Cuba Gooding Jr Biography, Age, Career, Marital Status, Salary and Net Worth

Who is Cuba Gooding Jr.?

Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. is a famous American actor, and the recipient of an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy nomination. Following his breakout role as Tre Styles in Boyz n the Hood (1991), he appeared in A Few Good Men (1992), The Tuskegee Airmen (1995). As well as Outbreak (1995) and Jerry Maguire (1996) for which he received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Gooding Jr. became famous for his roles in Men of Honor (2000) as Carl Brashear and in Michael Bay’s World War II epic Pearl Harbor (2001) as Doris Miller. Other notable movies include As Good as It Gets (1997), What Dreams May Come (1998), Rat Race (2001), and The Fighting Temptations (2003). As well as American Gangster (2007), Lee Daniel’s The Butler (2013), and Selma (2014) as civil rights attorney Fred Gray. Additionally, he provided the voice of Buck the Hores in the animated feature movie Home on the Range (2004).

Cuba played O. J. Simpson in the FX drama series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story in 2016. He gained a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. Additionally, he co-starred in the sixth season of the FX anthology series American Horror Story, subtitled Roanoke.

Cuba Gooding Jr. career

Early career and major success

Gooding’s first work as an entertainer was as a breakdancer, performing with musician Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. He then studied Japanese martial arts for three years after high school, prior to turning his focus to acting. Early on, he got guest-starring roles on shows including Hill Street Blues (1987), Amen (1988), and MacGyver (1988, 1989, and 1990). He also had a small part in the popular comedy Coming to America (1988). His first main major role was in John Singleton’s inner-city crime drama Boyz n the Hood (1991), playing the lead, Tre Styles. The movie was a box office surprise and critical hit and is considered a modern classic. He followed it up with supporting roles in major movies including A Few Good Men and Gladiator (1992), Judgement Night (1993) Lightning Jack (1994), and Outbreak (1995).

Gooding attained a new level of prominence in 1996 after he was cast as an arrogant but charismatic football player in Cameron Crowe’s dramatic sports comedy Jerry Maguire (1996). He played alongside Tom Cruise, and the film was a major critical and commercial success, that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. He received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Gooding’s exuberant ”Show me the money!” line became a nationwide catchphrase in the movie. Also, his Oscar acceptance speech has often been cited for its enthusiasm.

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How old is Cuba Gooding Jr.?

Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. is aged 54 as of 2022, having been born on January 2, 1968, in The Bronx, New York, U.S. He shares his birthday with famous people including Colby Brock, Tfue, Brianna Paige Arsement, Bryson Tiller, Kane Tanaka, Isaac Asimov, Ben Hardy, Tia Carrere, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Taye Diggs, among others.

Cuba Gooding Jr. Family

Who are Cuba Gooding Jr.’s parents?

Cuba Mark Gooding Jr. was born in The Bronx, New York City to Cuba Gooding Sr., and Shirley Sullivan. His father was the lead vocalist of the soul group The Main Ingredient, while his mother is a singer. In 1972, the family moved from Barbados to Los Angeles after his father’s music group had their hit track ”Everybody Plays the Fool”. After two years, his father left the family, leaving Cuba to be raised by his mother. Dudley MacDonald Gooding, his paternal grandfather, was a native of Barbados.

Does Cuba Gooding Jr. have siblings?

Gooding was born to his parents into a family of four children. He has three siblings, April Gooding, Omar Gooding, and Thomas Gooding.

Cuba Gooding Jr. Education

Gooding attended four different schools in his childhood and youth. They include North Hollywood High School, Tustin High School, Apple Valley High School, and John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills in Los Angeles. Gooding served as class president in three of the four schools.

Cuba Gooding Jr. Interests

Gooding is a Christian who was born again when he was 13 years old. He loves to play hockey and even has a rink in his backyard. Gooding also likes to go with his family to Hawaii for vacations.

Legal issues

Gooding was booked on charges of misdemeanor forcible touching and sexual abuse in the third degree in New York City on June 13, 2019. This related to an incident in which he allegedly groped a woman at a bar in Times Square. He was then indicted on a separate, additional sexual abuse charge on October 10. 30 women have accused him of unwanted sexual touching as of August 2020. Formally, he has been charged for three incidents, each resulting in misdemeanor charges of forcible touching and third-degree sexual abuse.

Gooding recently pleaded guilty to forcibly touching a woman at a New York nightclub in 2018. Also, he admitted to two other incidents of non-consensual contact in October 2018 and June 2019. The plea deal that he attained with prosecutors called for no jail time and allowed him to withdraw his misdemeanor plea and plead to the lesser violation of harassment as long as he continued counseling for six months. A lawsuit was also filed accusing him of raping a woman twice in 2013 in a New York hotel room on August 19, 2020.

Cuba Gooding Jr. Wife

Gooding is currently single and divorced. He was married to his high school sweetheart and lover, Sara Kapfer from 1994 to 2017. Kapfer filed for legal separation from him in 2014, and he later filed for divorce in January 2017. The couple has three children together and Gooding currently lives in Studio City, California.

Cuba Gooding Jr. Kids

Gooding and his longtime lover and ex-wife Sara have three children together. Their children are Spencer Gooding, Piper Gooding, and actor Mason Gooding.

Cuba Gooding Jr. Height

With his well-built, athletic and muscular body, Gooding stands at an average height of 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and a weight of 76 kg (168 lbs).

Post-Oscar prominence

Gooding followed his breakthrough with a notable supporting role in the acclaimed Academy Award-winning comedy As Good as It Gets (1997). However, in the next years, his career was inconsistently successful. Most of his best-received performances include turns in movies including the mystical drama What Dreams May Come (1998) and the US Naval drama Men of Honor (2000), playing the lead role and co-starring with Robert De Niro. He also gained attention in the epic Pearl Harbor (2001) as Doris Miller. As well as the ensemble farce Rat Race (2001), musical dramedy The Fighting Temptations (2003), and the football drama Radio (2003) in which he played the title role. Also, the family comedy Snow Dogs (2002) was a commercial success although not well-received critically.

His other roles within this time were Theo Caulder in the psychological thriller Instinct (1999) and the voice of Buck in the Disney animated movie Home on the Range (2004). He also appeared in a series of movies that were not commercially successful during this stage of his career. They include Chill Factor (1999), Boat Trip (2002), Norbit (2007), and Daddy Day Camp (2007). All these films received extremely negative reviews and with the exception of Norbit, performed badly at the box office.

Later career

Since then, he has appeared in numerous critically ignored direct-to-DVD movies than theatrical or television releases compared to earlier stages of his career. The only two films’ roles exceptional from this trend are: as Ben Carson in Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story (2009) and a brief supporting role in Ridley Scott’s American Gangster (2007). His following leading film role was in the 2012 World War II movie Red Tails, produced by George Lucas. Gooding had roles in various theatrical release movies in 2013, such as a well-received supporting performance in Lee Daniel’s The Butler and short appearances in Don Jon and Machete Kills. Additionally, he made his Broadway theatre debut together with Vanessa Williams and Cicely Tyson in a Tony Award-nominated production of The Trip to Bountiful.

Gooding appeared as Civil Rights Movement attorney Fred Gray in the popularly acclaimed historical drama Selma in 2014. Since then, he has appeared more frequently on TV, including performances as Samuel Fraunces in the miniseries The Book of Negroes. As well as a comedically embellished version of himself on Big Time in Hollywood, FL, and as O. J. Simpson in the anthology series American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson. Even though his performance received mixed reviews, he earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie. However, his Emmy nomination for his performance in the series was criticized by some reviewers. He then headlined the 21st Anniversary revival of the musical Chicago in the West End as Billy Flynn at the Phoenix Theatre in 2018. On October 5, 2018, his directorial debut, Bayou Caviar, was launched.

Other work

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Gooding received the Public Leadership in Neurology Award from the American Academy of Neurology in 2006, for his work raising awareness about Multiple Sclerosis. He later starred in a television pilot fr Fox titled Guilty which was directed by McG in 2012. It was not finally picked up by the network, despite being well received in screenings.

Gooding then appeared on Channel 4’s Chris Moyles’ Quiz Night on August 5, 2011, ending the show dueting ”Bad Romance” with Lulu. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. Gooding also starred in an online video game titled ”The Quest For The Code” which aims at juvenile asthma management. He later appeared as a star guest announcer on the 100th episode of ITV’s Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.

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Cuba Gooding Jr. Net Worth

American award-winning actor, Gooding, has been active in his career from 1986 to the present. He has appeared in numerous films throughout his career in television and direct-to-DVD films. Gooding has garnered an accumulative net worth of approximately $20 million as of 2022.