Whoopi Goldberg

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jupiterjones (talk | contribs) at 14:26, 16 October 2006 (→‎Background). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

File:Sarafina.jpg
Sarafina movie poster featuring Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg (born Caryn Elaine Johnson, November 13, 1955[5]), is an Academy Award, Daytime Emmy Award, Golden Globe, Tony, BAFTA and Grammy Award-winning American comedian, film actress and radio DJ.

Although her father was a Protestant preacher, Goldberg says that her family is of mixed religious heritage - including Catholic, Buddhist and Jewish traditions [citation needed], hailing from a "West Indian" immigrant community. Although she has a religious family heritage, she does not consider herself in any religious order. 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. According to an 2006 interview, she stated that, "If you get a little gassy, you've got to let it go. So people used to say to me, 'You are like a whoopee cushion.' And that's where the name came from."[1]

Whoopi is one of only a few individuals (including Barbra Streisand, Mel Brooks, Rita Moreno, Audrey Hepburn and Helen Hayes) who have won an Oscar, a Tony, an Emmy, and a Grammy. She also is the second black female performer to win an Academy Award for acting, and currently is the only black female performer to be nominated for an Oscar more than once.

Background

Goldberg was born in New York City. In childhood, she struggled as a student at Berkwood Hedge, a private school in Berkeley, California, due to dyslexia (though she would not be diagnosed as dyslexic until adulthood). Eventually the disorder troubled her so much, she dropped out of high-school and, in the process, got addicted to heroin. She eventually cleaned up her act, and married her drug counselor, with whom she had one child. They divorced after a matter of years. Whoopi would marry again twice. 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 major film debut, an adaptation of the award-winning novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker. This performance garnered her an Oscar nomination for best actress in 1986. She had previously read the book, and contacted Ms.Walker, saying she would be willing to be anything in the movie, including dirt or a venetian rug, because she loved the script so dearly. Her comedy acts previous to this golden-hit movie eventually won her the role, after performing in front of Steven Spielberg and Michael Jackson, among other famous figures. Alice Walker had also previously seen Goldberg in a show, and thought she was "magical." 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).

Goldberg and long time friend Britni Moore came to the attention of much of the U.S. public when their two-woman Broadway show was broadcast as an HBO special in 1985. They played a number of characters in a series of sketches, which were humorous but also examined bigotry, sexism and a variety of other issues of the day. 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. It was named #45 in a magazine's list of "50 best characters of all time" She cemented her status as a comedic actress in 1992 as a lounge singer who is hidden in a convent (and consequently revitalises their choir) in the box office smash Sister Act. She had a recurring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Guinan, a role which she 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!" When asked why she requested the role on Star Trek TNG, she explained that she could not manage to receive any other role at the time, and was a big fan of Star Trek, as mentioned before. It is rumored that she was not paid for this role. However, it made her fans quite happy, and ultimately three action figures were made that resembled Whoopi in her highly acclaimed costume.

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. A variety of biographies and movies have been made about her, as well. 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.[2]

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. In May 2006, Clear Channel announced that Whoopi Goldberg would be hosting her own syndicated radio show titled Wake Up With Whoopi which debuted on July 31, 2006.[3] She briefly dated Ted Danson, her co-star in the 1993 movie Made in America. They made news when they appeared together with Danson in blackface.

Trivia

  • In July 2006, Whoopi Goldberg became the main host of the Universal Studios Hollywood Backlot Tour, in which she appears multiple times in video clips shown to the guests on monitors placed on the trams.
  • In August 2006, after multiple disruptions of her radio show by the fanbase of the Opie and Anthony show on XM Satellite Radio and various terrestrial stations, primarily on CBS Radio, Goldberg had a good-natured on-air discussion with the "shock jocks," which immediately quelled any possible "war" between the two shows.[4]
  • Premiere Magazine named Oda Mae Brown (from Ghost) to be one of the best movie characters of all time at number 95.[6]
  • Lack of eyebrows is one of her trademarks[7].

Filmography

Upcoming:

  • It's Under My Skin (2006)
  • The Lasy Guy on Earth (2006)
  • Yankee Irving (2006) (voice)

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 won

  • 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)
  • 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 Dramatic special)
  • MVP of the 2003 Kinko's Celebrity Softball Game
Preceded by Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1990
for Ghost 		Succeeded by

Discography

Notes

  • ^ Many 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 that 1955 is correct.
  • ^ In Book written by Whoopi about her observations, Goldberg claims that her family background is multiracial, consisting of black, Russian Jewish, Seminole, white, and Chinese descent. On the PBS documentary African American Lives, a DNA test concluded that Goldberg is of 92% African heritage.

References

  1. ^ an August 20, 2006 Sunday New York Times Magazine interview
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ [2]
  4. ^ [3]
  5. ^ [4]
  6. ^ http://www.premiere.com/article.asp?section_id=6&article_id=1539&page_number=12
  7. ^ according to IMDB

See also

External links

Preceded by "Oscars" host
66th Academy Awards 		Succeeded by
Preceded by "Oscars" host
68th Academy Awards 		Succeeded by
Preceded by "Oscars" host
71st Academy Awards 		Succeeded by
Preceded by "Oscars" host
74th Academy Awards 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Whoopi_Goldberg&oldid=81789819"