Mason Gooding (born November 14, 1996) is an American actor. The son of Academy Award winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr., he has appeared in television series and films, known for his roles in horror. He had a recurring role in the HBO television series Ballers (2018) and a starring role in Love, Victor, a teen drama series on Hulu (2020–2022).
He has appeared in the films Booksmart (2019) and Fall (2022), and portrayed Chad Meeks-Martin in Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023), and Scream 7 (2026). He also starred in Heart Eyes (2025).
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Early life
Gooding was born on November 14, 1996 in Los Angeles to Sara Kapfer and actor Cuba Gooding Jr. He is the middle of three children. His paternal grandfather was Cuba Gooding Sr., the former lead singer of R&B band, The Main Ingredient, and his uncle is actor Omar Gooding. His paternal great-grandfather immigrated to the United States from Barbados.
Mason Gooding attended Windward School in Mar Vista, Los Angeles, where he played varsity football for four years. He graduated in 2015. During high school, his main interests were football and theater. In an appearance on Live with Kelly and Mark on August 4, 2026, Gooding talked about being 300 pounds and playing every offensive line position. After an ACL injury while playing on defense, he was told "football's probably not for you... Is there anything else that you're passionate about, that excites you?" He wanted to begin acting after graduation, but decided to attend college after visiting his father on set in New York. He enrolled in New York University Tisch School of the Arts in Manhattan to study dramatic writing and psychology. He dropped out during his junior year in order to pursue acting full time.
Career
In 2017, while still in college, Gooding found a manager and an agent and began booking roles. While at N.Y.U., he was a PA and a featured background player on the web series Spring Street. He booked his first major acting role in the dramedy Ballers on HBO alongside Dwayne Johnson. In 2018, Gooding played his first major film role in Booksmart, directed by Olivia Wilde in her directorial debut. In 2019, he was cast as Andrew in Love, Victor, the television spinoff of the 2018 film Love, Simon. Originally developed for Disney+, the series premiered in 2020. While he had played football in high school, he had to learn how to play basketball for the role. Gooding appeared in Let It Snow, a Christmas-themed romantic comedy on Netflix later in 2020.
In 2020, he also began appearing in Freeform's sitcom Everything's Gonna Be Okay. In September 2020, Gooding was cast as Chad Meeks-Martin in the fifth Scream film, which was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released on January 14, 2022. In late August 2021, Gooding co-starred alongside Kesha and Chloe Bailey in the scripted podcast Electric Easy, a musical neo-noir science fiction show set in futuristic Los Angeles. Humans struggle to co-exist with robots, known as “electrics”. The show was created by Vanya Asher and executive produced by Kesha. The podcast premiered on August 30, 2021. Gooding reprised his role of Meeks-Martin in the film Scream VI, released on March 10, 2023. He portrayed the character again in Scream 7.