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Whoopi Goldberg Filmography
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Caryn Elaine Johnson, better known by her stage name of
Whoopi Goldberg (born November 13, 1955), is a well-known movie actress, comedian, and singer. She was born in New York, New York.
After success as a stand up comedian in the San Francisco Bay Area, Goldberg created a one woman show in 1983 called The Spook Show. This show caught the attention of
Mike Nichols who produced a one-woman show for Goldberg on Broadway, called simply
Whoopi Goldberg, which ran from October 24, 1984 to March 10, 1985 for a total of 156 performances.
Goldberg began her film career by playing the character of Celie in the
Steven Spielberg directed movie adaption of the award-winning novel The Color Purple by Alice Walker. This performance garnered her an Oscar nomination for best actress in 1986. She followed up this performance with a sell-out, highly acclaimed one-woman show on Broadway. The majority of the films she made in the 1980s featured her in tough-woman comedic roles (Burglar
, Fatal Beauty
, Jumpin' Jack Flash
), though she regularly balanced them out by performing in family-oriented films (Clara's Heart).
In danger of fading from public acclaim, she revitalized her career in the role of a fake "spiritualist" who manages to actually make contact with the dead in the tear-jerker Ghost, for which she won her first Oscar award for best supporting actress. She cemented her status as a legendary comedic actress in 1992 as a lounge singer who is hidden in a convent (and consequently revitalises their choir) in Sister Act. She had a recurring role on ' as Guinan, which she also reprised in two of the Star Trek feature films.
Goldberg has appeared in 149 films as of October 2002. She has received two Oscar nominations and won one. She has received five Daytime Emmy nominations, winning one. She has received five Emmy nominations. She has received three Golden Globe nominations, winning two. She has won three People's Choice Awards. In 1999 she received the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation Vanguard Award for her continued work in supporting the gay and lesbian community. She has been nominated for five American Comedy Awards with two wins. In 2001 she won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.She also hosted the Oscars in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2002.
Goldberg was paired with
Jean Stapleton in the CBS sitcom Bagdad Café (with a plot differing from the 1987 movie in several respects), which lasted two seasons (1990-1991). She hosted a syndicated talk show (
The Whoopi Goldberg Show) in 1992-1993. She also starred in the sitcom, Whoopi, which began broadcasting in fall 2003 on NBC. Whoopi starred as Mavis Rae, the owner of a small New York Hotel (called the Le Mont Hotel). An ex-singer in a girl group, Mavis was as much of a diva running the hotel as she was in the group’s glory days. The sitcom was cancelled due to low ratings in May 2004.
In July 2004, Slim-Fast, a popular diet shake, dropped Goldberg from its advertisements in response to popular opposition to statements Goldberg made at a "John Kerry for President" rally in which Goldberg repeatedly referred to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney by pointing to her genital region.
In August 2004, Goldberg announced that she would be reviving her one-woman show on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre.
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EntertainmentOld habits die hard - Whoopi brings nuns to London stage
Whoopi Goldberg announces she will produce a London stage version of her 1992 hit movie Sister Act.
Published: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:49:43 GMT - Source: News.Bbc.Co.Uk - Read the articleIssuesHasselbeck, Shepherd still advance skewed View on California's Prop 8
During the November 10 edition of ABC's The View, co-hosts Elisabeth Hasselbeck
and Sherri Shepherd again promoted the falsehood that without the passage
of Proposition 8,
the California ballot initiative to amend the state constitution to ban
same-sex marriage, members of the clergy could be jailed for refusing to
perform same-sex marriages. Hasselbeck again referred to a Swedish priest who she
falsely claimed was jailed
"for not wanting to perform a marriage ceremony." And after being
confronted with language from the California Supreme Court majority decision
stating that clergy members will not be required to perform same-sex marriages,
Shepherd suggested that that there is an "other side" to the issue.
In fact, neither Proposition 8 -- which sought to overturn the California
Supreme Court's May 15 ruling that
affirmed the constitutional right of same-sex couples to marry -- nor the
Supreme Court decision itself had anything to do with members of the clergy.
As Media Matters for
America documented, on November 6, Shepherd
said: "I don't want to know
that my pastor -- because, you know, the church is preaching against
homosexuality, and I don't want to know that my pastor could be jailed."
In fact, as co-host Whoopi Goldberg noted on November 10
while citing information from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
(GLAAD), the California Supreme Court majority opinion made clear that its
decision did not have any impact on clergy, stating that "no religion will
be required to change its policies or practices with regard to same-sex
couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in
contravention of his or her religious beliefs." Nevertheless, referencing
advertisements suggesting that ministers could be jailed, Shepherd said,
"[Y]ou know, GLAAD said. ... I would like to hear the other side."
But no "other side" exists on the question of whether members of
the clergy could be jailed for failing to perform same-sex marriages. The claim
that absent passage of Proposition 8, members of the clergy could have been
jailed in such circumstances is simply false. From the November 10 edition of The View:
SHEPHERD: Right. Well, I feel at a
disadvantage here because, you know, we're getting from GLAAD what they
say. I think the other side has -- would probably disagree. I don't know.
So, if somebody else has --
GOLDBERG: Well, as I am saying to
you, I checked the laws on two out of three of these.
SHEPHERD: Well, you know, I saw, you
know, the ads going, you know, "The minister will be jailed";
"No, they won't." You know, so, it's like, again --
HASSELBECK: I think, too --
SHEPHERD: I hear you. I just said,
you know, GLAAD said --
HASSELBECK: You want the other side.
SHEPHERD: I would like to hear the
other side.
Further, during the program, Hasselbeck repeatedly falsely
claimed that Prop 8 won 62 percent of the vote; in fact, Prop 8 garnered 52.3
percent of the vote, according to the California Secretary of State's
office.
From the November 10 edition of ABC's The View:
GOLDBERG: As you said, we did have a
really, really spirited discussion about Prop 8. And Barbara and I both got
phone calls from Ellen [DeGeneres].
BARBARA WALTERS (co-host): We should tell them what
Proposition 8 is.
GOLDBERG: Yes, I was gonna to let
you.
WALTERS: Oh, thanks.
OFF-CAMERA: Go ahead.
WALTERS: Well, Proposition 8 was put
on the agenda in California,
which banned same-sex marriage, which had been allowed. And Ellen called Whoopi
and then called me because she was listening to our discussion, and there were
some things about it that she liked or didn't like. And we were talking
about the fact that there were some people who felt that churches could lose
their tax exempt if they didn't perform same-sex marriages, and we were
raising other que-- and would that mean that same-sex marriage would have to be
taught in school and so on?
And what Ellen's fear was, was
that her marriage to Portia [de Rossi] and other marriages would be declared
invalid. So we called Jerry Brown -- remember Jerry Brown? -- who is the
attorney general of California, who said,
"The language of Proposition 8 is silent on retroactivity, and California law generally
provides the laws apply only prospectively." And he said, as the attorney
general, "I will defend in court the marriages contracted before that
Proposition 8 was signed." So Ellen and other people who were married
before this -- right, Whoopi? -- is protected.
HASSELBECK: So it's not
retroactive.
WALTERS: Well, you know, somebody
could protest that, but that's the way it is for now.
GOLDBERG: But GLAAD, the Gay and
Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, were also watching our Hot Topics that
day, and they have sent us what they call fact and fiction. And a coup-- we
were able to check out two things before we got on, but the third thing, which
is this one, I was not able to get another source on.
But GLAAD says that the fiction is,
"Teaching kids about same-sex marriage will happen here in California unless we
pass Prop 8." GLAAD is saying the fact is, "Not one word in Prop 8
mentions education, and no child can be forced against a parent's will to
be taught anything health and family issues at school." That is the law
in California.
The second thing: The fiction that
we were all believing was that churches could lose tax-exemption status. The
fact is, the court decision that said same-sex marriage is legal says, "No
religion will be required to change its religious policies with regard to
same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a
marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs."
HASSELBECK: As is stated in the --
GOLDBERG: As is stated in the law.
It is law. Fact -- fiction: "If Prop 8 isn't passed, people can be
sued over personal beliefs." The fact of the matter is in California -- California's
law already prohibits discrimination against anyone based on race, sex,
religion, gender, or sexual orientation. So those are the --
HASSELBECK: What is classified as
discrim-- like, when we talk -- 'cause we talked about the case -- was it
in Sweden?
-- when the priest was originally put in prison for not wanting to perform a
marriage ceremony.
GOLDBERG: I can't speak to
Swedish law. I can only speak to the law that exists right now in California. And that --
HASSELBECK: Are they exempt from
that? The churches are exempt?
GOLDBERG: They are. They -- California law prohibits
discrimination against anyone based on race, religion, gender, or sexual
orientation. So you cannot be sued over your personal beliefs.
WALTERS: But you know, what we were
talking about was that you had said that you had mixed feelings about this.
And, in truth, a great many people do. I mean, it's against whatever
their ethical beliefs are, whatever their feeling is that matrimony is between
a man or a woman. This was something you were expressing.
SHEPHERD: Right. Well, I feel at a
disadvantage here because, you know, we're getting from GLAAD what they
say. I think the other side has -- would probably disagree. I don't know.
So, if somebody else has --
GOLDBERG: Well, as I am saying to
you, I checked the laws on two out of three of these.
SHEPHERD: Well, you know, I saw, you
know, the ads going, you know, "The minister will be jailed";
"No, they won't." You know, so, it's like, again --
HASSELBECK: I think, too --
SHEPHERD: I hear you. I just said,
you know, GLAAD said --
HASSELBECK: You want the other side.
SHEPHERD: I would like to hear the
other side.
HASSELBECK: It's important
that the 62 percent of the popular vote was -- came out and said they
didn't want the word "marriage" redefined, they wanted to
protect the institution of marriage as it has been defined. And I think what
happened -- this is a reaction to the Supreme Court legislating from the bench.
They said, "No, you know what? This is about what the people want, and
you tried to overreach."
And so I thought the people came out
and said in terms of how our system should work, how it should work for them is
best when it represents what they want. And I'm happy about that because
it think that's --
GOLDBERG: It's -- it is
unfortunate that people used not-honest things to go about it, because if the
fear -- if people put fear into people and made them believe things that
weren't true, that's not how you want somebody to vote. You want
them to vote the truth, and you want them to vote their heart.
Now, maybe they would have voted the
same way. But I'm saying to you that the law facts are, as they exist --
the only thing that I cannot say factually, 'cause I haven't read
it myself, and we were not able to get it up quick enough -- that doesn't
sound right -- get it to our attention fast enough, was that teaching kids
about same-sex marriage. That's the one I have not been able to verify
beyond that.
[...]
HASSELBECK: And it does change -- it
does trickle down to what your kids are taught. I think that's what
people vote on. Sixty-two percent of those people wanted to preserve it so that
when their kids are taught something, they know what it is.
Published: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 22:42:02 GMT - Source: Mediamatters.Org - Read the articleLiteratureThis Week (Nov. 3 - 9)
Whoopi Goldberg guest stars on this week's Life on Mars.© ABCGo to listings The elections are wreaking havoc with shows airing early in the week, but late-week and weekend shows...
Published: Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:25:50 GMT - Source: Scifi.About.Com - Read the article
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