"Basically, though, I'm just lucky to love what I do for a living."
You trope John Goodman without a description and you are entering into a world of pain.
John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American film and television actor. In his early career, he was best known for playing Dan Conner on the ABC series Roseanne, a role which earned him a Golden Globe Award and seven Emmy Award nominations for Best Actor during his run.
He's known for his large frame (though he has recently lost a considerable amount of weight due to health concerns) and deep, familiar bass which makes him instantly recognizable. He's a frequent collaborator with The Coen Brothers, and is otherwise incredibly prolific to the point of being iconic.
In addition to his many accolades for his acting, a recent article
on FiveThirtyEight suggested, with considerable supporting analysis, that he is the greatest supporting actor of modern times.
Oh, and only Alec Baldwin (17) and Steve Martin (15) have hosted Saturday Night Live more times than he has (13).
Film Roles
- 1984 Revenge of the Nerds as Coach Harris
- 1984 C.H.U.D. as Cop in Diner
- 1986 True Stories as Louis Fyne
- 1987 The Big Easy as Det. Andre DeSoto
- 1987 Raising Arizona as Gale Snoats
- 1987 Burglar as Det. Nyswander
- 1989 Sea of Love as Det. Sherman Touhey
- 1989 Always as Al Yackey
- 1990 Arachnophobia as Delbert McClintock
- 1991 King Ralph as Ralph Hampton Gainesworth Jones
- 1991 Barton Fink as Charlie Meadows/Karl Mundt
- 1993 Matinee as Lawrence Woolsey
- 1993 We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story as Rex the Dinosaur (voice)
- 1994 The Hudsucker Proxy as Newsreel Announcer (voice)
- 1994 The Flintstones as Fred Flintstone
- 1996 Mother Night as Major Frank Wirtanen
- 1997 The Borrowers as Ocious P. Potter
- 1998 Fallen as Jonesy
- 1998 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie as Santa Claus (voice)
- 1998 Blues Brothers 2000 as Mighty Mack McTeer
- 1998 The Big Lebowski as Walter Sobchak
- 1998 The Real Macaw as Mac (voice; North American release)
- 1999 Bringing Out the Dead as Larry
- 2000 What Planet Are You From? as Roland Jones
- 2000 O Brother, Where Art Thou? as Daniel 'Big Dan' Teague
- 2000 Coyote Ugly as William James Sanford
- 2000 The Emperor's New Groove as Pacha (voice)
- 2005 Kronk's New Groove
- 2001 One Night at McCool's as Detective Dehling
- 2001 Monsters, Inc. as James P. 'Sulley' Sullivan (voice)
- 2013 Monsters University
- 2003 The Jungle Book 2 as Baloo (voice)
- 2004 Beyond the Sea as Steve 'Boom Boom' Blauner
- 2007 Death Sentence as Bones Darley
- 2007 Evan Almighty as Congressman Long
- 2007 Bee Movie as Layton T. Montgomery (voice)
- 2008 Speed Racer as Pops Racer
- 2009 Confessions of a Shopaholic as Graham Bloomwood
- 2009 The Princess and the Frog as Eli 'Big Daddy' La Bouff (voice)
- 2009 Pope Joan as Pope Sergius II
- 2011 The Artist as Al Zimmer
- 2011 Red State as Joseph Keenan
- 2011 Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as Stan the Doorman
- 2012 ParaNorman as Mr. Prendergast (voice)
- 2012 Trouble with the Curve as Pete Klein
- 2012 Argo as John Chambers
- 2012 Flight as Harling Mays
- 2013 The Hangover Part III as Marshall
- 2013 Inside Llewyn Davis as Roland Turner
- 2014 The Monuments Men as Capt. Walter Garfield
- 2014 Transformers: Age of Extinction as Hound (voice)
- 2015 Trumbo as Frank King
- 2016 10 Cloverfield Lane as Howard Stambler
- 2016 Ratchet and Clank as Grimroth Razz (voice)
- 2016 Patriots Day as Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis
- 2017 Kong: Skull Island as William Randa
- 2017 Atomic Blonde as CIA Agent Emmett Kurzfeld
- 2017 Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets as Igon Siruss (voice)
- 2019 Captive State as William Mulligan
Television Roles
- 1983 Chiefs as Newt "Tub" Murray
- 1988-1997, 2018 Roseanne as Dan Conner
- 2018-present The Conners
- 1995 Frosty Returns as Frosty the Snowman (voice)
- 2003-2004 The West Wing as Glen Allen Walken
- 2004-2005 Father of the Pride as Larry (voice)
- 2010-2011 Treme as Creighton Bernette
- 2011 Damages as Howard T. Erickson
- 2011-2012 Community as Vice Dean Robert Laybourne
- 2013 Dancing on the Edge as Masterson
- 2021-present Monsters at Work as James P. 'Sulley' Sullivan (voice)
- 2021 The Freak Brothers as Fat Freddy Freekowtski (voice)
Theater Roles
- 1975 Destry Rides Again as Tom Destry
- 1981 Henry IV, Part 1 as Blunt
- 1983 Triple Feature as Winninger (half)
- 1984-1987 Big River as Pap Finn
- 1998 The Skin of Our Teeth as Mr. Antrobus
- 2001 The Seagull as Shamrayev
- 2002 The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui as Emanuele Giri
- 2005 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as Big Daddy
- 2008 A Christmas Carol as the Ghost of Christmas Present
- 2009 Waiting for Godot as Pozzo
- 2015 American Buffalo as Donny
- 2016-2017 The Front Page as Sheriff Hartman
Tropes associated with his works:
- The Big Guy: One of the most famous actors of this type. Even after losing a considerable amount of weight in The New '10s for health reasons, the man still stands at an impressive 6'1.
- Deadpan Snarker: When his characters aren't raging or over the top, they're often this.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: An expert at playing characters like this. This can be hilarious as with Walter in The Big Lebowski or utterly terrifying as seen in 10 Cloverfield Lane.
- Large Ham: Magnificently so, though he can pull off subtlety with just as much expertise.
- Playing Against Type: Zig-zagged. Originally he was cast as calm and harmless characters until getting the role of Walter, an aggressive and militant Large Ham. After The Big Lebowski came out, Walter has become his new character type, so he's getting to play both kind-hearted and hot-headed roles.
- What Could Have Been: Goodman actually auditioned to be a Saturday Night Live cast member when the show was looking for new cast members during its sixth season. Because he was inexperienced with TV acting at the time, he wasn't picked.
