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Cole Hauser was just 14 and a half years old when he told his divorced parents, Cass Warner and Wings Hauser, that he didn’t want to go to school anymore. His school in California didn’t particularly want him there either, after Cole’s repeated misdemeanors had left them with no other choice than to show him the door. So his parents, (who by all accounts were pretty easy going) gave him a choice, when he told them he just wanted to try acting. ‘You have six months to make it,’ they said.
He admits the first four months were hard going as he failed countless auditions, but he was determined to make it after he’d caught the acting bug from a late friend of his, Kevin Morgan. Kevin had joked with him whilst they were in freshman year, about Cole’s skills at lying convincingly, and as Kevin was into acting in a big way, he told Cole that he’d make a damn good actor. Cole wasn’t too struck on the idea, preferring sports as his ambition of preference, but Kevin persuaded him (dangling the two carrots young boys like most: girls and fun) to send in an audition tape to a New York acting camp that Kevin also planned to attend.
The next summer Cole was at that very acting camp in New York staring in his first stage role in Dark of the Moon. The lead role led to a standing ovation from the audience, and he won Best Actor to boot. Not bad going for a young boy who claimed he didn’t have a clue what he was doing. He was amazed and moved at the effect his acting skills had on complete strangers. He’d been bitten by the acting bug, and there didn’t seem to be any cure for his lust to pursue it.
Acting must run in the genes, since his father Wings Hauser is a celebrated character actor, and his mother Cass Warner is the granddaughter of the Warner brothers co-founder Harry M Warner. On paper its practically Hollywood royalty, but Cole Hauser himself is humble and seemingly unaffected by his legendary family ties.
It was in his freshman year that he moved from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles to spend time with his father, Wings (who he’d not had much contact with) that he decided to get on the ladder of acting and pay his dues. Despite not finishing school, he showed his maturity in taking his destiny in his own hands at such a young age, and with some advice from his father he went out and auditioned his ass off.
His maturity, and will to get on with things on his own and on his own terms probably lends itself to his constant relocating his mother made him and his siblings undertake during his childhood.
Cole Kenny Hauser was born in 22 March 1975 in California. His mother soon found herself as a single mother, and Cole describes her as an, ‘old hippy, who got bored very easily.’ Cass moved her family to Oregon for 4 years, then Tampa Bay for 6 years. By the time Cole had got kicked out of school (and decided he wanted to be an actor) he’d moved to Santa Barbara and finally to Los Angeles to live with his father.
The dream didn’t happen overnight. Whether it was his choice to keep his family ties hush-hush, or the fact that maybe no one cared is not known? But his determination to do things his way, and be very certain he didn’t want to play the types of characters his father is best known for playing is pretty clear. The one thing he does retain from his family to this day is the motto of Warner Brothers, ‘To Educate, Enlighten and Entertain.’
After four months of painful rejections Cole was finally ‘discovered’ by casting director, Lisa Beech, who loved his style and personality, and in turn introduced him to Sherri Lansing, who is now the president of Paramount, and Sammy Jaffe. The meeting of the talented Cole and some of Hollywood’s casting elite led to a role in his first film in 1992, School Ties, (playing Jack Connor) but only after a grueling 500 screen tests!
He got his wish to remain out of school, and continued to make his mark in film. Just as his public image dictates, everything with Cole is a slow progression and with purpose. Cole is noted as a man of few words, but the ones he does utter are well thought out and with absolute direction. He made friends quickly in his new career and discovered his easy laid back attitude attracted the likes of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to become his buddies, whom he met on the set of School Ties.
In 1993 Cole went to Austin Texas, to play Benny, in Richard Linklater’s cult classic, Dazed and Confused. Cole’s character appears on the onset as fun loving, but Benny’s mood changes during the end of the film. The switch in Cole’s character is sharp and well acted, and it’s probably one of Cole’s best performances in terms of character progression, simply because you don’t see it coming, and it’s a shock when it does.
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