A gregarious actor with a smile that lights up the screen, Cuba Gooding, Jr. experienced the highs and lows of show business growing up as the son of his famous singer father. As he explained to the Los Angeles Times on January 5, 1997: "We lived in a big house and had chauffeurs, we'd go backstage at the concerts and then in the fifth grade . . . bang! Rock bottom." When his parents divorced, he moved with his mother, brother and sister out of the limelight and began facing financial hardships, which included stretches of being evicted and living in a car, as well as time on the welfare rolls. While the family was staying in a cheap motel in suburban Orange County, Gooding befriended future personal assistant Shawn Suttles and production company partner Derek Broes, and the three perfected their breakdancing moves, christening themselves the Majestic Vision Breakdancers.

that underserved their performer’s charisma. By the end of 2000, Garcia’s ability to play biographical figures and his obsession with music brought him back to television as legendary trumpeter Arturo Sandoval in HBO’s “For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story” (2000). For his work, he netted two 2001 Emmy nominations – one as its lead; the other as its producer.