Cuba Gooding Jr.

Fun Fact: Cuba is the son of Shirley, a singer with the Sweethearts, and Cuba Gooding, Sr., a lead vocalist of soul group The Main Ingredient. He has a brother, fellow actor Omar Gooding.

Claim to Fame: In 1996, Cuba was cast as an arrogant but loyal football player in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996). The film became a huge box office smash and earned Cuba an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His "Show Me The Money" line in the movie became a nationwide catchphrase. The role elevated him to superstar status.

Cuba M. Gooding, Jr. is an American actor. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal as Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire and his critically acclaimed performance as Tré Styles in John Singleton's Boyz n the Hood. Cuba Gooding, Jr. was born and raised in The Bronx, New York, the son of Shirley, a singer with the Sweethearts, and Cuba Gooding, Sr., a lead vocalist of soul group The Main Ingredient. He has two brothers, musician Tommy Gooding and fellow actor Omar Gooding. His family moved to Los Angeles after Gooding, Sr.'s music group had a hit single with "Everybody Plays the Fool" in 1972; the elder Gooding abandoned his family two years later. During his appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Gooding revealed that after his father had left, his family lived in hotels throughout Los Angeles. Gooding was raised by his mother and attended four different high schools: North Hollywood High School, Tustin High School, Apple Valley High School, and John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills in Los Angeles. He served as class president in three of them. He became a born-again Christian at age 13.


His first job as a professional entertainer was as a breakdancer performing with singer Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. In 1997 he had a notable supporting role in As Good As It Gets. The next several years, his films were inconsistently successful. He has also appeared in a series of films which were not as critically or commercially successful, such as Boat Trip, Norbit, and Daddy Day Camp, all of which had either received extremely negative reviews or performed poorly at the box office. Gooding received brief acclaim for his cameo as Nickie Barnes in American Gangster. In 2002, he was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2007, he appeared in a television commercial for Hanes underwear, alongside Michael Jordan.

(read more @ wikipedia.org)