John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Vanity Fair has called Goodman "among our very finest actors."[1]
Goodman was born in Affton, Missouri.[3] His father, Leslie Francis Goodman, was a postal worker who died of a heart attack when John was only two years old. Goodman's mother, Virginia Roos (née Loosmore), was a waitress at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que,[3][4] a retail store worker, and also took in laundry to support the family.[1] 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.[5][6] Goodman is of English, German, and Welsh ancestry[4] and was raised Southern Baptist.[7]
Goodman described his childhood as alone and withdrawn after his father had died so early and his brother had left to go to college.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.[6] 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.[6] 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'sGreen 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.[6]
Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football (offensive guard and defensive tackle)[6] and dabbled in theater. After graduating in 1970, Goodman took a gap year. He earned a football scholarship to Missouri State University (then called Southwest Missouri State University, or "SMSU") 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.[8][9]
After graduating from SMSU, Goodman relocated to New York City.[9] With a small bankroll from his brother, Goodman found an apartment in Hell's Kitchen[13] 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 (uttering the tagline, "Thanks... I needed that!") in a television ad for Skin Bracer by Mennen.[10] Goodman also performed off-Broadway and in dinner theaters before landing character roles in film during the early 1980s.[9]
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,[14] 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",[6] 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 joked he would pawn the medal for a bottle of cheap Scotch).[15] 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.[9] 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.[16]
1990s
Goodman on the red carpet at the Emmys on September 11, 1994
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[19] for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series for his performance.[20]
In 2011, Goodman was a guest star on the third season of Community. He also voiced a character in the video game Rage voicing Dan Hagar, and played movie studio chief Al Zimmer in the Academy Award–winning live action film The Artist, as well as Best Picture nominee Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close the same year. Also in 2011, Goodman starred in Kevin Smith's Red State playing ATF Agent Joseph Keenan. In February 2012, it was reported that Goodman would reunite with Roseanne Barr for a new NBC pilot titled Downwardly Mobile. The series would have had Goodman portray a bachelor mechanic who resides in a trailer park, and would have used the standard multiple-camera setup traditionally found in sitcoms;[26] however, the series' option was not picked up by the network. Other prominent roles include performances in Flight (2012), The Hangover Part III (2013), The Monuments Men (2014), Trumbo (2015), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), Patriots Day (2016) and Atomic Blonde (2017). Goodman also voiced Hound in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) and returned to the character in Transformers: The Last Knight (2017). With his well-received supporting roles in The Artist (2011) and Argo (2012), Goodman accomplished the rare feat of appearing in back-to-back winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Goodman in 2014
On August 10, 2013, Goodman was inducted as a Disney Legend.[27] That same year, he received positive reviews for his performance as U.S. senator from North Carolina Gil John Biggs in Amazon's Alpha House, a political comedy written by Garry Trudeau.[28] In the show, Goodman's character, a retired UNC basketball coach, and three other Republican senators share a house on Capitol Hill. The show ended after two seasons in 2014.[29]
On April 28, 2017, it was announced that a revival of Roseanne was in the works and that Goodman along with most of the original cast and some of the producers would return for the limited series that was being shopped around with ABC and Netflix the frontrunners to land the show.[35] On May 16, 2017, it was confirmed that eight episodes would air mid-season in 2018 on ABC.[36] On May 29, 2018, in the wake of controversial remarks made by Barr on Twitter regarding Valerie Jarrett (an advisor of former president Barack Obama), ABC canceled the revival after a single season.[37][38][39] The next month, ABC ordered a ten-episode Roseanne spin-off titled The Conners, which stars the Roseanne cast sans Roseanne Barr.[40] The show's first season premiered on October 16, 2018.[41]
In 2019, Goodman starred in the role of Southernmegachurch preacher and family patriarch Eli Gemstone on the HBO comedy The Righteous Gemstones, created by and co-starring Danny McBride.[42] Goodman accepted the role right after the revived Roseanne series had been cancelled and before its spin-off The Conners was announced, which led to Goodman doing both shows.[6]The Righteous Gemstones was renewed for a second season in September 2019.[43]
2020s
In 2020, Goodman would serve as the conductor narrator for the virtual train ride welcome video at the St. Louis Aquarium that opened at St. Louis Union Station.[44]
In a 2009 interview, Goodman discussed his struggles with alcoholism:
I don't know how much the old Jackie Daniel's franchise ruined my memory, which is going anyway, because of my advancing decrepitude. I had a 30-year run, and at the end I didn't care about anything. I was just fed up with myself. I didn't even want to be an actor anymore.[10]
In October 2012, Goodman stated: "If I'd picture in my mind a drink—usually straight out of the bottle—I couldn't not do it," noting that while acting in plays he would "have the shakes so bad I'd have to have a drink to get through the show. I'm lucky I never got fired."[55]Sober since 2007,[1][56] Goodman tries to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting every morning.[51]
Goodman was once known for his sizable frame, at one point weighing close to 400 lb (180 kg).[57] However, by August 2010, Goodman had lost 100 lb (45 kg) through a program of exercise and food journaling.[58] His new figure attracted attention at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2015 and the BFI London Film Festival in October 2015.[57] By June 2024, it was reported that Goodman had lost over 200 pounds.[59]
Goodman suffers from depression.[60] He has attributed the severity of the condition to past alcohol consumption and[61] treats his depression through physical exercise.[62]
