Biography
After making his film debut alongside a cast of future stars, Cole Hauser made his own mark as a TV and indie film actor in the 1990s. Raised in Santa Barbara, Hauser got hooked on acting in junior high. Shortly after he moved to Los Angeles at age 15 to pursue his chosen career, Hauser was cast in the prep school anti-Semitism drama
School Ties (1992) along with up-and-comers
Brendan Fraser,
Chris O'Donnell,
Matt Damon, and
Ben Affleck. After this auspicious beginning, Hauser became part of an equally noteworthy ensemble of young stars-to-be in
Richard Linklater's
Dazed and Confused (1993), appeared in the NBC TV movie
A Matter of Justice (1993), played a skinhead in
John Singleton's college drama
Higher Learning (1995), and starred as an abusive boyfriend in
All Over Me (1997). Hauser was cast in the lead role in the ABC series High Incident in 1996, but the show lasted only two seasons. Following a supporting role as one of Damon and Affleck's Boston cronies in their breakthrough hit
Good Will Hunting (1997), Hauser played a small part in
Stephen Frears' little seen modern Western
The Hi-Lo Country (1998) and scored a hit as one of the marooned travelers battling mutant aliens in the sci-fi sleeper
Pitch Black (2000).
After reuniting with his
Tigerland (2000) co-star
Colin Farrell in the box office failure
Hart's War (2002), Hauser gained more notice for his supporting role later that year in the women's melodrama
White Oleander (2002). Though he only appeared in a few scenes, Hauser's kindly and sexy young foster dad Ray easily caught the eye of the audience as well as troubled foster teen
Alison Lohman. Returning to more testosterone-friendly work, Hauser subsequently co-starred with
Hart's War officer
Bruce Willis in
Antoine Fuqua's action thriller Man of War (2003), and got behind the nitro-charged wheel for the sequel The Fast and the Furious 2 (2003). He continued to work in little-seen fare like
Paparazzi and
The Cave, but did score a part as one of
Vince Vaughn's brothers in the aptly titled comedy
The Break-Up. Hauser's father is actor
Wings Hauser. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide