Cuba Gooding Jr.

Acting

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Overview

Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
Jan 02, 1968 (57 years old)

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Known For

Dog Patrol
1h 41m
Movie 2025

Dog Patrol

Samuel and his friends along with his trusted dog Athena...

A Line of Fire
1h 30m
Movie 2025

A Line of Fire

After working as a secret agent in the FBI for...

Quantum Supremacy
1h 10m
Movie 2024

Quantum Supremacy

In the not-so-distant future, a fearless crew aboard a starship...

The Firing Squad
1h 33m
Movie 2024

The Firing Squad

Based on the true story of three Christian prisoners who...

Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace
1h 43m
Movie 2024

Angels Fallen: Warriors of Peace

When an Iraq War veteran receives a calling from a...

TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy
1h 8m
Movie 2024

TMZ Presents: The Downfall of Diddy

A series of lawsuits and allegations have legendary rap mogul...

Skeletons in the Closet
1h 38m
Movie 2024

Skeletons in the Closet

Haunted by a malevolent spirit since childhood, a desperate mother...

The Weapon
1h 25m
Movie 2023

The Weapon

Dallas is a one-man killing machine on a mysterious rampage....

Life in a Year
1h 47m
Movie 2020

Life in a Year

A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is...

For NYC
0h 12m
Movie 2020

For NYC

Noel Ashman and Damon Dash direct a collection of favorite...

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.