Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in the Chelsea section of Manhattan. She worked in a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway. She moved to California and worked with improv groups, including Spontaneous Combustion, and developed her skills as a stand-up comedienne. In 1983, Goldberg created The Spook Show, a one-woman show composed of different character monologues. Director Mike Nichols offered to take the show to Broadway. The self-titled show ran from October 24, 1984 to March 10, 1985, for a total of 156 performances.
Her stage name, Whoopi, was taken from a whoopee cushion; she has stated that “If you get a little gassy, you’ve got to let it go. So people used to say to me, ‘You’re like a whoopee cushion.’ And that’s where the name came from.”
According to an anecdote told by Nichelle Nichols in the documentary film Trekkies (1997), a young Goldberg was watching Star Trek, and upon seeing Nichols’ character Uhura, exclaimed, “Momma! There’s a black lady on TV and she ain’t no maid!” This spawned lifelong fandom of Star Trek for Goldberg, who would eventually ask for and receive a recurring guest-starring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Goldberg first came to prominence with her starring role in The Color Purple (1985). She received much critical acclaim, and an Oscar nomination for her role and became a major star as a result. She made her mark as a household name and a mainstay in Hollywood for her Oscar-winning role in the box office smash Ghost (1990). Whoopi Goldberg was at her most famous in the early 1990s, making regular appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
Goldberg received another smash hit role in Sister Act (1992). Her fish-out-of-water with some flash seemed to resonate with audiences and it was a box office smash. Whoopi starred in some highly publicized and moderately successful comedies of this time, including Made in America (1993) and Soapdish (1991). Goldberg followed up to her success with Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993).
Goldberg has received two Academy Award nominations, for The Color Purple and Ghost, winning for Ghost. She is the first African American to have received Academy Award nominations for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. She is the recipient of the 1985 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for her solo performance on Broadway.
She has received three Golden Globe nominations, winning two. She won a Grammy Award in 1985 for “Whoopi Goldberg: Direct from Broadway,” becoming only the second woman at the time to receive the award, and the first African-American woman. Goldberg is one of only three women to receive that award.
In 2009, Goldberg won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host for her role on The View. Goldberg is one of the few persons to win an Oscar, a Grammy, a Tony, and an Emmy. Her humanitarian efforts include working for Comic Relief, recently reuniting with Billy Crystal and Robin Williams for the 20th Anniversary of Comic Relief.