Cuba Gooding Jr.
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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
Credits
Pearl Harbor (2001)
as Dorie Miller
American Gangster (2007)
as Nicky Barnes
Norbit (2007)
as Deion Hughes
Coming to America (1988)
as Boy Getting Haircut
A Few Good Men (1992)
as Cpl. Carl Hammaker
Don Jon (2013)
as Hollywood Actor #2
Jerry Maguire (1996)
as Rod Tidwell
Home on the Range (2004)
as Buck (voice)
Boyz n the Hood (1991)
as Tré Styles
What Dreams May Come (1998)
as Albert Lewis
The Butler (2013)
as Carter Wilson
Rat Race (2001)
as Owen Templeton
A Line of Fire (2025)
as Javier Cardona
Men of Honor (2000)
as Senior Chief Carl Brashear
As Good as It Gets (1997)
as Frank Sachs
Instinct (1999)
as Dr. Theo Caulder
Outbreak (1995)
as Major Salt
Machete Kills (2013)
as El Camaleón 2
Zoolander (2001)
as Cuba Gooding Jr.
Life in a Year (2020)
as Xavier
Red Tails (2012)
as Major Emanuelle Stance
Radio (2003)
as Radio
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009)
as Ben Carson
Blown Away (1994)
as Bomb Squad Class Member
Padilla (—)
Actor
Gladiator (1992)
as Abraham Lincoln Haines
Snow Dogs (2002)
as Ted Brooks
Quantum Supremacy (2026)
as Captain Marcus Monroe
Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace (2024)
as Balthazar
Selma (2014)
as Fred Gray
Welcome to Hollywood (2000)
as Cuba Gooding Jr.
The Devil's Tomb (2009)
as Mack
Daddy Day Camp (2007)
as Charlie Hinton
The Hit List (2011)
as Jonas Arbor
Sacrifice (2011)
as John Hebron
The Fighting Temptations (2003)
as Darrin Hill
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends (2007)
as Loofah (voice)
Judgment Night (1993)
as Mike Peterson
Boat Trip (2002)
as Jerry Robinson
Chill Factor (1999)
as Arlo
The Tuskegee Airmen (1995)
as Billy Roberts
Life of a King (2013)
as Eugene Brown
Losing Isaiah (1995)
as Eddie Hughes
End Game (2006)
as Agent Alex Thomas
Harold (2008)
as Cromer
America | A Tribute to Heroes (2001)
as Self
Wrong Turn at Tahoe (2009)
as Joshua
Shadowboxer (2005)
as Mikey
A Murder of Crows (1999)
as Lawson Russell
Judgement (1992)
as Officer Alvarez
Dirty (2005)
as Salim Adel
One in the Chamber (2012)
as Ray Carver
Dog Patrol: Operation Santa Paws (2025)
as Sheriff Jacobs
Hero Wanted (2008)
as Liam Case
Hardwired (2009)
as Luke Gibson
Ticking Clock (2011)
as Lewis Hicks
Lies & Illusions (2009)
as Isaac
In the Shadows (2001)
as Draven
Lightning Jack (1994)
as Ben Doyle
Absolute Deception (2013)
as John Nelson
Linewatch (2008)
as Michael Dixon
TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy (2024)
as Self (archive footage)
Trading Favors (1997)
as Liquor Store Clerk
Daybreak (1993)
as Torch
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift (2010)
as (archive footage)
The Way of War (2009)
as David Wolfe
Firelight (2012)
as DJ
Lotus (—)
Actor
Making Rat Race (2002)
as Himself
The Weapon (2023)
as Blue
What Love Is (2007)
as Tom
Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation (2007)
as Self
A Dairy Tale (2004)
as Buck (voice)
Sing (1989)
as Stanley
Summoned (2013)
as Detective Callendar
Freedom (2014)
as Samuel
Bayou Caviar (2018)
as Rodney Jones
The Firing Squad (2024)
as Samuel Wilson
Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story (1992)
as Tyree
Skeletons in the Closet (2024)
as Andres
Break the Cycle (—)
Actor
Above the Break (—)
as Frank Kitner
The Madness of Judge Jeremiah Doherty (—)
Actor
Atlas King (—)
Actor
Timmy Muldoon and the Search for the Shadoweyes Bandit (2013)
as Shadoweyes
Giving Thanks (—)
as Calvin
For NYC (2020)
Actor
The Enduring Significance of 'Boyz n the Hood' (2011)
as Self
Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend (2003)
as Self
Double Victory: The Tuskegee Airmen at War (2012)
as Narrator (voice)