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HOLLYWOOD -- On March 24, Cuba Gooding Jr. entered the Academy Awards' history books.
His exuberant acceptance speech took the audience, host Billy Crystal and the cameramen by surprise.
Gooding, 29, had just won the best supporting Oscar for his performance in Jerry Maguire.
He leapt about the stage waving the statue and shouting out the names of every one he wanted to thank. The audience kept applauding. The cameras zoomed in. The floor director refused to cut to a commercial. It was Cuba's moment and the moment lasted throughout the night as the actor travelled from celebrity party to celebrity party carrying his enthusiasm with him.
"It's been crazy for me ever since Jerry Maguire came out," says Gooding.
In Jerry Maguire, Gooding plays Rod Tidwell, a NFL wide receiver who sticks with a disgraced agent played by Tom Cruise. Tidwell's catch phrase `Show me the money!' has entered popular culture.
"I went to the Super Bowl in New Orleans. I was mobbed by people all shouting `Show me the money!' It happens everywhere, from parking lots and malls to street corners and airports."
The Super Bowl incident put Gooding's new-found fame into perspective.
"My first professional gig was as a break-dancer for Lionel Richie at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. I remember the roar of that crowd.
"I pretended it was for me. I don't have to pretend any more. That's both exciting and scary."
Exciting because Gooding is receiving dozens of choice scripts each week and calls from filmmakers like Mike Nichols and Steven Spielberg. And he can ask studios to show him the money.
It's also scary because Gooding knows how fleeting fame can be. His father Cuba Gooding Sr. was the lead singer for the R&B band Main Ingredient. The group's 1972 hit song Everybody Plays The Fool made the Goodings temporarily affluent.
"We moved from the Bronx to California. We had everything for a little while, but then my parents split up. My mom ended up raising us on very little."
It's for this reason that Gooding prizes his family above fame and money.
Three years ago, Gooding married his high school sweetheart.
"Sara and I started dating in high school. We lived together for seven years before we got married. She's given me two wonderful children and we plan to have more."
Their son Spencer is two and their new son Mason was conceived while Gooding filmed Jerry Maguire last year.
"Sara and our boys are the basis of everything I do. If she feels she can't handle my being an actor, I'll give it up. There are other things I can do."
Go back to Taco Bell?
"Yes, I sold tacos when I was scrambling to get work, so I know the value of hard-earned money," he recalls.
Gooding's acting break came when he was cast as a neighborhood thug in a 1982 episode of TV's Hill Street Blues.
"Everyone said I wouldn't have to look back after that job, but I didn't get anything big for two years until Boyz `N The Hood.
"There was lots of hype ... but it didn't prove to be the breakthrough role everyone was predicting.
"I'm a Christian and I believe God has a plan. I don't completely understand it, but I'm going to play it as He wants. I trust Him."
Gooding will be seen later this year playing a flamboyant art dealer opposite Jack Nicholson in Old Friends.
In his spare time, Gooding plays hockey in a league that includes Cruise and Gooding's friend Wayne Gretzky.
There are big things in Gooding's future, including turning 30.
"With everything that's been happening for me, it's going to be a lot easier to turn 30.
"It's definitely a good time to be Cuba Gooding Jr."