Bradley Cooper dedicated his Best Male Performance prize at the 2015 MTV Movie Awards to Chris Kyle.

The 40-year-old actor won the coveted prize in Los Angeles last night (12.04.15) on the back of his portrayal of the former US navy SEAL, who's the subject of the Clint Eastwood-directed war drama 'American Sniper'.

Bradley said: ''Thank you, thank you. I want to thank MTV and the fans. It's because of you that we have brought awareness for what the men and women in the military do everyday for us.

''Chris Kyle would have been 41 this week. Chris, this is for you.''

Chris was the most lethal sniper in US military history with 160 confirmed kills, and although the film has created controversy in some quarters, Bradley has previously defended the movie by saying it shines a light on the work of the military.

He explained: ''You never know when you make a movie if anybody's going to see it, so to have the audacity to think that it would cause any sort of effect at all would be pretty presumptuous.

''Any discussion that sheds light on the plight of the soldiers and the men and women in the armed services, for that discussion to occur is fantastic.''