Personal background

Gooding was born on January 2, 1968 in The Bronx, New York City. His mother, Shirley (née Sullivan), is a singer with the Sweethearts, and his father, Cuba Gooding Sr., is a lead vocalist of the soul group The Main Ingredient. Gooding has three siblings: April, Omar, and Tommy. His paternal grandfather, Dudley MacDonald Gooding, was a native of Barbados. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1972 after his father's music group had their hit single "Everybody Plays the Fool"; two years later, the elder Gooding left the family. Gooding himself 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. He became a born-again Christian at age 13. In 1994, Gooding married his high school sweetheart, Sara Kapfer, with whom he has three children: Spencer, Mason, and Piper. In 2014, Kapfer filed for divorce from Gooding citing irreconcilable differences.

Career

Early career and major success

Gooding's first job as an entertainer was as a breakdancer 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), Amen (1988) and MacGyver (1988, 1989 and 1990) and also had a tiny part in the popular comedy Coming to America (1988). Gooding's first major role was in John Singleton's inner-city crime drama Boyz n the Hood (1991), in which he played the lead, Tré Styles. A box office surprise and critical hit, the film is now considered a modern classic. He followed this success with supporting roles in major films such as A Few Good Men (1992), Judgment Night (1993), Lightning Jack (1994), and Outbreak (1995). In 1996, Gooding reached a new level of prominence when he was cast as an arrogant yet charismatic football player on the brink of a career-ending injury in Cameron Crowe's blockbuster dramatic sports comedy Jerry Maguire (1996) with co-star Tom Cruise, which was a major critical and commercial success and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Most significantly, it earned Gooding an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His exuberant "Show me the money!" line in the film became a nationwide catch phrase. Additionally, his Oscar acceptance speech has often been cited for its enthusiasm.

Post-Oscar prominence

In 1997, Gooding followed his breakout with a notable supporting role in the acclaimed Academy Award-winning comedy As Good as It Gets (1997), but in the following years his career was inconsistently successful. Some of his best received performances include turns in films such as the mystical drama What Dreams May Come (1998) and the US Naval drama Men of Honor (2000), in which he played the lead role and co-starred with Robert De Niro. Gooding also received attention for his roles in the epic Pearl Harbor (2001) as historical figure Doris Miller, the ensemble farce Rat Race (2001), the musical The Fighting Temptations (2003) in which he co-starred alongside Beyoncé Knowles, and the football drama Radio (2003), in which he played the title role. Additionally, though not well received critically, the family comedy Snow Dogs (2002) was a commercial success. Other roles of note during this time include Theo Caulder in the psychological thriller Instinct (1999) and the voice of Buck in the Disney animated film Home on the Range (2004). However, during this stage of his career, he appeared in a series of films which were not critically or commercially successful, such as Chill Factor (1999), Boat Trip (2002), Norbit (2007) and Daddy Day Camp (2007), all of which had received extremely negative reviews and, with the exception of Norbit, performed poorly at the box office. On top of this, Gooding had allegedly turned down roles in successful films such as Amistad (1997) in the aftermath of his Oscar win. Ultimately, neither his earlier successes nor his leading roles in a couple of smaller independent films, including Lee Daniels' directorial debut Shadowboxer (2005), were able to offset these failures.

Recent career

Since then, in great contrast to earlier stages of his acting career, Gooding has appeared in many more gritty, critically ignored, direct-to-DVD films than theatrical or television releases. 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. Gooding's next major film role was in the 2012 World War II film Red Tails, produced by George Lucas. In 2013, Gooding had roles in several theatrical release films, including a well received supporting performance in Lee Daniels' The Butler and brief appearances in Don Jon and Machete Kills. He also made his Broadway theatre debut alongside Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams in a Tony Award-nominated production of The Trip to Bountiful. In 2014, he appeared as Civil Rights Movement attorney Fred Gray in the widely acclaimed historical drama Selma. He has since appeared much more frequently on television than in the past, including performances as Samuel Fraunces in the miniseries The Book of Negroes, as a comedically embellished version of himself on Big Time in Hollywood, FL, and as O.J. Simpson in the anthology series American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson.

Other work

In 2012, he starred in a TV pilot for Fox called Guilty that was directed by McG. Though it was well received in screenings, it was ultimately not picked up by the network. He appeared on Channel 4's Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on August 5, 2011, closing the show dueting "Bad Romance" with Lulu. In 2002, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Coming to America	Boy Getting Haircut
1989	Sing	Stanley
1991	Boyz n the Hood	Tre Styles	Nominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor
1992	Gladiator	Abraham Lincoln Haines
1992	Few Good Men, AA Few Good Men	Corporal. Carl Edward Hammaker
1993	Judgment Night	Mike Peterson
1994	Lightning Jack	Ben Doyle
1994	Blown Away	Bomb Squad Class Member	Cameo
1995	Outbreak	Maj. Salt	Nominated - Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
1995	Losing Isaiah	Eddie Hughes
1996	Jerry Maguire	Rod Tidwell	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor American Comedy Award for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy/Romance Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated - Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture
1997	As Good as It Gets	Frank Sachs	Nominated - Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1998	What Dreams May Come	Albert Lewis	Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Favorite Supporting Actor - Drama/Romance Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
1998	Murder of Crows, AA Murder of Crows	Lawson Russell	Also producer
1999	Instinct	Theo Caulder
1999	Chill Factor	Arlo
2000	Men of Honor	BM2/Chief/Senior Chief Carl Brashear	Nominated - BET Award for Best Actor Nominated - Black Reel Award: Best Actor Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
2001	Pearl Harbor	Petty Officer Doris Miller
2001	Rat Race	Owen Templeton
2001	In the Shadows	Draven
2001	Zoolander	Himself	Cameo
2002	Snow Dogs	Dr. Theodore "Ted" Brooks
2002	Boat Trip	Jerry Robinson	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor
2003	Fighting Temptations, TheThe Fighting Temptations	Darrin Hill
2003	Radio	James Robert "Radio" Kennedy	Camie Award for Best Cast NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor
2004	Home on the Range	Buck the Domestic Horse	Voice
2005	Shadowboxer	Mikey	Nominated - Black Movie Award for Best Actor
2005	Dirty	Salim Adel
2006	End Game	Alex Thomas
2007	Norbit	Deion Hughes	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor
2007	Daddy Day Camp	Charles "Charlie" Hinton	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor
2007	What Love Is	Tom
2007	American Gangster	Nicky Barnes	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2007	Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends, TheThe Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends	Loofah the Beipiaosaurus	Voice Direct-to-DVD
2008	Hero Wanted	Liam Case	Direct-to-DVD
2008	Harold	Cromer	Also producer
2008	Linewatch	Michael Dixon	Direct-to-DVD
2009	Way of War, TheThe Way of War	David Wolfe	Direct-to-DVD
2009	Devil's Tomb, TheThe Devil's Tomb	Mack	Direct-to-DVD
2009	Lies & Illusions	Isaac	Direct-to-DVD
2009	Hardwired	Luke Gibson	Direct-to-DVD
2009	Wrong Turn at Tahoe	Joshua	Direct-to-DVD
2011	Ticking Clock	Lewis Hicks	Direct-to-DVD
2011	Sacrifice	Detective John Hebron	Direct-to-DVD
2011	The Hit List	Jonas Arbor	Direct-to-DVD
2012	Red Tails	Major Emanuel Stance
2012	One in the Chamber	Ray Carver	Direct-to-DVD
2013	Don Jon	Hollywood Actor #2	Cameo
2013	Absolute Deception	John Nelson	Direct-to-DVD
2013	Life of a King	Eugene Brown
2013	The Butler	Carter Wilson	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
2013	Machete Kills	El Camaleón
2014	Freedom	Samuel	Also executive producer
2014	Selma	Fred Gray

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1986	Better Days	Bully	Episode: "Wooly Bully"
1987	Hill Street Blues	2nd Gang Member / Ethan Dillon	2 episodes
1988	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Paul	Episode: "No Means No"
1988	Amen	Kenny	Episode: "Thelma's Handyman"
1989-1991	MacGyver	Billy Colton	4 episodes
1993	Daybreak	Torch (Stephen Tolkin)	Television film
1995	Tuskegee Airmen, TheThe Tuskegee Airmen	Billy Roberts	Television film Nominated - NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
1999	Saturday Night Live	Himself (host)	Episode: "Cuba Gooding Jr./Ricky Martin"
2009	Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story	Ben Carson	Television film NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
2012	Firelight	Dwayne Johnson (DJ)	Television film NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special
2012	Guilty	William "Billy" Remz	Pilot
2015	Empire	Dwayne "Puma" Robinson	Episode: "The Devil Quotes Scripture"
2015	The Book of Negroes	Samuel Fraunces	2 episodes
2015	Big Time in Hollywood, FL	Himself	6 episodes
2015	Forever	Isaac Monroe	3 episodes
2016	American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson	O. J. Simpson	10 episodes

Stage

Year	Title	Role	Venue
2013	The Trip to Bountiful	Ludie Watts	Stephen Sondheim Theatre

[ Source: Wikipedia ]