Cuba Gooding Jr.

Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. was born on January 2, 1968, in the Bronx, New York City. His father, Cuba Gooding Sr., served as the lead vocalist of the soul group The Main Ingredient, and his mother, Shirley Sullivan, was a singer. Gooding has three siblings: April, Omar, and Thomas. His paternal grandfather, Dudley MacDonald Gooding, was originally from Barbados. Following the success of his father's group and their hit single "Everybody Plays the Fool," the family relocated from New York to Los Angeles in 1972, though the elder Gooding departed from the family two years after the move. Raised by his mother, Gooding attended four high schools in the Los Angeles area: North Hollywood High School, Tustin High School, Apple Valley High School, and John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills. He served as class president at three of those schools and became a born-again Christian at age 13.

Gooding's first professional entertainment work came as a breakdancer performing alongside Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Following high school, he spent three years studying Japanese martial arts before pursuing acting. Early television appearances included guest roles on Hill Street Blues in 1987, Amen in 1988, and MacGyver across 1988, 1989, and 1990, along with a small part in the comedy Coming to America in 1988. His first major film role came in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood in 1991, in which he played Tre Styles. He subsequently appeared in supporting roles in A Few Good Men and Gladiator, both in 1992, followed by Judgment Night in 1993, Lightning Jack in 1994, and Outbreak in 1995. He also played Billy Roberts in the HBO film The Tuskegee Airmen in 1995.

Gooding's career reached a new level in 1996 when he was cast as a football player in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire, co-starring with Tom Cruise. The film earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Gooding won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. The following year he appeared in a supporting role in the Academy Award-winning comedy As Good as It Gets. Subsequent film credits included the drama What Dreams May Come in 1998, the psychological thriller Instinct in 1999, and the naval drama Men of Honor in 2000, in which he played the lead role opposite Robert De Niro. He appeared in Pearl Harbor in 2001 as Doris Miller, as well as in Rat Race in 2001, Snow Dogs in 2002, The Fighting Temptations in 2003, and Radio in 2003, in which he played the title role. In 2002, Gooding received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Additional film work during this period included Chill Factor in 1999, Boat Trip in 2002, the voice role of Buck the Horse in the Disney animated film Home on the Range in 2004, Norbit in 2007, Daddy Day Camp in 2007, a supporting role in Ridley Scott's American Gangster in 2007, voice work in The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends in 2007, and Linewatch in 2008. He portrayed Dr. Ben Carson in the TNT film Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story in 2009. In 2012, he appeared in the World War II film Red Tails, produced by George Lucas, and in 2013 he had a supporting role in Lee Daniels's The Butler, as well as brief appearances in Don Jon and Machete Kills.

Gooding made his Broadway debut in 2013 in the Horton Foote play The Trip to Bountiful, a Tony Award-nominated revival in which he played Ludie Watts alongside Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams. His Broadway career spans from 1996 to 2013 according to verified records. In 2014, he appeared as Civil Rights Movement attorney Fred Gray in the historical drama Selma. Television work during this period included the role of Samuel Fraunces in the miniseries The Book of Negroes and a comedic version of himself in Big Time in Hollywood, FL. In 2016, he portrayed O. J. Simpson in the FX anthology series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. That same year he co-starred in the FX series American Horror Story: Roanoke.

In 2018, Gooding played Billy Flynn in a revival of the musical Chicago, appearing in the production at the Phoenix Theatre in the West End as well as on Broadway. That same year, his directorial debut, Bayou Caviar, was released on October 5. On March 3, 2018, he appeared as a guest announcer on the 100th episode of ITV's Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway.

In his personal life, Gooding married his high school sweetheart Sara Kapfer in 1994. Together they had three children: Spencer, Piper, and Mason Gooding, who pursued acting. Kapfer filed for legal separation in 2014, and Gooding filed for divorce in January 2017. In 2006, Gooding received the Public Leadership in Neurology Award from the American Academy of Neurology for his work raising awareness about multiple sclerosis.