Cuba Gooding, Jr.

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1. GiGi
   

   Cuba Gooding Jr. (born January 2, 1968) is an American actor. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning portrayal as Rod Tidwell in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996) and his critically acclaimed performance in John Singleton's Boyz in the Hood (1991).
   
   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 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 in a small town in the desert, and John F. Kennedy High School in Granada Hills in Los Angeles. He served as class president in three of them. Cuba, Jr. 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. After high school, Gooding studied Japanese martial arts for three years before turning his focus toward acting. Early on, he landed guest starring roles on shows like Hill Street Blues (1981) and MacGyver (1985). His first major role was in the 1991 box office surprise Boyz n the Hood (1991). He followed this success with roles in major films like A Few Good Men (1992), Lightning Jack (1994) and Outbreak (1995).
   
   In 1996, he was cast as an arrogant football player on the brink of a career-ending injury in Cameron Crowe's Jerry Maguire (1996). The film became a huge box office smash and earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His "Show Me The Money" line in the movie became a nationwide catchphrase.
   
   He has also appeared in movies which were critically or commercially unsuccessful, such as Boat Trip, Norbit, and Daddy Day Camp, which either received strongly negative reviews or performed poorly at the box office. 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.
   
   He has been married to highschool sweetheart Sara Kapfer since 1994. The two have known each other since 1986. Together, they have three children: sons Spencer Gooding (born in 1994) and Mason Gooding (born in 1996), and daughter Piper Gooding (born in 2005).

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