Cuba Gooding Jr.
Acting • Born 1968-01-02
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.
Filmography
121 credits
Judgment Night
Movie • 1993
Mike Peterson
A Few Good Men
Movie • 1992
Cpl. Carl Hammaker
Boyz n the Hood
Movie • 1991
Tré Styles
Pearl Harbor
Movie • 2001
Doris Miller
Chill Factor
Movie • 1999
Arlo
Dirty
Movie • 2005
Salim Adel
For NYC
Movie • 2020
As Good as It Gets
Movie • 1997
Frank Sachs
The Weapon
Movie • 2023
Blue
American Gangster
Movie • 2007
Nicky Barnes
The Fighting Temptations
Movie • 2003
Darrin Hill
Lightning Jack
Movie • 1994
Ben Doyle
Hardwired
Movie • 2009
Luke Gibson
Outbreak
Movie • 1995
Major Salt
Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story
Movie • 2009
Ben Carson
The Tuskegee Airmen
Movie • 1995
Billy Roberts
Lies & Illusions
Movie • 2009
Isaac
Men of Honor
Movie • 2000
Senior Chief Carl Brashear
A Dairy Tale
Movie • 2004
Buck (voice)
Snow Dogs
Movie • 2002
Ted Brooks
Instinct
Movie • 1999
Dr. Theo Caulder
What Dreams May Come
Movie • 1998
Albert Lewis
Wrong Turn at Tahoe
Movie • 2009
Joshua
End Game
Movie • 2006
Agent Alex Thomas
Norbit
Movie • 2007
Deion Hughes
Boat Trip
Movie • 2002
Jerry Robinson
What Love Is
Movie • 2007
Tom
Jerry Maguire
Movie • 1996
Rod Tidwell
Zoolander
Movie • 2001
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Shadowboxer
Movie • 2005
Mikey
Harold
Movie • 2008
Cromer
Losing Isaiah
Movie • 1995
Eddie Hughes
Home on the Range
Movie • 2004
Buck (voice)
Radio
Movie • 2003
Radio
Daddy Day Camp
Movie • 2007
Charlie Hinton
Trading Favors
Movie • 1997
Liquor Store Clerk
Judgement
Movie • 1992
Officer Alvarez
Linewatch
Movie • 2008
Michael Dixon
Dog Patrol: Operation Santa Paws
Movie • 2025
Sheriff Jacobs
The Way of War
Movie • 2009
David Wolfe
Sing
Movie • 1989
Stanley
Gladiator
Movie • 1992
Abraham Lincoln Haines
Hero Wanted
Movie • 2008
Liam Case
The Devil's Tomb
Movie • 2009
Mack
Daybreak
Movie • 1993
Torch
A Murder of Crows
Movie • 1999
Lawson Russell
Ticking Clock
Movie • 2011
Lewis Hicks
Red Tails
Movie • 2012
Major Emanuelle Stance
Sacrifice
Movie • 2011
John Hebron
The Hit List
Movie • 2011
Jonas Arbor
Firelight
Movie • 2012
DJ
Machete Kills
Movie • 2013
El Camaleón 2
One in the Chamber
Movie • 2012
Ray Carver
The Butler
Movie • 2013
Carter Wilson
Summoned
Movie • 2013
Detective Callendar
Life of a King
Movie • 2013
Eugene Brown
Absolute Deception
Movie • 2013
John Nelson
Don Jon
Movie • 2013
Hollywood Actor #2
The Firing Squad
Movie • 2024
Samuel Wilson
Freedom
Movie • 2014
Samuel
In the Shadows
Movie • 2001
Draven
Selma
Movie • 2014
Fred Gray
Skeletons in the Closet
Movie • 2024
Andres
Break the Cycle
Movie
Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story
Movie • 1992
Tyree
TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy
Movie • 2024
Self (archive footage)
2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
Movie • 2010
(archive footage)
Timmy Muldoon and the Search for the Shadoweyes Bandit
Movie • 2013
Shadoweyes
Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace
Movie • 2024
Balthazar
Quantum Supremacy
Movie • 2026
Captain Marcus Monroe
Double Victory: The Tuskegee Airmen at War
Movie • 2012
Narrator (voice)
Life in a Year
Movie • 2020
Xavier
Welcome to Hollywood
Movie • 2000
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Coming to America
Movie • 1988
Boy Getting Haircut
Bayou Caviar
Movie • 2018
Rodney Jones
The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends
Movie • 2007
Loofah (voice)
Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend
Movie • 2003
Self
The Enduring Significance of 'Boyz n the Hood'
Movie • 2011
Self
Blown Away
Movie • 1994
Bomb Squad Class Member
America | A Tribute to Heroes
Movie • 2001
Self
Making Rat Race
Movie • 2002
Himself
A Line of Fire
Movie • 2025
Javier Cardona
Giving Thanks
Movie
Calvin
Atlas King
Movie
Above the Break
Movie
Frank Kitner
The Madness of Judge Jeremiah Doherty
Movie
Rat Race
Movie • 2001
Owen Templeton
Saturday Night Live in the '90s: Pop Culture Nation
Movie • 2007
Self
The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story
Movie • 2016
O.J. Simpson
Padilla
Movie
Sesame Street
TV • 1969
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
TV • 2003
Self
The Daily Show
TV • 1996
Self
227
TV • 1985
The View
TV • 1997
Self
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
TV • 1992
Hill Street Blues
TV • 1981
MacGyver
TV • 1985
Billy Colton
Mancuso, F.B.I.
TV • 1989
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
TV • 1993
Self - Guest
MADtv
TV • 1995
Self
The Bronx Zoo
TV • 1987
The Untouchables
TV • 1993
Lily Allen and Friends
TV • 2008
Self - Guest
V Graham Norton
TV • 2002
Self
Nasty Boys
TV • 1989
Poptop
The Oscars
TV • 1953
Self
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
TV • 2005
Self
Saturday Night Live
TV • 1975
Self - Host
The Book of Negroes
TV • 2015
Sam Fraunces
American Crime Story
TV • 2016
O. J. Simpson
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
TV • 2015
Self
Big Time in Hollywood, Fl
TV • 2015
Cuba Gooding Jr.
American Horror Story
TV • 2011
Dominic Banks
The Graham Norton Show
TV • 2007
Self
Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen
TV • 2009
Self - Guest
John Bishop: In Conversation with...
TV • 2016
Self
Entertainment Tonight
TV • 1981
Self
MacGyver
TV • 1985
Ray Collins
Conan
TV • 2010
Self
The Last Leg
TV • 2013
Self