Cuba Gooding Jr

Born: 2nd January 1968
Where: The Bronx, New York

It all seems a long way from Gooding Jr's triumphant Oscar-winning portrayal of flamboyant professional football player Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire.

Subsequent roles have seen him slip off the critical radar after appearances in the woeful Boat Trip, the lacklustre Snow Dogs and the Beyonce Knowles vehicle The Fighting Temptations.

Goodng Jr - whose father was a singer in The Main Ingredient - made his feature debut as a 17-year-old high school student in John Singleton's coming-of-age drama Boyz N The Hood in 1991.

Gooding Jr went on to rave reviews (including a best newcomer of the year award) for A Few Good Men alongside Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise.

However, it was Jerry Maguire that set him firmly on the road with awards from the Screen Actors Guild and Black Oscars Award.

He segued directly into the James L Brooks' critically-acclaimed As Good As It Gets with Nicholson and Helen Hunt.

The actor went on to star opposite Robin Williams in What Dreams May Come and Instinct alongside Anthony Hopkins.

Next up was the action thriller Chill Factor and the role of Carl Brashear, the US Navy's first black salvage master diver in Men of Honor with Robert De Niro.

Subsequent roles include Jerry Bruckheimer's historically fanciful blockbuster Pearl Harbor and the children's move Snow Dogs.

Boat Trip - a sort of Cage Aux Folles at sea - marked a career low while The Fighting Temptations saw the actor reduced to the role of foil for Beyonce Knowles.

Recent work includes the role of Radio, a mentally retarded man taken under the wing of Ed Harris' football coach and the voice of Buck in Disney's Home on the Range.