Cuba Gooding Jr. was born in America on January 2, 1968, in the state of New York, in the city of the Bronx in the family of a popular artist Cuba Gooding Sr. Unfortunately, the father and mother divorced, and their three children had to face a completely different life, full of material difficulties.
The path to fame
The family evicted from the house lived in a car for state benefits. Having settled in a cheap hotel located in the suburbs of Orange Country, Cuba Gooding Jr. made friends with Sean Suttles, who later became his personal assistant and companion Derek Broz. The three of them improved their breakdance, dubbing the group Majestic Vision Breakdancers. With the clockwork program, friends participated in a breakdance show, which was even honored to speak at the 1984 Olympic Games closing ceremony. It was then that the invitation card that Cuba received turned out to be a pass to the world of show business, familiar to him from childhood.
Carier start
During his studies in Cuba, Gooding Jr. had to change several schools in Southern California, and in three of them he was a headman of the class. From school age, he was eager to speak to the public, playing in school plays, speaking in support groups, until in some of the productions he was noticed by the father of a classmate who works as an agent for actors. Gooding received an offer to appear in commercials. After that, the popularity of an actor named Cuba Gooding Jr. began, his filmography replenished with a role in the acclaimed television series “Hill Street Blues”, which went on television from 1981 to 1987. In this series, he first professionally starred in episodes, playing the role of a gangster.
In addition, in the period from 1985 to 1992, in addition to several commercials, he appeared several times in various series. These small episodic roles were so vivid that the acting personality of a young talent from the first days allowed him to become not only a favorite of the public, but also to be remembered by the professional public.
First major roles
Finally, in 1988 he got a new chance Cuba Gooding Jr., his filmography got the opportunity to replenish his first full-fledged role in E. Murphy's film “A Trip to America”. He was supposed to play along with recognized actors Eddie Murphy, Randy Watson and Arsenio Hall. The plot of the picture narrated about the crown prince of the African state, who decided to independently find a bride in America and marry her. The risk of the director who invited the young actor, behind whom there were only episodic roles, was justified, since Gooding coped with the role.
John Singleton’s drama titled “The Central Boys,” where Cuba Gooding Jr. played a reflective extraordinary guy from Los Angeles, who at the last second resisted revenge for the death of a friend. The film turned out to be very talented and convincingly showed the morals of urban black quarters with an almost deadlock position born and raised in the midst of dirt, constant humiliation, despair and almost daily crimes of reckless "brothers". The film turned out to be grossing, collecting $ 57 million at the box office in the states, which was 9 times more than the creators spent on its creation. The picture left a mark in the history of cinema, as it was released shortly before the Los Angeles riots that began in the year, although this did not help to prevent them. In 2002, the picture was entered on the National Register of Films of America, as of cultural value. After this role, Cuba Gooding Jr., as they say, “woke up famous”, becoming popular with journalists and the public. The actor was showered with lucrative filming offers. Since then, the name on the poster is Cuba Gooding Jr., the films have been successful.
True fame
The real fame for the talented actor in the 96th year again brought the role of Rod Tidwell in the film "Jerry Maguire" directed by Cameron Crowe. By a fortunate coincidence for Gooding, Damon Waynes refused the producers of the picture to get the role of Rod Tydwell, Cuba Gooding Jr. with all the perseverance took the opportunity to replace Waynes. For this role, the actor received an Oscar as the best actor.
Cuba Gooding Jr., at the age of 29, won the coveted Oscar -winning statuette and became the fourth African American actor in the long history of the award. This event demonstrated his undoubted acting talent and potential, which manifested itself fully in the 2000s. Gooding’s excellent acting abilities and various interesting images played by him on the screen entailed the recognition of film critics, world fame and the love of the audience.
Today, not only the name Cuba Gooding Jr is known, all films with his participation are the golden classics of Hollywood. He is not only the winner of the Oscars, but also the owner of a name star on the walk of fame, as well as a very successful actor.