
Cuba Gooding Jr.
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.
Acting (82 movies)

Judgment Night
1993

A Few Good Men
1992

Boyz n the Hood
1991

Pearl Harbor
2001

Chill Factor
1999

Dirty
2005

For NYC
2020

As Good as It Gets
1997

The Weapon
2023

American Gangster
2007

The Fighting Temptations
2003

Lightning Jack
1994

Hardwired
2009

Outbreak
1995

Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
2009

The Tuskegee Airmen
1995

Lies & Illusions
2009

Men of Honor
2000

A Dairy Tale
2004

Snow Dogs
2002

Instinct
1999

What Dreams May Come
1998

Wrong Turn at Tahoe
2009

End Game
2006

Norbit
2007

Boat Trip
2002

What Love Is
2007

Jerry Maguire
1996

Zoolander
2001

Shadowboxer
2005

Harold
2008

Losing Isaiah
1995

Home on the Range
2004

Radio
2003

Daddy Day Camp
2007

Trading Favors
1997

Judgement
1992

Linewatch
2008

Dog Patrol: Operation Santa Paws
2025

The Way of War
2009

Sing
1989

Gladiator
1992

Hero Wanted
2008

The Devil's Tomb
2009

Daybreak
1993

A Murder of Crows
1999

Ticking Clock
2011

Red Tails
2012

Sacrifice
2011

The Hit List
2011

Firelight
2012

Machete Kills
2013

One in the Chamber
2012

The Butler
2013

Summoned
2013

Life of a King
2013

Absolute Deception
2013

Don Jon
2013

The Firing Squad
2024

Freedom
2014

In the Shadows
2001

Selma
2014

Skeletons in the Closet
2024

Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story
1992

TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy
2024

2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
2010

Timmy Muldoon and the Search for the Shadoweyes Bandit
2013

Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace
2024

Quantum Supremacy
2024

Double Victory: The Tuskegee Airmen at War
2012

Life in a Year
2020

Welcome to Hollywood
2000

Coming to America
1988

Bayou Caviar
2018

The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends
2007

Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend
2003

The Enduring Significance of 'Boyz n the Hood'
2011

Blown Away
1994

America | A Tribute to Heroes
2001

Making Rat Race
2002

A Line of Fire
2025

Rat Race
2001
Directing (1 movie)
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| A Murder of Crows | 1999 | Producer |
| Bayou Caviar | 2018 | Writer |