The Hangover

Bradley Cooper

Phil Wenneck

Philadelphia

Bradley Cooper has built a career on refusing to stay in one lane. Born near Philadelphia on January 5, 1975, he studied English at Georgetown University before earning an MFA in acting from the Actors Studio Drama School. His screen career began with a brief appearance in Sex and the City, followed by television work that included the recurring role of reporter Will Tippin in Alias. Early films showed his ability to shift the temperature of a scene. In Wedding Crashers, Cooper played the aggressively competitive Sack Lodge, pushing against the agreeable roles he had previously been offered. The Hangover then made him a widely recognized leading man, with his cocky, tightly wound Phil Wenneck anchoring the comedy’s escalating chaos. He later found more dramatic territory in The Place Beyond the Pines and Silver Linings Playbook, earning an Academy Award nomination for the latter. That combination of leading-man ease and character-actor curiosity has remained central to Cooper’s work. He played an unstable FBI agent in American Hustle, transformed himself physically to portray Chris Kyle in American Sniper and gave Rocket Raccoon a sharp, emotionally charged voice across several Marvel productions. Onstage, he returned to a formative role as Joseph Merrick in The Elephant Man, receiving a Tony Award nomination. Cooper’s move behind the camera widened the scope of his career. He directed, co-produced and starred in A Star Is Born, while also co-writing and producing much of its music with Lady Gaga. He later directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in Maestro as composer Leonard Bernstein. Both films brought him Academy Award nominations across acting, writing and producing categories, while establishing filmmaking—not merely stardom—as a defining part of his work. From broad comedy to bruising drama, voice performance and ambitious directing, Cooper’s career is marked by an appetite for risk and reinvention. Even at his most polished, there is often tension underneath: anxiety, vanity, guilt or determination pressing against the surface.

Ed Helms

Stu Price

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Ed Helms is an American actor, comedian and musician best known for playing Stu Price in The Hangover trilogy and Andy Bernard in the US version of The Office. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Helms developed an interest in comedy and performance before establishing himself professionally in New York. His major television breakthrough came when he joined The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a correspondent in 2002, where his deadpan delivery and ability to play confidently misguided characters helped establish his comic persona. In 2006, Helms joined The Office as Andy Bernard, an ambitious and frequently insecure employee of Dunder Mifflin's Stamford branch. Initially introduced as a recurring character, Andy became a major part of the series and remained with the show through its final season. His movie career reached another level with Todd Phillips' The Hangover (2009). Helms played dentist Stu Price, the most anxious member of the Wolfpack alongside Bradley Cooper's Phil Wenneck and Zach Galifianakis' Alan Garner. Stu wakes after the group's disastrous night in Las Vegas missing a tooth and gradually discovers that his forgotten evening was considerably more eventful than he could have imagined. The enormous success of the film turned the central trio into one of the era's most recognisable comedy ensembles. Helms returned as Stu for The Hangover Part II (2011), which moved the chaos to Bangkok, and The Hangover Part III (2013), which brought the Wolfpack's story to a close. Outside The Hangover, Helms has appeared in films including Cedar Rapids, Jeff, Who Lives at Home, We're the Millers, Vacation, Tag and Together Together. He has also worked extensively as a voice actor, including voicing the title character in Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie. Music has remained another important part of Helms' career. A skilled banjo player with a longstanding interest in bluegrass, he has incorporated music into both his performances and projects outside acting. Across television and film, Helms has become particularly associated with characters attempting to maintain control while everything around them spectacularly falls apart. Few roles demonstrate that better than Stu Price — the increasingly traumatised dentist who somehow survives three adventures with the Wolfpack.

Zach Galifianakis

Alan Garner

Wilkesboro, North Carolina, USA

Zach Galifianakis has built a screen career around a comic presence that rarely feels polished in the conventional sense. Deadpan, awkward and deliberately off-kilter, his style can work in alternative comedy, online shorts and large studio movies without losing its peculiar edge. Born on October 1, 1969, in the Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro area of North Carolina, Galifianakis was raised in Wilkes County. After attending Wilkes Central High School and Wilkes Community College, he went on to North Carolina State University, where he studied communications. His early career took shape in stand-up, including performances at New York venues, before television appearances such as Comedy Central Presents in 2001 and the VH1 program Late World with Zach in 2002. His defining film breakthrough came as Alan Garner in Todd Phillips's The Hangover (2009). The role established Galifianakis as a mainstream film actor and earned him the MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance. He returned as Alan in The Hangover Part II (2011) and The Hangover Part III (2013), giving the three Please Rewind movies a consistent comic presence built around his characteristically strange rhythms. Galifianakis has never stayed inside that franchise lane. His other screen work includes HBO's Bored to Death, FX's Baskets and supporting film roles in Up in the Air and Birdman, along with a voice performance in Puss in Boots. His work on Baskets brought him a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2017. He also created and hosted Between Two Ferns, the mock-interview series that ran on Funny or Die from 2008 to 2018 and later led to a Netflix film spinoff. Its confrontational awkwardness was an especially good match for his comic instincts, while its short-form Emmy recognition reflected the reach of a project that began far outside the usual talk-show format. Across film, television and online comedy, Galifianakis has made discomfort not just part of the joke, but the place where his best work begins.

Justin Bartha

Doug Billings

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Ken Jeong

Leslie Chow

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Heather Graham

Jade

Milwaukee

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John Goodman

Marshall

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Melissa McCarthy

Cassie

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