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Whoopi Goldberg
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Biography from Leonard Maltin's Movie Encyclopedia:
When this actress/comedienne stepped up to receive her Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 1991 for her crowd-pleasing turn as the streetwise, reluctant medium in Ghost (1990), it marked a pinnacle in a screen career with more than its share of ups and downs. She began performing as an improvisational trouper, and gradually evolved to stand-up comedy as a monologist, developing a series of distinct characters who illustrated the foibles of contemporary life. Producerdirector Mike Nichols spotted her in San Francisco and brought her one-woman show to Broadway in 1984. An enormous success, it brought Goldberg to the attention of Steven Spielberg, who cast her in the pivotal role of Celie in his film adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple (1985). Although she won an Oscar nomination and "overnight" stardom, Goldberg failed to capitalize on her success, owing partially to bad choices. She had a moderate hit in Jumpin' Jack Flash (1986), but thereafter slid downhill in increasingly foolish action-comedies such as Burglar and Fatal Beauty (both 1987), and more serious misfires like The Telephone (1988) and Homer and Eddie (1990). She continued to perform live, and in 1988 joined the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" as the wise old humanoid bartender Guinan.
In 1990 Goldberg scored a double triumph as the infinitely patient housekeeper in the critically acclaimed The Long Walk Home and as the aforementioned phony psychic in Ghost. She describes herself as a "character actor," and has no qualms about taking supporting roles-a rare quality in movie stars these days. She played a soap-opera scribe in Soapdish (1991) and a homicide detective in The Player (1992) before taking on another starring role-her most popular to date-in Sister Act (1992), an oldfashioned formula comedy that hit the bull's-eye, with Whoopi as an eyewitness to murder who hides out in a convent. Since then she's appeared in Sarafina! (1992), National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Made in America the inevitable Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (all 1993), Corrina, Corrina (1994), The Lion King (also 1994, as the voice of the hyena Shenzi), and Boys on the Side (1995). In 1990, she costarred in a short-lived TV sitcom adapted from the 1988 movie Bag dad Cafe and hosted a nightly talk show, which lasted just one season, 1992-93. In 1994 she hosted the Academy Awards. |  |
