Age: 73
male
John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He rose to prominence in television before becoming an acclaimed and popular film actor. Goodman has received numerous accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Vanity Fair has called Goodman "among our very finest actors." Goodman is known for his collaborations with the Coen brothers, acting in films such as Raising Arizona (1987), Barton Fink (1991), The Big Lebowski (1998), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). He took on leading roles in King Ralph (1991), The Babe (1992), Matinee (1993), The Flintstones (1994), and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016). Goodman also had supporting roles in Revenge of the Nerds (1984), True Stories (1986), Sea of Love (1989), Bringing Out the Dead (1999), Storytelling (2001), Speed Racer (2008), The Artist (2011), Flight (2012), Argo (2012), The Hangover Part III (2013), and Atomic Blonde (2017). He has voiced roles in The Emperor's New Groove franchise (2000–2008), the Monsters, Inc. franchise (2001–present), The Jungle Book 2 (2003), and Bee Movie (2007). On television, Goodman gained recognition by playing the family patriarch Dan Conner in the comedy series Roseanne (1988–1997; 2018) and The Conners (2018–present). Goodman had regular roles in the HBO drama series Treme (2010–2011), the legal drama series Damages (2011), the political comedy series Alpha House (2013–2014), and the HBO comedy series The Righteous Gemstones (2019–present). He has been a frequent host of Saturday Night Live (1989–2013) and has guest starred in The West Wing (2003–2004), Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006), and Community (2011–2012). Goodman started his career at The Public Theatre, acting in numerous productions, including Henry IV, Part 1 (1981), The Skin of Our Teeth (1998), and The Seagull (2001). He made his Broadway debut in Big River (1985), for which Goodman received a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical nomination. He returned to Broadway in revivals of the Samuel Becket play Waiting for Godot (2009) and the newspaper comedy The Front Page (2016). Goodman debuted his West End in a revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo (2015).
As a boy, John Dolittle displays an ability to talk to and understand animals, starting with his pet dog. His behavior disturbs his father Archer, who hires a local minister to perform an exorcism on his son, but after John's dog attacks him, Archer sends her to the pound. John eventually forgets he can talk to animals. As an adult, John is a doctor and surgeon living in San Francisco. He is happily married to his wife Lisa, and has two daughters, typical teenager Charisse, and nerdy Maya, who has a pet guinea pig named Rodney, and what she thinks is a swan egg, which she hopes will bond with her upon hatching. A large medical company owned by Mr. Calloway seeks to buy John's practice, a deal which his colleagues Mark Weller and Gene Reiss are enthusiastic about. John's family goes on vacation, but he must return to work to see a patient, and then pick up Rodney. He nearly hits a dog, which gets up and angrily shouts at him in English. The next day, Rodney starts talking to John, who has no memory of his gift, and thinks he is having a mental breakdown. John has a CT scan after animals start asking for favors when he helps a wounded owl, and he then unwittingly adopts the dog he ran over, eventually naming him Lucky. John starts secretly helping various animals, including a suicidal circus tiger named Jake, who feels great cerebral pain. Through all this, John begins learning to re-appreciate his gift, at one point confiding to both Lucky and Mark that he has never felt excited about his work in years. However, Lisa and Mark catch him performing CPR on a rat, and have him institutionalized. Believing his gift is a hindrance, John rejects all abnormality in his life and returns to work, but in doing so, ostracizes Maya as well, who comes to believe he doesn’t like her. Maya admits to Archer that she liked the idea of her father talking to animals. John eavesdrops on the conversation and has a change of heart. John admits to Maya that he does like her for who she is, and encourages her to continue being what she wants to be. John then apologizes to Lucky, and together, they steal Jake from the circus to perform surgery on him. Mark and Gene catch John, but Gene tires of the former’s opportunistic attitude and helps John. When Jake is exposed to the party for the buyout, John calmly goes on with the operation. Archer reveals to Lisa that John's gift is real, encouraging her to venture into the operating theatre and keep Jake calm whilst her husband and Gene remove the cause of Jake’s pain, saving Jake's life. Calloway is impressed with John's talent, but he declines the deal. John becomes both a doctor and a veterinarian, embracing his ability to talk to animals. In the film's final scenes, Maya's egg hatches, but is revealed to be a baby alligator, and John and Lucky are shown walking to the circus and talking with each other.
