Anne Cooper

Anne Cooper (AKA Anne Gillis) made her motion picture debut in a small part in Crimewave alongside Frances McDormand. A student of Uta Hagen, Michael Schurtleff, and Gary Austin of Groundlings fame, she built her career as a character actor and continues to work today. She can be heard performing new plays on the Open-Door Playhouse podcast which has supported playwrights, actors, and directors during the pandemic. Her latest film, Marry Me, with Jennifer Lopez, will debut in February 2022. She has been on the summer theatre faculty at Interlochen Center for the Arts for the last 22 years. Her students over the years have included Felicity Huffman, Richard Brooks, Ben Levi Ross, Doug Stanton and many more. Her mother was a WWII Sicilian War Bride. Her father, an attorney, practiced law in Detroit defending the disenfranchised, with some of his cases reaching the United States Supreme Court. She is married to a retired Captain of the Los Angeles Fire Department, and they have 2 children.