Life & Work with Van Cooper of Atlanta

Today we’d like to introduce you to Van Cooper

Hi Van, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I am Originally from New haven, CT which is a city that has a lot of talented people but also a tough city to grow up in. It’s about 1.5 hrs from the Bronx, NY. To provide a better life for my family we moved to Wilmington NC in 2008. Once I got to Wilmington.
I discovered that there is a film industry there. Looking for extra cash I started doing background acting on a couple network TV shows and got introduced to a film producer who cast me in their short film. This was basically a no budget film but watching myself in the finished film and then remembering that feeling that I had while performing. I knew that this is something that would want to do as a career. I enrolled into acting class. After some time of self submitting for auditions I booked my first role on a cable show called Homicide Hunter. Being an actor in the Southeast you have to be willing to travel. I drove from NC to Tennessee and shot that show. This really made me feel like I was starting to gain traction. After some consideration I decided to make the move to Atlanta and really pursue my career. After many auditions and almost giving up I booked my first lead role in the indie classic ATLANTAFORNICATION which is streaming on prime!! This was the proof that I needed to confirm that I was good enough. This confidence helped me take my audition skills to the next level. I ended up booking a role on the hit Issa Rae show rap shit! The crazy thing about this booking is the day before I was supposed to catch my flight. There was a shooting at the Atlanta airport. This made me nervous to fly so I packed a car and took a 9 hr drive to Miami. I was not letting anything stop me from doing this role. This determination paid off as I was able to work with Issa Rae. This was my first sag role. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought this would happen. Now being in a few projects I decided to write and produce my own short film titled the Internet ruined it. This film was my proof that I can not only give strong performances as an actor but I can also produce films. Skinnydad films was born. I will be creating films that display vulnerability in the black community. This will be my legacy

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I struggled sometimes with not having enough funds to cover my acting classes.
I started to gain traction in my career right before the pandemic. Then after the pandemic things got very slow because of the sag strike. I almost felt like things would never recover.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I like to consider myself to be a creative director with focus on displaying vulnerability in the black community. An Actor, Writer, Photographer. I am very proud of my determination. I think what sets me apart from others is my will to fight through hardships.

Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Being able to find the positive in all situations and use it as motivation

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_van_cooper
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/NKv-9DEKrHg