WHOOPI GOLDBERG’S BIOGRAPHY
WHOOPI GOLDBERG
Whoopi Goldberg is a well-known American comedian, actor, and producer. She was born on November 13, 1955, in New York, New York, United States. She performed a wide range of parts, from dramatic leading roles to controversial comedy performances. As a cohost on the television chat show The View, she also gained a lot of attention.
Whoopi Goldberg has the distinction of becoming the first Black woman to attain all four prestigious North American entertainment prizes, also referred to as EGOT, which include the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. A housing project in Manhattan was where Whoopi Goldberg spent her early years.
At the age of eight, she began her career in the performing arts by joining a children’s theater group. Subsequently, when she was a young adult, she worked in the choruses of Broadway productions.
In 1974, she relocated to the state of California, where she made a name for herself as a stand-up comedian and quickly became involved in the theater community there. At some point in time, she created The Spook Show, a one-woman stage act that was renowned for its comedy, satire, and drama. She went on to perform it all across the United States and Europe. That performance served as the foundation for the highly acclaimed Broadway production Whoopi Goldberg, which made its debut in 1984.
Goldberg then went on to win a Grammy Award for the recording of the show in 1985. Her first role in Hollywood was in the 1985 film The Color Purple, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award.
Whoopi Goldberg’s Early Years
At the age of eight, Whoopi Goldberg began her acting career by participating in children’s plays with the Hudson Guild Theater. She also spent a significant portion of her leisure time viewing movies, sometimes watching three or four films in a single day. She stated that she liked the concept that one could pretend to be somebody else and nobody would take them to the hospital. At the same time that Goldberg was becoming hooked to narcotics, she dropped out of high school in the 1960s. At long last, she decided to get treatment, and while she was doing so, she ended up getting married to her guidance counselor.
The incredible Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn E. Johnson in the vibrant city of New York. With her birth year estimated to be around 1955 (although some reports suggest 1949 or 1950), she was the eldest of Emma Johnson’s two beloved children. Goldberg’s father deserted the family, while her mother held a variety of occupations, including those of a nurse and a teacher.
During this time, she was employed as a counselor at a summer camp and also participated in the choruses of Broadway productions such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Hair.
Whoopi Goldberg’s Career
A New Beginning in California
With the intention of pursuing her childhood goal of acting, Whoopi Goldberg moved westward to San Diego, California, in the year 1974. She worked with a comedy ensemble called Spontaneous Combustion and appeared in plays with the San Diego Repertory Theater where she was a member. She had to work as a bricklayer, a bank teller, and an assistant at a funeral home due to the fact that she needed to provide for her daughter. In addition, she was on welfare for a period of time.
During this time, she was known by the name “Whoopi Cushion,” and she would give her name the pronunciation “ku-SHON” as if it were French. Goldberg decided to change the name when her mother made a comment about how absurd it sounded.
After moving to Berkeley, California, in the late 1970s, Goldberg became a member of the Blake Street Hawkeyes Theater, which is a comedy troupe. This played a significant role in her development of tremendous acting and comedic abilities, and it also led to the creation of seventeen distinct characters for a one-woman show that she referred to as The Spook Show. She began her performance of the show on the West Coast, and then, in the early 1980s, she went on tour around the rest of the country and Europe, finally arriving in New York City.
In September of 1984, film director Mike Nichols (1931–) volunteered to produce her show on Broadway when he became aware of her performances and was impressed by them. Her debut cinematic role was in the 1985 picture The Color Purple, which was directed by Steven Spielberg (1946–), who offered Goldberg the lead part. Because of her performance, Goldberg was honored with a Golden Globe Award and was also considered for an Academy Award nomination.
A highly public acting career was begun for Goldberg as a result of her success with The Color Purple. There have been over 150 film and television productions in which she has appeared since the year 1985. Her early film credits include the spy comedy Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986), which was directed by Penny Marshall; Fatal Beauty(1987), in which she co-starred with Sam Elliott; Clara’s Heart (1988); Homer & Eddie (1989), in which she co-starred with James Belushi; and The Long Walk Home (1990), a drama which was set during the civil rights period and co-starred Sissy Spacek.
A Sister Act
She also played the role of a weary lounge singer evading the Mafia in the smash hit Sister Act, which came out in 1992. Emile Ardolino’s Sister Act nominated Goldberg for Best Actress in a Comedy at the Golden Globes and won her an American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture. Due to the unexpected popularity of this film, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit was released in 1993.
In this sequel, Maggie Smith reprised her role as Mother Superior, while James Coburn and Lauryn Hill, who was a relatively unknown R&B performer at the time, also appeared. Goldberg made the announcement in November 2019 that she would be performing the part of Deloris Van Cartier once more in the upcoming production of Sister Act: The Musical in London, which would take place in the year 2020.
An Oscar for Ghost
With her role as Oda Mae Brown, a storefront medium and spiritual guide, in the 1990 film “Ghost”—which starred Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore—Whoopi Goldberg achieved numerous landmarks. She became only the second African-American woman to ever win an Academy Award when she was awarded the award for Best Supporting Actress in the year 1991. Both the Black Entertainer of the Year Award from the National Association of American Citizens and the Excellence Award from the Women in Film Festival were bestowed upon Goldberg as a result of her performance in this role.
Whoopi Goldberg made an appearance in the comedy Soapdish in the year 1991, which included an all-star cast that included celebrities such as Sally Field, Kevin Kline, and Elisabeth Shue, amongst others. Following that, she made an appearance in the 1992 film The Player, directed by Robert Altman and starring Tim Robbins, in which she played the role of Detective Susan Avery.
The Whoopi Goldberg Show
The Whoopi Goldberg Show was Goldberg’s first television chat show program, which she debuted in the year 1992. In 1993, the program was terminated due to low ratings, and it had aired for a total of 200 episodes. During that time, Goldberg conducted one-on-one interviews with major political figures and Hollywood celebrities.
Alongside her then-boyfriend Ted Danson, Goldberg also had an appearance in the feature film Made in America during the same year. Not only did Goldberg become the first woman to host the Academy Awards, but she did so in 1994, 1996, and 1999. She also co-hosted Comic Relief beginning in 1986, which was a live showcase of high-profile comedians intended to generate money for those who were without homes. One of the seven live showcases that she participated in earned her a special Emmy award in the year 1997.
As a result of her participation in the celebrity game program Hollywood Squares, which she began participating in in 1998, Goldberg was nominated for two daytime Emmy Awards. Two of the films that she appeared in during that time period are Girl, Interrupted (1999), which also starred Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, and The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), which she co-starred in with Michelle Pfeiffer. It was in the year 2002 that she won an Emmy for her starring part in the documentary Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel.
She also received a Tony Award for her work as a producer on the Broadway production “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” which she was awarded for. Whoopi Goldberg made her return to Broadway in 2004 to act in a one-woman play that was titled after her, and in 2006, she made her debut on a syndicated radio show called Wake Up With Whoopi and Friends.
The View
On September 4, 2007, Whoopi Goldberg was announced as the new moderator of the daytime discussion show The View. She defended football star Michael Vick in his dogfighting case on her first day of work, pointing out that the spectacle is not unusual for a resident of the South like Vick (who is a football player). During the program the next day, Goldberg argued that she had stated multiple times that she rejected Vick’s actions and did not condone them. Two years later, in 2009, she would win an Emmy in the “Outstanding Talk Show Host” category, which she would split with the rest of her television ensemble.
Due to the fact that political debate was frequently discussed on The View, Goldberg found herself in the heart of some of the show’s most heated interactions on occasion.
In 2010, she and her co-host Joy Behar left the stage when a conservative television pundit named Bill O’Reilly voiced his opposition to the establishment of a Muslim community center in the vicinity of the infamous ground zero site in Manhattan. There was a disagreement between Goldberg and another Fox News commentator named Jeanine Pirro in the year 2018 when Pirro accused Goldberg of having “[President] Trump Derangement Syndrome.” In September 2019, Goldberg made the announcement that she will be joining the CBS All Access adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand as the 108-year-old Mother Abigail. This decision inspired her to give an interview to The View a few days later with her hair white.
A Director and Author
Goldberg went out of her way to pursue other creative chances while she was working on The View. As the director of the documentary Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley, which was released in 2013, she went behind the scenes to examine the life and career of one of the first African-American women to achieve success in stand-up comedy. In addition, Goldberg made appearances on a number of episodes of the television musical Glee, and he was one of the well-known actors who participated in the movie Big Stone Gap (2015).
For her book, If Someone Says ‘You Complete Me,’ Run! published in 2015, she offered relationship advice. She is a writer who has written books for both children and adults.
Medical Marijuana Business
Goldberg made the announcement in March 2016 that she was going to develop a medical marijuana firm with the intention of assisting women who were experiencing menstrual troubles. Known as “Whoopi and Maya,” this brand is a product of collaboration between co-creator Maya Elisabeth, who is also the founder of another medical cannabis brand called Om Edibles, which was established in 2008. It was because of her long-term experience with unpleasant menstrual periods that Goldberg felt the need to stake her place in the rapidly expanding marijuana sector. Whoopi Goldberg said that the only way she could find relief was through the use of marijuana.
Whoopi Goldberg Husband
Goldberg’s former addiction counselor, Alvin Martin, was the man whom Goldberg wed in 1973. A divorce was finalized in 1979 after the couple produced a daughter named Alexandrea.