What happened to John Goodman?

John Goodman turned 70 in 2022 and has become one of the most recognized and beloved comedy actors in Hollywood. Throughout his life, apart from his personal struggles, he has managed to leave a great legacy of unforgettable characters in the collective memory. But where is he now?

John Goodman's latest film was 'Easy Does It', released in 2019, where he played the role of Catfish Crawford in a story about two friends who are on the run in the southern United States in the 1970s.

Goodman is still very active on TV with a dark comedy: The Righteous Gemstones. He has been working with the show since 2018 in his role as Eli Gemstone, the widowed patriarch of a family of televangelists who tries to maintain order and preserve the power in this HBO Max series.

In 2022, the second season of the series was released. The character of Goodman and the rest of his family had to face the interference of acquaintances from the past and present who tried to end his empire.

And the series does not end there, because HBO has confirmed that filming of the third season of 'The Righteous Gemstones' is underway.

In another of his recent works, we can hear John Goodman's voice. It's the adult animation series 'The Freak Brothers' (2021), in which Goodman voices the character of Fat Freddy Freekowtski.

In March 2017, John Goodman was recognized with his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He posed as only he knows how and showed off his great sense of humor.

John Goodman has recently been in the news for his physique. The actor has little to do with that 'giant' to which we were used in the past. On December 6, 2021, he surprised everyone at the premiere of 'The Freak Brothers' in Los Angeles, where he appeared to be quite slim.

Goodman has lost 90 kilos (198,4 pounds) with respect to the 180 (396,8 pounds) that he weighed 15 years ago.

Working hard and, yes, it has not been sudden, but something gradual that has been carried out since 2007, as explained by the actor himself.

The secret of his physical improvement lies in the fact that he stopped drinking alcohol, watched his diet, and hired a personal trainer, all to solve what, over the years, had become a real health problem.

Goodman revealed in an interview with ABC News that he was "tired of looking in the mirror" and that "he lost 30 kilos (66 pounds), but then he went back to his old ways."

John Goodman's personal trainer, Mackie Shilstone, told The New York Post in an interviewthat Goodman had become a "regular on the treadmill and elliptical" and that he ate a menu "rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, wine, fish, shellfish and olive oil."

The new John Goodman not only had to fight against food but also against alcoholism that plagued him throughout his life and caused him depression. It was something that, as he explained in an interview with The Guardian, even affected his acting career. "... I drank for a while and towards the end of that, the lines would not come. And it was like a snowball. It just built up a lack of confidence that I could even learn lines..."

In another interview with Men's Heath, he stressed that he feared losing his job as an actor because of that problem: "For some reason, I just denied what I was doing to myself. It’s a miracle anyone would hire me at all, looking at me. I looked like a walking heart attack."

Finally, John Goodman has managed to overcome these personal adversities.

His career comes from afar and has made him a successful comedy actor.

John Goodman was born into a humble family in St. Louis (Missouri). His mother, Virginia, was a simple waitress and worker in a store, and his father, Leslie, who died when the future actor was barely two years old, was a postal worker. The family was completed with his two siblings, Elizabeth and Leslie.

Interestingly, John Goodman wanted to become a football player and pursued this career to the point that it earned him a scholarship to enter Missouri State University.

However, fate had something different in store for him. A serious injury ended his sports career, which caused him to focus all his efforts on becoming an actor.

His new horizon within the world of acting led John Goodman to move to New York in 1975, at the age of 22. There, he began to work as a theater actor on Broadway and in television commercials. In 1977, he made his debut in cinema with a small appearance in 'J a i l b a i t Babysitter' under the orders of John Hayes.

His time in that film was somewhat anecdotaland he was not seen again on the big screen until the early 1980s. But then, a glorious career started. His filmography consists of more than a hundred productions between film (94) and television (9).

In the movies, we remember him for great roles such as Delbert McClintock in 'Arachnophobia' (1990), Fred Flintstone, in 'The Flintstones' (1994), Mighty Mack McTeer in 'Blues Brothers 2000' (1998), and Bill in 'Coyote Ugly' (2000).

But where John Goodman especially stood out was when he became a favorite actor for the Coen brothers, with whom he worked in films like 'Barton Fink' (1991), 'The Hudsucker Proxy' (1994), 'The Big Lebowski' (1998), and 'Brother, Where Art Thou?' (2000).

Beside cinema, he has achieved great success in television, especially with his role as Roseanne's husband Dan in the series 'Roseanne.' He starred in the sitcom between 1988 and 1997: almost a decade for one of the characters of his life.

In total, John Goodman has participated in 16 (limited) TV series. In addition to 'Roseanne,' other outstanding titles are 'The West Wing', where he worked between 2003 and 2004, and 'Treme' (2010).

He has also lent his voice to TV characters like the killer robot Santa Claus from 'Futurama,' Larry in the animated series 'The Father of the Pride,' and Sulley in the Disney series 'Monsters, Inc.'

For the moment, we have John Goodman with 'The Righteous Gemstones.' An actor with a totally renewed appearance. We will surely continue to enjoy him in new roles soon.