Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, United States
biography
Before Shirley Temple hit it big in the 1930s, Jackie Cooper was THE child actor, the first kid to make it big in the sound era and the first child actor ever to be nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award (for "Skippy" in 1931). While other juvenile actors end up on drugs or, at least, in a career other than show business after their voices changed, Cooper managed to parlay his success into a long career that included teen and young adult roles, leads in TV series, a turn as a successful TV programming executive and later a stint as a TV director, which earned him two Emmy Awards. Even when
