Cuba Gooding Jr. is a renowned African-American actor best known for his Academy Award winning role in ‘Jerry Maguire’, an American comedy sports film, which was directed by Cameron Crowe. After having appeared in small guest roles in TV series such as ‘Better Days’ and ‘Hill Street Blues’, he boosted his acting career with the 1991 American drama film ‘Boyz n the Hood’ which was directed by John Singleton. The film was a huge hit, and received several awards. For his performance, Gooding was nominated for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor. Later he appeared in the medical film ‘Outbreak’ which was directed by Wolfgang Peterson. The film focused on the outbreak of a fictional virus named the Motaba virus in Zaire, and later in the US. The film was a success, and for his performance Gooding was nominated for two awards as well. After having acted in several other successful films, he started acting mostly in direct-to-DVD films rather than theatrical and television releases. Some of his recent works include the 2013 movie ‘Life of a King’, and ‘Freedom’, a 2014 American film, where Gooding along with playing the lead role, also served as the executive producer.