Focus Features

John Goodman

Mr. Prenderghast

A native of St. Louis, John Goodman graduated from Southwest Missouri State University and has been busy ever since.

His two most recent features, Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Michel Hazanavicius’ The Artist, were both Academy Award nominees for Best Picture; the latter film won the award along with four other Oscars, among other honors around the world.

Mr. Goodman’s many accolades include a Golden Globe Award, and 7 Emmy Award nominations, for his starring role in the television series Roseanne. He has also earned Emmy Award nominations for his performances in the telefilms Kingfish: A Story of Huey P. Long, directed by Thomas Schlamme; A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Glenn Jordan; and You Don’t Know Jack, directed by Barry Levinson, for which he also was a Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. He won an Emmy Award for his guest-starring role on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

ParaNorman continues the actor’s extensive voice performance work, which has included the features The Emperor’s New Groove, directed by Mark Dindal; The Princess and the Frog, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker; and the Oscar-winning Monsters, Inc., directed by Pete Docter. He is currently at work on the latter’s prequel, Monsters University, directed by Dan Scanlon.

Mr. Goodman has enjoyed a long collaboration with filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, on Raising Arizona, Barton Fink (for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination), The Hudsucker Proxy, The Big Lebowski, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and the upcoming Inside Llewyn Davis. In addition to the latter movie, he will soon be seen in Robert Zemeckis’ Flight; Ben Affleck’s Argo; and Robert Lorenz’s Trouble with the Curve, with Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams.

His numerous other feature credits include Harold Becker’s Sea of Love, opposite Al Pacino; Steven Spielberg’s Always; Joe Dante’s Matinee; and Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead. His many other television appearances include guest-starring arcs on Community, Damages, and Treme.

He has starred on Broadway in Waiting for Godot, earning rave reviews for his portrayal of Pozzo; Loose Ends; and Big River, for which he was a Drama Desk Award nominee. Also in NYC, he has starred in Mike Nichols’ Shakespeare in the Park staging of The Seagull; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui; and several off-Broadway plays. Mr. Goodman’s numerous other stage credits include dinner theater and children’s theater productions, as well as regional productions of Henry IV, Parts I and II; Antony and Cleopatra; As You Like It; The Robber Bridegroom; and A Christmas Carol.