At age 11, Cooper won a place at ArtsEd, a specialist performing arts school in London where he studied classical ballet, character, modern, tap, jazz and contemporary dance, as well as singing, acting and stage combat.
[16][17] He was recognized for his performances in the classic as well as dramatic and contemporary ballet works, and he excelled in playing cruel but sexy villains.
[18][17][19] While with the Royal Ballet he worked extensively with choreographers Kenneth MacMillan[20][21][22][23][24][25] and William Tuckett[26] partnering all the leading ballerinas of the company[27] including Sylvie Guillem[28] and Darcey Bussell.
[29][30] He also performed works choreographed by George Balanchine,[31] Ashley Page, Fokine, Bronislava Nijinska, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Christopher Wheeldon, Matthew Hart, and William Forsythe.
[46] He appeared briefly at the end of the 2000 film Billy Elliot as the adult version of the title character, who is seen performing the role of the Swan.
Cooper appeared as a dancer and choreographer at the Exeter Festival for 3 years, heading evenings of dance co-produced with Iain Webb.
The Adam Cooper Company represented the UK at the Washington International Ballet Festival in 2003 performing a revival of Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Sea of Troubles.
[65][66] Cooper has frequently danced as a guest artist with the Royal Ballet since leaving the company, performing lead roles in Romeo and Juliet, Ondine[67] and Onegin.
Co-directed and designed by Lez Brotherston, the production was choreographed by Cooper and he also played the lead role of Viscomte de Valmont.
The piece premiered in Japan early in the year[77][78] before a summer season at Sadler's Wells, with a cast which included Simon Cooper and Sarah Wildor.
[94][95] Cooper also played the lead role of Don Lockwood and choreographed Paul Kerryson's Singin' in the Rain in 2004 at Sadler's Wells Theatre,[96] Leicester Haymarket, and was nominated for the Critic's Circle Award for Choreography of a Musical.
[112][113] He also played the Tin Man in the Royal Festival Hall's summer staging of the musical The Wizard of Oz,[114] after which he turned his attention back to choreography.
First, he choreographed Carousel for director Lindsay Posner which had a very successful UK tour,[115] prior to a West End run at the Savoy Theatre.
[123][124][125][126][127][128] Later that year, he provided choreography for Lindsay Posner's production of the Donizetti opera Roberto Devereux at the Holland Park Theatre, Kensington, London.
[133][134][135] Cooper was the above-the-title star playing the role of Don Lockwood in Jonathan Church's highly successful 2011–2013 production of Singin' in the Rain, with choreography by Andrew Wright.
"[148] In late 2013 Cooper was invited to Denmark to choreograph Daniel Bohr's Danish language version of Evita at Det Ny Teater (The New Theater) in Copenhagen.
He choreographed and co-directed with Josef E. Köpplinger a German musical version of the novel with a newly commissioned book, lyrics and score for the itinerant Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz company in Munich, Germany.
[155] In 2021 and 2024, he played the lead role of Zach in Leicester Curve's production of A Chorus Line, which later transferred to Sadler's Wells and toured the UK.