| Full name: |
Caryn Elaine Johnson |
| Stage name: |
Whoopi Goldberg |
| Birth date: |
November 13, 1955 |
| Birthplace: |
Manhattan, New York
|
| Childhood home: |
The Elliott Chelsea Houses, a New York City Housing Authority project,
between 9th and 10th Avenues, from 25th to 27th Streets, New York, NY 10001
|
| Height: |
5 ft. 5 in. |
| Trademark: |
Dreadlocks and sunglasses |
| Significant Others: |
Michael Visbal, businessman; dated 2001-mid 2003
Frank Langella, actor (Eddie, Alegrķa); together October 1995-early 2000
Husband #3: Lyle Trachtenberg, union organizer; born 1954; met on set of
Corrina, Corrina, where he was unionizing crew members; married October 1, 1994;
divorced October 1995
Jeffrey Cohen, orthodontist
Contrary to Wikipedia, Whoopi has never dated Ben Stein
Ted Danson, actor (Made in America); together 1992-1994
Timothy Dalton, actor; together 1990-1991
Eddie Gold, camera operator (Clara's Heart, Sister Act and Made in America);
together 1987-1990
Husband #2: David Claessen,
director of photography (The Telephone); married September 1, 1986; divorced October 1988
David Schein, playwright, actor; lived together in San Francisco 1980-1985
Husband #1: Alvin Martin, drug counselor; married 1973 in New York; separated 1974; divorced 1979
|
| Parents: |
Father: Robert James Johnson, preacher; born 1930; separated from Goldberg's
mother shortly after Whoopi was born; died May 25, 1993, of stomach cancer and complications from HIV
Mother: Emma Johnson |
| Sibling: |
Brother: Clyde K. Johnson, driver; born 1949;
six years older than Whoopi; often works as Whoopi's personal driver on film locations |
| Child: |
Daughter: Alexandrea Martin
(father, Alvin Martin), born 1973. Was engaged to rapper Stevie J (Steven Jordan) in December 2007 |
| Grandchildren: |
Granddaughter: Amarah Skye; born November 13, 1989 (Whoopi's 34th birthday!)
Granddaughter: Jerzey Martin; born 1995
Grandson: Mason; born ca1999
They all call Whoopi "Granny." |
| Education: |
Graduated 8th grade in 1969 from
St Columba Catholic School
331 W 25th St, New York, NY 10001
Dropped out of high school two weeks after the start of her freshman year (9th grade) at
Washington Irving (public) High School,
40 Irving Pl, New York, NY 10003
Whoopi took singing lessons from Seth Riggs — whose clients have included Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand,
Tina Turner, Prince, Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli and Cher — for the film Sister Act 2.
|
| Dyslexia: |
Whoopi had a lot of difficulty in school, but it was not until she was an adult did she learn
that she had dyslexia. When Whoopi was growing up, she remembers being called retarded and stupid because she
had a lot of problems reading. It was clear to her teachers and family that she was neither slow nor stupid,
but had some "learning disorder" that had not yet been well defined. Whoopi overcame her learning disabilities
by funneling her creative talents into dramatic and comedic depictions of her thoughts. Whoopi's creative,
analytic, and visionary inventiveness has rarely been matched. Despite her dyslexia, Whoopi Goldberg has gone
on to have a successful comedy, stage, film and television career.
|
| Fear of flying: |
Whoopi, like John Madden and Aretha Franklin, travels only by bus and not by air. According to
Whoopi, "One of the first times I ever flew, I was flying from London to New York and a guy passed away next to
me," leaving her with a decidedly nonchatty seat mate for five hours. I am told that she has tried everything
from drugs to hypnosis to overcome her fears, but nothing works.
|
| Residence: |
She mostly lives in her Manhattan SoHo loft apartment.
In July, 2004, Whoopi bought a 745-acre farm in Vermont. The property includes a Colonial style clapboard house, a barn,
wooded trails, mountain views, a pond, a stream and a river. She mostly goes there on weekends and often visits friends
in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she can sometimes be seen tending bar or just hanging out at Captain Carlo's Seafood Restaurant.
|
| Biographical fictions: |
Early in her career, Whoopi embellished her resume to make her seem older and experienced as a
stage performer — when you drop out of school at 14, you have to fudge your age just to get a job. This is
why some sources still claim she was born in 1949 or 1950. She never graduated from, nor even attend, the New
York School for the Performing Arts. And, while she was raised in the Elliott-Chelsea Houses and attended the
Hudson Guild theater program before she achieved stardom, she did not have small parts in Broadway productions
such as Hair, Pippin or Jesus Christ Superstar.
Her first Broadway appearance was her 1984 one-woman show. |
| Big break: |
Mike Nichols catching her stage act The Spook Show in 1983 at the
Dance Theatre Workshop
in New York, and producing it on Broadway, 1984-5 |
| First feature film: |
"The Color Purple," 1985 |
| Other: |
See other pages for Films,
TV Shows, Books,
Awards, Quotes,
Calendar, etc. |
|