Whoopi Goldberg on Films She Won't Make & Being Black in Hollywood

The Hudson Union Society™ www.hudsonunionsociety.com is where todays leaders come to discuss tomorrows ideas. If you live not too far away from New York City, please join us in person.Whoopi Goldberg is one of a very elite group of artists who have won the Academy Award (Ghost, 1991), the Golden Globe (The Color Purple, 1985 and Ghost, 1991), the Emmy (as host of AMCs Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel, 2002), the Grammy (Whoopi Goldberg, 1985) and a Tony (Producer of Thoroughly Modern Millie, 2002). 

It was at a 1983 performance of that show, performed at the Dance Theatre Workshop in New York, that Whoopi caught the attention of Mike Nichols, who offered to present her in her own Broadway show. An evening of original material, written and created by Whoopi, the show opened in 1984 at the Lyceum Theatre to critical acclaim. She later taped the show for an HBO special, Whoopi Goldberg: Direct From Broadway and the record album of her Broadway show won a Grammy Award as Best Comedy Recording of the Year in 1985. 

Her Broadway show also turned out to be an audition for Steven Spielberg, who was casting his film version of Alice Walkers The Color Purple. 

The Color Purple launched Whoopi Goldbergs film career and, in addition to an Oscar nomination, earned her the 1985 Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture, as well as the NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture. 

Since then, Whoopi has been a part of films grossing a over a billion dollars worldwide, with several breaking the $100 million mark. Since The Color Purple, Whoopi has starred in many films such as Ghost, Sister Act, Girl, Interrupted, and Robert Altmans The Player. 

Whoopis performance as Oda Mae Brown in Ghost -- the highest-grossing movie of 1990 -- earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and the Golden Globe Award. 

Whoopi starred in the 1992 box-office hit Sister Act, which grossed over $300 million worldwide and garnered her yet another Golden Globe Award nomination and the NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, in addition to winning the Image Award for Motion Picture of the Year. 

On television, Whoopis appearance on a 1986 episode of Moonlighting earned her an Emmy Award nomination as Best Guest Performer in a Dramatic Series. She appeared for five seasons (1988-94) as Guinan on the hit syndicated series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, for which she was nominated for an Image Award. 

In 1991, Whoopi guest-starred on the NBC series, A Different World, which resulted in another nomination for a Prime-Time Emmy Award, this time as Best Guest Actress on a Comedy Series. She also starred in Dead Wait, an episode of HBOs horror anthology series, Tales from the Crypt. She appeared with Glenn Close and Bridget Fonda in the Emmy-nominated HBO drama, In the Gloaming, directed by Christopher Reeve. 

On March 21, 1994, Whoopi hosted The 66th Annual Academy Awards -- the highest rated special of the 1993-94 television season -- for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. Whoopi returned in 1996 to host The 68th Annual Academy Awards telecast, as well as the last Oscar telecast of the century, earning rave reviews and Emmy nominations for both. She inaugurated the permanent home of Oscar, hosting the 74th Annual Academy Awards telecast in March, 2002, at the new Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland. In 1986, Whoopi, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams co-hosted HBOs now-historic Comic Relief benefit for the nations homeless. 20 years and more than $50 million later, the trio reunited in November 2006 to raise funds for Hurricane Katrina recovery. 

Whoopi is well known for her tireless humanitarian efforts on behalf of children, the homeless, human rights, substance abuse and the battle against AIDS, as well as many other worthwhile causes and charities.

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Academy
• Act
• Award
• Color
• Emmy
• Ghost
• Girl
• Goldberg
• Interrupted
• Purple
• Robin
• Sister
• The
• Tony
• View
• Whoopi
• Williams