John Goodman Biography (3)
Goodman was raised in St. Louis by his mother after his father died when John was two years old. As a tall, broad-shouldered teenager, he attended Afton High School, where he dedicated himself to football. He intended to play for Southwest Missouri State, but injured a knee and was forced to sit out a year. He spent that time studying drama with fellow students Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. He never returned to playing football and graduated in 1975 with a BFA degree in theatre.
He performed in many dinner theatre and children's theatre productions, and in several off-Broadway plays. His regional theatre credits include Henry IV, Parts I and II, Antony and Cleopatra and As You Like It. His career escalated when he joined a road production of The Robber Bridegroom. Eventually, he starred in two Broadway shows, Loose Ends in 1979 and Big River in 1985.
Goodman made his screen debut in the HBO production Mystery of Moro Castle. His feature film credits include The Flintstones, Mother Night, Arachnophobia, Always, Pie in the Sky, Born Yesterday, Matinee, The Babe, King Ralph, Punchline, Everybody's All-American, Sea of Love, Stella, Eddie Macon's Run, C.H.U.D, Revenge of the Nerds, Maria's Lovers, Sweet Dreams, True Stories, The Big Easy, Burglar, The Wrong Guys, Fallen, The Borrowers, Blues Brothers 2000, The Runner and Bringing Out the Dead, and the HBO movie The Jack Bull. This year Goodman starred in Coyote Ugly, and What Planet Are You From? as well as the upcoming One Night at McCool's.
Goodman has also given many highly acclaimed television performances. He received Emmy Award nominations for his starring role in TNT's Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long and for his role as Mitch in the CBS production of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. For eight seasons, John played Dan Conner in Roseanne, a role that earned him seven Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe Award. Goodman returns to television this fall starring in his own series, Normal, Ohio.
Although he prefers to think of New York as a homebase, Goodman, his wife, Annabeth, and their young daughter, Molly, have homes in both Los Angeles and New Orleans.
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