Editing Cuba Gooding Jr. (section)

===1997–2012: Established actor ===
[[File:Cuba Gooding Jr. 2016 Daytona 500.jpg|thumb|Gooding at the [[2016 Daytona 500]]]]
In 1997, Gooding followed his breakout with a notable supporting role in the acclaimed Academy Award-winning comedy ''[[As Good as It Gets]]'' (1997). In the following years, his career was inconsistently successful. Some of his best-received performances include turns in films such as the mystical drama ''[[What Dreams May Come (film)|What Dreams May Come]]'' (1998) and the US Naval drama ''[[Men of Honor]]'' (2000), in which he played the lead role and co-starred with [[Robert De Niro]]. Gooding also received attention for his roles in the epic ''[[Pearl Harbor (film)|Pearl Harbor]]'' (2001) as [[Doris Miller]], the ensemble farce ''[[Rat Race (film)|Rat Race]]'' (2001), musical dramedy ''[[The Fighting Temptations]]'' (2003), and the football drama ''[[Radio (2003 film)|Radio]]'' (2003), in which he played the title role. Additionally, though not well received critically, the family comedy ''[[Snow Dogs]]'' (2002) was a commercial success. In 2002, he was given a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]]. Gooding starred in an online video game called "The Quest For The Code" which focuses on juvenile asthma management.<ref>{{cite news | title = Cuba Gooding Jr. | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QM40AAAAIBAJ&pg=4576,1832246| agency = Associated Press | newspaper = Lodi News-Sentinel | date = January 18, 2002 | access-date = June 5, 2011 }}</ref>

Other roles during this time include Theo Caulder in the psychological thriller ''[[Instinct (1999 film)|Instinct]]'' (1999). He voiced Buck the [[Horse]] in the [[The Walt Disney Company|Disney]] animated film ''[[Home on the Range (2004 film)|Home on the Range]]'' (2004). However, during this stage of his career, he appeared in a series of films that were not critically or commercially successful, such as ''[[Chill Factor (film)|Chill Factor]]'' (1999), ''[[Boat Trip (film)|Boat Trip]]'' (2002), ''[[Norbit]]'' (2007) and ''[[Daddy Day Camp]]'' (2007), all of which received extremely negative reviews and, except for ''Norbit'', performed poorly at the box office. 

Since then, in contrast to earlier stages of his acting career, Gooding has appeared in more critically ignored, [[direct-to-video|direct-to-DVD]] films than theatrical or television releases. A well-received performance as [[Ben Carson]] in the [[TNT (American TV network)|TNT]] film ''[[Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story]]'' (2009), and a small supporting role in [[Ridley Scott]]'s ''[[American Gangster (film)|American Gangster]]'' (2007), both proved to be exceptions to this trend. 

Gooding's next major film role was in the 2012 [[World War II]] film ''[[Red Tails]]'', produced by [[George Lucas]]. In 2012, Gooding starred in a TV pilot for [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] called ''Guilty'', which was directed by [[McG]]. Though it was well received in screenings, it was ultimately not picked up by the network. He appeared on [[Channel 4]]'s ''[[Chris Moyles' Quiz Night]]'' on August 5, 2011, closing the show in a duet, "[[Bad Romance]]", with [[Lulu (singer)|Lulu]].