Academy awards 2014 whoopi goldberg biography family

Whoopi goldberg age

She became the first African American woman to host the Academy Awards and only the second African American woman to actually win one. Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn E. Johnson in New York City around some reports say or , the first of Emma Johnson's two children. Her father abandoned the family, and Goldberg's mother worked at several different jobs, including as a nurse and teacher.

Goldberg began acting in children's plays with the Hudson Guild Theater at the age of eight and spent much of her free time watching movies, sometimes three or four a day. During the s Goldberg dropped out of high school and became addicted to drugs. Finally she sought help, cleaned herself up, and, in the process, married her drug counselor.

A year later Goldberg gave birth to a daughter, Alexandrea. Less than a year after that, she was divorced. During this time she worked as a summer camp counselor and as a member of the choruses of Broadway shows such as Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar. In Goldberg headed west to San Diego, California, pursuing her childhood dream of acting. She performed in plays with the San Diego Repertory Theater and worked with a comedy group called Spontaneous Combustion.

To care for her daughter, she had to work as a bank teller, a bricklayer, and a funeral home assistant.

Whoopi goldberg husband

She was also on welfare for a few years. After her mother pointed out how ridiculous the name sounded, Goldberg changed it. Goldberg moved north to Berkeley, California, in the late s and joined the Blake Street Hawkeyes Theater, a comedy troupe.