Cole returned to CBS's soap opera "Guiding Light" in May 2003, taking on a new role as attorney "Jeffrey O'neill". Previously, Cole was best known to viewers of Guiding Light as the charismatic Prince Richard Winslow, a role that earned him a Soap Opera Digest Award nomination for Best New Character in 2000. The new D.A. of Springfield, Jeffrey O’Neill, comes into town and shocks everyone, especially Cie and Edmund Winslow, with his striking resemblance to the deceased Richard. Cole, who was born in Southern California, attended Pepperdine University where he played baseball until an injury put his dreams of playing professionally on hold. Cole then turned to a career in acting. Following graduation from college, Cole traveled to France and fell in love with the country’s breathtaking beauty and rich history. He has spent much of his adult life living in France and England. A veteran of both movies and television in Europe, Cole has appeared in the international soap opera Riviera. His film credits include the made-for-television movies Jewels and The Sun Also Rises, as well as the feature films Sweet Revenge, Touch and Die, and 5 Days in June. Cole’s theater credits include Killer Joe at the Frankfurt English Theater, and Lone Star and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? , both at Gallerie 55, the Paris English Theater. Having written songs and played guitar as part of an amateur rock group in Europe, Cole released an album entitled Tonite, a collection of songs inspired by the music of the 1960's. The album was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee. His second CD, All Your Dreams, was recorded in Los Angeles in 1997. Cole released his third CD entitled In Our Time in 2003. Bradley Cole currently resides in New York City.

Bradley Cole's best musical moments

Bradley Thomas Cole was born on February 11, 1959 in Southern California, USA .
A student of music from a young age, he began guitar lessons at eight years old, and has performed with many music groups. Cole has four albums under his belt to date. Starting with 1994's Tonite which he produced himself, hiring Nashville session players to support his vocals and guitars. The result was an eclectic album of energetic original rock tunes and romantic ballads. One reviewer wrote, "…some of the best studio musicians [in Nashville] back up the artist with intense saxophone solos and musical punctuation that gives an added edge to the tracks. I have a vast collection of popular music, but finding this CD was one of the best musical moments of my year."
Cole lived in Europe in the late 1980's where he established considerable success, both as an actor on two popular TV series, and a singer/songwriter. He returned to California in 1996 and immediately began recording his second album, All Your Dreams, which was released independently in 1997. It was re-released under the Nomadic Music label in 2000. The work is darker and more reflective than his previous album (Tonite). The lyrics pull no punches, and demonstrate his mastery of imagery and emotion. One reviewer wrote,"This is a remarkable collection of original music that takes you on an honest, insightful and revealing journey through the sorted pages of life and love…"All Your Dreams" is a mature, more desperate representation of love and desire. "Dreams" is definitely the best song on the album. It's filled with grinding guitar solos, haunting backing vocals and penetrating lyrics such as "we have nothing left to lose so tell me all your dreams, I really want to care."

During this period, Cole continued his pursuit of acting roles. He briefly returned to Paris to share the stage with one of his idols, French actor Jean Paul Belmondo, in the play Frederick. Almost immediately after the run of this play, Cole landed a stint on the CBS daytime drama Guiding Light in New York City. His extraordinary popularity on the show has helped to solidify an American fan base. Concurrent to his day gig at Guiding Light, he performed in off-Broadway plays and began the recording sessions for his third album, In Our Time, in the summer and fall of 2001.

In Our Time is a collection of original Pop-Rock tunes, with a few Blues-Folk detours. Compelling melodies, guitars, and harmonies are blended together to provide a potent, addictive sound. The songs are the kind of songs you just have to listen to again right away.

With In Our Time, Cole concentrated on extracting new sounds from his guitar, while surrounding himself with some of his favorite New York musicians; guitarist and recording artist Jon Pousette-Dart, drummer, bist, Fernando Saunders from Lou Reed's band and guitarist/songwriter Marty Willson-Piper from The Church among them. Lyrically he concentrated on what was familiar to him. "I try to be as honest and as straightforward as I can be. On this album I wanted to go further with the themes I started to develop on the previous record…torn relationships and the danger and bravery of living life on one's own terms."

Since the release of In Our Time in 2002, Cole has been appearing in numerous small acoustic venues across the country both solo and occasionally with his band. In the last year, Cole released another single, Can't Live Without You. The release contains the popular song Ten Thousand Miles Away which enjoyed radio play on Hot AC and Top 40 stations in the U.S. His most recent release is a live album, entitled Live Tracks, which commemorates his 2003-2004 concert tour. Bradley is currently preparing to record his fourth studio album for release at the end of the year.

 

Bradley Cole back on the team

Many GL fans were heartbroken when Prince Richard tragically died following a car accident last year. But BRADLEY COLE is back in Springfield, this time as the new D.A. with a knack for rubbing people the wrong way, Jeffrey O'Neill. CBS.com caught up with the handsome actor about his recent return.

CBS.com: How are you liking Jeffrey O’Neill?
BRADLEY COLE: Jeffrey’s a lot of fun. He’s a lot of fun to play and I’m just having a ball with it.

CBS.com: Jeffrey has these quirks – he’s kind of sloppy and a little clumsy. Did they tell you he was going to be this way or is this something you brought to the character on your own?
BRADLEY COLE: Yeah, we’re kind of figuring all that out as we go along. No, I wouldn’t call him sloppy or clumsy. The thing with the clumsiness is that he’s always bumping into one particular person so that’s like a running gag. He is very focused on his work so he sometimes is oblivious to other things, like people’s feelings. Whether his desk is tidy or not is not really important to him.

CBS.com: Why do you think he’s so driven?
BRADLEY COLE: Well, there’s stuff that we’re going to discover later on about him that we’ll understand a little bit more why he’s driven. Right now it’s suffice to say that he is in town and he’s got an agenda. He wants to get the job done.

CBS.com: Do you think he’s made any friends so far?
BRADLEY COLE: Oh, God, no! [Laughs] He has a good working rapport with Gus because they understand each other. Gus is another one who doesn’t like to beat around the bush. They’re almost birds of a feather. He had this thing with Reva where he sort of respects her psychic abilities. He’s making connections with various people, but he does tend to rub people the wrong way. He’s not there to make friends. So, he doesn’t have a lot of friends right now. Maybe later; who knows?

CBS.com: He doesn’t seem to have much of a tolerance for people thinking he looks like Prince Richard.
BRADLEY COLE: He doesn’t suffer fools easily in general. As far as being mistaken for Richard, it’s just something he cannot tolerate any longer. I guess he has to kind of begrudgingly accept the fact that people are going to do that, but it’s just driving him crazy. I think we’re going to see less and less of that gag as we go along because I mean, he is in town. There are very few people who haven’t seen him [yet].

CBS.com: What was your first day back like?
BRADLEY COLE: My first day we shot scenes where I played Richard, so it was really like I never left because here I was doing Richard. That was not necessarily to pull the wool over people’s eyes, but there was a bigger surprise when people saw that the character that I was playing was not him. When I came back as the new character, [that] was a lot of fun and exciting because it was going into unknown territory.

CBS.com: What kind of feedback have you gotten, playing a totally different character on a show where you played such a beloved character?
BRADLEY COLE: Well, I’ve gotten generally positive feedback. People are really liking this guy. He’s refreshing – to see this character come out there and tell people what’s what. There’s been some mixed feedback also because there are people that want to see Richard, and miss Richard, so they want to see Richard. But for the most part I think people are enjoying it. I hope so!

CBS.com: It must be fun to play someone so different from Richard with a lot of the same actors.
BRADLEY COLE: It is, it is. It’s a trip. I’ve been at it now for a couple of months so it’s not so much weighing it against what I was doing before, it’s now becoming something of its own entity, which is eventually what’s going to happen. I’m really happy to be back and part of this team again. I think we’ve got a great show. I think it looks good. I think the performances are right where they should be and the writing is right where it should be. We’ve got a great team and I’m just happy to be a team member.

CBS.com: Who would you like Jeffrey to be paired with romantically?
BRADLEY COLE: You know, it’s funny, I guess in this genre that is a primary focus of what viewers want to see, who are they going to be with, right away. Well, first of all, I’m not allowed to tell you. So, you’ll just have to watch and see. But it could surprise a few people.