas Buyers Club, which will be released in 2015. Chris has just finished up a three-season stint as Tonino Sandrelli on HBO's Boardwalk Empire, for which he received a SAG-nomination for ensemble cast. Working on Boardwalk Empire Chris teamed up with some of the old Soprano's crew, including Oscar-nominee and Emmy-winning Writer/Producer Terence Winter, Director Tim Van Patton, and Steve Buscemi.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Tomas Boykin. Tomas recently played God in the hugely popular Super Bowl commercial for Mophie. He has various TV, film and stage credits.  He was born to a musician father and a stay at home mom. Growing up he enjoyed playing a musical instrument, painting, drawing, singing and dancing. He once stated, "We danced in our house. There were no wall flowers." He was encouraged to act as early as the 3rd grade. By the time he left college he had experienced "A Chorus Line," "Pippin," "Finian's Rainbow" and "Little Foxes" and many other musical productions. Tomas trained and performed professionally in both Philadelphia and New York. He became serious about performing when he moved to New York and eventually moved to LA.

Steve Cooper talks with photographer/writer Jaime Klein. Jaime moved out to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a stand-up comedian.  A regular spot at the Comedy Store, turned into writing gigs for Fernwood 2Nite and later the Gong Show.  That evolved to a produced screenplay called Pandemonium. 10 years of development deals for screenplays and pilots lead to a gig in broadcast marketing where he stayed for 15 years writing and producing promos/launch campaigns and short form programming for such shows as Seinfeld, Simpsons and Raising Hope. That advertising bug has now transitioned into a career as a portrait photographer.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Xander Berkeley. Xander started off playing minor roles in 1981, with appearances in Remington Steele, Miami Vice, Moonlighting and countless other series. Much later, he also appeared on The X-Files, CSI, ER, 24, and Law & Order. As for the big screen, he counts Sid & Nancy, North Country, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, A Few Good Men, Apollo 13, Gattaca, The Rock, Air Force One, Spawn, Amistad, and Timecode as some of his credentials. In 2001, he bagged a recurring spot as George Mason, head of the Counter Terrorist Unit on the hit series 24. His character was killed off in season 2. In 2009, he was cast on the NBC sci-fi series Day One, which follows apartment residents who survive an unknown worldwide catastrophe. From 2010 to 2012, he starred on The CW's Nikita as the villain Percy. The following year, he was seen on Being Human, Longmire, NTSF:SD:SUV and Louder than Words. Lately he has been seen on Salem, The Mentalist, Justified and numerous other shows.

Steve Cooper talks with host Matt Gallant. Matt is an Emmy Award-winning television host. For five seasons, he was the host of the Animal Planet's popular series "The Planet's Funniest Animals," although the show is no longer in production, it regularly airs in repeats and continues to find new audiences in international markets. He has hosted shows on MTV, ESPN2, G4, NFL Network, Fine Living, ABC, DirecTV to name a few. He hosted the ABC's Network prime time hit American Inventor. In 2008, Gallant took a sabbatical from TV in hopes of making a difference in the world and began to purse a career as an Interventionist/Therapist, like his brother Paul. He spent over two years working as counselor at a dual diagnosis rehab in Venice California. In 2012 he enthusiastically returned to the TV business and Co-Hosted the entertainment show The List on the Scripps Network.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Rae Dawn Chong. Rae Dawn began appearing on Canadian television in her preteen years. Chong's first major TV role was on the popular 1974 sitcom The Wiz Kid of Riverton. Seven years later, she exploded onto the big screen as the mud-covered cave dweller Ika in Quest for Fire (1981), which earned her the Canadian equivalent of the Academy Award. Playing a variety of striking characters, she would be prominently cast in such films as The Color Purple (1985), American Flyers (1987), and Commando (1985). By the 90's, Chong was a bankable actress with multiple projects per year, including successful TV roles as well, on shows like Wild Card and Mysterious Ways. Throughout her career she has appeared in over 50 movies and countless TV shows.She recently released Cursed: Part 3 which she wrote, directed and co-starred in.

Steve Cooper talks with musician Deon Estus. Deon is an American bassist and singer, best known as the bass player of Wham! and as George Michael’s bassist on all of the latter’s subsequent projects. In 1988, he released a solo album entitled Spell and scored a U.S. #3 Billboard Hot 100 hit pop single, “Heaven Help Me”. He also played with Marvin Gaye, Tina Turner, Frank Zappa, George Clinton, Annie Lennox, Edgar Winter, Aaron Neville, Elton John. He toured China with Wham!, performed at Rock in Rio, and with George Michael on his Faith tour. He recorded two albums with Brainstorm as a teenager, scoring a hit with “Popcorn.” He most recently produced and co-wrote songs for aspiring singer Julie Anne, who boasts a 5 octave range.

Steve Cooper talks with actor/director Eddie Jemison. Eddie is best known for his role as Ronnie Haxon on two seasons of HBO's series Hung. His first national break came in the Yes, I Am / Dr. Galakowitz spots for Bud Light. Several appearances on David Letterman followed. Soon after, he acted in his first film, Schizopolis, directed by Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh. He went on to act in Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen and relocated to Los Angeles. His feature work also includes his role as Ogie in Waitress directed by Adrienne Shelly, along with roles in The Punisher and Bruce Almighty. His television credits include The Closer, ER, CSI, Six Feet Under, The Guardian, NCIS, Grey's Anatomy, Franklin & Bash and many more. He recently finished writing, co-directing and co-starring in the movie King of Herrings which has been a festival favorite and is available on iTunes.

Steve Cooper talks with actor Brian McNamara. Brian is best known for his role as Michael Holden for 7 seasons on Lifetime's top-rated show Army Wives and has been acting for over 30 years. He got his break in Hollywood with a part in the hit movie Flamingo Kid and has since appeared in numerous roles in both film and television. McNamara starred in one of the first Lifetime Movies, Storm and Sorrow as well as The Secret Lives Of Second Wives. Some of his other film credits include, Short Circuit, Arachnophobia, Mystery Date and Dead of Winter, which was also his directing debut. Early in his career, McNamara was nominated for a Golden Globe for his work in the TV movie, Billionaire Boys Club. Some of his many TV credits include guest starring roles in such popular series as, Seinfeld, Monk, NYPD Blue, St. Elsewhere, JAG, Mad About You, Ellen, Murphy Brown, The Mentalist, Perception, Grimm, Bones and Franklin & Bash as well as playing Brooke Shields love interest in her series Suddenly Susan. He directed 4 episodes of Army Wives and currently is directing episodes of Granite Flats.