Whoopi Goldberg Relaxes as a Comic Relief Dress Rehearsal. By Photographer Daniel Langer, dlanger on flickr.com. Copyright is held by Daniel Langer and Comic Relief, Inc, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia.
Whoopi Goldberg is a celebrity with many talents. She is one of the few recipients of the EGOT, as she has received one each of the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards. She is perhaps best known for her wit as a stand-up comedian as well as her serious discussions as the moderator for the ABC television show The View.
Young Whoopi Goldberg
Goldberg was born on November 13, 1955, as Caryn Elaine Johnson. She grew up in New York City, raised primarily by her mother. Goldberg took on her stage name soon after she started acting onstage in California.
Her career received a boost when, while performing with the experimental Blake Street Hawkeyes, she was noticed by director Mike Nichols. Nichols helped her take her one-woman comedy act The Spook Show to Broadway in 1984. In the one-woman show, she took on supposed “misfits” who at first glance seemed grotesque, and she did so without being patronizing. It was then that many people realized her uniqueness.
