# Whoopi Goldberg
**Whoopi Goldberg** (born Caryn Elaine Johnson, 1955) is an American comedian, actor, producer, and talk-show host who is one of the small group of performers to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award (EGOT status). She rose to fame with a one-woman Broadway show in 1984, earned an Academy Award nomination for her film debut in *The Color Purple* (1985), and won the [Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-supporting-actress) for *Ghost* (1990). Since September 2007 she has been the moderator of the ABC daytime talk show *The View*.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) • [2](https://www.nps.gov/home/learn/historyculture/whoopi-goldberg-legacy-banner.htm)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Caryn Elaine Johnson, 1955, New York City; raised in the Chelsea section of Manhattan[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) |
| Breakthrough | One-woman show *The Spook Show* (1983), moved to Broadway in October 1984 as *Whoopi Goldberg*, presented by director Mike Nichols[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/whoopi-goldberg-4350) |
| Film debut | Celie in Steven Spielberg's *The Color Purple* (1985); Academy Award nomination and Golden Globe Award[4](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg) |
| Oscar | Best Supporting Actress for *Ghost* (1990)[2](https://www.nps.gov/home/learn/historyculture/whoopi-goldberg-legacy-banner.htm) |
| EGOT | Grammy (1986, Best Comedy Recording), Oscar (1991), Daytime Emmy and Tony both in 2002[5](https://www.grammy.com/artists/whoopi-goldberg/2455/) • [6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Whoopi-Goldberg/) |
| Oscar host | First woman and first African American solo host of the Academy Awards (1994); hosted four times (1994, 1996, 1999, 2002)[7](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/whoopi-goldberg) • [18](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1994/memorable-moments) |
| *The View* | Moderator since September 4, 2007[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) |
## Early life
Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in New York City in 1955 and grew up with her older brother, Clyde, in a housing project in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, raised by their mother, Emma.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) After the Civil War, only a limited number of [African Americans](https://www.edgepedia.org/african-americans) obtained Florida land through the Southern Homestead Act, and her great-great-grandparents were among them; two generations later, her forebears had moved north to New York.[2](https://www.nps.gov/home/learn/historyculture/whoopi-goldberg-legacy-banner.htm)
She has described struggling with then-undiagnosed dyslexia, which she says led her to leave high school, and she later learned she was dyslexic only as an adult.[7](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/whoopi-goldberg) • [8](https://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/) As a young girl she took up performing, and when she was 19 she relocated to California in pursuit of a show business career.[2](https://www.nps.gov/home/learn/historyculture/whoopi-goldberg-legacy-banner.htm) In San Diego she performed with the improvisational group Spontaneous Combustion, where she adopted her stage name, and she later joined the Blake Street Hawkeyes theater troupe in the [San Francisco Bay Area](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-francisco-bay-area).[2](https://www.nps.gov/home/learn/historyculture/whoopi-goldberg-legacy-banner.htm) • [4](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg) During these years she also worked jobs including bank teller, bricklayer, and mortuary cosmetologist.[9](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/whoopi-goldberg)
## The Spook Show and Broadway
In San Francisco Goldberg developed the character monologues that became *The Spook Show*, a one-woman show built around distinct characters including Fontaine, a drug user with a doctorate in literature, and a young Black girl who wished she had blonde hair.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) • [10](https://thegrio.com/2026/06/18/before-sister-act-before-the-color-purple-there-was-the-whoopi-monologues/) She brought the show to New York's Dance Theatre Workshop in 1983, where it attracted critical attention, and director [Mike Nichols](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-nichols) saw her perform.[8](https://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/) In 1984 Nichols presented her on Broadway in a revised version of the solo act, retitled simply *Whoopi Goldberg*; the production opened at the Lyceum Theatre on October 24, 1984.[3](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/whoopi-goldberg-4350) • [8](https://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/)
The recording of the show won the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Recording, and an HBO special, *Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway*, followed.[5](https://www.grammy.com/artists/whoopi-goldberg/2455/) • [4](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg) Goldberg revived the show on Broadway in 2004 for its 20th anniversary.[11](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whooping-it-up-on-broadway/) In 2026 an off-Broadway reimagining, *The Whoopi Monologues*, directed by Whitney White and starring [Kerry Washington](https://www.edgepedia.org/kerry-washington), Kara Young, Dominique Fishback, Kecia Lewis, and Danielle Pinnock, reintroduced the original monologues to audiences.[10](https://thegrio.com/2026/06/18/before-sister-act-before-the-color-purple-there-was-the-whoopi-monologues/)
## Film career
[Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg) cast Goldberg in the leading role of Celie in his 1985 film adaptation of [Alice Walker](https://www.edgepedia.org/alice-walker)'s novel *The Color Purple*. The performance brought her an Academy Award nomination and her first Golden Globe Award, for Best Actress.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) • [4](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg)
Her subsequent 1980s films included *Jumpin' Jack Flash* (1986), *Fatal Beauty* (1987), *Clara's Heart* (1988), and the civil rights drama *The Long Walk Home* (1990).[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) Her career revived with the 1990 film *Ghost*, in which she played the storefront medium Oda Mae Brown opposite [Patrick Swayze](https://www.edgepedia.org/patrick-swayze) and [Demi Moore](https://www.edgepedia.org/demi-moore). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and a second Golden Globe for the role.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) • [4](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg)
**Sister Act and the 1990s.** The 1992 comedy *Sister Act*, in which she played a lounge singer hiding in a convent, grossed $231,605,150 worldwide and led to a 1993 sequel, *Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit*.[12](https://playbill.com/article/playbill-on-opening-night-sister-act-whoopee-for-whoopi-com-178472) After *Sister Act* she became one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood for a single film.[7](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/whoopi-goldberg) Her other films include *Soapdish*, [Robert Altman](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-altman)'s *The Player*, *Made in America*, *Boys on the Side*, *Ghosts of Mississippi*, *How Stella Got Her Groove Back*, and *Girl, Interrupted*, as well as voice roles as Shenzi the hyena in *The Lion King* and in *Toy Story 3*.[4](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg) • [13](https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/whoopi-goldberg/) She also played the bar host Guinan on *Star Trek: The Next Generation*, a role she has said she sought because *Star Trek* was the first show to depict [Black people](https://www.edgepedia.org/black-people) in the future, and she reprised Guinan in *Star Trek: Picard*.[7](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/whoopi-goldberg) • [4](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg)
## Television, hosting, and The View
Goldberg hosted the Academy Awards telecast in 1994, 1996, 1999, and 2002; her 1994 turn made her the first solo Black host, after [Sammy Davis Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/sammy-davis-jr) co-hosting in 1972, and the first solo woman to host the broadcast.[7](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/whoopi-goldberg) • [18](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1994/memorable-moments) Beginning in 1986 she co-hosted the [Comic Relief](https://www.edgepedia.org/comic-relief) benefit specials with [Billy Crystal](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-crystal) and Robin Williams, a series of HBO showcases that raised about $50 million for the homeless.[14](https://time.com/3110842/robin-williams-the-heart-of-comedy/) She also hosted her own syndicated late-night talk program, *The Whoopi Goldberg Show*, which ran for 200 episodes from 1992 to 1993.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg)
In 2007 she became moderator of *The View*, taking the seat after the show's creator, [Barbara Walters](https://www.edgepedia.org/barbara-walters), asked her to join following the cancellation of her NBC sitcom *Whoopi*.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) • [7](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/whoopi-goldberg) She has remained the moderator for decades; the show, in its late-2020s seasons, has been described by ABC as America's most-watched daytime talk show for five consecutive seasons.[15](https://abc.com/shows/the-view/about-the-show)
## EGOT, producing, and later work
Goldberg completed the EGOT in 2002, winning a Daytime Emmy for her role in the documentary *Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel* and a Tony Award as a producer of the Broadway musical *Thoroughly Modern Millie*, joining the Grammy she won in 1986 and the Oscar for *Ghost*.[6](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Whoopi-Goldberg/) She received the Kennedy Center's Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2001.[8](https://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/)
**Directing and writing.** She made her directorial debut with the HBO documentary *Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley* (2013), about one of the first successful African-American women in stand-up comedy; the film earned Emmy Award nominations.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg) • [16](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/whoopi-goldberg) She has written more than a dozen books, including the memoir *Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me*, and in 2026 she launched WhoopInk, a publishing imprint in partnership with Blackstone Publishing focused on bringing new and diverse authors to market.[17](https://apnews.com/article/49f8a5f31633b39aa752a99aa88bdf5a)
Her later screen work includes the 2020 adaptation of Stephen King's *The Stand*, the acclaimed 2022 feature film *Till*, which she appeared in and produced, recurring roles on *Harlem* and *Godfather of Harlem*, and voice roles in the animated features *Luck* and *My Father's Dragon*.[4](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg)
## References
1. [Whoopi Goldberg – Movies, Age & Oscar, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/actors/whoopi-goldberg)
2. [Whoopi Goldberg Legacy Banner, Homestead National Historical Park, National Park Service](https://www.nps.gov/home/learn/historyculture/whoopi-goldberg-legacy-banner.htm)
3. [Whoopi Goldberg – Broadway Play – Original, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/whoopi-goldberg-4350)
4. [Whoopi Goldberg, National Women's History Museum](https://www.womenshistory.org/about-us/our-people/whoopi-goldberg)
5. [Whoopi Goldberg Grammy Awards and Nominations, Recording Academy](https://www.grammy.com/artists/whoopi-goldberg/2455/)
6. [Whoopi Goldberg – Broadway & Theatre Credits, BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/Whoopi-Goldberg/)
7. [Whoopi Goldberg, Television Academy Interviews](https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/whoopi-goldberg)
8. [Whoopi Goldberg, Academy of Achievement](https://www.achievement.org/achiever/whoopi-goldberg/)
9. [Whoopi Goldberg, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/film-and-television-biographies/whoopi-goldberg)
10. [Before 'Sister Act', before 'The Color Purple,' there was 'The Whoopi Monologues', TheGrio](https://thegrio.com/2026/06/18/before-sister-act-before-the-color-purple-there-was-the-whoopi-monologues/)
11. [Whooping It Up On Broadway, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/whooping-it-up-on-broadway/)
12. [Playbill on Opening Night: Sister Act, Playbill](https://playbill.com/article/playbill-on-opening-night-sister-act-whoopee-for-whoopi-com-178472)
13. [Whoopi Goldberg, D23 Disney Legend](https://d23.com/walt-disney-legend/whoopi-goldberg/)
14. [Robin Williams: The Heart of Comedy, TIME](https://time.com/3110842/robin-williams-the-heart-of-comedy/)
15. [About The View, ABC](https://abc.com/shows/the-view/about-the-show)
16. [Whoopi Goldberg, Emmy Awards and Nominations, Television Academy](https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/whoopi-goldberg)
17. [Whoopi Goldberg launches WhoopInk, a Blackstone Publishing imprint, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/49f8a5f31633b39aa752a99aa88bdf5a)
18. [oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1994/memorable-moments)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames G to Go*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license