ACTOR · BORN 1952

John Goodman

Born: 20 June 1952, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Known for: The Big Lebowski (1998), Coyote Ugly (2000), The Flintstones (1994), Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)

47 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026

John Goodman (born 20 June 1952) is an actor best known for The Big Lebowski, Coyote Ugly and The Flintstones.

John Goodman over the years

47 Interesting Facts About John Goodman

Interesting Facts (28)

#001
In 2005, his doctors instructed him to lose a great deal of weight. He described it as the biggest challenge he faced after quitting smoking in 2003.
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#002
On Inside the Actors Studio (1994), he stated that among all the projects he had worked on, The Big Lebowski (1998) was his favorite.
John Goodman: death sceneImage: Wikimedia Commons · Joe polletta, CC BY-SA 2.0
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#003
He was considered so essential to the feature-film version of The Flintstones (1994) that the project was going to be shelved when he turned down the role of Fred Flintstone.
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#004
He is one of Saturday Night Live's (1975) most beloved hosts, having hosted 13 times and made numerous surprise appearances starting with the 1989 season.
John Goodman: a sceneImage: Wikimedia Commons · Alan Light, CC BY 2.0
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#005
He had to lose weight in order to play Babe Ruth.
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#006
He was friends with Bruce Willis during the days when Willis was struggling as an actor in New York City.
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#007
Became a father for the first time at age 38 when his wife Annabeth Hartzog gave birth to their daughter Molly Evangeline Goodman on August 31, 1990.
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#008
His unique style of throwing darts — gripping the dart by its point with his thumb and index finger and then throwing it with the other end facing the board, so that the dart makes a 180-degree turn in the air and lands point-first in the board — can be seen in many of his films, such as King Ralph (1991).
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#009
In 2007, he quit drinking and promised to stay sober.
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#010
He was the first guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) when the show premiered on September 13, 1993.
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#011
Goodman's character Dan Conner on Roseanne (1988) ranked 13th on TV Guide's "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" list [June 20, 2004 issue].
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#012
He bought his home in New Orleans, Louisiana, from Trent Reznor, the mastermind behind the rock band Nine Inch Nails.
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#013
His wife, Anna Beth Goodman, owns a children's clothing store called Pippen Lane on Magazine Street in New Orleans, LA.
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#014
He is known for appearing in animated films more often than any other famous actor in film history, including as Frosty the Snowman in Frosty Returns (1993), Rex in We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993), Santa Claus in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998), Pacha in The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Kronk's New Groove (2005) and The Emperor's New School (2006), James P. "Sulley" Sullivan in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Mike's New Car (2002), Baloo in The Jungle Book 2 (2003), George Wolfsbottom in Clifford's Really Big Movie (2004), Sulley Truck in the end-title sequence of Cars (2006), Layton T. Montgomery in Bee Movie (2007), 'Big Daddy' La Bouff in The Princess and the Frog (2009), Santa Claus (again) in It's a SpongeBob Christmas! (2012), Mr. Prenderghast in ParaNorman (2012) and the young James P. "Sulley" Sullivan in Monsters University (2013).
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#015
John Goodman has played both the King of England (in King Ralph (1991)) and the President of the United States (in certain episodes of The West Wing (1999)).
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#016
John Goodman is a big fan of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
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#017
John Goodman enjoys fishing and playing golf.
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#018
He appeared in every episode of Roseanne (1988) up to its ninth (and final) season, and missed a dozen episodes that season (in other words, he was written out).
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#019
John Goodman appeared in four films with Steve Buscemi: Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Monsters University (2013).
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#020
John Goodman appeared in four films with Richard Jenkins: Sea of Love (1989), What Planet Are You From? (2000), One Night at McCool's (2001) and Kong: Skull Island (2017).
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#021
He bought a $4.6 million house in Pacific Palisades, California. It burned down in the January 2025 Los Angeles fire.
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#022
John Goodman appeared with Alec Baldwin in A Streetcar Named Desire (1995). Baldwin played the role created by Marlon Brando, and on Saturday Night Live (1975) he portrayed Robert De Niro. Goodman portrayed both Brando and De Niro on Saturday Night Live (1975).
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#023
John Goodman provided the voice of two computer-animated characters named Sullivan: James P. "Sulley" Sullivan in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Sullivan Truck in Cars (2006).
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#024
John Goodman's daughter, Molly Evangeline Goodman, was conceived during his honeymoon.
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#025
Did advertisements for Austrian Schnapps.
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#026
John Goodman played Dan Conner on Roseanne for nine years.
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#027
Goodman's and his Roseanne (1988)/The Conners (2018) co-star Alicia Goranson's birthdays are two days apart. To be more specific, Goodman's birthday is June 20, and Goranson's birthday is June 22.
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#028
John Goodman had his biggest film break with the Coen Brothers' Raising Arizona.
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Characters & Cast (4)

#029
He was considered for the role of Paul Hennessy in the series 8 Simple Rules (2002), which ultimately went to John Ritter.
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#030
His first television appearance was in a Burger King commercial in which he had no lines; he simply had to bite into a Whopper sandwich with relish.
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#031
He was considered for the role of Buck Russell in Uncle Buck (1989), which ultimately went to John Candy.
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#032
In 1980, John Goodman auditioned to join the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) for its sixth season but was rejected.
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Career & Awards (7)

#033
On March 10, 2017, he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6767 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
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#034
He began his career at a small theater in Springboro, Ohio, called Miami Valley Dinner Theatre (now La Comedia Dinner Theatre). He appeared in the musical "1776" (1975).
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#035
Although he was nominated multiple times for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards (two common indicators of Oscar contention), John Goodman was never nominated for an Oscar.
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#036
On May 18, 1997, he was honored with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame at 6508 Delmar Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri.
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#037
He appeared in a film selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Big Lebowski (1998).
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#038
He appeared in three films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar: The Artist (2011), Extremely Loud & Incredible Close (2011) and Argo (2012). The Artist and Argo won in the category.
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#039
John Goodman has worked with eight directors who won the Best Director Oscar: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, Barry Levinson, Michel Hazanavicius and Robert Zemeckis.
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Life & Family (8)

#040
Shortly after college, he moved to New York and lived in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. While trying to break into acting, he worked as a waiter and a bouncer.
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#041
Among John Goodman's drama classmates at Missouri State University were Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper.
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#042
He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, MO, in 1975.
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#043
John Goodman attended and graduated from Affton High School in Affton, MO, where he played football and took part in theater as an amateur.
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#044
He was born to postal worker Leslie Goodman Sr (who died in 1955) and his wife Virginia, a store clerk and waitress. He has a sister named Elisabeth (born after their father's death) and a brother named Leslie Jr (14 years older than John).
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#045
John Goodman was raised as a Southern Baptist, and his grandmother used to take him to tent revivals.
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#046
He was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon national fraternity (Missouri Eta chapter, Southwest Missouri State University).
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#047
John Goodman is of English, German and Gal origin.
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Daddy Day Care — John Goodman comes up in the facts on that page
Futurama — John Goodman comes up in the facts on that page
Mr. Mom — John Goodman comes up in the facts on that page

Sources & editorial notes

Reference databases

Wikipedia English Wikipedia article
IMDb IMDb name page (biography and trivia)

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