About Me
An endearing film and television actor of increasingly Falstaffian dimensions, John Goodman skyrocketed to leading man status on the strength of the meat-and-potatoes, regular-guy affability and easygoing charm displayed in his character work. Of course, his international fame as Roseanne's forthright blue-collar husband on the top-rated series "Roseanne" (ABC, 1988-97) didn't hurt him at the box office either. Huggably vulnerable but with an underlying strength and potential for rage, Goodman has been labeled one of the sexiest actors alive.Although he had appeared in five features since his debut in 1983's "Eddie Macon's Run" and created the role of Huck Finn's father in the 1985 Tony-winning Broadway musical "Big River", Goodman gained real notice for his good-natured performance as Louis Frye, the lovelorn "dancing bear" seeking a companion, in David Byrne's deadpan Texas comedy "True Stories" (1986). His mud-soaked emergence was one of the high points of the Coen brothers' comic gem "Raising Arizona" (1987), and "Everybody's All-American" (1988) gave him the opportunity to show some dramatic range as the tragic Edward Lawrence.His first starring role came as a boorish commoner turned monarch in the 1991 comedy "King Ralph", but Goodman fared much better in a crucial supporting role as a friendly traveling salesman with a secret in the Coens' ambitious "Barton Fink" (also 1991). He again received top billing with his portrayal of baseball legend Babe Ruth in the sentimental biopic "The Babe" (1992). Many critics felt that "Matinee", Joe Dante's loving but little-seen tribute to the sci-fi B-movies of yesteryear, finally provided a worthy star vehicle for the actor's ample comic talents. As Lawrence Woolsey, he gently sent up the kind of exploitation-pic ballyhoo mastered by Kroger Babb in the 1940s and 50s and producer-director William Castle in the 50s and early 60s. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for his stepping into the shoes of Broderick Crawford's Harry Brock for the disastrous updated remake of "Born Yesterday" (both 1993).In 1994's "The Flintstones", Goodman convincingly played cartoon icon Fred Flintstone as a flawed but basically good-natured oaf, a devoted husband and friend despite his loudmouthed manner, maintaining the signature Flintstone half-open mouth, baritone voice, and co-dependent relationship with Rick Moranis' Barney Rubble. The enormous summer hit grossed $37 million in its first weekend, making it the first film to truly benefit from Goodman's rising star power. A part-time resident of Louisiana whose role as a crooked cop in "The Big Easy" (1987) began his love affair with the state, he produced and starred in the TNT movie biography of perhaps its most infamous son, "Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long" (1995), earning a lead actor Emmy nomination. He also co-starred opposite Alec Baldwin and Jessica Lange in that year's TV remake of Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire", snagging yet another Emmy nod (his ninth), this time for his supporting turn as Harold 'Mitch' Mitchell.Goodman managed to find time to play Falstaff in a San Diego stage production of "Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) during his 1995 hiatus from "Roseanne" and also appeared in a small role as a radio traffic reporter in "Pie in the Sky" and an uncredited turn as a government agent in "Mother Night" (both 1996). However, health complications for his character Dan Conner near the end of his nine-year run on "Roseanne" reduced his responsibilities towards the show and facilitated his burgeoning film career. He played a fine hissable villain in "The Borrowers", based on the children's classic, and was even better as the Vietnam vet bowling buddy of Jeff Bridges in the Coen's "The Big Lebowski" (both 1997). He also acquitted himself nobly in a supporting part in "Fallen", a thriller with Denzel Washington, and took over for the late John Belushi as Dan Aykroyd's music-making partner in John Landis' lackluster sequel "Blues Brothers 2000" (both 1998).Martin Scorsese's "Bringing out the Dead" (1999) cast Goodman as a hyperactive paramedic who endures the suffering around him with cool detachment (and his nightly meals). The film reacquainted him with the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of NYC, his home during his struggling actor days. He gingerly put his toe back into series waters as the original Michael Wiseman of the 1999 CBS hit "Now and Again", killed off in the first episode but recurring periodically in flashback or memory. Suddenly, he was in a flurry of movies, beginning with Mike Nichols' "What Planet Are You From?" (2000), featuring him as a FAA agent in dogged pursuit of alien Garry Shandling. One of three men (along with Michael Douglas and Matt Dillon) fixated on Liv Tyler in "One Night at McCool's", he also turned up in the wrestling saga "Ready to Rumble" (made with the full cooperation of Time-Warner owned World Championship Wrestling), made a cameo appearance in the live-action "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle" and had co-starring roles in "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (a Coen Brothers' retelling of the "Ulysses" story set in the Depression) and as Piper Perabo's protective father in "Coyote Ugly" (all 2000).Providing the voice of Rex for Universal's animated "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" (1993) opened up a whole new line of work for Goodman, and he subsequently voiced Frosty (the snowman) in "Frosty Returns" (CBS, 1995), Santa in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie" (1998) and Daddy Pig in the Fox Family Channel series "The Pigs Next Door", as well as contributing vocally to Disney's animated "The Emperor's New Groove" (2000). The actor's most memorable voice roll to date was as the hulking but soft-hearted monster James P. "Sully" Sullivan in the much-loved Disney/Pixar CGI-animated hit "Monsters, Inc." (2001) and its various sequels and tie-ins. He also assumed the role of Balu the Bear (originally voiced by Phil Harris) for Disney's "The Jungle Book 2" sequel (2003), added to the merriment of "Clifford's Really Big Movie" (2004) and was the voice of star Larry the Lion, one of Siegfried & Roy's famed white lions, in the first CGI animated primetime series "Father of the Pride" (NBC, 2004 - ).Goodman returned in earnest to series TV as a gay single father sharing his home with another single dad in the short-lived Fox sitcom "Normal, Ohio" (2000), executive produced and created by Bonnie and Terry Turner, but feature films still beckoned: he had supporting roles in the debut directorial efforts of two actresses, Helen Mirren's "Happy Birthday" (airing on cable as part of the "On the Edge" anthology in 2001) and Christine Lahti "My First Mister" (2001), and he appeared in the "Non-Fiction" segment of writer-director Todd Solanz's "Storytelling" (2001), the crime comedy "Dirty Deed" (2002) and the Bob Dylan-penned oddity "Masked & Anonymous" (2003). Goodman also has the distinction of having hosted NBC's late night comedy institution "Saturday Night Live" a dozen times between 1989 and 2001, including twice in 2000, as well as several cameo appearances, particularly as political figure Linda Tripp in 1998-1999.After a stellar four-episode stint on "The West Wing" in 2003-2004 as Glenallen Walken, a Republican Speaker of the House who temporarily relieves President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) as Commander-in-Chief, Goodman forayed back to series TV as the star of the CBS sit-com "Center of the Universe" (2004 - ) as a happily married family man whose domestic bliss is frequently knocked out of whack by his eccentric extended family. In “Beyond the Sea†(2004), actor Kevin Spacey’s longtime labor-of-love biography on jazz singer Booby Darin, Goodman played Steve Blauner, Darin’s loyal concert booker. The film earned few kudos from critics and audiences were more interested in staying home. He next appeared in a stage production of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" in the iconic role of Big Daddy at Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse
