John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor, with Vanity Fair calling him "among our very finest actors".
After appearing in films such as Revenge of the Nerds (1984) and True Stories (1986), Goodman gained wide recognition playing the family patriarch Dan Conner in the ABC sitcom Roseanne (1988–1997), for which he received seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations and a Golden Globe Award. The success of the series led to leading roles in films King Ralph (1991), The Babe (1992), Matinee (1993), and The Flintstones (1994). Goodman is also known for his collaborations with the Coen brothers, acting in their films Raising Arizona (1987), Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). His voice performance roles include Disney's The Emperor's New Groove (2000) and Pixar's Monsters, Inc. franchise (2001–present). Other film roles include Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Speed Racer (2008), The Artist (2011), Flight (2012), Argo (2012), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), and Kong: Skull Island (2017).
In 2018, Goodman reprised his role as Dan Conner in Roseanne, and continued to play the character in its spin-off The Conners (2018–2025). He also acted in HBO drama series Treme (2010–2011), FX series Damages (2011), and the HBO comedy series The Righteous Gemstones (2019–2025). He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006) and was further Emmy-nominated for Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long (1995), A Streetcar Named Desire (1995), and You Don't Know Jack (2010). He is a member of the Five Timers Club having hosted Saturday Night Live 13 times from 1989 to 2013.
Goodman started his career at The Public Theater acting numerous productions including Henry IV, Part 1 (1981), The Skin of Our Teeth (1998), and The Seagull (2001). He made his Broadway debut Big River (1985), for which Goodman received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical nomination. He returned to Broadway in revivals of the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot (2009), and the newspaper comedy The Front Page (2016). Goodman made his West End debut in a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo (2015).
Early life and education John Stephen Goodman was born on June 20, 1952 in Affton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. His father, Leslie Francis Goodman, was a postal worker who died of a heart attack when Goodman was two years old. Goodman's mother, Virginia Roos (née Loosmore), was a waitress at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que, a retail store worker, and also took in laundry to support the family. Goodman has an older brother, Leslie, who is 14 years his senior, and a younger sister, Elisabeth, who was born six months after his father died. Goodman is of English, German, and Welsh ancestry and was raised Southern Baptist.
Goodman described his childhood as alone and withdrawn after his father had died so early and his brother had left to go to college. Goodman was bullied at school for being overweight. Until ninth grade, Goodman was in the Boy Scouts, which he said offered him the structure and camaraderie he missed; Goodman additionally looked to Boy Scout leaders, and later, acting coaches, as father figures. His brother later returned home to help raise Goodman and his sister. As a child, Goodman spent a lot of time listening to the radio and reading comic books, initially subscribing to DC's Green Lantern and The Atom, before turning to Marvel Comics. He also read his brother's copies of Mad and later confessed to shoplifting its paperback editions. Goodman credits his brother with introducing him to comedy and bebop.
Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football (offensive guard and defensive tackle) and dabbled in theater. After graduating in 1970, Goodman took a gap year. He earned a football scholarship to Missouri State University (then called Southwest Missouri State University, or "SMSU") in Springfield but tore his ACL before ever suiting-up to go onto the field. Instead, Goodman channeled his energy into the school's theater program.
Goodman pledged Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, though he did not join until several years later. Goodman discovered the university's drama program and studied there with future Hollywood stars Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. In December 2013, Goodman stated his school friends were his closest ones. Goodman graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1975, and in 2013, the university presented him with an honorary doctorate degree in humane letters.
Career 1980–1999: Film roles and Roseanne After graduating from SMSU, Goodman relocated to New York City. With a small bankroll from his brother, Goodman found an apartment in Hell's Kitchen near the Theater District and unsuccessfully tried to make money as a bartender and waiter. However, Goodman eventually found modest success in voice-overs, commercials, and plays. He was the person who slapped himself (uttering the tagline, "Thanks... I needed that!") in a television ad for Skin Bracer by Mennen. Goodman also performed off-Broadway and in dinner theaters before landing character roles in film during the early 1980s.
In 1982, Goodman made his film debut with a small role in Eddie Macon's Run. During this period he continued to work on the stage, starring as Pap Finn in Big River from 1985 to 1987. For his role, he received a Drama Desk nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical; he is also featured on the Original Broadway Cast Recording. Before landing his big break into movies in 1986 with a significant comedic role in True Stories, he starred in the movie Revenge of the Nerds, and later had a brief cameo as Otis in Sweet Dreams. In the former film, his character Louis Fyne says "I'm 6' 3" and maintain a consistent panda bear shape", establishing his trademark size as an important part of many characters he later played on film and stage.
Goodman rose to fame in acting by playing the role of Dan Conner on the ABC sitcom Roseanne from 1988 to 1997. He returned to the character in 2018 for the revived, 10th season, where he said "Roseanne and I just went back to having a ball", and then stayed on for the show's subsequent spin-off The Conners. Goodman 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 series' "First Guest Medal" (Goodman joked he would pawn the medal for a bottle of cheap Scotch). Goodman has hosted NBC's Saturday Night Live 13 times, while also making seven cameo appearances as Linda Tripp during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, three appearances as Rex Tillerson, and cameoing on the season 28 finale hosted by former SNL cast member Dan Aykroyd. With little to no experience in TV comedy, Goodman auditioned to be a cast member for Jean Doumanian's tumultuous 1980–1981 SNL season and was rejected, along with up-and-coming comedians Jim Carrey, Paul Reubens, and Robert Townsend.
Goodman first worked with the Coen brothers on Raising Arizona (1987). He went on to appear in their films Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Only Steve Buscemi has appeared in more Coen works (six films), though Frances McDormand and Jon Polito have also appeared in five of their films. He worked with Steven Spielberg on Always (1989) and had a supporting role in Arachnophobia (1990). In 1993, he starred as a William Castle-type filmmaker in Matinee opposite Cathy Moriarty, and in 1994 as Fred Flintstone in The Flintstones. Other films included King Ralph (1991), The Babe (1992), Fallen (1998), Blues Brothers 2000 (1998), and Bringing Out the Dead (1999).
2000–2009: Established star
Goodman had guest roles on the Aaron Sorkin television dramas The West Wing and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. In the former, he appeared in four episodes, playing Speaker of the House and eventual acting president Glen Allen Walken. In the latter, Goodman appeared as Pahrump, Nevada Judge Robert Bebe, earning a 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actor – Drama Series for his performance.
Goodman voiced Robot Santa in the character's first appearance on Futurama. Starting in 2007, he has been the voiceover in Dunkin' Donuts commercials. In 2000, Goodman provided the voice of Pacha in Disney's The Emperor's New Groove and, a year later, the voice of James P. "Sulley" Sullivan in Pixar's Monsters, Inc. He returned to the character for the film's 2013 prequel Monsters University (2013), the 2021 Disney+ series Monsters at Work, and for a 2024 update of the video game Disney Dreamlight Valley. In 2007, Goodman voiced Layton T. Montgomery in Bee Movie. Two years later, he voiced "Big Daddy" La Bouff in The Princess and the Frog. Goodman's voice can also be heard on an automated message system at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.Schneider, Michael. (April 22, 2010) Another tasty TLC entree. Variety. Retrieved on February 7, 2011. He was the original voice of the yellow M&M in 1995 before being replaced by J. K. Simmons the following year.
In theater, Goodman played the Ghost of Christmas Present in the 2008 Kodak Theatre production of A Christmas Carol, starring Christopher Lloyd as Ebenezer Scrooge. Goodman played the role of Pozzo in a Studio 54 revival of Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, opposite Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane. John Heilpern of Vanity Fair called it "the greatest Pozzo I've ever seen." In 2009, Goodman reprised the role of Pozzo at the Roundabout Theatre Company.
Goodman was cast in In the Electric Mist (2009) as Julie "Baby Feet" Balboni. At one time, he was 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. In The Princess and the Frog, Goodman lent his voice as Eli "Big Daddy" La Bouff also takes place in New Orleans. Goodman was also featured in Treme, a drama series focusing on a group of interconnected people trying to rebuild their lives in post–Hurricane Katrina New Orleans. Goodman played Creighton Bernette, a Tulane English professor, in the show's first season. Other films during this time included The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000), Coyote Ugly (2000), Storytelling (2001), Beyond the Sea (2004), Evan Almighty (2007), Speed Racer (2008), and Pope Joan (2009).
2010–present
In 2011, Goodman was a guest star on the third season of Community. He also voiced a character in the video game Rage voicing Dan Hagar, and played movie studio chief Al Zimmer in the Academy Award–winning live action film The Artist, as well as Best Picture nominee Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close the same year. Also in 2011, Goodman starred in Kevin Smith's Red State playing ATF Agent Joseph Keenan. In February 2012, it was reported that Goodman would reunite with Roseanne Barr for a new NBC pilot titled Downwardly Mobile. The series would have had Goodman portray a bachelor mechanic who resides in a trailer park, and would have used the standard multiple-camera setup traditionally found in sitcoms; however, the series' option was not picked up by the network.
During this time Goodman took prominent roles in films including Flight (2012), The Hangover Part III (2013), The Monuments Men (2014), Trumbo (2015), 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), Patriots Day (2016) and Atomic Blonde (2017). Goodman also voiced Hound in Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) and returned to the character in Transformers: The Last Knight (2017). With his well-received supporting roles in The Artist (2011) and Argo (2012), Goodman accomplished the rare feat of appearing in back-to-back winners of the Academy Award for Best Picture.