Cuba Gooding Jr.
Acting
Born: January 2, 1968 (age 58) · The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
Highest Rated
Biography
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.
Known for
Pearl Harbor
2001
American Gangster
2007
American Horror Story
2011
Zoolander
2001
Coming to America
1988
Don Jon
2013
A Few Good Men
1992
As Good as It Gets
1997
Jerry Maguire
1996
The Butler
2013
Norbit
2007
What Dreams May Come
1998
Photos (4)
Movies (78)
American Gangster
Nicky Barnes
Radio
Radio
A Few Good Men
Cpl. Carl Hammaker
Pearl Harbor
Dorie Miller
Coming to America
Boy Getting Haircut
Jerry Maguire
Rod Tidwell
Don Jon
Hollywood Actor #2
As Good as It Gets
Frank Sachs
Men of Honor
Senior Chief Carl Brashear
Home on the Range
Buck (voice)
Zoolander
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Outbreak
Major Salt
Norbit
Deion Hughes
What Dreams May Come
Albert Lewis
Boyz n the Hood
Tré Styles
A Line of Fire
Javier Cardona
Gladiator
Abraham Lincoln Haines
Machete Kills
El Camaleón 2
Rat Race
Owen Templeton
Instinct
Dr. Theo Caulder
Life in a Year
Xavier
Atlas King
2026
Blown Away
Bomb Squad Class Member
Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace
Balthazar
Snow Dogs
Ted Brooks
The Butler
Carter Wilson
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Ben Carson
Daddy Day Camp
Charlie Hinton
Red Tails
Major Emanuelle Stance
Judgment Night
Mike Peterson
Hero Wanted
Liam Case
Selma
Fred Gray
Boat Trip
Jerry Robinson
The Hit List
Jonas Arbor
Losing Isaiah
Eddie Hughes
Quantum Supremacy
Captain Marcus Monroe
Dirty
Salim Adel
Chill Factor
Arlo
Life of a King
Eugene Brown
Lightning Jack
Ben Doyle
The Fighting Temptations
Darrin Hill
The Tuskegee Airmen
Billy Roberts
Shadowboxer
Mikey
One in the Chamber
Ray Carver
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends
Loofah (voice)
The Devil's Tomb
Mack
In the Shadows
Draven
Absolute Deception
John Nelson
The Weapon
Blue
End Game
Agent Alex Thomas
Welcome to Hollywood
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Linewatch
Michael Dixon
Lies & Illusions
Isaac
The Firing Squad
Samuel Wilson
The Way of War
David Wolfe
Sacrifice
John Hebron
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
(archive footage)
Hardwired
Luke Gibson
Daybreak
Torch
A Murder of Crows
Lawson Russell
Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story
Tyree
Bayou Caviar
Rodney Jones
Wrong Turn at Tahoe
Joshua
Ticking Clock
Lewis Hicks
Harold
Cromer
Summoned
Detective Callendar
What Love Is
Tom
Judgement
Officer Alvarez
Freedom
Samuel
Sing
Stanley
Trading Favors
Liquor Store Clerk
A Dairy Tale
Buck (voice)
Firelight
DJ
Skeletons in the Closet
Andres
Dog Patrol: Operation Santa Paws
Sheriff Jacobs
Timmy Muldoon and the Search for the Shadoweyes Bandit
Shadoweyes
For NYC
2020
Double Victory: The Tuskegee Airmen at War
Narrator (voice)
TV Shows (15)
Sesame Street
1 eps
American Horror Story
Dominic Banks · 10 eps
MacGyver
Billy Colton · 3 eps
MacGyver
Ray Collins · 1 eps
Hill Street Blues
1 eps
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
2 eps
American Crime Story
O. J. Simpson · 10 eps
Empire
Puma · 1 eps
227
1 eps
The Untouchables
1 eps
The Bronx Zoo
1 eps
Nasty Boys
Poptop · 3 eps
Mancuso, F.B.I.
1 eps
The Book of Negroes
Sam Fraunces · 6 eps
Big Time in Hollywood, Fl
Cuba Gooding Jr. · 10 eps
Self / Appearances (23)
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
Self - Guest · 3 eps
The Daily Show
Self · 1 eps
The Graham Norton Show
Self · 4 eps
Saturday Night Live
Self - Host · 1 eps
Conan
Self · 1 eps
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self · 1 eps
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Self · 1 eps
The View
Self · 4 eps
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Self - Guest · 2 eps
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Self · 1 eps
The Oscars
Self · 3 eps
The Last Leg
Self · 1 eps
V Graham Norton
Self · 1 eps
Entertainment Tonight
Self · 1 eps
John Bishop: In Conversation with...
Self · 1 eps
Lily Allen and Friends
Self - Guest · 1 eps
MADtv
Self · 1 eps
TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy
Self (archive footage)
Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation
Self
America | A Tribute to Heroes
Self
The Enduring Significance of 'Boyz n the Hood'
Self
Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend
Self
Making Rat Race
Himself
