Whoopi Goldberg

Comedian/Actor/TV Star  

Caryn Elaine Johnson changed her “boring” name to Whoopi Goldberg and moved from her native New York to California in 1974 with big dreams. After working odd jobs such like mortuary beautician, Goldberg won a Bay Area Theater Award for her one-woman tribute to the legendary Black entertainer Moms Mabley. She returned to NYC with another one-woman effort, “The Spook Show,” that made it to Broadway and won Goldberg a 1985 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. That same year Steven Spielberg cast her in The Color Purple, for which she won a Golden Globe for Best Actress and an Oscar nomination. She has since appeared in numerous film and television productions including Ghost (for which she won an Oscar) and became the first woman to host the Academy Awards. She is currently a moderator on the daytime talk show, The View.