Connie Cooper received BS (Speech) and MA (Theatre Arts) degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. She worked continuously on stage, in Chicago and Houston, Texas, from 1972 through 1987. While working on stage in Chicago in 1987, she was cast in her first film role. Her scene, with Kevin Costner and Amy Madigan in Field of Dreams (1989), was cut from the original, but director Phil Alden Robinson included it in the Anniversary Edition DVD. Since 1987 Connie has alternated between stage and screen work. She has a legit singing voice (mezzo soprano - alto). Early in her career she played Fanny Brice in an Austin, Texas, production of "Funny Girl". She has played both Marta (early) and Joanne (2003) in "Company", and was in the original Houston stage production cast of "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" in 1979. She received critical acclaim for her role as the quarterback's (Lucas Black) mom in Friday Night Lights (2004). Connie is also a very accomplished acting coach. She specializes in coaching on-camera acting, and young actors.