Cuba Gooding Jr.: from welfare to fame - actor - Interview

Ebony, June, 1997 by Aldore Collier

Right up there with Clark Gable's legendary line, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn," from Gone With The Wind and Marlon Brando's, "Make him an offer he can't refuse," from The Godfather is Cuba Gooding Jr.'s now legendary line, "Show me the money," from the hit film Jerry Maguire.

It never occurred to Gooding, 29, that any specific line from the movie, in which he played an aging and moody pro football player, would last and last. Every bit as surprising as that line's durability has been the way life has changed for him since he won the best supporting actor Oscar and became the sixth Black actor to win an Academy Award. "Life has definitely changed. It's different now," he says. "I play ice hockey with some guys, and before the movie and the Oscar, maybe a couple of girlfriends of theirs would show up. But now there's a crowd of people around. And when I go into stores, there's a period when everybody comes over and congratulates me."

What has surprised and frightened him most has been the unbelievable manner in which Hollywood has suddenly become so accommodating. Before Jerry Maguire, Gooding, like most actors, auditioned for directors and producers. Not any more. "Now, I have big-money offers on three movies, and I have director approval. That's kind of scary," he says. "No directors have been attached. That's a lot of pressure on me."

There's also the pressure of making certain that future roles are the right ones because he's aware that more eyes than ever are watching and scrutinizing his moves and decisions. "There are roles I want that my agency might not want me to do because of the subject matter or whatever," he says. "Or there are roles that people won't bring to me because they don't think I'll do it. And that is a big strain because an actor wants to act."

Just as memorable as his "Show me the money" line was his contagious enthusiasm when he was announced as the Oscar winner. Gooding jumped, screamed, cried and thanked everyone whose name he could remember. Academy Award officials allowed his acceptance speech to run well past the allotted time. The audience applauded and gave him a standing ovation as he continued to rattle off names of people to be thanked.

"The Academy Awards was an amazing night," he recalls. "I know I kind of lost my mind a little bit. I apologize for that. That night went so fast; I can't remember what I said or what happened."

The pressure and exposure that come from winning an Oscar and being in such a high-profile film such as Jerry Maguire are nothing new to Cuba. In 1991 when he starred in Boyz N the Hood, the expectations were extremely high for him. He was hailed by critics as one of the great up-and-coming performers. His next few movies kept him working, but did not receive great notices.

The success of Boyz N the Hood led to his getting the role in Outbreak. "The director Wolfgang Peterson called me in and goes, `Cuba, you remember me from that time in the elevator at the Boyz premiere and I told you that you were great in the movie? And we should work together.' That's how I got the part in Outbreak."

Before Boyz, he had performed in episodes of such television shows as 227, Amen, Hill Street Blues and MacGyver. He had a small part in Coming to America, but most of that ended up on the cutting room floor. However, he can be seen sitting in a barber's chair getting his hair cut by Eddie Murphy in his character as an elderly, loud-talking barber.

During the next Christmas holiday season, Gooding can be seen in the film Old Friends with heavyweight actors Sean Connery and Jack Nicholson. In that film, Gooding plays a homosexual art dealer in the SoHo district of Manhattan.

Performing is something that Gooding comes by honestly. His father was the lead singer of the hitmaking group, The Main Ingredient. They topped the 1970s music charts with such hits as "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely" and "Everybody Plays The Fool."

Cuba's parents divorced when he was 10 years old, and he--along with his brother Omar and sister April--moved from New York City to Southern California with their mother, Shirley. Gooding's parents have since remarried.

While growing up in California, Gooding and his siblings had to make the traumatic adjustment of moving from the elegant life of New York luxury, including being whisked around by a chauffeur, to a world of complete poverty. The family, evicted from their homes several times, lived on welfare for a while, and Cuba earned spare money by pulling weeds in the desert for the county and at the homes of private residents.

Undaunted by despair, Gooding stayed focused on the dream that he knew was attainable through dedication and hard work. He wasn't about to allow financial adversity to get in his way. "The hardest part was when I was in high school not having a job and always being broke," he says. "I had to get to auditions without a car. I either took the bus or walked."

It was during those high school years that he met Sara, his wife of three years. "We've been together since 1986. I graduated in '86 and she graduated in '88," he says. "We began dating when she was 17. Actually she turned 18 when we started kissing and stuff." The couple have two sons, Spencer, who's 2 1/2, and 6-month-old Mason.