FUN FACTS

Whoopi changes her name because she thought it was too boring

Goldberg is best known because of her two portrayals in comedic and dramatic roles

Whoopi Goldber won a Bay Area Theatre Award after receiving this honor, she returned to New York in 1983

Goldberg won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. At that time she began to receive attention from Hollywood insiders. Director Steven Spielberg was Whoopi Goldberg in the production of the "The Color Purple" 1985.

Since 1985 she has appeared in over 80 films and television production

DIFFICULTIES

She suffered from dyslexia; is a learning disorder that manifests itself as a diffculty with reading, spelling and in some cases mathematics

Dyslexia affected her studies

Drop out of school at age of 17

Whoopi had a lot of difficulty in school, but not until she was an adult

When she was growing up, she remenbers being called dumb and stupid because she had reading problems

Eventhough she had dyslexia she had successful film and television career

Other risk factors: Smoking, Heroin, Aviophobia

She got pregnat at 14 and probably did abortion

Worked at a funeral parlor and as a bricklayer while taking small parts on Broadway

Awards

- Goldberg has recive two academy awards, for The Color Purple and The Ghost, winning for The Ghost.

- She is the recipient of the 1985 Drama Desk Award for Oustanding One-Person Show for her solo performance on Broadway.

- She has recived 3 Golden Globe nominations, winning two.

- She has being nominated to 13 Emmy awards, winnnig two.

- She won a Grammy Award in 1985.

- She has won a Tommy Award as teh producer of the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.

- Goldberg is one of the few to win an Oscar, a Grammy, a Tony and an Emmy.

FAMILY MEMBER

• Family Members
• Father: Robert James Johnson (Preacher, d. 1993)
• Mother: Emma Johnson.
• Brother: Clyde K. Johnson (Goldberg's chauffeur).
• Husband: Alvin Martin (Drug counselor, m.1973, div. 1997).
• Daughter: Alexandra Martin (b. 1973).

EARLYYY LIFEE

• Her real name is: Caryn Elaine Johnson.


• Was born on November 13, 1949 in New York City.


• Occupation: Nurse and Teacher.


• Raised in housing project in the Chelsea section of Manhattan.


• Half Jewish and Half Catholic.


• Race or Ethnicty: Black.


• Nationallity: United States.


• Her father, a preacher, abandoned the family, leaving Goldberg's mother to raise two children alone.


• Goldberg started on stage at the city's Hudson Guild Community Center, and eventually moved to California, where she did experimental theater and supported herself with low-paying jobs as a manual laborer.


• she started hew own company, One Ho Production, in 1992, to produce and ssyndicate a late-night talks show, The Whoopi Goldberg show. In 1995, One Ho revived Goldberg's favorite games show fromher childhood, the Hollywood Squares, and Goldberg took Paul Lynde's old center square seat.


• Worked with improvemnt groups, including Spontaneous Combustion, and developed her skills as a stand-up comedienne.


• Known in her prosperous career as a unique and socially conscious talent with articulately liberal views.