Molly Cookson Biography: What Is Known About Ryan Hurst’s Wife

Molly Cookson is the wife of popular actor Ryan Hurst, Molly Cookson got married to The Walking Dead actor in May 2005, and have been married for more than 18 years.

In addition to being Ryan Hurst’s wife, Molly is an American actress and production manager who is best known for movies such as Shouting Secrets and Outsiders, among others. 

Ryan Hurst prides himself as an all-or-nothing kind of guy, and it was this same quality that helped make his character, Opie, one of the most popular on the hit TV series Sons of Anarchy. It is also a trait that has served him well in his more than two decades of marriage to his wife, Molly Cookson.

Cookson is also a thespian and has featured in several movies, TV series, and theatrical productions. She additionally boasts some impressive background and hails from a long line of award-winning filmmakers and actors.

Despite all this, she has maintained a modest standing and is focused on rising on her own accord, of which she has been successful. She is also successful on the home front. She and Hurst have sustained an enviable union for decades. They have also gone into business together, setting up their own production company known as Fast Shoes Production.

Molly Cookson is the Daughter of Filmmaker, Tony Cookson, and The Granddaughter of Oscar Winner, Beatrice Straight

Molly Cookson is 43 years old as she was born in May 1980. Her nationality is American, while her ethnicity is Caucasian. Cookson’s sojourn into an acting career doesn’t come as a surprise given her family background.

Her father, Tony Cookson, is a writer and director. He wrote and directed several movies in the 80s and 90s, namely Love Happens, Ringer, and You Thought Your Parents Were Weird. His work fetched him some award nominations, including best short film at the 1986 Chicago International Film Festival.

Another accomplished thespian in Molly Cookson’s family background is her paternal grandfather, Peter Cookson. The late Peter was a notable stage and film actor in the 40s and 50s.

He appeared in over 50 productions, including The Girl Who Dared, Shadow of Suspicion, Four Winds, The Right Honourable Gentleman, A Guy Named Joe, and Strange Confession. He was also a producer, which fetched him the Tony Award for best play producer in the 1960s.

Another Tony-award winner in the Cookson family is Molly’s paternal grandmom, Beatrice Straight. The late Beatrice was the daughter of well-to-do parents and did not need to indulge in the arts.

However, she loved it and went on to prove her talents in several plays on and off-Broadway and on television. Her performance in the 1953 Broadway production of Crucible earned her the Tony Award for best supporting actress. By 1977, she won the Oscar for best supporting actress for the movie, Network.

Molly Cookson and Ryan Hurst First Met in High School and Wed a Decade Later

Molly Cookson first met her future husband, Ryan Hurst, in 1994. They both grew up in Santa Monica, so they either ran into each other in town or at the Santa Monica High School, which they both attended. The couple were friends at first but later started dating. They would conduct their romance throughout Cookson’s high school days.

Even when she went off to college, they sustained their relationship. Nothing could come between them, not distance and certainly not the pressures of trying to make it in Hollywood. Cookson and Hurst dated for more than a decade and tied the knot in 2005.

The wedding was a private affair and likely involved their family members. The couple took the customary honeymoon and thereafter settled down in Hollywood to continue pursuing their respective careers. They are successful in this regard and are now living quite well.

Though they are not one to live the loud and ostentatious lives of celebrities, Cookson and Hurst treat themselves fine. For instance, in 2013, they spent $1.7 million on a 3,400 square foot home in woodland hills. It features four baths, wood floors, vaulted ceilings, a built-in BBQ, and a pool.

The Couple Co-Owns a Production Company Known as Fast Shoes Production

Molly Cookson and Ryan Hurst do not seem to have any children together. This may be due to their mutual agreement or maybe life circumstances. Whichever is the case, the couple has a happy marriage and is living life to the fullest. They participate in ceremonies featuring their family members. They are also working together towards their dream of going into production.

Cookson and Hurst both served as post-production supervisors on the 2009 movie, Chasing the Green, and their efforts were well rewarded when the film went on to scoop awards such as the award of excellence at the 2010 Canada Intl Film Festival and Global Medal of Excellence at 2009 Park City Film/Music Festival. The couple has now gone ahead to found a production company, Fast Shoes, and are hoping to do great exploits through it.

She Studied Musical Theatre at Loyola Marymount University

Thanks to her family background, Molly Cookson got acquainted with acting at an early age and decided that this was what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. She attended institutions such as the Santa Monica High School and the Marymount High School and completed her high school diploma in the late 90s.

Afterward, she enrolled at the Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, where she completed a degree in musical theatre in 2002. Cookson’s love for the performance arts also saw her undergo various training to hone her craft.

Some of these training includes opera vocal coaching, cold reading at the West End, musical theatre workshop under Carol Weiss, and improv at the Hothouse. She also underwent extensive training in Shakespeare at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. All of this training couldn’t have been cheap, and Molly Cookson probably had her family members to assist her. She may also have taken on various odd jobs to fund her passion.

She has Featured in Several Movies and TV Shows, Including the Award Winning 2011 Film, Shouting Secrets

All of Molly Cookson’s training and sacrifices have now paid off as she is now an actress and a Hollywood producer. One of her earliest acting credits came via her dad, who gave her the minor role of a flirty girl in his 1991 flick, And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird. Since then, she has appeared in several movies, TV series, and theatrical productions.

One of them is the 2009 drama film, Chasing The Green. It revolves around two young brothers who become millionaires but later lose their millions to an overzealous bureaucrat. The movie featured the likes of Jeremy London, and Cookson had the minor role of a golf pro shop cashier.

Another movie that Molly Cookson has featured in is the 2011 indie film, Shouting Secrets. Shouting Secrets revolve around a father who has to face his estranged children after their mom descends in a coma. The movie featured the likes of Chaske Spencer while Cookson played the role of a lady named Annie Bishnik.

She contributed to the film’s success, and she and her co-stars went on to nab several awards, including best ensemble cast at the 2012 Philadelphia FirstGlance Film Festival. Other career roles attributed to Molly Cookson include Fishing at Funerals, The Last Shot, Scrubs, Outsiders, Homesick, etc. The Santa Monica native is certainly high achieving, but she is not yet as popular as her husband, Ryan Hurst.

Hurst is also a native of Santa Monica and utilized his actor father’s help to make an early entrance into the movie business in the 90s. He has since featured in several movies, including Ladykillers, We Were Soldiers, Saving Private Ryan, and Rules Of Engagement. However, his biggest success has come on TV, particularly in the FX series Sons of Anarchy.

Sons of Anarchy revolves around a close-knit motorcycle club, and Hurst plays one of the bikers named Opie. He appeared on the series for several seasons and was critical to its popularity. His performance fetched him accolades such as the 2011 Satellite Award for best supporting actor in a series, miniseries, or TV film.