Cuba Gooding, Jr. 1968–

Actor

When Cuba Gooding, Jr. delivered his nearly evangelical Academy Award acceptance speech for his performance in the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, audiences cheered for the young actor’s unexpected catapult to stardom. However, like most overnight successes, Gooding’s was the result of several years of wallowing in the dregs of Hollywood productions. Despite a resounding triumph in the gripping 1991 drama Boyz In The Hood, Gooding quickly found himself with ample talent and credentials but limited outlets. “[T]he truth of the matter is that he is a young black actor,” wrote one critic for the Mr. Showbiz homepage, “and after the handful of good roles generally available for black actors is divvied up among [actors] Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, and Wesley Snipes, there aren’t many challenging roles left for the Cuba Gooding, Jrs. of today’s Hollywood.” Nonetheless, a heavy reserve of moxy and a genuine charm boosted Gooding back into a pole position.

As the son of Cuba Gooding, the lead vocalist for the successful R&B group The Main Ingredient, Cuba Jr. and his brother Omar were both romanced by the entertainment world at an early age. However, shortly after relocating his family from the Bronx, New York to Los Angeles, California to accommodate his own career, the elder Gooding forfeited a family life, and abandoned his children in 1974. While Gooding, Jr.’s subsequent home life was anything but stable—he was in and out of four Southern California high schools—the fledgling entertainer remained a model of positivity, and even managed to become class president at several of his schools.

After several years of acting as well as dancing in school talent shows, Gooding began to make inroads to a proper career. At the age of 16, he made a fairly auspicious professional debut as a member of singer Lionel Richie’s breakdancing entourage at the 1984 Olympics. Returning to the small stage, Gooding joined the cast of a production of the play Li’l Abner, which caught the eye of a talent agent who was also the parent of one of Gooding’s peers. Under the guidance of his new agent, Gooding soon bagged modest but promising spots in television commercials for Sprite and Bugle Boy Jeans before making his television debut as a supporting character on the gritty police drama Hill Street Blues.

At a Glance…

Born Cuba Cooding, Jr., January 2, 1968, in the Bronx, NY; son of Shirley and singer Cuba Gooding Sr.; married to Sara Kapfer, an elementary school teacher; children: Spencer and Mason. Education: attended several Southern California high schools.

Performed as a breakdancer at the Olympics, 1984; appeared in TV shows: 227, Amen, MacGyver, and Hill Street Blues; HBO, The Tuskegee Airmen, 1996; made film debut in Coming To America, 1988; Films: Lightening Jack, Boyz N theHood, 1991; Losing Isaiah, 1995; Outbreak, 1995; Jerry Maguire, 1996.

Awards: Academy Award, Best SupportingActor, Jerry Maguire, 1997.

Addresses: Home—Los Angeles, CA; Agent—Creative Artists, 9830 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA, 90212, (310) 288-4545.

In spite of his initial promise, Gooding found that his avenues of opportunity were limited without formal acting lessons. After enhancing his skills with a personal trainer, Gooding built up his resume with several made for television films, as well as with his big screen initiation, a small but meaty comic bit in the Eddie Murphy vehicle Coming To America. However, it was not until he auditioned for first time director John Singleton’s Boyz N the Hood that Gooding’s acting abilities truly passed muster with both critics and audiences. As Tre Styles, an amiable teenager struggling to escape his gang infested environment, Gooding found himself riding the crest of one of the year’s most acclaimed films, himself given kudos for, in Janet Maslin’s assessment, giving Styles a “gentle, impressionable quality that is most affecting.” At the first major juncture of his career, it seemed that Gooding had found the touchstone to serious dramatic opportunities.

Unfortunately, the next several years were less of a gateway towards stardom and more of backward steps towards obscurity. Although Gooding’s performances themselves were consistently up to par, he was either buried in lesser supporting roles, as in the 1991 military nailbiter A Few Good Men, or confined to banal box office duds, such as the widely panned boxing film Gladiator, released in 1992, or the dismal action comedy of 1993, Judgement Night. Lightning Jack, a dud released in 1994, may have been Gooding’s low point, but his adept performance as a deaf mute did bring to surface the comic flair that would blossom later in Jerry Maguire. Even the impressive Losing Isaiah, a poignant 1995 film involving a custody battle, failed to regain Gooding the footing he deserved, as the film received limited distribution. Only four years after Boyz N The Hood, it seemed that Gooding’s career had bottomed out.

In the meantime, Gooding’s otherwise lackluster series of roles had allowed him to afford a stable family life, quite the opposite to his negligent father. After marrying Sara Kapfer, then an elementary school teacher whom Gooding had been dating since high school, Gooding fathered two sons, Spencer and Mason. However, Gooding had grown tired of his mediocre castings, no matter how lucrative, and in 1995 began courting director Cameron Crowe for a role in his upcoming film, Jerry Maguire. To land the part, the determined Gooding went on an intensive training program to beef up for the role of professional football player Rod Tidwell. With characteristic verve, Gooding even dropped his pants at a casting call when asked whether he was shy of onscreen nudity. Duly impressed with the actor’s much needed energy, Crowe and producer James Brooks quickly tapped Gooding for the role.

When the adult sports comedy Jerry Maguire was finally released in 1996, an almost unequivocal commercial and critical approval almost instantly levied Gooding from his period of stagnation. Given a rich, witty script, a three dimensional character, and a high profile star—Tom Cruise—to work with, Gooding was able to turn out a world class performance that expertly fused brash comedy with dramatic conviction. “Show me the money,” a line culled from a hilarious exchange between Gooding and Cruise, became a national catch phrase, and the film headed box office lists for weeks on end.

The overall reviews of the film were positive, but ultimately it was Gooding who received the highest honors. In addition to a Golden Globe Award nomination, Gooding received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor of 1996. At the awards ceremony, the actor delivered a vibrant, genuine acceptance speech that ranked among the most moving in the history of the Oscars. Soon, Gooding was being approached for other high caliber parts, including an offer for a role in the romantic drama, What Dreams May Come, opposite comedian Robin Williams, and the role of Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis. Although optimistic, the actor remained level-headed about his second critical windfall. “It’s so hard to predict,” he told Mr. Showbiz. “If I’m accurate, it’s out of luck, and if I’m inaccurate, I’ll feel like an idiot for guessing in the first place.”