Cuba Gooding Jr.

Cuba Gooding Jr.
Gooding in 2022
Born	Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. (1968-01-02) January 2, 1968 (age 56) New York City, U.S.
Education	Apple Valley High School
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1986–present
Spouse	Sara Kapfer ​ ​ (m. 1994; div. 2017)​
Children	3, including Mason Gooding
Parent(s)	Cuba Gooding Sr. Shirley Sullivan
Awards	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. After his breakthrough role as Tre Styles in Boyz n the Hood (1991) he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor playing a football star in Jerry Maguire (1996). His other notable films include Outbreak (1995), As Good as It Gets (1997), What Dreams May Come (1998), Men of Honor (2000), Pearl Harbor (2001), Rat Race (2001), The Fighting Temptations (2003), Radio (2003), American Gangster (2007), The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), The Butler (2013), and Selma (2014). He voiced Buck the Horse in the animated feature film Home on the Range (2004).

For his portrayal of O. J. Simpson in the FX drama series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016), he earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie, and co-starred in the FX series American Horror Story: Roanoke (2016). He played Billy Roberts in the HBO film The Tuskegee Airmen (1995), and Dr. Ben Carson in the TNT film Gifted Hands (2009).

Gooding Jr. made his Broadway debut playing Ludie Watts in the 2013 revival of the Horton Foote play The Trip to Bountiful. In 2018, he played Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago on both the West End and on Broadway.