Caryn Elaine Johnson

HE FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO WIN AN EMMY AWARD, A GRAMMY AWARD, AN ACADEMY AWARD, AND A TONY AWARDCaryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg, is an American actress, comedian, author, and television personality.

A recipient of numerous accolades, Goldberg is one of sixteen entertainers to have won an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award.

Goldberg’s film breakthrough came in 1985 for her role as Celie, a mistreated woman in the Deep South, in Steven Spielberg’s period drama film The Color Purple, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and won her first Golden Globe Award. Whoopi Goldberg

Goldberg also starred in Penny Marshall’s directorial debut Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986), Burglar (1987), Fatal Beauty (1987), and The Telephone (1988).

For her performance in the romantic fantasy film Ghost (1990) as an eccentric psychic, Goldberg won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a second Golden Globe Award.https://youtu.be/iyHNryKojDY?list=PL99Djnb8oDmgRfeTeVlPC2slyGEg2s5Hr
Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1/5) Movie CLIP – Deciphering Mick Jagger (1986) HD

In 1992, Goldberg starred in the comedy Sister Act, earning a third Golden Globe Award nomination. She reprised the role in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), making her the highest-paid actress at the time.https://youtu.be/BSbb1_UO6zY
Sister Act 1

A theatre performer and producer, Goldberg has performed in Broadway productions, one of which was a one-woman show that produced a comedy album that earned her a Grammy Award. She has starred in the revivals of Stephen Sondheim’s musical comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1996) as Pseudolus and in August Wilson’s historical drama Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2003) as Ma Rainey.https://youtu.be/ord7gP151vk

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom | Official Trailer

She has won a Tony Award as a producer of the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. In television, Goldberg portrayed Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

https://youtu.be/g5QJcblkgik

Guinan And Picard • the whole scene | Star Trek Picard Season 2 Episode 1

Since 2007, she has co-hosted and moderated the daytime talk show The View, for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award. She has also hosted multiple Academy Award ceremonies.

https://youtu.be/1dZqb7WXoY8

Whoopi Goldberg Sets The Record Straight On Trump’s Claims About ‘View’ Appearances

Whoopi Goldberg (born Caryn Elaine Johnson; November 13, 1955) is an American actress, comedienne, author and talk show host. She made her movie debut in The Color Purple which she won a Golden Globe Award. Goldberg was partners with Frank Langella from 1996 until they separated in 2001. She is currently a co-host on The View.

In 2022, Goldberg was temporarily banned from The View for making insensitive comments regarding the Holocaust.
Notes:
https://www.vulture.com/2020/10/in-conversation-whoopi-goldberg.html

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg#:

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000155/bio/

Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan on November 13, 1955. Her mother, Emma (Harris), was a teacher and a nurse, and her father, Robert James Johnson, Jr., was a clergyman. Whoopi’s recent ancestors were from Georgia, Florida, and Virginia. She worked in a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway. She moved to California and worked with improv groups, including Spontaneous Combustion, and developed her skills as a stand-up comedienne. Goldberg came to prominence doing an HBO special and a one-woman show as Moms Mabley. She has been known in her prosperous career as a unique and socially conscious talent with articulately liberal views. Among her boyfriends were Ted Danson and Frank Langella. Goldberg was married three times and was once addicted to drugs.https://youtu.be/_Av5MkVfdLY?list=PLtpVqy8gFVUav4eikjqZNQybzfbZxLJfp

Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley | OPENING | A Film by Whoopi Goldberg & Tom Leonardis

Goldberg had her first big film starring role in The Color Purple (1985). She received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for her role and became a major star as a result.
https://youtu.be/wPwzBUui1GA

The Color Purple | Official Trailer

Subsequent efforts in the late 1980s were, at best, marginal hits. These movies mostly were off-beat to formulaic comedies like Burglar (1987), The Telephone (1988) and Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986). She made her mark as a household name and a mainstay in Hollywood for her Oscar-winning role in the box office smash Ghost (1990). Whoopi Goldberg was at her most famous in the early 1990s, making regular appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). She admitted to being a huge fan of the original Star Trek (1966) series and jumped at the opportunity to star in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.
https://youtu.be/IVfPqJT86Ls

Whoopi Offers A Peek At Guinan’s Return In “Star Trek: Picard” Season Two

Goldberg received another smash hit role in Sister Act (1992). Her fish-out-of-water with some flash seemed to resonate with audiences and it was a box office smash. Whoopi starred in some highly publicized and moderately successful comedies of this time, including Made in America (1993) and Soapdish (1991). Goldberg followed up to her success with Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993), which was well-received but did not seem to match up to the first.
https://youtu.be/SsrF72gV80Y

The Associate

As the late 1990s approached, Goldberg seemed to alternate between lead roles in straight comedies such as Eddie (1996) and The Associate (1996), and took supporting parts in more independent minded movies, such as The Deep End of the Ocean (1999) and How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998). Goldberg never forgot where she came from, hosting many tributes to other legendary entertainment figures. Her most recent movies include Rat Race (2001) and the quietly received Kingdom Come (2001). Goldberg contributes her voice to many cartoons, including The Pagemaster (1994) and Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990), as Gaia, the voice of the earth. Alternating between big-budget movies, independent movies, tributes, documentaries, and even television movies (including Theodore Rex (1995)).
https://youtu.be/2A1Fvc_HD5I

How Stella Got Her Groove Back | #TBT Trailer | 20th Century FOX

Whoopi is accredited as a truly unique and visible talent in Hollywood. Perhaps she will always be remembered as well for Comic Relief, playing an integral part in almost every benefit concert they had. Whoopi is also the center square in Hollywood Squares (1998), sometimes hosts the Academy Awards, and is an author, with the book “Book.”

– IMDb Mini Biography By: Scott msa0510@mail.ecu.edu

https://youtu.be/3Y0ChgIed0o

Hollywood Squares (February 8, 2000) – Whoopi hosts act 3!

Family

Spouses

Lyle Trachtenberg(October 1, 1994 – October 26, 1995) (divorced)

David Claessen(September 1, 1986 – October 4, 1988) (divorced)

Alvin Martin(1973 – January 20, 1983) (divorced, 1 child)
Children

Alex Martin
Parents

Emma Johnson (Harris)

Robert James Johnson Jr.
Relatives

Amara Skye Dean (Grandchild)

Trademarks

Deep husky voice
Dreadlocks and no eyebrows
The role of Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
Often wears wire-rimmed sunglasses

Trivia

- As of 2023, she is one of only six actresses who have won an Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy, also known as the EGOT. The other five in order are: Helen Hayes, Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi, Jennifer Hudson and Viola Davis.
- Dropped out of high school and became addicted to heroin. She ended up marrying her drug counselor. She cleaned up and later divorced him. In 1974, she moved to California and helped found the San Diego Repertory Company, where she used the name, Whoopi Cushion. Before making it as an actress, she worked as a bank teller, a bricklayer and in a mortuary.
- Has performed all her own singing in the Sister Act movies. Her co-stars have claimed that they were surprised at her vocal ability.
- Michael J. Fox accompanied her to the 1986 Academy Awards when she was nominated for The Color Purple (1985).
- 1994: Became the very first woman to host the Academy Awards solo.

Quotes

- [on critics, on the Queen Latifah Show (1999)] “You can say whatever you want about me, but talk about my daughter and I’ll beat your ass up.”
- [while hosting the The 71st Annual Academy Awards (1999)] A Bug’s Life (1998). Wasn’t that the Linda Tripp Story?
- My family is Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist and Catholic.
  I don’t believe in man-made religions.
- I’m a big old egotistical baby and that’s okay. I can accept it.
- [on Alice Walker, author of “The Color Purple”, on her efforts to get a role in the film (The Color Purple (1985)) that was made from it] I told her I would play a Venetian blind, dirt on the floor, anything.