Ask him where he is from and John will tell you he from L.A. (Lower Affton). Born in June of 1952, John's father was a postal worker who died of a massive heart-attack one month before his second birthday, and his sister Betty was 4 months away from being born.

John's older brother Leslie (15 years older) jumped in to help their mother Virginia and became sort of a father figure to both John and Betty. John and Les became very attached to each other and even to this day, John still looks up to Les and his mom still thinks John is ''a great son and a regular guy.''

Growing up for John was not easy. He will admit they were poor. They just did not know it at the time. John's mother Virginia, who did whatever it took to provide for her family.

She would take in wash, ironing, or work as a clerk. She knew she had to provide. John always speaks of his mother fondly. It's easy to tell he has immense respect for her. I understand why.

As a tall, broad-shouldered teenager, John Goodman attended Affton High School in St. Louis, where he dedicated himself to playing football (the team won only one game). In 1968 John made his made his theater debut in '''Lil Abner'' under the direction of Judy Rethwisch.

John graduated in 1970 and next entered nearby Meramec Community College, then transferred to Southwest Missouri State University . While John was in college, his brother Les began preparing his John's future.

Les was saving as much as he could, $5 and $10 at a time so that John could go on to Graduate school. John graduated in 1975 with a B.F.A. Degree in theater and figured that he really should give acting professionally a shot and it was not going to happen in Missouri.

Three months later, on August 15, 1975, with a thousand dollars that his brother Les had saved up for him, John climbed aboard an Amtrak train and headed for the bright lights of New York. The money lasted 3 months.

That was all the time the struggling young actor needed before he started to perform in numerous dinner theater and children's theater productions, and in several off-Broadway plays. It was not until 1978 when he debuted in an off-Broadway production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" that things started to come together. Later when he joined a road production of "The Robber Bridegroom" for nine months he was on his way.

Eventually, he starred in two Broadway shows, "Loose Ends" in 1979, and "Big River" in 1985. His other stage credits include; "Private Wars and Lone Star" (1979), "Lady of the Diamond" (1980), "The Chisolm Trail Went Through Here" (1981), "Henry IV, Part One" (1981), "Ghosts of the Loyal Oaks" (1981), "Half a Lifetime" (1983), "The Palace of Amateurs" (1983), "At Home" (1984), "Big River" (1985), and "Anthony and Cleopatra" (1987).

Speaking of "Big River"...the show opened on Broadway in April of 1985. John was cast to play 'Pap Finn' (Huck's father) and sang the gloriously hostile ''Guv'ment''. Rocco Landesman, president of Jujamcyn Theaters and producer of two Tony award-winning Broadway shows produced this production and had this to say about John's performance. 'John Goodman ruined 'Big River.' He was so great, so incredible, as Pap, that every actor who has played the role since has tried to imitate John, and you just don't get good acting when someone is imitating another actor,''

He got his first break doing commercials, mainly local spots for car dealers and such. A few national spots came his way as well such as 'Chunky Soup' for Campbell's. He still does commercials from time to time.

In the past he has plugged 'Budweiser' (on the radio), and 'Haggar' slacks among others. He also co-starred with John Lovitz in those 'M&Ms' commercials (the early commercials when the blue color was added...John Goodman was the yellow one). There are a few stills from his early commercials in the Photo Gallery.

Besides the lovable scamp 'Dan Conner' most of us have come to know him as on "Roseanne," for which he received Emmy nominations in 1989 and 1990. His television credits include guest starring roles in "Moonlighting", "The Paper Chase", "The Equalizer" and a pilot for ABC called "After Midnight". He also appeared in the 50th birthday specials of Bugs Bunny and Tom & Jerry. He returned to the theater once again, playing Falstaff in "King Henry IV," Parts I and II, at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego, California.

He has also lent his talent to a few children's productions. Including the film "We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story," the first episode of PBS's Storytime where he read "The Little Polar Bear" by Hans de Beer, and was the voice of 'Frosty the Snowman' in TV's "Frosty Returns."

John has also developed a talent for song. He has showcased this talent on "Roseanne" and in the movie "King Ralph" and "Blues Brothers 2000" but he has also performed live. He performed on stage with Bruce Willis and the Accelerators at several Planet Hollywood openings as well as at the 'House of Blues' of which he is a partial owner.

He performed at the temporary 'H.O.B.' set up next to the Olympic Centennial Park in Atlanta in 1996. He performed as well at the half-time show of SuperBowl 31 with his fellow 'Blues Brothers.'

John and his wife Annabeth, met on Halloween night at Tipitina's in New Orleans while he was filming "Everybody's All-American." She actually had no idea who he was, she just that he was very rude because he would talk to her, he just made noises.

Actually, John was totally smitten by her and suddenly felt incredibly clumsy and unable to talk coherently. As I heard the story, Dennis Quaid was at the table as well (main star of the movie) and Dennis chased Annabeth down and persuaded her to give John a second chance. She did. They were later married in 1989.

John is quite a chef and has a great recipe for Hearty Hash Browns, and can also be seen in a CD-ROM parody of the popular game 'MYST', called "PYST" where he plays 'King Mattruss'.

The town of Affton (and St. Louis for that matter) is quite proud of John. Some would even consider him a hometown hero. Well, I guess enough people thought fondly of him that on May 18th, 1997 John was awarded a star on the St. Louis walk of fame (It's located at 6508 Delmar in St. Louis). Quite literally it's a case of "hometown boy does good." John still loves his hometown. O'Leary's in Sunset Hills (it's on South Lindbergh) is one prime example. The walls are adorned with posters from his movies and photos from high school. If you ever stop by I hear that the fried pickle chips are really good.

O'leary's is not the only thing he's involved with. He has also joined Dan Dierdorf (among others) and invested in KTRS-550AM Talk Radio. (there are photos from the station in the Photo Gallery)
Not too shabby at all for a boy raised in Missouri. I join the rest of Affton & St. Louis in saying, Thank you John. Thank you for sharing your gift with the world.

Credit : fansofjohngoodman.com