Cuba Gooding Jr.
Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy nomination. He was born in Bronx, New York to Shirley, a singer with the Sweethearts, and Cuba Gooding, Sr., a lead vocalist of soul group The Main Ingredient. He has two brothers, musician Tommy Gooding and fellow actor Omar Gooding, and sister, April Gooding. His family moved to Los Angeles after Gooding Sr.'s music group had a hit single with "Everybody Plays the Fool" in 1972 but abandoned his family two years later. Gooding Jr. was raised by his mother and attended four different high schools: North Hollywood High School, Tustin High School, Apple Valley High School, and John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills in Los Angeles. He served as class president in three of them. His first job as a professional entertainer was as a break-dancer performing with singer Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. After high school, Gooding studied Japanese martial arts for three years, before turning his focus toward acting. Early on, he landed guest starring roles on shows like Hill Street Blues (1981) and MacGyver (1985). His first major role was in the John Singleton's box office surprise and critical hit Boyz n the Hood (1991). He followed this success with roles in major films like A Few Good Men (1992), Lightning Jack (1994), Outbreak (1995), Men of Honor (2000), Rat Race (2001), and The Fighting Temptations (2003) in which he co-starred alongside Beyoncé Knowles. In 1996, he was cast as an arrogant football player on the brink of a career-ending injury in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996). The film was a success and earned him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His "Show Me The Money" line in the film became a nationwide catchphrase. In 1997, he had a notable supporting role in As Good As It Gets (1997). The next several years, his films were inconsistently successful; Boat Trip (2002), Norbit (2007), and Daddy Day Camp (2007), all of which had received extremely negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office. Gooding also starred in a film titled A Murder of Crows, which he co-produced with his long time friend and business partner Derek Broes. The film was Gooding's first attempt at producing. Since then, he has had series of starring roles in grittier films released direct-to-DVD such as the revenge dramas Hero Wanted and Wrong Turn at Tahoe, as well as the sci-fi action pic Hardwired and the action comedy Lies & Illusions. A well-received performance as Ben Carson in Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) and a small supporting role in Ridley Scott's American Gangster (2007) both proved to be exceptions to this trend. An appearance in the World War II film, Red Tails, produced by George Lucas and with other prominent actors such as Terrence Howard, will mark his only return to the big screen since American Gangster.
Born: 02 January 1968
Played In
Quantum Supremacy
Captain Marcus Monroe
Dog Patrol: Operation Santa Paws
Sheriff Jacobs
A Line of Fire
Javier Cardona
The Firing Squad
Samuel Wilson
Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace
Balthazar
TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy
Self (archive footage)
Skeletons in the Closet
Andres
The Weapon
Blue
Life in a Year
Xavier
For NYC
Bayou Caviar
Rodney Jones
John Bishop: In Conversation with...
Self
American Crime Story
O. J. Simpson
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Self
Big Time in Hollywood, Fl
Cuba Gooding Jr.
The Book of Negroes
Sam Fraunces
Empire
Puma
Selma
Fred Gray
Freedom
Samuel
Machete Kills
El Camaleón 2
Don Jon
Hollywood Actor #2
The Butler
Carter Wilson
Summoned
Detective Callendar
Life of a King
Eugene Brown
Absolute Deception
John Nelson
The Last Leg
Self
Timmy Muldoon and the Search for the Shadoweyes Bandit
Shadoweyes
One in the Chamber
Ray Carver
Firelight
DJ
Red Tails
Major Emanuelle Stance
Double Victory: The Tuskegee Airmen at War
Narrator (voice)
American Horror Story
Dominic Banks
The Enduring Significance of 'Boyz n the Hood'
Self
Sacrifice
John Hebron
The Hit List
Jonas Arbor
Ticking Clock
Lewis Hicks
Conan
Self
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
(archive footage)
Wrong Turn at Tahoe
Joshua
Hardwired
Luke Gibson
Lies & Illusions
Isaac
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Self - Guest
The Devil's Tomb
Mack
The Way of War
David Wolfe
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Ben Carson
Linewatch
Michael Dixon
Harold
Cromer
Hero Wanted
Liam Case
Lily Allen and Friends
Self - Guest
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends
Loofah (voice)
American Gangster
Nicky Barnes
Daddy Day Camp
Charlie Hinton
Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation
Self
What Love Is
Tom
The Graham Norton Show
Self
Norbit
Deion Hughes
End Game
Agent Alex Thomas
Dirty
Salim Adel
Shadowboxer
Mikey
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Self
A Dairy Tale
Buck (voice)
Home on the Range
Buck (voice)
Radio
Radio
The Fighting Temptations
Darrin Hill
Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend
Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self
Boat Trip
Jerry Robinson
V Graham Norton
Self
Making Rat Race
Himself
Snow Dogs
Ted Brooks
Zoolander
Cuba Gooding Jr.
America | A Tribute to Heroes
Self
Rat Race
Owen Templeton
In the Shadows
Draven
Pearl Harbor
Dorie Miller
Welcome to Hollywood
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Men of Honor
Senior Chief Carl Brashear
Chill Factor
Arlo
A Murder of Crows
Lawson Russell
Instinct
Dr. Theo Caulder
What Dreams May Come
Albert Lewis
As Good as It Gets
Frank Sachs
The View
Self
Trading Favors
Liquor Store Clerk
Jerry Maguire
Rod Tidwell
The Daily Show
Self
MADtv
Self
The Tuskegee Airmen
Billy Roberts
Losing Isaiah
Eddie Hughes
Outbreak
Major Salt
Blown Away
Bomb Squad Class Member
Lightning Jack
Ben Doyle
Judgment Night
Mike Peterson
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest
Daybreak
Torch
The Untouchables
A Few Good Men
Cpl. Carl Hammaker
Judgement
Officer Alvarez
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Gladiator
Abraham Lincoln Haines
Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story
Tyree
Boyz n the Hood
Tré Styles
Nasty Boys
Poptop
Mancuso, F.B.I.
Sing
Stanley
Coming to America
Boy Getting Haircut
The Bronx Zoo
MacGyver
Billy Colton
MacGyver
Ray Collins
227
Entertainment Tonight
Self
Hill Street Blues
Saturday Night Live
Self - Host
Sesame Street
The Oscars
Self
Break the Cycle
Giving Thanks
Calvin
Atlas King
Above the Break
Frank Kitner
The Madness of Judge Jeremiah Doherty
Padilla
Lotus