Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg is an American actress, comedian, author, producer, and television personality whose career spans more than four decades. Goldberg is one of only 28 entertainers to receive the EGOT, consisting of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award. She was the first Black woman to win an EGOT. Her accolades also include a BAFTA, two Golden Globes, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and the Disney Legend Award.

Goldberg began her career with live performance, developing the one-woman stage show "The Spook Show," known for its humor, satire, and drama, which she performed across the United States and Europe. Director Mike Nichols saw her perform and became her mentor, helping her bring the show to Broadway, where it was retitled "Whoopi Goldberg." The recording of the special earned the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album, making Goldberg the first Black female comedian to win the Grammy. Her Broadway success led to a lead role in Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of "The Color Purple," based on the novel by Alice Walker. Goldberg is the first African-American actor to receive Academy Award nominations for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.

Goldberg's career expanded with her role as psychic medium Oda Mae Brown in "Ghost," for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the second African-American woman to receive this honor. AC Nielsen EDI ranked her as the actress appearing in the most theatrical films in the 1990s, with 29 films grossing $1.3 billion in the U.S. and Canada. Her comedy "Sister Act" further established her as a box-office draw, grossing more than $200 million. Goldberg has hosted the Academy Awards, becoming the first woman to do so. Behind the camera, she produced and directed the documentary "Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley," which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and on HBO. Goldberg has also had recurring roles on Amazon's "Harlem" and the EPIX series "Godfather of Harlem," reprised her role of Guinan in "Star Trek: Picard," and appeared in and produced the feature film "Till."

Goldberg is also an author, having written more than a dozen books, including children's titles such as "Whoopi's Big Book of Manners" and the "Sugar Plum Ballerinas" series, as well as the memoir "Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me." She launched her own imprint, WhoopInk, in partnership with Blackstone Publishing, to bring diverse voices into the literary space across multiple genres. Goldberg is a UNICEF International Goodwill Ambassador.

For nearly two decades, Goldberg has served as moderator of the daytime talk show "The View," earning the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. She has spoken openly about her experience with dyslexia, advocating for awareness and research. Goldberg overcame poverty, drug addiction, single motherhood, and welfare during her early life to become one of the highest-paid actresses in the early 1990s. Her journey from those beginnings to EGOT status demonstrates her resilience and enduring presence in American entertainment, film, television, and publishing.