John Goodman

John Stephen Goodman was born on June 20, 1952, in Affton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. His father, Leslie Francis Goodman, a postal worker, died of a heart attack when Goodman was two years old. His mother, Virginia Roos, worked as a waitress, a retail store worker, and took in laundry to support the family. Goodman has an older brother, Leslie, who is fourteen years his senior, and a younger sister, Elisabeth, born six months after their father's death. He is of English, German, and Welsh ancestry and was raised Southern Baptist.

Goodman attended Affton High School, where he played football as an offensive guard and defensive tackle and participated in theater. After graduating in 1970, he took a gap year before enrolling at Missouri State University, then known as Southwest Missouri State University, on a football scholarship. A torn ACL ended his athletic career before he played a game, and he redirected his energy into the university's theater program, where his classmates included future Hollywood actors Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. He also pledged Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. Goodman earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1975, and the university awarded him an honorary doctorate in humane letters in 2013.

Following graduation, Goodman relocated to New York City, settling in an apartment in Hell's Kitchen near the Theater District with financial help from his brother. Early work included voice-overs, commercials, off-Broadway productions, and dinner theater appearances. He made his film debut in 1982 with a small role in Eddie Macon's Run. Before his Broadway debut, Goodman built stage experience at The Public Theatre, appearing in productions including Henry IV, Part 1 in 1981, The Skin of Our Teeth in 1998, and The Seagull in 2001.

Goodman made his Broadway debut in Big River in 1985, playing Pap Finn. The role earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, and he is featured on the original Broadway cast recording. He remained with the production through 1987. He returned to Broadway in 2009 in a revival of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, and again in 2016 in a revival of the newspaper comedy The Front Page. In 2015, Goodman made his West End debut in a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo.

On screen, Goodman rose to widespread recognition playing family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series Roseanne, which ran from 1988 to 1997. He reprised the role in the revived tenth season in 2018 and continued in the subsequent spin-off The Conners, which ran through 2025. His television work also includes playing an English professor in the drama series Treme from 2010 to 2011, a military contractor in the legal drama Damages in 2011, a Republican senator in the political satire Alpha House from 2013 to 2014, and a televangelist in the comedy series The Righteous Gemstones from 2019 to 2025. He guest starred in The West Wing from 2003 to 2004, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in 2006, and Community from 2011 to 2012. Goodman hosted Saturday Night Live thirteen times between 1989 and 2013, making him a member of the program's Five Timers Club.

Goodman's film career includes a long association with directors Joel and Ethan Coen, beginning with Raising Arizona in 1987. He subsequently appeared in their films Barton Fink in 1991, The Big Lebowski in 1998, O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000, and Inside Llewyn Davis in 2013. His other leading film roles include King Ralph in 1991, The Babe in 1992, Matinee in 1993, The Flintstones in 1994, and 10 Cloverfield Lane in 2016. Supporting roles span Revenge of the Nerds in 1984, True Stories in 1986, Bringing Out the Dead in 1999, Speed Racer in 2008, The Artist in 2011, Flight in 2012, Argo in 2012, and Atomic Blonde in 2017. His voice work includes roles in The Emperor's New Groove franchise from 2000 to 2008, the Monsters, Inc. franchise beginning in 2001, Bee Movie in 2007, and Smurfs in 2025. Goodman's accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.