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Whoopi Goldberg

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File:Sarafina.jpg
Sarafina movie poster featuring Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg (born Caryn Elaine Johnson, November 13, 1955Template:Fn), is an Academy Award-winning American film actress, comedian, and singer. Although her father was a Protestant preacher, Goldberg says that her family is of mixed religious heritage - including Catholic, Buddhist and Jewish ancestry, hailing from a "West Indian" immigrant community. Her family background also is multiracial of black, Russian Jewish, Seminole, white, and Chinese descent as she stated in The Whoopi Goldberg Book. Her stage name was taken from 'whoopie cushion', which she initially wanted as her name, but chose the last moniker of Goldberg after her mother pointed out that her initial name pick would not look dignified enough to take seriously.

Background

Goldberg was born in New York City. After succeeding as a stand-up comedian in the San Francisco Bay Area, Goldberg created a one-woman show in 1983 called The Spook Show. This show caught the attention of Mike Nichols who produced a one-woman show for Goldberg on Broadway, called simply Whoopi Goldberg, which ran from October 24, 1984 to March 10, 1985, for a total of 156 performances. Goldberg's performance caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who was inspired to cast Goldberg in her film debut, an adaption of the award-winning novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker. This performance garnered her an Oscar nomination for best actress in 1986. She followed up this performance with a sell-out, highly acclaimed one-woman show on Broadway. The majority of the films she made in the 1980s featured her in tough-woman comedic roles (Burglar, Fatal Beauty, Jumpin' Jack Flash), though she regularly balanced them out by performing in family-oriented films (Clara's Heart).

In danger of fading from public acclaim, she revitalized her career in the role of a fake "spiritualist" who manages to actually make contact with the dead in the tear-jerker Ghost, for which she won an Oscar award for best supporting actress. She cemented her status as a legendary comedic actress in 1992 as a lounge singer who is hidden in a convent (and consequently revitalises their choir) in Sister Act. She had a recurring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Guinan, which she also reprised in two of the Star Trek feature films. A life-long Star Trek fan, as a girl she saw Nichelle Nichols portraying Lieutenant Uhura, and exclaimed, "Momma! Everybody! Come quick — there's a black lady on television, and she ain't no maid!"

Goldberg has appeared in 149 films as of October 2002. She has received two Oscar nominations and won one. She has received five Daytime Emmy nominations, winning one. She has received five Emmy nominations. She has received three Golden Globe nominations, winning two. She has won three People's Choice Awards. In 1999 she received the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Vanguard Award for her continued work in supporting the gay and lesbian community. She has been nominated for five American Comedy Awards with two wins. In 2001 she won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. She also hosted the Oscars in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002.

Goldberg was paired with Jean Stapleton in the CBS sitcom Bagdad Café (with a plot differing from the 1987 movie in several respects), which lasted two seasons (1990 - 1991). She hosted a syndicated talk show (The Whoopi Goldberg Show) in 1992 - 1993. She also starred in the sitcom, Whoopi, which began broadcasting in fall 2003 on NBC. Whoopi starred as Mavis Rae, the owner of a small New York Hotel (called the Le Mont Hotel). An ex-singer in a girl group, Mavis was as much of a diva running the hotel as she was in the group’s glory days. The sitcom was cancelled due to low ratings in May 2004.

Rather than the traditional autobiography, Goldberg wrote Book in October 1997, a collection of stories from her past and opinions. She is a strong supporter of abortion rights. In August 2004, Goldberg announced that she would be reviving her one-woman show on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre.

Goldberg also hosts the Arts and Entertainment section of Trivial Pursuit Unhinged, the PC game from Atari.

Goldberg appeared in TV ads as a spokeswoman for Slim Fast diet shakes, but the company dropped her in July 2004 after she made crude comments about President George W. Bush's last name during a Democratic fund-raiser at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Her most recent appearance on film is in the very explicit The Aristocrats, which features over 100 comics doing their interpretations of an old, rather filthy joke.

For the 2006 PBS program African American Lives, she had her DNA analyzed, and discovered that she is likely descended from the Pepel and Bayote people of Guinea-Bissau.

Filmography

Upcoming:

TV work

File:Tv sesame street whoopi.jpg
Whoopi Goldberg reflects on her favourite Sesame Street moments, in season 35.

She has made numerous guest appearances on Sesame Street, and guest hosting Live with Regis and Kelly.

Awards (only wins displayed)

  • Grammy Award - Whoopi, Direct from Broadway (1985)
  • National Board of Review - The Color Purple (1985, Best lead actress)
  • Golden Globe - The Color Purple (1986, Best lead actress)
  • Image Award - The Color Purple (1988, Outstanding lead actress
  • Image Award - Fatal Beauty (1990, Outstanding lead actress)
  • Academy Award - Ghost (1991, Best supporting actress)
  • Golden Globe - Ghost (1991, Best supporting actress)
  • Saturn Award - Ghost (1991, Best supporting actress)
  • Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award - Ghost (1991, Best supporting actress)
  • Image Award - Ghost (1992, Outstanding lead actress)
  • American Comedy Award - Ghost (1991, Funniest supporting actress)
  • Bafta Award - Ghost (1991, Best supporting actress)
  • Image Award - Special Award, Entertainer of the Year 1992
  • Aftonbladet TV Prize, Sweden (1992, Best Foreign TV personality)
  • Image Award - The Long Walk Home (1993, Outstanding lead actress)
  • American Comedy Award - Sister Act (1993, Funniest lead actress)
  • People's Choice Awards - Favorite Comedy Motion Picture Actress (1993)
  • People's Choice Awards - Favorite Motion Picture Actress (1993)
  • Hastings Pudding Theatricals (1993, Woman of the Year)
  • Image Award - Sister Act (1994, Outstanding lead actress)
  • People's Choice Awards - Favorite Comedy Motion Picture Actress (1994)
  • People's Choice Awards - Favorite Comedy Motion Picture Actress (1995)
  • Fantafestival - Theodore Rex (1996, Best Actress)
  • Image Award - How Stella got her groove back (1999, Oustanding supporting actress)
  • Walk of Fame - Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame (2001, Motion Picture)
  • Tony Award - Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002, Musical)
  • Gracie Allen Awards - Strong Medicine (2003, Producer)
  • Daytime Emmy - Beyond Tara: The extraordinary life of Hattie Mcdaniel (2002, Outstanding special class special)
  • Image Award - Good Fences (2004, Outstanding Actress in a TV movie, Mini-series or Dramtic special)

Discography

Jinkies man!

Notes

  • Template:FnbMany sources indicate 1949 as her year of birth. However, this is thought to be because of her trying to appear older early in her career, to get better roles as she dropped out of high school at an early age. All recent sources including New York birth records and Goldberg herself say 1955 is correct.
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