Cuba Gooding Jr: Who alive today do you admire most, and what draws you to them?

The question

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

The Guardian's Q&A repeatedly uses this prompt, sometimes dropping 'living' while retaining the same comparative judgment.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Cuba Gooding Jr

American actor

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

President Obama: he was the first to accomplish something so great in our country as an African American.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2012 source ↗

Mentioned in this answer

Malala Yousafzai Education campaigner; co-founder of the Malala Fund; United Nations Messenger of Peace

Women in leadership positions in every field who are using their advantages to inspire younger women.

Recorded Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, July 2019 source ↗

Archie Panjabi British actress

Mathew Varghese, an orthopaedic surgeon who runs India’s only polio ward in Delhi. He provides reconstructive surgery to help survivors walk.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 3 February 2018 source ↗

David Attenborough, because he introduced me to the world.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 5 April 2025 source ↗

Sam Neill New Zealand actor

My brother, Michael. He is an academic and has devoted his life to scholarship; my life seems trivial by comparison. Bastard.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 June 2016 source ↗

When I am working. I hate to say it.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2012 source ↗

I wanted to meet Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained but he had Jamie Foxx in mind – that one hurt.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 8 June 2012 source ↗

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