‘Monsters’ Star Cooper Koch Signs With UTA

EXCLUSIVE: Cooper Koch, the star of Ryan Murphy series Monsters: The Erik and Lyle Menedez Story, has inked with United Talent Agency for representation.

Monsters centers on the 1989 murders of José and Kitty Menendez, who were killed by their sons. The show has racked up 53.6M global views on Netflix since dropping on Sept. 21.

Koch has raised eyebrows in his turn as Erik Menendez, specifically episode 5 of the Netflix series, “The Hurt Man, in which he has a single 33-minute shot monologue. In that episode, there’s a slow zoom into Erik’s face as he details the 12 years of sexual, physical and mental abuse he claims drove him to patricide. Koch told Deadline that Murphy actually gave him a heads up about the monologue episode before signing onto the part. The actor had one rehearsal for it, with the episode getting shot over two days with a total of ten takes. At the Academy Gala on Saturday night, Koch told us he met with Erik Menedez after shooting the part.

Koch was theatrically trained at Pace University and started out in theater productions as a young actor before securing roles in films including the Peacock/Blumhouse horror THEY/THEM, in which he starred as “Stu”opposite Kevin Bacon, and the independent film Swallowed directed by Carter Smith, which won the U.S. Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize at the 2022 NewFest Festival.

Previous credits also include a recurring role in the Starz series Power Book II: Ghost and in the feature film A New York Christmas Wedding, directed by Otoja Abit. 

Koch will continue to be represented by Strand Entertainment, Maury DiMauro, Hansen Jacobson TE and The Lede Company.