Popularly known for his roles playing a member of the armed forces or a policeman, Cuba Gooding Jr. was chosen as one of the 12 “Promising Actors of 1991” in John Willis’s Screen Worlds and was also listed as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world in 1997 by People magazine.
Cuba Gooding Jr. was born to Shirley and Cuba Gooding Sr. on 2 January, 1968, in The Bronx, New York. Shirley was a singer with The Sweethearts and Gooding Sr. was a lead vocalist with the soul group The Main Ingredient. When Gooding Jr. was 13, his father abandoned the family and Gooding Jr. was brought up by his mother. Cuba Gooding Jr has a brother, Omar Gooding, who is also an actor. Gooding Jr. is said to have attended four different high schools and the family spent their lives in hotels all over Los Angeles after Gooding Sr. abandoned them.
Cuba Gooding Jr. started his career in 1980 with a commercial for Bugle Boy, a line of clothing. Following this, he made quite a few guest appearances in television shows like Hill Street Blues and MacGyver. At the Olympics in 1984, Cuba Gooding Jr. officially made his debut as a break dancer for Lionel Ritchie’s show. His first feature film was Coming to America in 1988. In 1991, he played his first major role in the feature film Boyz n the Hood which was a hit at the box office. Following this, he added several feathers to his cap with his roles as a supporting actor in films like A Few Good Men (1992), Lightning Jack (1994) and Outbreak (1995).
Jerry Maguire (1996) had Cuba Gooding Jr. playing the role of a very arrogant but loyal footballer. Not only did this film do well, but it also fetched Cuba Gooding his first Academy Award as the Actor in the Best Supporting Role. Men of Honor (2000), Instinct (1999) and What Dreams May Come (1998) were other major successful ventures of Cuba Gooding Jr. After Pearl Harbor, Rat Race and Snow Dogs, 2003 saw Cuba Gooding Jr. appear in three offbeat roles – as the mentally challenged protagonist in Radio, in the rib-tickling comedy Boat Trip, and in a musical comedy The Fighting Temptations with Beyoncé Knowles.
Cuba Gooding Jr. married his high school sweetheart Sara Kapfer in 1994. They have two sons, Spencer Gooding and Mason Gooding, and one daughter, Piper Gooding.
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