Early life and education
Cooper Joseph Koch was born on July 16, 1996, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. [1] His father, Billy Koch, is from a Jewish Eastern European background; he is the founder and managing partner of the horse racing club Little Red Feather and previously worked in the film industry in the visual effects department. [2] [3] His mother, Kathy Kaehler, is a celebrity personal trainer and author. [4] [5] [6] His grandfather is film producer Hawk Koch, and his great-grandfather was film producer and director Howard W. Koch [7] [8] [9] He has a twin brother, Payton Koch, who works as a film editor, and a second brother named Walker, who is a musician. [10] [7]
Koch previously lived in Hidden Hills, California and attended Calabasas High School, where he participated in theater and worked in various stage adaptations such as West Side Story and A Midsummer Night's Dream . [11] [12] [3] He was also a member of an a cappella group and an orchestra, where he played the viola, as well as the men's volleyball team. [13] In May 2018, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Acting from Pace University. [7] [14]
Career
Koch made his on-screen debut with a background role in the 2007 film Fracture , which was produced by his grandfather, Hawk Koch. [7] In 2010, he appeared in the music video for "Ordinary Girl" by Miley Cyrus (performing as her character, Hannah Montana). [15] From 2017 to 2021, Koch primarily appeared in short films. He had a guest role in the episode "Forty Candles" of the comedy series West 40s (2018), [16] and he filmed a pilot episode for Hulu's cancelled 2019 drama series Less Than Zero . [17] He later appeared in A New York Christmas Wedding (2020), playing Azrael Gabison, a guardian angel who shows a woman an alternate version of her life. [18] He also appeared in two episodes of the crime drama series Power Book II: Ghost . [19]
In 2022, Koch starred in Carter Smith's body horror film Swallowed . [20] He portrayed Benjamin, an aspiring gay pornographic actor who is forced to smuggle drugs by swallowing them. [21] That same year, he appeared in the Blumhouse Productions slasher film They/Them , playing Stu, a closeted gay jock who attends an LGBTQ conversion therapy camp. [22]
Koch first auditioned for the role of convicted murderer Erik Menendez in the NBC limited series Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders and the Lifetime television film Menendez: Blood Brothers (both 2017). [23] He later earned the part in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story (2024), the second season of Netflix's crime anthology series Monster . [24] [25] His performance received critical acclaim, particularly in the fifth episode, "The Hurt Man", which is a 30-minute long take of Erik detailing the sexual abuse he suffered from his father. [26] Critics highlighted his portrayal as one of the season's standout performances, [27] [28] and he also received praise from Lyle and Erik Menendez. [1] It earned him a nomination for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. [29]
In October 2024, Koch signed with United Talent Agency for representation. [30] In November, he appeared in the short film Togetherness, as part of a campaign by fashion house Yves Saint Laurent. [31] Aside from acting, he also modeled for various fashion brands, including Gap, Skechers, and Patagonia, and he has collaborated with Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, and Calvin Klein. [32] [33] He was formerly signed under Wilhelmina Models. [34]
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