John Goodman - Early Life

Early Life

Goodman was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His mother, Virginia Roos (née Loosmore), was a store clerk and waitress who worked at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que, while his father, Leslie F. Goodman, was a postal worker who died of a heart attack in 1954. He has a sister, Elisabeth Horvath, and a brother, Leslie.

Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football and dabbled in theater. He won a football scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State University. He pledged to Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, but was not formally initiated until several years later. He discovered Southwest Missouri's drama program and studied there with actors Kathleen Turner and Tess Harper. After a college injury ended his football career, he decided to become a professional actor, leaving Missouri for New York in 1975.

With a small bankroll from his brother, Goodman found an apartment on Ninth Avenue and 51st street near the Theatre District, Manhattan, and attempted unsuccessfully to earn money as a bartender and waiter. He was soon to find modest success on stage, though, in commercials and in voice over performance. He was the person who slapped himself in the commercial for Skin Bracer by Mennen, saying the famous line "Thanks ... I needed that!". He performed off-Broadway and in dinner theatres, before landing character roles in movies during the early 1980s.