With her dreadlocks and infectious laugh, Whoopi Goldberg is a great actress and a strong-willed personality. The “Sister Act” star is now turning 70.
Few actresses can look back on such a diverse and unorthodox career as Whoopi Goldberg: With just a handful of films, she rose to become the highest-paid actress in Hollywood in the 1990s and made film history as an African-American star. To this day, Whoopi Goldberg, with her characteristic, now graying dreadlocks, wire-rimmed glasses, and broad smile, remains a cult figure. She turns 70 on November 13.
Blessed with comedic talent and a sharp tongue, the New York native was already on stage at the age of eight. The little girl was inspired by the African-American actress Nichelle Nichols in the role of Officer Uhura in the television series “Star Trek”.
Caryn Elaine Johnson, Goldberg’s birth name, initially made a name for herself as a stand-up comedian on avant-garde stages. Due to a mishap on stage, she called herself “Whoopi,” derived from “whoopee cushion.” She borrowed the surname “Goldberg” from a family member. For three years, from 1979 to 1981, she worked in East Germany for a theater engagement.
Second African-American Oscar winner
The exceptional comedian was discovered by director Mike Nichols, who brought her one-woman show to Broadway. Her film debut came thanks to Steven Spielberg, who saw her “E.T.” parody on stage and cast her as the lead in the film adaptation of “The Color Purple” (1985). As the abused and humiliated Celie, who finally finds the courage to rebel against her husband, she moved millions of viewers to tears. And she made them laugh in many subsequent films, such as the spy comedy “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.”
Following her appearance as a clairvoyant in the fantasy thriller “Ghost,” Goldberg received her greatest acting honor in 1991 with an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress: 51 years after Hattie McDonald’s Oscar for the epic “Gone with the Wind,” Goldberg was only the second African-American actress to receive the highest award in the film industry.
When she got the nuns’ choir to swing
She rose to superstardom with the crime comedy “Sister Act” (1992). As a spirited nightclub singer who goes into hiding at a convent and gets the nuns’ choir swinging, she gained a worldwide fan base and inspired numerous choir films. For “Sister Act 2,” she received the highest salary ever paid to an actress at the time, seven million dollars. And she is an “EGOT” actress, having won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony Award for the musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”
Whoopi Goldberg has constantly reinvented herself throughout her eventful career. She impressed as a singer in “Sister Act” and Broadway musicals, but has also achieved success as a producer, TV presenter, and businesswoman – she sells cannabis products for menstrual pain. In 2024, she founded the first global women’s sports channel.
“I can play anything”
Her rise to fame was anything but smooth, as she wrote in her autobiographical bestseller “Bits and Pieces” (2024). In it, she recounts her years-long drug addiction and personal tragedies that derailed her life. At 20, after overcoming her heroin addiction, she married her drug counselor and became a mother to a daughter. Married three times so far, Whoopi Goldberg has three grandchildren and became a great-grandmother at the age of 58.
Goldberg, shy and introverted as a child, is a force of nature as both an actress and a person, defying categorization. She prefers to be called an “actor” rather than an “actress.” “An actress can only play a woman, I’m an actor, I can play anything,” she said in an interview.
Dedicated civil rights activist
Her diverse repertoire also includes the “Star Trek” series, where she plays barmaid Guinan, a regular customer. While the quality of her films, particularly in the 2000s, often leaves something to be desired, she continues to win many hearts as an actress portraying strong women who transcend racial and gender boundaries with wit and intelligence. One of her most outrageous performances was in “Who Is Mr. Cutty?” (1996), where, as an investment banker, she disguises herself as an old white man to boost her career.
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