Who Yellowstone Star Cole Hauser Played In Dazed And Confused

Which role did Yellowstone star Cole Hauser play in Dazed And Confused? Tyler Sheridan’s gritty series Yellowstone debuted on the Paramount Network in 2018 and has aired four critically acclaimed seasons to date. The drama is set on a sprawling Montana ranch and stars Kevin Costner as John Dutton – the patriarch of a billionaire cattle ranching family whose land and empire are under constant threat from developers, corrupt politicians and rival ranchers. Beyond Costner, the talented cast of neo-Western Yellowstone (which has many factions) includes Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Luke Grimes and Cole Hauser.

Cole Hauser’s Yellowstone character is Rip Wheeler – John Dutton’s fiercely loyal ranch foreman and right-hand man. He was taken in by the Dutton clan as a teenage runaway and developed a father-son relationship with John before eventually becoming an official part of the family when he married John’s daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly). Prior to his role on Yellowstone, Hauser had parts in movies like Good Will Hunting and Tigerland and in TV shows including Chase and Rogue but one of his earliest roles was in 1993’s Dazed And Confused.

Directed by Richard Linklater, Dazed And Confused is a cult coming-of-age comedy that’s set over the course of one eventful night in mid-1970s Texas and follows several different teen cliques as they celebrate the last day of their school semester before summer break arrives. Among the ensemble cast is a 17-year-old Cole Hauser whose Dazed And Confused character is Benny O’Donnell – a soon-to-be high school senior and football jock that spends the evening beating up incoming freshmen as part of an end-of-the-year hazing ritual.

Hauser was one of many up-and-coming actors whose career got a kickstart with a part in Dazed And Confused. The cult classic also gave early parts to Hauser’s future Good Will Hunting co-star Ben Affleck, who played jock Fred O’Bannion, while Matthew McConaughey’s Dazed And Confused character David Wooderson uttered the iconic, meme-worthy lines “Alright, alright, alright” and “It’d be a lot cooler if you did.” Other future talents include Resident Evil star Milla Jovovich, Adam Goldberg of Saving Private Ryan and The Equalizer fame and indie icon Parker Posey.

Fans of Cole Hauser and Dazed And Confused can watch him and his castmates re-enact their roles in the cult coming-of-age classic via a virtual live read that took place in 2020 to raise money for the pro-voting initiatives March For Science and Voto Latino. Hauser will also soon reprise his role as Rip in the upcoming fifth season of Yellowstone.