--- title: Cuba Gooding Jr. to Star in TV Dramatization of O.J. Simpson Trial description: Cuba Gooding Jr. has been cast as O.J. Simpson in the first season of FX’s new series 'American Crime Story' canonical: https://time.com/3627173/cuba-gooding-oj-simpson-trial-american-crime-story/ author: Elizabeth Barber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-10T04:53:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T02:43:20.936Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Cuba Gooding Jr. to Play O.J. Simpson in Trial Drama og:description: It's his first TV series lead. og:url: https://time.com/3627173/cuba-gooding-oj-simpson-trial-american-crime-story/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c3799348f7c8621/69876dee8e06013c68459233/cuba-gooding-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cuba Gooding Jr og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Cuba Gooding Jr. to Play O.J. Simpson in Trial Drama twitter:description: It's his first TV series lead. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c3799348f7c8621/69876dee8e06013c68459233/cuba-gooding-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Cuba Gooding Jr. Will Star in a TV Dramatization of O.J. Simpson's Trial by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Dec 10, 2014 4:53 AM CUT  Cuba Gooding Jr. in New York, Jan. 2014. Cuba Gooding Jr. in New York, Jan. 2014.Craig Barritt—Getty Images by [Elizabeth Barber](/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Dec 10, 2014 4:53 AM CUT Cuba Gooding Jr. has been cast as O.J. Simpson in the [first season](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/12/09/cuba-gooding-jr-cast-as-o-j-simpson-in-ryan-murphys-american-crime-story/ "undefined") of FX’s new series _American Crime Story_, which takes as its subject the 1995 murder trial of the infamous ex-footballer. This will be the Academy Award–winning actor’s first lead role in a TV series, the _Wall Street Journal_ reports. Sarah Paulson, of _American Horror Story_, has been cast as prosecutor Marcia Clark in the debut season, which is entitled _The People vs. O.J. Simpson_ and reportedly hews close to Jeffrey Toobin’s 1996 book on the trial _The Run of His Life_. Producer Ryan Murphy, who co-created _Glee_ and _American Horror Story_, said the new series does not yet have an official premier date but might debut in January 2016\. Each season, he says, will dramatize trials that transfixed the public in real life. \[[_WSJ_](http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/12/09/cuba-gooding-jr-cast-as-o-j-simpson-in-ryan-murphys-american-crime-story/ "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3627173/cuba-gooding-oj-simpson-trial-american-crime-story/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3627173/cuba-gooding-oj-simpson-trial-american-crime-story/"},"headline":"Cuba Gooding Jr. Will Star in a TV Dramatization of O.J. Simpson's Trial","datePublished":"2014-12-10T04:53:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:43:20.936Z","description":"It's his first TV series lead","url":"https://time.com/3627173/cuba-gooding-oj-simpson-trial-american-crime-story/","keywords":["Television"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c3799348f7c8621/69876dee8e06013c68459233/cuba-gooding-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elizabeth Barber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/elizabeth-barber/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c3799348f7c8621/69876dee8e06013c68459233/cuba-gooding-jr.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cuba Gooding Jr","caption":"Cuba Gooding Jr in New York, Jan. 2014.","creditText":"Craig Barritt—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3627173/cuba-gooding-oj-simpson-trial-american-crime-story/","name":"Cuba Gooding Jr. Will Star in a TV Dramatization of O.J. Simpson's Trial"}}]}] ```