John Goodman
Goodman in 2006
Born	John Stephen Goodman (1952-06-20) June 20, 1952 (age 60) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975–present
Spouse	Annabeth Hartzog (1989–present)

John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best 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.

Early life[link]

Goodman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His mother, Virginia Roos (née Loosmore), was a store clerk and waitress who worked at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que, and 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]

Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football and dabbled in theater. He then won a football scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University, now called Missouri State University.^[5] He pledged the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, but was not formally initiated until several years later. Later he discovered Southwest Missouri's drama program. He 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, leaving Missouri for New York in 1975.^[5]

With a small bankroll from his brother, he found an apartment on Ninth Avenue and 51st street near the Theatre District, Manhattan, and attempted (unsuccessfully) to earn money as a bartender and waiter. But, he was soon to find modest success on stage, in commercials and in voice over performance. 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 getting character roles in movies during the early 1980s.^[5]

In 1978, he joined Dennis Quaid, Bruce Willis and Kevin Kline in the Broadway production of Loose Ends.^[7]

Career[link]

Goodman is most famous for his role as Dan Conner on the American sitcom Roseanne, which aired on ABC from 1988 to 1997.^[5] 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). He was a popular guest host on NBC's Saturday Night Live, hosting the show twelve times, while also making seven cameo appearances as Linda Tripp during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.^[5] Goodman once auditioned to be a cast member for Jean Doumanian's tumultuous 1980–1981 SNL season, but was rejected.

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. He landed his big break into movies in 1986, when he had a significant comedic role in the David Byrne mockumentary True Stories.^[7] In that film, his character Louis Fyne memorably utters the line "I'm 6' 3" 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. 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]

Goodman had a guest role on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, as Pahrump, Nevada Judge Robert Bebe, earning a 2007 Emmy^[9] for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series for his performance.^[10] In addition, Goodman starred as Fred Flintstone in the Flintstones movie.^[8]

He voiced Robot Santa in the character's first appearance on Futurama. Beginning in 2007, Goodman has been the voiceover in Dunkin' Donuts commercials.^[11]

He appeared as a federal judge in the 1999 HBO production, The Jack Bull, bringing some semblance of order and justice to the story. He also appeared in the 2000 motion picture Coyote Ugly. 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 2007, Goodman starred as the antagonist in the movie Evan Almighty (directed by Tom Shadyac), opposite Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman.

A recent project was the film version of the Sophie Kinsella novel, Confessions of a Shopaholic, where he played Becky's father, Graham Bloomwood. The movie was released February 13, 2009. In the same year he starred in the epic drama Pope Joan as Pope Sergius II.

Goodman played the Ghost of Christmas Present in the 2008 Kodak Theatre production of A Christmas Carol, starring Christopher Lloyd as Ebenezer Scrooge. He is set to play the role of Pozzo in a Studio 54 revival of the play Waiting for Godot, opposite Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane. Goodman's voice can also be heard on an automated message system at Lambert St. Louis International airport.^[12] In 2009, Goodman lent his vocal talents to Disney's The Princess and the Frog, where he played "Big Daddy" La Bouff.^[13][14]

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 John would reunite with Roseanne Barr for a new NBC pilot titled Downwardly Mobile. The show will be set in a trailer park and use a multiple-camera setup and Goodman will play one of the residents of the community.^[15]

New Orleans residency[link]

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 is also featured in HBO series Treme, which shares many producers in common with The Wire. Treme focuses on a group of interconnected people trying to rebuild their lives in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Goodman plays Creighton Bernette, a Tulane English professor who suffers from depression.

In 2010, as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Goodman appeared in a commercial to raise awareness for the 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.

Personal life[link]

Goodman met his wife, Anna Beth Hartzog, in New Orleans while he was filming 1988’s Everybody’s All-American. They married in October 1989 and have a daughter named Molly Evangeline (born August 31, 1990).

In an April 16, 2009 interview with New York Times theater writer Charles McGrath, Goodman was open about his alcoholism. He says, "I don't know how much the old Jackie Daniels 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." He says he stopped drinking in 2007. "I could never please myself. That's part of what fuels the alcoholic, I guess. You set yourself impossible goals, and then you kick yourself because you're not good enough. But I can't do that every night. I don't have the energy anymore."

Towards the end of 2009–2010, Goodman lost a reported 100 pounds. He claimed that exercise and a journal of food he consumed is what helped him keep the weight off.^[16]

Filmography[link]