John Goodman Movies and Career Information

John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role on the television series Roseanne, as well as his work with the Coen brothers, and as the voice of Sulley in the film Monsters, Inc. John Goodman was born in Affton, Missouri, the son of Virginia, a store clerk and waitress who worked at Jack and Phil's Bar-B-Que, and Leslie Goodman, a postal worker who died of a heart attack in 1954. He has a sister, Elisabeth, and a brother, Leslie, with his extended family living in St. Louis, Missouri. Goodman went to Affton High School, where he played football and dabbled in theater. He then won a football scholarship to Southwest Missouri State University, now called Missouri State University. He pledged the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, but was not formally initiated until several decades later. He admittedly "wasted a year in the keg," before discovering Southwest Missouri's drama program. He 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,