John Goodman
Goodman at the premiere of Argo, on October 4, 2012.
Born	John Stephen Goodman[1] (1952-06-20) June 20, 1952 (age 61)[2] St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Alma mater	Missouri State University
Occupation	Actor, voice actor
Years active	1975–present
Spouse(s)	Annabeth Hartzog (1989–present)
Children	Molly (b. 1990)

John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne (1988–1997), for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for providing the voice of Sulley in Monsters, Inc. and Monsters University. Other prominent roles he has portrayed include his leading voice role in Frosty Returns, his recent supporting roles in Argo, Flight, and The Artist, and a cameo in C.H.U.D. As a film actor, he has frequently collaborated with the Coen Brothers on such films as Raising Arizona, Barton Fink, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and upcoming indie drama Inside Llewyn Davis.

Early life and education[edit]

Goodman was born in St. Louis, Missouri on June 20, 1952. His mother, Virginia Roos (née Loosmore), was a store clerk and waitress who worked at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que, while his father, Leslie F. Goodman, was a postal worker who died of a heart attack in 1954.^[1][2][3] He has a sister, Elisabeth Horvath, and a brother, Leslie.^[4] He is of English, Welsh, and German ancestry.^[3]

Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football and dabbled in theater. He won a football scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State University.^[5] He pledged to Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, but was not formally initiated until several years later. He discovered SoMo's drama program and studied there with actors Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper.^[6] After a college injury ended his football career, he decided to become a professional actor and left Missouri for New York in 1975.^[5]

With a small bankroll from his brother, Goodman found an apartment on Ninth Avenue and 51st Street, near Manhattan's Theater District, and attempted unsuccessfully to earn money as a bartender and waiter. He was soon to find modest success on stage, though, in commercials and in voiceover performances. He was the person who slapped himself in the commercial for Skin Bracer by Mennen, saying the famous line "Thanks ... I needed that!"^[6] He performed off-Broadway and in dinner theatres before landing character roles in movies during the early 1980s.^[5]

Career[edit]

In 1985, Goodman originated the role of Pap Finn in the Broadway musical Big River. For his role, he received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical; he also is featured on the Original Broadway Cast Recording. He 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 show's "First Guest Medal" (Goodman joked that he would pawn the medal for a bottle of cheap Scotch).^{[citation needed]} He has hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live 12 times, while also making seven cameo appearances as Linda Tripp during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.^[5] Goodman auditioned to be a cast member for Jean Doumanian's tumultuous 1980–1981 SNL season, but was rejected.^{[citation needed]}

Goodman on the red carpet at the Emmys, September 11, 1994

In 1982, Goodman started landing movie roles, beginning with a small role in Eddie Macon's Run. During this period he continued to work on the stage, starring in the Tony-winning Broadway musical Big River from 1985 to 1987. Before landing his big break into movies in 1986, with a significant comedic role in the David Byrne absurdist comedy/musical True Stories,^[7] he had a brief cameo as Otis - in the Patsy Cline biopic Sweet Dreams. In the former film, his character Louis Fyne memorably utters the line: "I'm 6' 2" and maintain a consistent panda bear shape", establishing his trademark size as an important part of many characters he would later play on film and stage - and in the latter film, he plays the `guy who sold Patsy's husband the car' he would destroy in the Demolition Derby.

He is also known for his role as the head football coach for Adams College in the movie Revenge of the Nerds. In 1997, John Goodman was added to the St. Louis Walk of Fame.^[8]

He first worked with the Coen Brothers on Raising Arizona (1987). He would go on to appear in their films Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), and O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). In 2011, it was announced he would return to working with them on Inside Llewyn Davis—his fifth film with them and his first for a decade.^[9] Only Steve Buscemi has appeared in more Coen works (six films), though Frances McDormand and Jon Polito have also appeared in five of their films.

Goodman is most famous for his role as Dan Conner on the American sitcom Roseanne, which aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997.^[5]

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 President Glen Allen Walken. In the latter, he appeared as Pahrump, Nevada Judge Robert Bebe, earning a 2007 Emmy^[10] for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series for his performance.^[11] In addition, Goodman starred as Fred Flintstone in the film adaptation of The Flintstones.^[12]

He voiced Robot Santa in the character's first appearance on Futurama. Beginning in 2007, Goodman has been the voiceover in Dunkin' Donuts commercials.^[13] In 2000, Goodman provided the voice of Pacha in the Disney film The Emperor's New Groove and, a year later, the voice of Sulley in the Disney/Pixar film Monsters, Inc. In 2009, Goodman voice "Big Daddy" La Bouff in Disney's The Princess and the Frog. Goodman's voice can also be heard on an automated message system at Lambert St. Louis International airport.^[14]

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. He played the role of Pozzo in a Studio 54 revival of the play Waiting for Godot, opposite Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane.

In 2011, Goodman was a guest star on the third season of NBC's Community. He also voiced a character in id Software's game RAGE voicing Dan Hagar, and played movie studio chief Al Zimmer in the Academy Award–winning live action film The Artist. In February 2012, it was reported that Goodman would reunite with Roseanne Barr for a new NBC pilot titled Downwardly Mobile. The show would have had Goodman portray a bachelor mechanic and all around clown as a resident in a trailer park, and would have used the standard multiple-camera setup traditionally found in sitcoms, ^[15] however the series' option was not picked up by the network.

Charity work[edit]

Goodman has long resided in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[5] Since Hurricane Katrina, Goodman has appeared on several recovery commercials aired in Louisiana.

Goodman was cast in In the Electric Mist (2009) as Julie "Baby Feet" Balboni, which is set in post–Hurricane Katrina Louisiana. Goodman was at one time 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. The movie The Princess and the Frog where he lent his voice as Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff also takes place in New Orleans. Goodman was featured in the HBO series Treme. Treme focuses 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 2010, Goodman appeared in a commercial to raise awareness for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Also starring in the commercial were Sandra Bullock, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, Jack Del Rio, Drew Brees, Emeril Lagasse, James Carville, and Blake Lively.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[edit]

Goodman and his wife, Anna Beth, live in New Orleans. As of October 2012, their daughter, Molly, was 22 and in film school.^[16]

In a 2009 interview, Goodman was open about his alcoholism, saying, "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."^[17] In October 2012, he told Vulture's Jada Yuan: “If I’d picture in my mind a drink—usually straight out of the ­bottle—I couldn’t not do it.” Acting in plays, “I’d have the shakes so bad I’d have to have a drink to get through the show. I’m lucky I never got fired.” Then one night, he says, “I bottomed out." He has been sober since 2007 and tries to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting every morning,^[16] and toward the end of 2009–2010, Goodman lost 100 pounds. He has stated that exercising and keeping a journal of food he consumed are what helped him keep the weight off.^[18]

Filmography[edit]

Discography[edit]

Guest Appearance

• "Candy" (1999) -Chimes

Awards and nominations[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Goodman

• John Goodman at the Internet Broadway Database
• John Goodman at the Internet Movie Database
• John Goodman at Yahoo! Movies
• St. Louis Walk of Fame
• John Goodman at Emmys.com