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Cuba Gooding Jr.

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Birthday: 1968-01-02 | Place of Birth: Bronx, New York, USA

Cuba Gooding 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. Gooding is married to Sara Kapfer; they have two sons, Spencer and Mason.

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Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

2020
Life in a Year

as    Xavier

2018
Bayou Caviar

as    Rodney Jones

2015
The Book of Negroes

as    Sam Fraunces

2014
Freedom

as    Samuel

2013
The Butler

as    Carter Wilson

2013
Summoned

as    Detective Callendar

2013
Life of a King

as    Eugene Brown

2013
Absolute Deception

as    John Nelson

2012
Firelight

as    DJ

2012
Red Tails

as    Major Emanuelle Stance

2012
One in the Chamber

as    Ray Carver

2011
Sacrifice

as    John Hebron

2011
The Hit List

as    Jonas Arbor

2011
Ticking Clock

as    Lewis Hicks

2009
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story

as    Ben Carson

2009
The Way of War

as    David Wolfe

2009
Lies & Illusions

as    Isaac

2009
Wrong Turn at Tahoe

as    Joshua

2009
Hardwired

as    Luke Gibson

2009
The Devil's Tomb

as    Mack

2008
Harold

as    Cromer

2008
Hero Wanted

as    Liam Case

2008
Linewatch

as    Michael Dixon

2007
Daddy Day Camp

as    Charlie Hinton

2007
Norbit

as    Deion Hughes

2007
American Gangster

as    Nicky Barnes

2007
What Love Is

as    Tom