Cole Hauser, born in Santa Barbara, California, on March 22, 1975, is an American actor and producer. He has three children with his wife, the former actress and photographer Cynthia Daniel. It is speculated that Hauser has a net worth of $8 million.
Cass Warner, the progenitor of the film production company Warner Sisters, and Wings Hauser, an actor, are his parents. His maternal great-grandfather was Warner Bros. studio tycoon Harry M. Warner, and his paternal grandparents were screenwriters Milton Sperling and Dwight Hauser. The maternal figure originates from a Jewish lineage encompassing Austria, Russia, and Poland, while the paternal figure traces ancestry to Wallonia, Belgium, and Germany. California, Oregon, and Florida were his places of upbringing.
At the age of 17, he won his very first film role in “School Ties.” Additionally, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon appeared in that film; they would later form enduring friendships with Hauser. Following the triumph of “School Ties,” Hauser appeared in a number of critically acclaimed films throughout the 1990s, such as “Higher Learning” (1995) and “Dazed and Confused.” Then, in 1997, he and Damon reunited for the film “Good Will Hunting,” in which he co-starred.
Here are some of our favorite Cole Hauser movies and TV shows over the last 30 years. Try to identify the moody black-haired bearded cowboy we all know and love, the svelte youngster with curling red hair, the slick villain, and more!
Table of Contents
The best Cole Hauser movies and TV shows
Yellowstone
In this popular TV show, Cole portrays Rip Wheeler, John Dutton’s devoted ranch foreman on Yellowstone Ranch. Rip is very devoted and often prepared to put himself in danger for the people he loves the most, as one would anticipate from a character like this. But beyond this gruff appearance comes sensitivity, which Cole expertly captures in his delivery of language or little facial movements.
The brilliant ensemble cast of Yellowstone, which includes Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler, has helped the show become one of the most watched on television since its 2018 premiere. The fact that season 4 will launch later this year will delight fans!
Good Will Hunting
In the Academy Award–winning film Good Will Hunting, Hauser had a little part as Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s drinking companion. The film follows Damon’s journey from being a deadbeat janitor to finally finding the bravery to tap into his brilliant potential with the support of his friends and the late Robin Williams, who portrayed a therapist.
Tears of the Sun
Throughout his career, Hauser has often collaborated with action actor Bruce Willis, mostly on military and action thrillers. One of his best-known early films, Tears of the Sun, is a military rescue story that takes place in Nigeria. In the wake of a brutal coup in Nigeria, Willis plays Lieutenant A.K. Waters, the man entrusted with the mission of saving an American doctor.
As US Navy James Atkins, one of the squad members assigned to the rescue members, Hauser plays a crucial supporting role. As Willis’s ferocious and unwavering second-in-command, he stands out, and the film demonstrates Hauser’s talent for delivering nuanced action roles. Though it opened to a mixed reception, the film has now become a cult favorite.
2 Fast 2 Furious
Arguably one of the stronger installments in the venerable Fast series, 2 Fast 2 Furious featured adrenaline-packed action without sacrificing style. Hauser gives one of his greatest performances in an adversarial part of it as well. A younger, slimmer Hauser made an appearance in the film as the film’s major nemesis, the drug kingpin Carter Verone, taking advantage of his talent to seamlessly blend into roles. The top team of Tyrese Gibson and Paul Walker is tasked with entering Verone’s business as delivery drivers while going incognito as street racers. Hauser’s portrayal in the film is an ideal example of his very emotional performance. Verone has a frightening vibe while maintaining a low profile on screen.
Olympus Has Fallen
Hauser’s subtle but elegant appeal worked well for him in the movie Olympus Has Fallen, when he portrayed Secret Service agent Roma opposite Gerard Butler, a character akin to a member of the armed forces. It seems that Hauser enjoys returning to work with the same action director, Antoine Fuqua, with whom he had previously collaborated in Tears of the Sun ten years before.
Hauser’s brief appearance in this film allowed him to do just that. In the film, Hauser’s character meets his early end when he perishes in the first attack. Still, his character dies a hero’s death, and his cool demeanor suggests that he will have a brief but impactful part in the film. One of the most rewarding times a character says the movie’s title out loud is in Olympus Has Fallen, when Hauser’s character delivers the somber pronouncement in his last breaths.
Pitch Black
Cole portrays bounty hunter William Johns in this science fiction/horror film. A mysterious force causes the commercial cargo ship that Johns is aboard to veer off course. Strange monsters drawn to light assault the spacecraft when it crashes upon an unidentified planet with three suns. Before they all perish, Johns and the other survivors must work together to battle through the night and discover a way off the planet.
Pitch Black is a gripping roller coaster with plenty of exciting action scenes. Cole is a character who is easy to cheer for throughout the film since he is both powerful and weak at the same time. Both reviewers and fans praised his performance, solidifying his place among Hollywood’s top performers.
The Cave
Cole Hauser played a prominent role as a professional cave explorer sent to explore a vast cave system in the Carpathian Mountains in the 2005 horror film The Cave. Hauser’s character takes a group of scientists and cave explorers into the tunnels, where they discover a kind of vicious vampire living there. As action and thriller films make up a large portion of Hauser’s body of work, The Cave is a significant picture in his repertoire as it demonstrates the actor’s versatility.
Rogue
Before Yellowstone, Rogue, a police drama series that aired for four seasons from 2013 to 2017, was one of Hauser’s first significant television performances. Hauser made his television debut in Season 2 as former soldier Ethan Kelly, who turns to crime and is eventually compelled to do risky covert operations for the police. With its exciting, high-stakes narratives and Hauser’s character often finding himself alone in perilous situations with nothing more to rescue him than his cunning, the series is a great watch. He did an excellent job on this challenging assignment.
Dazed and Confused
Dazed and Confused, an irreplaceable classic in which the cherished Rip from Yellowstone also appeared, was indeed an outstanding performance by him. Rewatching this classic coming-of-age film with a critical eye may help you identify Hauser as the slick and confident senior student Benny O’Donnell, who steals a scene early on and warns freshmen about the impending hazing ritual that will start at school closing.
His brief appearance in the film meshes nicely with its distinct tone since he comes out as charming and laid-back, even though he seems to be enjoying the hazing procedure to a gloating degree. Benny, like all the other characters in the film, is an integral element of the slice-of-life mosaic of a high school that is shown.
Higher Learning
High school politics, gender, and racism are all powerfully explored in the 1995 film Higher Learning. The ensemble cast of the coming-of-age film includes Tyra Banks, Laurence Fishburne, Omar Epps, and Ice Cube. In Hauser’s career, the film is also among the first. His portrayal as a neo-Nazi skinhead who recruits one of the major characters in the film is still an odd one in his career. The movie imbues the character with a tremendous amount of depravity, making the part short but horrifying. Hauser gave this characterisation more weight, which resulted in a finished work that is truly terrifying in its portrayal.
Hart’s War
Another film in which Hauser and Bruce Willis collaborated was Hart’s War, in which Willis had a brief but significant adversarial role. A Nazi prison camp serves as the backdrop for the World War II film. Along with Willis, the film had several well-known actors, most notably Colin Farrell and Thomas Hart, the film’s title character. Hauser plays the American POW soldier Vic Bedford, whom Farrell’s character encounters in the camp. A key storyline element in the film is the character’s aggressive acts toward two African-American POW troops, demonstrating his extreme prejudice.
Tigerland
Tigerland has a special spot in Hauser’s career because of his nomination for the 2001 Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor, one of the few honors he received for his work. Hauser played one of his numerous military roles as Staff Sergeant Cota in the Vietnam War drama Tigerland. The film followed the troops’ hardships throughout that conflict. The film was originally acclaimed for providing a nuanced analysis of the psychological toll that war takes on its troops, despite the fact that it is now virtually forgotten.
The Lizzie Borden Chronicles
In the Lizzie Borden miniseries on Lifetime, Hauser co-stars with Christina Ricci, a Golden Globe winner, who plays the same character as in the television film “Lizzie Borden Took an Ax.” The series offers a dramatized story of Lizzie’s life following her acquittal, while the 2014 film explores the crimes for which she was prosecuted. Hauser’s character, Charlie Siringo, the investigator, is obsessed with proving that Lizzie is to blame for the strange deaths of those close to her when they start happening again.
Transcendence
Cole plays the brilliant scientist Max Waters in this science fiction thriller. Waters is working on a ground-breaking technology called “transcendence,” which would enable people to become eternal by transferring their minds into computers or robots. Regretfully, Max’s efforts draw the attention of hostile entities that want to use them for their own ends, such as business magnate Breecher (Paul Bettany).
In Transcendence, Cole portrays Max Waters with great intensity, balancing the roles of the brilliant scientist and the frantic guardian throughout the film. His relationship with Paul Bettany, his co-star, gives their scenes an additional depth that makes them more interesting to watch.
School Ties
In the short 1992 film School Ties, Cole Hauser portrayed Jack Connors. In 1959, a talented quarterback in the movie has the chance to enroll in a prestigious prep school in New England, but he struggles with revealing to his Evangelical peers that he is Jewish. Hauser’s sole other acting credit is in the movie.
Like Dandelion Dust
In 2009, Hauser played the lead role in the critically acclaimed indie film Like Dandelion Dust. The film explores parenthood from the viewpoints of two families from disparate backgrounds whose paths happen to meet.
Hauser portrays Jack Campbell, an adoptive father whose violent biological parents take his kid away. Hauser gives one of his greatest performances in the independent picture, even if it may not be as well-known as some of his previous parts.
Paparazzi
Hauser portrays Hollywood star Bo Laramie in this action-packed movie, where a group of photographers harasses his family. Bo must safeguard his family and alert the authorities to what the photographers are doing. It’s a terrifying story of what may happen if a famous person who is constantly bothered by photographers loses it. Hauser takes savage vengeance on the paparazzi who hurt his family during their ceaseless search for pictures. The whole time, the stakes are high, and Hauser does a fantastic job of keeping you gripped.
Acts of Violence
With Bruce Willis, who costarred with Hauser in A Good Day to Die Hard, Tears of the Sun, and Hart’s War, the action movie marks Hauser’s comeback. Playing Deklan MacGregor, Hauser shows how a human trafficking group kidnaps his brother’s fiancée. They set out to hunt down the culprits and rescue the girl, with the assistance of his brothers and the police officer looking into the organization that abducted her. Despite the fact that Hauser’s character frequently struggles with his military background, he ultimately uses the skills and knowledge he has acquired to help save Mia, Roman McGregor’s fiancée. Fans of Hauser will not want to miss this thriller, to be sure.
The Last Champion
In this drama, Hauser plays John Wright, a former neighborhood hero who was a standout wrestler on his high school team and an obvious Olympian candidate. A poor choice destroys his goals and brings shame to the community by demoralizing everyone who had faith in him. Twenty years after his mother passed away, he returned home. Will his community be able to forgive him for his previous transgressions?
