Darryl Robert Cox was born in a U.S. military hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, to Wayne Windell Cox, a Senior Master Sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, and Marian Elizabeth Cox (Thomas). He was the third of three boys, with two younger siblings, and grew up on or around U.S. embassies and military bases in various countries.
As an "Air Force brat," Darryl attended Del City High School in Oklahoma at age 15, where he became seriously interested in acting. However, he pursued a career in the naval officer program at the University of Oklahoma, was commissioned as an Ensign in 1977, and served on a destroyer before resigning his commission in 1981 to return to OU and focus on acting.
After completing his graduate degree, Darryl moved to Dallas, Texas, where he built his career from the ground up, doing commercials and industrial video work before booking principal roles in film and television. He married Carolyn Susanne Ingels in 1987 and joined SAG/AFTRA, eventually moving to Los Angeles.
Darryl worked as an actor and writer/producer in Los Angeles before returning to Dallas, where he signed with the Kim Dawson Agency and began teaching Acting for the Camera at Film Actor's Lab and the American Film Institute. He eventually received an offer to teach at Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma, and returned to Norman, Oklahoma, where his wife gave birth to their daughter, Alexandria Camille Cox, in 1995.
Throughout his career, Darryl has worked with numerous directors, including Francis Ford Coppola, Wes Anderson, Clint Eastwood, and Oliver Stone, and has acted alongside actors such as Owen Wilson, Jeff Bridges, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Helena Bonham Carter.
