

At 16 years old he decided to leave high school to try to break into acting. He was admitted to the short-listed circle of talent at a talent summer camp in New England, then won the leading role of the stage play named Dark of the Moon, which earned him standing ovations for his performance. At the time, he participated heavily in sports, but half-heartedly pursued school. Prior to that, his mother had moved Hauser and his half brother and sisters from Santa Barbara to Oregon to Florida and then back to Santa Barbara within a 12-year-span. His father took him in for a year and taught him about auditioning. According to him, at roughly fifteen, he first met his father after the relocation-induced years of separation. Hauser's parents divorced in 1977, when he was two years old. Hauser is of Irish and German descent on his father's side and Jewish on his mother's. Hauser's maternal grandmother, Betty Mae Warner, a painter, sculptor, political activist and gallery owner, was married to Stanley Sheinbaum, a noted political activist, economist, philanthropist, and a former Los Angeles Police Department commissioner. One of Cole's maternal great-grandfathers was film mogul Harry Warner, a founding partner of Warner Bros., and his maternal grandfather was Milton Sperling, a Hollywood screenwriter and independent film producer. His paternal grandfather was Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dwight Hauser. Cole Kenneth Hauser was born on March 22, 1975, in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Cass Warner, who founded the film production company Warner Sisters, and actor Wings Hauser.
