John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received various accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Vanity Fair has called him "among our very finest actors".
Goodman is known for his collaborations with the Coen brothers, acting in films such as Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and Inside Llewyn Davis. He took leading roles in King Ralph, The Babe, Matinee, The Flintstones, and 10 Cloverfield Lane as well as supporting roles in Revenge of the Nerds, True Stories, Bringing Out the Dead, Speed Racer, The Artist, Flight, Argo, and Atomic Blonde. He voiced roles in The Emperor's New Groove franchise, the Monsters, Inc. franchise, Bee Movie and Smurfs.
On television, Goodman gained recognition playing the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC comedy series Roseanne, and The Conners. Goodman has played an English professor in the drama series Treme, a military contractor in the legal drama series Damages, a Republican senator in the political satire Alpha House, and a televangelist in the comedy series The Righteous Gemstones. He also guest starred in The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and Community, and is a member of the Five Timers Club having hosted Saturday Night Live 13 times from 1989 to 2013.
Goodman started his career at The Public Theatre acting numerous productions including Henry IV, Part 1, The Skin of Our Teeth, and The Seagull. He made his Broadway debut Big River, for which Goodman received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical nomination. He returned to Broadway in revivals of the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot, and the newspaper comedy The Front Page. Goodman made his West End debut in a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo.
Early life and education
John Stephen Goodman was born on June 20, 1952 in Affton, Missouri. His father, Leslie Francis Goodman, was a postal worker who died of a heart attack when Goodman was two years old. Goodman's mother, Virginia Roos, was a waitress at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que, a retail store worker, and also took in laundry to support the family. Goodman has an older brother, Leslie, who is 14 years his senior, and a younger sister, Elisabeth, who was born six months after his father died. Goodman is of English, German, and Welsh ancestry and was raised Southern Baptist.Goodman described his childhood as alone and withdrawn after his father had died so early and his brother had left to go to college. Goodman was bullied at school for being overweight. Until ninth grade, Goodman was in the Boy Scouts, which he said offered him the structure and camaraderie he missed; Goodman additionally looked to Boy Scout leaders, and later, acting coaches, as father figures. His brother later returned home to help raise Goodman and his sister. As a child, Goodman spent a lot of time listening to the radio and reading comic books, initially subscribing to DC's Green Lantern and The Atom, before turning to Marvel Comics. He also read his brother's copies of Mad and later confessed to shoplifting its paperback editions. Goodman credits his brother with introducing him to comedy and bebop.
Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football and dabbled in theater. After graduating in 1970, Goodman took a gap year. He earned a football scholarship to Missouri State University in Springfield but tore his ACL before ever suiting-up to go onto the field. Instead, Goodman channeled his energy into the school's theater program.
Goodman pledged Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, though he did not join until several years later. Goodman discovered the university's drama program and studied there with future Hollywood stars Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. In December 2013, Goodman stated his school friends were his closest ones. Goodman graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1975, and in 2013, the university presented him with an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters.
Career
1980–1999: Film roles and ''Roseanne''
After graduating from SMSU, Goodman relocated to New York City. With a small bankroll from his brother, Goodman found an apartment in Hell's Kitchen near the Theater District and unsuccessfully tried to make money as a bartender and waiter. However, Goodman eventually found modest success in voice-overs, commercials, and plays. He was the person who slapped himself in a television ad for Skin Bracer by Mennen. Goodman also performed off-Broadway and in dinner theaters before landing character roles in film during the early 1980s.In 1982, Goodman made his film debut with a small role in Eddie Macon's Run. During this period he continued to work on the stage, starring as Pap Finn in Big River from 1985 to 1987. For his role, he received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical; he is also featured on the Original Broadway Cast Recording. Before landing his big break into movies in 1986 with a significant comedic role in True Stories, he starred in the movie Revenge of the Nerds, and later had a brief cameo as Otis in Sweet Dreams. In the former film, his character Louis Fyne says "I'm 6' 3" and maintain a consistent panda bear shape", establishing his trademark size as an important part of many characters he later played on film and stage.
Goodman rose to fame in acting by playing the role of Dan Conner on the ABC sitcom Roseanne from 1988 to 1997. He returned to the character in 2018 for the revived, 10th season, where he said "Roseanne and I just went back to having a ball", and then stayed on for the show's subsequent spin-off The Conners. Goodman had a long history of appearances on late night comedy shows and was the first guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, which won him the series' "First Guest Medal". Goodman has hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live 13 times, while also making seven cameo appearances as Linda Tripp during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, three appearances as Rex Tillerson, and cameoing on the season 28 finale hosted by former SNL cast member Dan Aykroyd. With little to no experience in TV comedy, Goodman auditioned to be a cast member for Jean Doumanian's tumultuous 1980–1981 SNL season and was rejected, along with up-and-coming comedians Jim Carrey, Paul Reubens, and Robert Townsend.
Goodman first worked with the Coen brothers on Raising Arizona. He went on to appear in their films Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and Inside Llewyn Davis. Only Steve Buscemi has appeared in more Coen works, though Frances McDormand and Jon Polito have also appeared in five of their films. He worked with Steven Spielberg on Always and had a supporting role in Arachnophobia. In 1993, he starred as a William Castle-type filmmaker in Matinee opposite Cathy Moriarty, and in 1994 as Fred Flintstone in The Flintstones. Other films included King Ralph, The Babe, Fallen, Blues Brothers 2000, and Bringing Out the Dead.
2000–2009: Established star
Goodman had guest roles on the Aaron Sorkin television dramas The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In the former, he appeared in four episodes, playing Speaker of the House and eventual acting president Glen Allen Walken. In the latter, Goodman appeared as Pahrump, Nevada Judge Robert Bebe, earning a 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series for his performance.Goodman voiced Robot Santa in the character's first appearance on Futurama. Starting in 2007, he has been the voiceover in Dunkin' Donuts commercials. In 2000, Goodman provided the voice of Pacha in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove and, a year later, the voice of James P. "Sulley" Sullivan in Pixar's Monsters, Inc. He returned to the character for the film's 2013 prequel Monsters University, the 2021 Disney+ series Monsters at Work, and for a 2024 update of the video game Disney Dreamlight Valley. In 2007, Goodman voiced Layton T. Montgomery in Bee Movie. Two years later, he voiced "Big Daddy" La Bouff in The Princess and the Frog. Goodman's voice can also be heard on an automated message system at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. He was the original voice of the yellow M&M in 1995 before being replaced by J. K. Simmons the following year.
In theater, Goodman played the Ghost of Christmas Present in the 2008 Kodak Theatre production of A Christmas Carol, starring Christopher Lloyd as Ebenezer Scrooge. Goodman played the role of Pozzo in a Studio 54 revival of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, opposite Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane. John Heilpern of Vanity Fair called it "the greatest Pozzo I've ever seen." In 2009, Goodman reprised the role of Pozzo at the Roundabout Theatre Company.
Goodman was cast in In the Electric Mist as Julie "Baby Feet" Balboni. At one time, he was slated to play the role of Ignatius Reilly, the main character of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. The story takes place almost entirely in New Orleans. However, the movie was never put into production. In The Princess and the Frog, Goodman lent his voice as Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff also takes place in New Orleans. Goodman was also featured in Treme, a drama series focusing on a group of interconnected people trying to rebuild their lives in post–Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Goodman played Creighton Bernette, a Tulane English professor, in the show's first season. Other films during this time included The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Coyote Ugly, Storytelling, Beyond the Sea, Evan Almighty, Speed Racer, and Pope Joan.