ACTOR · BORN 1952
John Goodman
- Born
- 20 June 1952, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
- Known for
- Monsters, Inc. (2001), Cars (2006), The Big Lebowski (1998), Monsters University (2013)
44 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
25 Interesting Facts About John Goodman
- #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.
- #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.
- #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.
- #005
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.
- #007
He had to lose weight in order to play Babe Ruth.
- #008
He was friends with Bruce Willis during the days when Willis was struggling as an actor in New York City.
- #009
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).
- #011
In 2007, he quit drinking and promised to stay sober.
- #013
He was the first guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1993) when the show premiered on September 13, 1993.
- #014
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].
- #015
He bought his home in New Orleans, Louisiana, from Trent Reznor, the mastermind behind the rock band Nine Inch Nails.
- #018
His wife, Anna Beth Goodman, owns a children's clothing store called Pippen Lane on Magazine Street in New Orleans, LA.
- #019
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).
- #024
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)).
- #028
John Goodman is a big fan of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
- #031
John Goodman enjoys fishing and playing golf.
- #032
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).
- #033
John Goodman appeared in four films with Steve Buscemi: Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Monsters University (2013).
- #037
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).
- #038
He bought a $4.6 million house in Pacific Palisades, California. It burned down in the January 2025 Los Angeles fire.
- #040
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).
- #041
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).
- #042
John Goodman's daughter, Molly Evangeline Goodman, was conceived during his honeymoon.
- #043
John Goodman played Dan Conner on Roseanne for nine years.
- #044
John Goodman had his biggest film break with the Coen Brothers' Raising Arizona.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- IMDb IMDb
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