Whoopi Goldberg

Goldberg was raised by her mother, Emma Harris Johnson, in the Chelsea-Elliot Houses public housing project in Manhattan. Her father, Robert James Johnson Jr., was a clergyman, and her older brother was Clyde. She has described her mother as a strong influence who raised the family as a single parent.

Goldberg has been married three times. She was married to Alvin Martin from 1973 to 1979, David Claessen from 1986 to 1988, and Lyle Trachtenberg from 1994 to 1995. She has one daughter, Alexandrea Martin, who became an actress and producer. Through Alexandrea, Goldberg has three grandchildren and a great-granddaughter.

Goldberg began performing at age eight with the Helena Rubinstein Children's Theatre at the Hudson Guild. She later studied with acting teacher Uta Hagen at HB Studio and performed in the choruses of Broadway productions including Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Pippin. After moving to California in 1974, she worked with improvisational theater groups and performed stand-up comedy while holding jobs that included mortuary cosmetologist and bricklayer.

In the early 1980s, she developed The Spook Show, a one-woman production built around original character monologues addressing race, addiction, and everyday life. Mike Nichols saw her perform and helped bring the show to Broadway under the title Whoopi Goldberg. The recording won the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording in 1985.

Steven Spielberg saw Goldberg's Broadway performance and cast her as Celie in The Color Purple, adapted from Alice Walker's novel. Her film debut earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama.

Goldberg won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Oda Mae Brown in Ghost (1990), opposite Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. She also won a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for the performance. The Oscar made her the second African-American woman to win an Academy Award for acting.

She followed Ghost with major roles in Soapdish, Robert Altman's The Player, and the comedy Sister Act (1992). She played lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier in Sister Act and reprised the role in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). Other prominent film credits include Made in America, The Lion King, Boys on the Side, The Associate, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and Girl, Interrupted.

A lifelong Star Trek fan, Goldberg played Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1988 to 1993 and reprised the character in two Star Trek films and Star Trek: Picard. She also voiced Stretch in Toy Story 3 and played Mother Abagail in the miniseries The Stand.

Goldberg hosted The Whoopi Goldberg Show for one season in 1992 and hosted the Academy Awards four times, in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2002. She also became the Center Square on Hollywood Squares, serving as an executive producer from 1998 to 2002. Her stage work included A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Xanadu, and the musical adaptation of Sister Act.

In 2002, Goldberg completed the EGOT by receiving a Daytime Emmy for producing Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel and a Tony Award as a producer of Thoroughly Modern Millie. She became the first Black woman to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award. Her other honors include the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and recognition as a Disney Legend.

Goldberg became moderator and co-host of The View in 2007. She has also written books for children and adults, directed the documentary Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley (2013), and produced television and stage projects. In 2016, she co-founded Whoopi & Maya, a company that made medical cannabis products for women experiencing menstrual discomfort.

Goldberg has supported human rights, AIDS research, children's issues, and campaigns addressing homelessness and substance abuse. She participated in the 1987 March on Washington for LGBTQ rights and joined Cyndi Lauper in launching the Give a Damn campaign in 2010, which promoted awareness of discrimination against LGBTQ people.

She has moderated panels on human rights and the use of social networks to fight violent extremism. Goldberg also served as a speaker at the Women's March in New York and has held advisory roles with the Jefferson Awards for Public Service and the National Museum of American Illustration.