Cooper Koch already knows who he’s wearing to the 82nd Golden Globes on January 5th. “I can give you a hint. I’ve worn them before,” he tells Vanity Fair. He’ll be dressing up to attend his first Golden Globes after nabbing a nomination for best actor in a limited series, anthology series, or motion picture made for television for portraying Erik Menendez in Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. “I’m so, so grateful and humbled,” he says. “Oh, my God, what a crazy day.”
The actor was in bed in his native Los Angeles when he heard he was nominated at the 2025 Golden Globes. “I wanted to sleep through it and just hopefully wake up to a buzzing phone, but then I couldn’t sleep,” he says. “So I went on the live stream and we watched it, and then I proceeded to freak out. My body was just like, you have to wake up.” Koch watched the news role in with his partner, documentary filmmaker Stuart McClave. “We just embraced and held each other, and that was really sweet,” the actor says.
Despite being a relative newbie in the industry, Koch is nominated alongside established actors like Collin Farrell for The Penguin, Oscar winner Kevin Kline for Disclaimer, Ewan McGregor for A Gentleman in Moscow, Andrew Scott for Ripley, as well as fellow first time nominee Richard Gadd for Netflix’s Baby Reindeer. “Talk about imposter syndrome,” he says with a laugh. “It is nuts. These people are insanely talented. Their shows are incredible and their performances are incredible.” He’s also happy not to be the only LGBTQ actor represented in his category. “Me and Andrew Scott. He’s gay, right?,” says Koch. “You got to get a couple of gays in the lead actor for a limited series category.”
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story chronicles the trial and media frenzy surrounding Erik and Lyle Menendez, the Beverly Hills brothers who were found guilty of first-degree murder for the deaths of their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, in the ’90s. The series, which stars Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez as Erik and Lyle, picked up multiple Golden Globe nods, including best limited series, anthology series, or motion picture made for television, as well as best supporting actor for Javier Bardem‘s turn as Jose Menendez. “Ryan [Murphy] texted me and sent a very sweet text, and I think Javier messaged me, as well,” says Koch about the love he received from his Monsters family.
Since the series took Netflix by storm this fall, there has been actual movement in the Menendez brothers’ case. The pair were sentenced to life in prison for the murders in 1996; they have repeatedly appealed their convictions and been denied, but in November, former L.A. District Attorney George Gascón announced that the DA’s office would respond to the brother’s habeas petition—which argues that there are two new pieces of evidence in the case. Their potential resentencing grew slightly more complicated when Gascón was beaten in the November election for Los Angeles D.A. by his tough-on-crime opponent Nathan Hochman. Nevertheless, the re-sentencing hearing is scheduled for either January 30 or January 31.
Koch has been staunch in his support of the Menendez brothers, even going so far as to visit them in prison shortly after the series premiered. Although his days playing a Menendez brother are in the past, Koch is still closely following the trial.“We still have to wait until the end of January for their new resentencing hearing, so I’m still waiting for that to happen, and I’m eager and hopeful,” he says. He’s hopeful that attention from the Golden Globes will help their case. “Now we have another platform and another opportunity to be able to advocate for them and speak about them, which I’m very, very excited and happy about, if not the most happy about that,” he says.
As for what he’s up to next now that Monsters is behind him, Koch isn’t so sure. “I’m being very strategic and very picky because I don’t want to just do anything,” he says. “I want to do something really special, and I want to try in my career to only do projects that I feel really passionate and compelled to do. I’m excited and eager to find out what it is. I just don’t know what it is yet.”
