Short Biography

Whoopi Goldberg (born November 13, 1955) is an American actress, comedian, singer-songwriter and media personality. She is one of only a handful of people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. In 1990, for her performance in the film Ghost, she became the second African American female, after Hattie McDaniel, to win an Academy Award. She has also won two Golden Globes and two Saturn Awards.

Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in New York City and raised in Manhattan`s Chelsea neighborhood, the daughter of Emma (née Harris), a nurse and teacher, and Robert James Johnson, a clergyman. Goldberg`s mother was a "stern, strong, and wise woman" who raised her as a single mother after Goldberg`s father had left the family. Her stage name was taken from whoopee cushion, which she initially used as her stage name; she stated that "If you get a little gassy, you`ve got to let it go. So people used to say to me, `You`re like a whoopee cushion.` And that`s where the name came from." She chose the surname "Goldberg" after Jewish ancestors of hers who bore the surname, having said that "Goldberg`s a part of my family somewhere." In 1991, she referred to herself as a "Jewish-Catholic girl from New York"; she has also stated that her mother is Jewish and referred to herself as a "Jewish-American Princess". A DNA test, broadcast in the 2006 PBS documentary African American Lives, traced most of her ancestry to the Papel and Bayote people of modern-day Guinea-Bissau. Her racial admixture test revealed her genetic makeup to be 92 percent sub-Saharan African and 8 percent European.

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