Cuba gooding booking

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Hollywood showed him the money after Oscar success for Jerry Maguire and now the one-time
backing dancer has his own star on the Walk of Fame. What next for this family man? Born to Cuba
Gooding Sr, lead singer of soul group The Main Ingredient, and Shirley, a backing singer for The
Sweethearts during the 1960s. He has an older sister, April Gooding and his younger brother is actor
Omar Gooding. When Gooding was four-years-old, the family moved to Los Angeles and a mere two
years later, Cuba Sr left them. This didn’t prevent Gooding from achieving well at school. He attended
four different high schools and was class president at three of them. Gooding started at John F.
Kennedy High School in Granada Hills in his Junior year. He joined the drama club there, became a
member of the stage crew and participated in cross-country athletics. He hated being broke when he
was at high school and having to walk or get the bus to auditions. However, it was during this time that
he met the love of his life, Sara Kapfer. They began dating in 1986, when she was 17, the year
Gooding graduated from high school. In 1986, he appeared in the California Shakespeare Festival and
won first place for his role as Othello. His passion for acting had begun. He also loved to break dance
and it was this talent that first got him noticed by Coralie Jr, an eccentric Hollywood agent. Coralie
arranged gigs for Gooding as a back up dancer for Lionel Richie and for Paula Abdul. Gooding also
stunned the crowd by break dancing at the closing ceremonies of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in
1984. He sees this as his introduction to the professional world of performing and, years later, he
acknowledged Coralie in his Academy Award acceptance speech for his Best Supporting Role in
‘Jerry Maguire’ (1996).
Gooding had a keen interest in Japanese martial arts, which he studied for three years after school,
before turning his sights more purposefully on acting. In 1986, Gooding had his television debut with
the popular series ‘Hill Street Blues’ (1981-1987) and was in two episodes. He continued to appear in
a number of television shows between 1986 and 1991, including ‘The Bronx Zoo’, ‘Amen’, ‘227’,
‘Mancuso, FBI’ and four episodes of the popular ‘MacGyver’ (1985-1992). His first role in a television
movie was in CBC’s ‘No Means No’ (1988). Gooding’s big screen debut was with ‘Coming to America’
(1988) in which he played a young boy having his hair cut. Two fairly mediocre films followed,
‘Judgement’ (1989) and ‘Sing’ (1989) before Gooding scored his first major role, in John Singleton’s
‘Boyz n the Hood’ (1991). This film about inner city life favourably surprised the critics, giving him the
break he needed and allowing better supporting and leading roles to come his way. He was in Rowdy
Herrington’s ‘Gladiator’ (1992) and then came his role as Corporal Carl Hammaker in Rob Reiner’s
military crime thriller ‘A Few Good Men’ (1992), with Tom Cruise, Jack Nicholson, Demi Moore, Kevin
Bacon and Keifer Sutherland. Gooding was now acting opposite A-list stars and had come a long way
in the four years since his Hollywood debut. The following year found Gooding in television film
‘Daybreak’ (1993) and ‘Judgment Night’ (1993). He then had an uncredited role as a Bomb Squad
class member in the forgettable ‘Blown Away’ (1994). After living with his school teacher girlfriend for
eight years, Gooding married Sara Kapfer on 13 March 1994. They are still together and have three
children: Spencer (born 1994), Mason (born 1996), and Piper (born 2005). Other notable roles for
Gooding include hostage Ben Doyle in the comedy outlaw caper ‘Lightning Jack’ (1994) with Paul
Hogan and Major Salt in the drama/sci-fi/thriller ‘Outbreak’ (1995), alongside Dustin Hoffman, Rene
Russo, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey. The big one came with the role of football player Rod
Tidwell, with Tom Cruise, in the Cameron Crowe box office hit ‘Jerry Maguire’ (1996), for which
Gooding won Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. His line in the movie “Show me the money” became the
new catchphrase and the film work started pouring his way.
He played the supporting role of Frank Sachs in the romantic comedy ‘As Good as It Gets’ (1997) with
Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt. He was the gentle and funny spirit guide, Albert Lewis, in the
endearing romantic fantasy What Dreams May Come’ (1998) with Robin Williams. In his first leading
role since ‘Jerry Maguire’, Gooding was the aspiring psychologist Dr Theo Caulder in the fascinating
‘Instinct’ (1999), with Anthony Hopkins and Donald Sutherland. Gooding acted in ‘Chill Factor’ (1999),
an action adventure directed by Hugh Johnson before making his debut as producer with the made-for-video ‘A Murder of Crows’ (1999), a crime thriller with Tom Berenger and Eric Stoltz. Gooding
found the responsibilities of being a producer quite onerous but immensely enjoyed the experience.
The mark of having truly reached the big-time came with his role as Senior Chief Carl Brashear
opposite Robert De Niro in ‘Men of Honour’ (2000). It was a biographical film of the US Navy’s first
black salvage-and-retrieval expert, also starring Charlize Theron. Once again a man in Navy uniform,
and once again a biographical movie, this time Gooding played the supporting role of petty officer
Doris Miller in ‘Pearl Harbour’ (2001) with Ben Affleck, Josh Harnett, Jon Voigt, and Alec Baldwin.
Between ‘Pearl Harbour’ (2001) and ‘Radio’ (2003), Gooding had a number of generally lacklustre
roles. These were the thriller ‘In the Shadows’ (2001) with Matthew Modine and James Caan; the
comedy ‘Rat Race’ (2001) with John Cleese and Whoopi Goldberg, directed by Jerry Zucker. Next up
was adventure comedy ‘Snow Dogs’ (2002), with Gooding playing the lead, Dr Ted Brooks, a Miami
dentist who inherits a sled and team of dogs from his late mother and goes on an Alaskan escapade,
with James Coburn playing spiteful mountain man, ‘Thunder Jack’ Johnson. ‘Boat Trip’ (2002), the gay
singles cruise comedy and ‘The Fighting Temptations’ (2003), a musical comedy imbued with gospel
and soul music.
In 2002, Gooding’s contributions to the film industry were marked with a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame. He once again received critical acclaim, this time for his portrayal of a developmentally
challenged man in the heart-warming film ‘Radio’ (2003), with Ed Harris. It certainly seems as if he
produces his most noteworthy performances in his more serious roles. Gooding provided the voice of
Buck in the animated comedy ‘Home on the Range’ (2004) and then appeared in ‘Lightfield’s Home
Videos’ (2005), a documentary style film including a compilation of celebrity videos from 1982 to the
present, followed by the thriller ‘Shadowboxer’ (2005). With four releases for 2006, Gooding has been
busy. There is crime drama ‘Dirty’ (2006); ‘37th NAACP Image Awards’ (2006) a television movie with
Tyra Banks; ‘End Game’ (2006), an action thriller with James Woods and Angie Harmon; and comedy
‘What Love Is’ (2006) in which he plays the lead, Tom. Gooding loves hockey and he was a guest
announcer at a Los Angeles Kings game in January 2006. He certainly keeps himself busy in the film
industry and therefore relishes time spent relaxing with his family, in their Studio City, California home.
The man with the enormous beaming smile, who seems to pendulum between comedic and more
serious roles, has certainly made his mark in Hollywood and proved to audiences that he has what it
takes. He has made a significant contribution in his past twenty years of acting and is sure to continue
doing so for many years to come.