John Goodman Biography

JOHN GOODMAN

Date of Birth: June 20, 1952

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, John Goodman went to Afton Senior High School and St. Louis Community College before heading to Southwestern Missouri State University on a football scholarship. But an injury compelled him to seek out a less physical major. He chose the drama department, attending classes with such stars-to-be as Tess Harper and Kathleen Turner.

Moving to New York in 1975, he supported himself by performing in children's and dinner theater, appearing in TV commercials, and working as a bouncer.

John made his off-Broadway debut in a 1978 staging of A Midsummer Night's Dream. He later moved to the Broadway stage when he was cast in such plays as Loose Ends and Big River.

In films from 1983, John has occasionally played villains or louts, but his likeable personality endears him to audiences even when his on-screen behavior is at its least sympathetic. He contributed topnotch supporting appearances to such films as Arachnophobia (1990) and Evan Almighty (2007), and has excelled in such starring assignments as King Ralph (1991), The Babe (1992) and The Flintstones (1994).

From 1988 to 1996, John appeared as blue-collar patriarch Dan Conner on the hit TV sitcom Roseanne, a role that earned him four Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe award. He also worked on the successful television movie A Streetcar Named Desire (1995), for which he earned another Emmy nomination. In 2001, he won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his work on Fox TV's sitcom Normal, Ohio.

He has since continued to land mentionable film roles, including in the Oscar-winner The Artist, the part of John Chambers in Ben Affleck's Argo (2012), the voice of Mr. Prenderghast in the animated feature ParaNorman (2012) and the part of Pete Klein alongside Clint Eastwood in Trouble with the Curve (2012).

He also voiced the character James P. "Sulley" Sullivan in the animated feature Monsters, Inc. 3D (2012)—a 3D re-release of the original film, which originally came out in 2001. John also voiced the character for the film's prequel, Monsters University (2013). Some of his other films include The Internship(2013), Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) and The Monuments Men (2014).

More recently, he starred in 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), the Boston Marathon bombing drama Patriots Day (2017), the action adventure Kong: Skull Island (2017) with Brie Larson and Tom Hiddleston, and Michael Bay's Transformers: The Last Knight (2017).

John has continued to take jobs and to hone his craft further with voiceover work in shows like Easy Does It (2019), The Cinnamon Bear: A Holiday Adventure (2021), Disney Dreamlight Valley (2022), reprising his performance of Sully and The Freak Brother (2020-2023). Most notably, John played Dr. Eli Gemstone on the hit TV series The Righteous Gemstones (2019-2025). He is also the voice of Papa Smurf in the Smurfs (2025) movie, acting alongside Rhianna as the voice of Smurfette.

Throughout his career he has contributed to over 50 films, has been the recipient of two American Comedy Awards and has hosted Saturday Night Live 13 times.

In October 1989 John married Anna Elizabeth Hartzog. They met while he was filming Everybody's All-American (1988). They have a daughter, Molly, born August 31, 1990.

Filmography:

Smurfs (2025)
Take Me to the River: New Orleans (2022)
Easy Does It (2020)
Captive State (2019)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
Once Upon a Time in Venice (2017)
Bunyan & Babe (2017)
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)
Patriots Day (2016)
Ratchet & Clank (2016)
Trumbo (2015)
Love the Coopers (2015)
The Gambler (2014)
The Monuments Men (2014)
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
The Hangover Part III (2013)
Monsters University (2013)
Argo (2012)
ParaNorman (2012)
Trouble with the Curve (2012)
Flight (2012)
The Artist (2011)
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)
Red State (2011)
You Don’t Know Jack (2010)
Drunkboat (2010)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
In the Electric Mist (2009)
Alabama Moon (2009)
Pope Joan (2009)
Speed Racer (2008)
Gigantic (2009)
Evan Almighty (2007)
Death Sentence (2007)
The Bee Movie (2007)
The Year Without a Santa Claus (2006)
Tales of the Rat Fink (2006)
Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing... (2005)
Kronk’s New Groove (2005)
Clifford’s Really Big Movie (2004)
Beyond the Sea (2004)
Freshman Orientation (2004)
The Jungle Book 2 (2003)
Masked and Anonymous (2003)
Dirty Deeds (2002)
One Night at McCool’s (2001)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
My First Mister (2001)
Storytelling (2001)
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000)
Coyote Ugly (2000)
The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)
O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
Dirty Work (1998)
The Borrowers (1997)
Mother Night (1996)
The Flintstones (1994)
We're Back! A Dinosaur’s Story (1993)
Born Yesterday (1993)
Matinee (1993)
Barton Fink (1991)
The Babe (1992)
Arachnophobia (1990)
Always (1989)
Sea of Love (1989)
Punchline (1988)
Raising Arizona (1987)
Burglar (1987)
The Big Easy (1986)
True Stories (1986)
Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
Maria's Lovers (1984)
C.H.U.D. (1984)