Name: Cuba Gooding Jr.
Born: 2 January 1968
P lace: The Bronx, New York USA
Notes:
Break danced in the 1984 closing ceremonies of the LA Olympic Games i
Suggested by actor Roger Moore to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.
(1997) Chosen by People Magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world.
Married to Sara Gooding in April 1994.
children: 2
Son of Cuba Gooding, Sr., lead singer of "The Main Ingrediant" ("Everybody
Plays The Fool")
Sibling(s): 1 brother (Omar Gooding)
Did a TV commercial for Pepsi One in 1998.
Height: 5'10"
His first movie was a very small part in "Coming to America".
Distinguished and versatile actor Cuba Gooding Jr. spent many years in bit roles before
finally becoming a star. The son of Cuba Gooding, lead singer for the '70s pop group the
Main Ingredient, he was born in the Bronx on January 2, 1968, but moved to Los Angeles
after his father's group had a hit single with "Everybody Plays the Fool" in
1972. Unfortunately, the elder Gooding abandoned his family two years later. The
subsequently tumultuous nature of Gooding Jr.'s upbringing did not deter him from
achievement: During his teens, he attended four different high schools but managed to
become class president of three of them.
Gooding Jr. made his professional debut in 1984 as a breakdancer for Lionel Richie's show
at the Olympics. As an actor he was discovered by an agent while performing in a high
school play, and began working steadily in television commercials, which led to a bit part
on an episode of Hill Street Blues. The experience inspired him to take acting lessons and
after attending workshops and classes, he began to get a few more parts in television and
films. He made his first feature-film appearance in Coming to America (1988) in which he
was credited as "Boy Getting Haircut." Gooding Jr.'s first real break came when
he was cast as Tre Styles in Boyz 'N the Hood (1990). The film earned him considerable
acclaim and seemed to offer the promise of a great career. Sure enough, Gooding began
landing fairly substantial parts in feature films. Unfortunately, save for a few
exceptions like A Few Good Men (1992), most of the films were not well regarded, and the
actor continued to work in relative obscurity. The comic talents he demonstrated as Paul
Hogan's sidekick in 1994's Lightning Jack were overshadowed by further mediocre films, and
it was not until 1997 that he truly came into the spotlight. That year, he starred as a
loyal football player in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire and won a Best Supporting Actor
Oscar for his efforts.
Following this triumph, Gooding Jr. next appeared in the acclaimed As Good as It Gets
alongside Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, and Greg Kinnear. Two relatively obscure films, the
suspense drama A Murder of Crows and the mockumentary Welcome to Hollywood, followed
before Gooding Jr. took part in another high-profile picture, What Dreams May Come.
Starring opposite Robin Williams, Gooding Jr. played the deceased Williams' tour guide to
heaven. Unfortunately, the film was critically savaged and failed to do much business at
the box office.
In 1999, Gooding Jr. kept busy with both television and film. In addition to starring in a
series of Pepsi commercials, the actor appeared opposite Anthony Hopkins in Instinct and
had a lead role in Chill Factor, an action extravaganza which featured him as an ice cream
man trying to keep a top-secret military chemical safe with the help of a short-order cook
(Skeet Ulrich). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
View actors filmography at IMDb
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