American actress, comedian, author and TV personality Whoopi Goldberg was born 69 years ago as Caryn Elaine Johnson in New York City, is divorced and has a daughter.
As a kid, Whoopi attended a Catholic school, then continued her studies in a high school but dropped out. During the 70s, she travelled to San Diego, California where she worked as a waitress. Later she moved to Berkeley and did several jobs, plus joining a theatrical group, providing acting and comedy lessons as well as appearing in some stage productions.
Goldberg got her acting training in New York, and made her first screen appearance in 1982. In the 2 years that followed, she performed in a one-woman show called ‘The Spook Show’ interpreting monologues of different characters. A film and theatre director saw her performing and helped her take the show on Broadway, renaming it ‘Whoopi Goldberg’, which show ran until March 1985. There she was noticed by famous director Steven Spielberg who offered her the leading role in the 1985 drama movie ‘The Color Purple’, which was very well received and rendered her a star.
In the next 3 years, Whoopi was very busy working in 7 films including ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’, ‘Fatal Beauty’ and ‘Clara’s Heart’. At the beginning of the 90s, she took part in a sitcom and 2 movies i.e. ‘The Long Way Home’ starring also Sissy Spacek and ‘Ghost’, alongside Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. For the rest of that decade, Goldberg acted in no less than 30 movies as well as lent her voice to several animated movie characters. Some of the most popular films include ‘Sister Act’, ‘Made in America’, ‘Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit’, ‘Corrina, Corrina’, ‘Eddie’, ‘Ghosts of Mississippi’ and ‘Girl, Interrupted’.o
Since the year 2000 to date, Whoopi continued with her acting career and appeared in over 55 films, 7 theatrical productions, some 25 documentaries and more than 80 TV productions/shows/specials/voice roles. In some of them, she also acted as writer/developer/ producer/executive producer.
Apart from acting, Whoopi published 7 children’s books and 5 non-fiction ones. She has also released 10 songs, mainly used in some movies she acted in.
Goldberg is also an active philanthropist and supports several charitable institutions including human rights, LGBT, AIDS and animal cruelty.
During her long career, Goldberg received 70 awards out of 119 nominations. These include 2 Emmy, 2 Golden Globe, 1, Grammy, 1 Tony, 1 Academy and 1 BAFTA, amongst many others. She also received 10 Honorary Awards and 2 Honorary Degrees.
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