Amanda Jane Cooper (born June 15, 1988) is an American actress and singer who played the role of Glinda in Wicked and the guest role of Susan Channing on Jessie.
Cooper grew up in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, and received her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She played the character of Brooke in Smart People while attending college. She debuted in New York theatres in BUNKED! A New Musical, and while playing as Glinda at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, she performed for First Lady Michelle Obama. She has previously discussed her struggles with an eating disorder.
She met her husband, Andrew Bell, at church. They had originally planned to get married on April 29, 2020. Due to COVID-19 lockdowns, they had a courthouse wedding on March 18, 2020, and a Zoom ceremony for friends and family on April 4, 2020. Cooper and Bell renewed their vows on September 19, 2021. On November 2, 2023, Cooper publicly announced she was expecting her first child with Bell.
Filmography
Film +YearTitleRoleNotes2008Smart PeopleBrooke2009HomecomingAleisha2013CavemenBeth2020First One InEmily
Television YearTitleRoleNotes2012CSI: Crime Scene InvestigationLisa KravitzEpisode: "Malice in Wonderland"2012GleeBeatrice McClainEpisode: "The New Rachel"2013BonesCourtney JohnsonEpisode: "The Fact in the Fiction"2013Hello LadiesRed-Headed GirlEpisode: "Pilot"2013JessieSusan ChanningEpisode: "Understudied & Overdone"2013Masters of SexSissyEpisode: "Phallic Victories"2014The MichaelsLoriTelevision film2014SelfieEyelet3 episodes2018A Very Wicked HalloweenTelevision film2020Law & Order: SVUSherry WagnerEpisode: "Ballad of Dwight and Irena"
References