By Wonderwall.com Editors
1:00am PDT, Jun 26, 2022
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From "Roseanne" to "Monsters, Inc.," John Goodman has been entertaining audiences for decades. In celebration of his milestone 70th birthday on June 20, 2022, Wonderwall.com is taking a look back at his life and career through pictures.
Keep reading for John's photo flashback…
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John Goodman was born on June 20, 1952, to a working-class St. Louis family. The future star was raised by his mother after his father died from a heart attack when John was 2. After graduating from high school and taking a gap year, John earned a football scholarship to Missouri State University. He graduated in 1975 with a fine arts degree and moved to New York City to pursue acting professionally. He's seen here at 36 in 1989.
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John Goodman struggled to find work in New York though landed several small roles in film and theater productions in the early '80s. His big break came in 1986 when he was cast to play Louis Fyne in "True Stories." The movie went on to become a cult classic and established John as an up-and-coming Hollywood star.
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Two years later, John Goodman landed the role of a lifetime on "Roseanne." He was cast as patriarch Dan Conner on the ABC series alongside Roseanne Barr, Laurie Metcalf, Sara Gilbert and Michael Fishman. "Roseanne" was an immediate hit, receiving rave reviews for its portrayal of a working-class family. The sitcom was No. 1 in the Nielsen ratings from 1989 to 1990.
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John Goodman hosted "Saturday Night Live" for the first time in 1989. He would go on to become an "SNL" staple, hosting the sketch comedy series 13 times and making seven cameo appearances as Linda Tripp during the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal. John also cameoed on the season 28 finale hosted by former "SNL" cast member Dan Aykroyd.
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John Goodman had more than one reason to celebrate in 1989. That year, he wed Annabeth Hartzog. The couple (seen here in 1989) soon moved to the Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana, where they built a home.
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And baby makes three! In August 1990, John Goodman and his wife, Annabeth Hartzog, welcomed their first and only child together, daughter Molly Evangeline. The happy couple are pictured here at the 1990 Academy Awards in Los Angeles.
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In 1991, John Goodman starred in his second of many Coen brothers collaborations, "Barton Fink." The critically acclaimed film swept the major award categories at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to receive three Academy Award nominations. John had previously starred in the Coen brothers' 1987 flick "Raising Arizona" and would go on to appear in three other Coen films, making him one of the brothers' most frequent collaborators. Only Steve Buscemi has appeared in more Coen brothers movies.
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In 1992, John Goodman scored a rare miss when he portrayed baseball icon Babe Ruth in the film "The Babe," which received mixed reviews and was a financial failure that got pulled from theaters after just a few weeks.
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In 1993, John Goodman won his first Golden Globe — for his work as Dan on "Roseanne." By this time, the show had a huge following: 36 million people tuned in to watch the 1992 season premiere and another 28 million watched the 1993 season finale.
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John Goodman's star continued to rise in the 1990s. He landed the role of Fred Flintstone in 1994's "The Flintstones" movie alongside Elizabeth Perkins as Wilma Flintstone, Rosie O'Donnell as Betty Rubble and Rick Moranis as Barney Rubble. The live-action film was a major box office success, earning almost $342 million worldwide against a $46 million budget.
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In 1997, America said goodbye to "Roseanne." By the time the final episode aired, John Goodman had received seven Emmy nominations, four Golden Globe nominations and one Golden Globe win for his performance on the show. He's pictured here with co-stars Roseanne Barr and Sara Gilbert after taping was completed on the 221st and final episode of the sitcom.
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John Goodman switched gears one year later, taking on the role of Vietnam veteran and schemer Walter Sobchak in "The Big Lebowski." The 1998 Coen brothers flick became a cult favorite and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress after being deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."
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John Goodman began the new millennium with a string of animated roles. The first voice role came in 2000's "The Emperor's New Groove." John played Pacha, a kind, caring village leader, in the film, which grossed $169 million. The DVD success of the movie helped to spawn a number of future projects starring John including 2005's "Kronk's New Groove" and the Disney TV series "The Emperor's New School."
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John Goodman found his most significant animated success when he starred as Sulley, a large blue monster and gentle giant who's a top scarer, in 2001's "Monsters, Inc." The Disney-Pixar film was an overwhelming success with critics and audiences alike that earned more than $577 million worldwide to become the third highest grossing film of 2001.
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In 2005, John Goodman reunited with his former "Roseanne" co-stars for the first time in more than eight years. John, Laurie Metcalf, Sandra Bernhard, Lecy Goranson, Roseanne Barr, Sara Gilbert and Michael Fishman all attended the "Roseanne" DVD launch party together in Los Angeles that July. The group is seen here posing for a pic on the red carpet.
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John Goodman continued to star in several popular films throughout the 2000s including "Evan Almighty," "Bee Movie," "Speed Racer" and "Confessions of a Shopaholic." He's pictured here on the set of 2007's "Evan Almighty," which also starred Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman.
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During an interview with The New York Times in 2009, the same year this photo was taken at one of his movie premieres, John Goodman revealed a decades-long struggle with alcoholism. "I don't know how much the old Jackie Daniel's franchise ruined my memory, which is going anyway, because of my advancing decrepitude. I had a 30-year run, and at the end I didn't care about anything. I was just fed up with myself. I didn't even want to be an actor anymore," he said. John got sober in 2007 after he "bottomed out." He's said he's tried to attend AA meetings every morning, according to later interviews with Vanity Fair and Vulture.
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After creeping up to nearly 400 pounds, John Goodman decided to start off the 2010s with some weight loss. "I know it sounds sappy, but it was a waste," he told People magazine. "It takes a lot of creative energy to sit on your a** and figure out what you're going to eat next … I wanted to live life better." By August 2010, John had lost more than 100 pounds by exercising and keeping a journal of what he was eating. He's pictured here looking slimmed down at the 2010 AFI Life Achievement Awards in June 2010.
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In 2011, John Goodman starred in another critically acclaimed movie, "The Artist." The black-and-white silent film is set in Hollywood between 1927 and 1932 and focuses on the relationship between an older silent film star and a rising young actress. John received universal praise for his performance as studio boss Al Zimmer in the project, which earned 10 Academy Award nominations and five Oscars, including best picture.
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John Goodman walked the red carpet with his daughter, Molly Evangeline Goodman, for the first time in 2011. The daddy-daughter duo attended the AFI Fest 2011 special screening of "The Artist" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood that November.
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What do you do after you star in a best picture Academy Award winner? Star in another one, of course! In 2012's "Argo," John Goodman played real-life makeup artist John Chambers, a prosthetic makeup expert who received the CIA's Intelligence Medal of Merit for his help during the Iran hostage crisis. "Argo" won the Oscar for best picture, making John one of the rare few actors who have appeared in back-to-back best picture winners.
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John Goodman returned to the big screen as Sulley in 2013 when he starred in the "Monsters, Inc." prequel "Monsters University." The Disney film, which focuses on Mike and Sulley's growing friendship in college, performed even better than the original, earning more than $744 million worldwide.
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Two years later, John Goodman appeared in another critical darling, "Trumbo." The 2015 film, which also starred Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren and Louis C.K., follows the life of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. John is shown here, looking good, at its London premiere.
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In 2017, John Goodman received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He's pictured here with wife Annabeth Hartzog and daughter Molly Evangeline Goodman during the ceremony.
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After years of up-and-down weight loss, John Goodman showed off a seriously slimmed-down frame in 2018, stepping out at events like the Golden Globes in January and the Disney ABC Upfronts in May (pictured). He opened up to AARP The Magazine about losing more than 100 pounds and keeping it off this time, explaining, "It was basically just portion control and 'I don't need it,'" the 6-foot-2 actor — who in 2011 revealed he was nearly 400 pounds at his heaviest — said. "I was just shoving everything into my mouth."
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In 2018, John Goodman returned to the small screen, reprising his role as Dan Conner on ABC's "Roseanne" reboot. The revival was an overwhelming success — until Roseanne Barr made controversial and racist comments on Twitter about former President Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. ABC swiftly canceled the "Roseanne" reboot after a single season, slamming Roseanne's commentary. "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said that May.
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In the wake of the Roseanne Barr scandal, ABC ordered a new spinoff, "The Conners," which starred the "Roseanne" cast sans Roseanne herself. The series premiered in October 2018 to critical acclaim, with more than 13 million viewers tuning in. John Goodman later commented that playing Dan Conner without Roseanne on the set was "really odd." In 2022, the show was picked up for a fifth season.
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"The Conners" isn't John Goodman's only TV hit in recent years. In 2019, he began starring on HBO's critically acclaimed dark-comedy series "The Righteous Gemstones" as Eli Gemstone, a former wrestler-turned-head pastor of a popular megachurch who's the patriarch of a dysfunctional family played by Adam Devine, Danny McBride and Edi Patterson. It was picked up for a third season in 2022.
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John Goodman started voicing the character Fat Freddy on TUBI's "The Freak Brothers" in 2021. The same year, the actor showed off his continued weight loss, which was rumored to be around 200 pounds at this point, alongside co-stars Blake Anderson and Pete Davidson at a red carpet event celebrating the show that December.
