Whoopi Goldberg Biography (3)
Born and raised in New York City, Whoopi worked in theatre and improvisation in San Diego and the Bay Area, where she performed with the Blake Street Hawkeyes theatre troupe. It was there that she created the characters that became The Spook Show and evolved into her hit Broadway show, Grammy Award-winning album and the HBO special that helped launch her career.
Whoopi made her motion picture debut in Steven Spielberg's film version of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe Award. Her performance in Ghost earned her the Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Whoopi has also appeared in such films as Jumpin' Jack Flash, Clara's Heart, The Long Walk Home, Soapdish, The Player, Sarafina!, Sister Act, Made in America, Corrina, Corrina, The Lion King, Star Trek: Generations, Boys on the Side, Eddie, Bogus, The Associate and Ghosts of Mississippi, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Deep End of the Ocean and Girl, Interrupted. Her recent films include Kingdom Come and Rat Race, which reunited her with her Ghost director, Jerry Zucker.
On television, Whoopi appeared for five seasons on Star Trek: The Next Generation, she co-starred with Jean Stapleton in Bagdad Café and hosted her own syndicated late-night talk show, The Whoopi Goldberg Show. She appeared with Glenn Close and Bridget Fonda in the Emmy-nominated HBO drama, In the Gloaming, directed by Christopher Reeve, as well as The Wonderful World of Disney's Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella and A Knight in Camelot and appeared in the mini-series Alice in Wonderland and The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns."
Whoopi has also made her mark as a producer. She is executive producer and appears in the center square on King World's popular, Emmy Award-winning Hollywood Squares. Goldberg also executive produces Lifetime's Strong Medicine, which is currently the #1 drama series on cable television. In addition to the recent Lifetime Original Movie What Makes a Family, Whoopi also executive produced and starred in the highly rated TNT Original Movie, Call Me Claus and Ruby's Bucket of Blood" for Showtime starring Angela Bassett. Other upcoming producing projects include the feature films The Piano Man's Daughter and The Mao Game and the forthcoming Broadway musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie.
Whoopi has appeared on many television series and specials, including her own HBO specials, three-time host of ABC's A Gala for the President at Ford's Theatre and eight Comic Relief telecasts with Billy Crystal and Robin Williams. Whoopi received Emmy Award nominations for hosting the 66th, 68th and 71st Academy Awards telecasts.
In addition to the Oscar, the Grammy and two Golden Globe Awards, Whoopi has been honored with multiple NAACP Image Awards, numerous People's Choice Awards (including a special tribute in 1998) and an unprecedented five Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards as Favorite Movie Actress, as well as various awards and honors for her many humanitarian efforts. She was honored with Women in Film's 2001 Crystal Award and became the first woman to be honored with the prestigious Mark Twain Prize.
In 1992, Whoopi made her debut as an author with her first children's book, Alice. Her second literary endeavor, simply entitled Book, became a bestseller in the U.S. and around the world. She returned to Broadway in 1997, garnering rave reviews in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. This summer, Whoopi returned to her performing roots, on tour for the first time in over 10 years, performing one-night-only engagements across the U.S., including the famed Apollo Theater.
Whoopi has placed prints of her hands, feet and braids in the forecourt of the famed Grauman's Chinese Theatre and recently received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in front of the new Kodak Theatre.
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