The formative years were split between Chicago, NY and DC — at first in acting, then making music and fake IDs. After retiring from a life of crime, Cooke graduated from Pitzer College (1996) with a B.A. in Film, magna cum laude. In 1999 Cooke raised 7 million dollars from AOL, Time-Warner and Intel to build the first and only patented broadband search engine. As Executive Creative Director, Cooke earned a Best of the Web Design Award from Print Magazine and a Webby.
In 2000, Cooke taught digital arts at Otis College of Art & Design. In 2005, Cooke wrote the screenplay Falcon, the true story sequel to the cult hit The Falcon and the Snowman which attracted ICM to represent Cooke as a writer / director. In 2006 Cooke produced and edited his first feature film. Deliver Us From Evil made over forty critics' 2006 best of lists and received the Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Feature. In 2007 Cooke wrote, directed and starred in sketches for Fuel TV's variety show, StupidFace. Cooke's guest-starred a variety of recognizable cast members from Mr. Show, The Sarah Silverman Program, Arrested Development, The Drew Carey Show, and more.
Over the next few years Cooke and Adrian Grenier made Teenage Paparazzo featuring Matt Damon, Whoopi Goldberg and Lewis Black. The film premiered at Sundance in 2010 and was released on HBO. Immediately following Teenage Paparazzo, Cooke and Grenier switched Producer and Director roles and sought financing for another documentary. In 2012 Cooke brought his directorial debut How to Make Money Selling Drugs to the Toronto Film Festival — that was distributed to audiences in 2013 by Tribeca Film.
Cooke continued to write and direct documentaries with Grenier and his production company Saturday Entertainment with Emmy Award winning producer Steve DeVore where he was developing a science fiction thriller. Cooke is represented by Mike Esola at William Morris Endeavor and managed by Julian Rosenberg and Adam Marshall of Caliber Media Co.
Tribeca Film
