Apollinaire's calligramme (1918)

The Chinese poem Quatrain on Heavenly Mountain by Emperor Gaozong of Song; fan mounted as album leaf on silk, four columns in cursive script

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary greatly in different cultures and time periods.^[1] Throughout each civilization and language, poets have used various styles that have changed through the course of literary history, resulting in a history of poets as diverse as the literature they have produced.

The English word "poet" is derived from the French poète, itself descended from the Latin first-declension masculine noun poeta, meaning "poet". The word "poetry" derives from the Latin feminine noun poetria, meaning not "poetry" but "poetess".

French poet Arthur Rimbaud summarized the "poet" by writing,

A poet makes himself a visionary through a long, boundless, and systematized disorganization of all the senses. All forms of love, of suffering, of madness; he searches himself, he exhausts within himself all poisons, and preserves their quintessences. Unspeakable torment, where he will need the greatest faith, a superhuman strength, where he becomes all men: the great invalid, the great criminal, the great accursed—and the Supreme Scientist! For he attains the unknown! Because he has cultivated his soul, already rich, more than anyone! He attains the unknown, and, if demented, he finally loses the understanding of his visions, he will at least have seen them! So what if he is destroyed in his ecstatic flight through things unheard of, unnameable: other horrible workers will come; they will begin at the horizons where the first one has fallen!

Although that is only one opinion of many on a poet's definition.^[2]

William Wordsworth once described the poet's task as to

make A present joy the matter of a song, Pour forth that day my soul in measured strains That would not be forgotten and are here Recorded

(The Prelude Book 1)

Marianne Moore famously described the poet's job as creating 'imaginary gardens with real toads in them'.(Poetry)

Many poets such as Virgil in the Aeneid and John Milton in Paradise Lost invoke the aid of a Muse to help them in their tasks.

See also[link]

Poetry portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Poets

Look up poet in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: poets

• Bard
• List of poets
• Lyricist
• Poet Laureate
• Writer

References[link]

Richard Blanco (born Spain) is an American poet.

Life[link]

He immigrated with his Cuban exile family to Miami where he was raised and educated.

He graduated from Florida International University in Civil Engineering (1991) and Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing (1997), where he studied with Campbell McGrath.

Since 1999, he traveled and lived in Guatemala, and Brazil. He taught at Georgetown University, American University, and Central Connecticut State University.^[1][2] He lives in Miami.^[3]

His work has appeared in The Nation, Ploughshares,^[4] Indiana Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, TriQuarterly Review, New England Review, and Americas Review. Blanco is part of the online Letras Latinas Oral History Project archives.

Awards[link]

• 1988 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize
• John Ciardi Fellowship from the Bread Loaf Writers Conference
• Florida Artist Fellowship^[5]
• Residency Fellowship from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts

Works[link]

• "Last Lines; Mother Picking Produce; What Las Palmas Mean:; Last Night in Havana; Tia Olivia Serves Wallace Stevens a Cuban Egg". Beltway Poetry Quarterly 5 (1). Winter 2004. http://washingtonart.com/beltway/blanco.html. 
• "Somewhere to Paris", Poetry Foundation
• "Abuela's Voices: A Chronicle". Ploughshares. Spring 2004. http://www.pshares.org/issues/article.cfm?prmArticleID=7912. ^{[dead link][dead link]}

• City of a Hundred Fires. University of Pittsburgh Press. 1998. ISBN 978-0-8229-5683-9. 
• Directions to the Beach of the Dead. University of Arizona Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-8165-2479-2. 
• Nowhere But Here. Hill-Stead Museum. 2004. ISBN 978-0-9744245-1-4. 

Anthologies[link]

• Michael Collier, ed. (2000). The Best American Poetry 2000. University Press of New England. 
• David Lehman, ed. (April 2003). Great American Prose Poems. Scribner Book Company. ISBN 978-0-7432-4350-6. 
• The Breadloaf Anthology of New American Poets. Bread Loaf Writers' Conference/Middlebury. March 1, 2000. ISBN 978-0-87451-964-8. 

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Richard Blanco", TRES Review, Jack Anders Summer 2004

Saul Stacey Williams (born February 29, 1972) is an American poet, writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his leading role in the 1998 independent film Slam.

Biography[link]

The youngest of three children, Williams was born in Newburgh, New York. He attended Newburgh Free Academy for high school, where he would write his song "Black Stacey." After graduating from Morehouse College with a B.A. in acting and philosophy, Williams moved to New York City to earn an MFA in Acting from New York University's prestigious Graduate Acting Program at the Tisch School of the Arts.^[1][2] There he found himself at the center of the New York cafe poetry scene.

Williams and artist Marcia Jones began their relationship in 1995 as collaborative artists on the Brooklyn performance art and spoken word circuit. Their daughter, Saturn, was born in 1996.^[3] His collection of poems S/HE is a series of reflections on the demise of the relationship.^[4] Marcia Jones,^[5] a visual artist and art professor, created the cover artwork for The Seventh Octave, images throughout S/HE in response to Williams, and set-designed his 2001 album Amethyst Rock Star. Saturn has recently been performing with her father on his 2008 concert tour.^{[6] [7]}

On his 36th birthday, February 29, 2008, Williams married his girlfriend of five years, actress Persia White. Williams met White in 2003 when he made a guest appearance on the TV show Girlfriends as a poet named Sivad. (1993).^[8][9] On January 17, 2009, White announced via her Myspace blog that she and Williams were no longer together.^[10]

Williams is a vegan.^[11]

Career[link]

By 1995, he had become an open mic poet and, in 1996, he won the title of Nuyorican Poets Cafe's Grand Slam Champion. The documentary film SlamNation follows Williams and the other members of the 1996 Nuyorican Poets Slam team (Beau Sia, Mums da Schemer and Jessica Care Moore) as they compete in the 1996 National Poetry Slam held in Portland, Oregon.

The following year, Williams landed the lead role in the 1998 feature film Slam. Williams featured as both a writer and actor^[12] on the film, which would win both the Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize and the Cannes Camera D'Or (Golden Camera)^[13] and serve to introduce Williams to international audiences.

Williams was at this time breaking into music. He had performed with such artists as Nas, The Fugees, Christian Alvarez, Blackalicious, Erykah Badu, KRS-One, Zack De La Rocha, De La Soul, and DJ Krust, as well as poets Allen Ginsberg and Sonia Sanchez. After releasing a string of EPs, in 2001 he released the LP Amethyst Rock Star with producer Rick Rubin and in September 2004 his self-titled album to much acclaim. He played several shows supporting Nine Inch Nails on their European tour in summer 2005, and has also supported The Mars Volta.

Williams was also invited to the Lollapalooza music festival in Summer 2005. The Chicago stage allowed Williams to attract a wider audience. He also appeared on NIN's album Year Zero, and supported the group on their 2006 North American tour. On the tour Williams announced that Trent Reznor would co-produce his next album.^[14]

This collaboration resulted in 2007's The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!. This album was available only at the website until a physical CD of the album was issued. The physical release included new tracks and extended album artwork.^[15] The first 100,000 customers on the website had the option to download a free lower-quality audio version of the album. The other option was for users to pay $5 to support the artist directly and be given the choice of downloading the higher-quality MP3 version or the lossless FLAC version. The material has been produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder. It was Reznor who said that, after his own recent dealings with record labels, they should release it independently and directly.^[16]

As a writer, Williams has been published in The New York Times, Esquire, Bomb Magazine and African Voices, as well as having released four collections of poetry. As a poet and musician, Williams has toured and lectured across the world, appearing at many universities and colleges. In his interview in the book, Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour Through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam, Williams explained why he creates within so many genres, saying:

Williams is a vocal critic of the War on Terrorism and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan;^[18] among his better-known works are the anti-war anthems "Not In My Name" and "Act III Scene 2 (Shakespeare)". In early 2008, a Nike Sparq Training commercial featured Williams's song "List of Demands (Reparations)".

In a November 2008 interview with Wired.com, Williams talked about his forthcoming projects:

...but there's one [album] that I'm waist-deep into. I'm aiming to finish it up next month. Trent wants to work on a sequel for Niggy that I think would be cool and I also have an album and new songs demoed at home that I'm ready to go into the studio and lay down. It’s a complete reflection of how I feel in this country; it's a very transformative time.^[19]

In January 2009, he released NGH WHT – The Dead Emcee Scrolls with The Arditti Quartet, a reading of his 2006 poetry book of the same name. This collaboration with Thomas Kessler (who also set ,said the shotgun to the head to music) is released with two payment options: listeners may download Chapters 18-22 of the 27-minute composition for free (in mp3 format), or for $6, can download the entire 33-chapter composition in lossless .aif format, along with the isolated vocal and quartet multitrack stems. The entire paid download totals in size at 563 Megabyte.^[20]

He currently resides in Paris, France. He has contributed to two tracks on the 2011 album Baba Love by French musician Arthur H.^[21]

Williams latest album, Volcanic Sunlight' was released November 11, 2011. Williams showcased the album at London's Hoxton Bar Kitchen on January 26, 2011. Livemusic.fm interviewed Williams on the evening and made a subsequent film. Artist Alex Templeton-Ward produced the film. When Williams was asked what the point of poetry was he said: "I'm making this up, I have no idea but here we go, I think that it would be to express, to share, to relieve, to explore", "for me poetry offers some what of a cathartic experience. I am able to move through emotions and emotional experience particularly, you know, break-ups, difficulties in all the things that I may face, whether that is with an industry or a loved one or whomever, there needs to be an infiltration process, like you have a window open over there. That is the purpose of poetry – it is the window that opens that allows some air in, some other insight, some other possibility so we can explore all that we feel, all that we think but with the space to see more than what we know, because there is so much more than we know", "If I didn't open myself to the possibilities of the unknown then I would be lost."

Discography[link]

Albums/EPs[link]

• Penny for a Thought / Purple Pigeons (2000)
• Amethyst Rock Star (2001)
• Not in My Name (2003)
• Saul Williams (2004)
• The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! (2007)
• NGH WHT – The Dead Emcee Scrolls with The Arditti Quartet (2009)
• Volcanic Sunlight (2011)

Guest and compilation appearances[link]

• "Twice the First Time" on Eargasms – Crucialpoetics Vol. 1 (1997)
• "Elohim (1972)" on Black Whole Styles (1998)
• "Ohm" on Lyricist Lounge, Volume One (1999)
• "Coded Language" on Coded Language by DJ Krust (1999)
• "Release" with Lyrics Born and Zack De La Rocha on Blazing Arrow by Blackalicious (2002)
• "Time (Jungle) (Temple Of Soul Mix)" on Nublu Sessions, mixed by Wax Poetic (2003)
• "Sent from Sandy Shores" (with Sacajawea) on Dreams of Water Themes by Adventure Time (2003)
• "Wake up Show Freestyles" by Sway and King Tech (2004)
• "Three Fingers" on Enter the Chicken by Buckethead & Friends (2005)
• "Sea Lion (Extended)" (with Will Oldham) on "Sea Lion" by Sage Francis (2005)
• "Mr. Nichols" on Sound Mirrors by Coldcut (2006)
• "April Showers, April Tears" on ¿What by Stuart Davis (2006)
• ",said the shotgun to the head" on Thomas Kessler by Thomas Kessler (2006)
• "Survivalism" and "Me, I'm Not" on Year Zero by Nine Inch Nails (2007)
• "Gunshots By Computer" and "Survivalism" on Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D by Nine Inch Nails (2007)
• "Lyrical Gunplay" on Thru by Thavius Beck
• "Dance Of The Dead" on The Unbound Project, Vol. 1 a compilation benefit album for Mumia Abu-Jamal
• "List Of Demands" on Nike Sparq Commercial
• "Black Stacy Remix" ft. Nas
• "U Can Do It" (with Maeckes) on "KIDS" by Maeckes (2010)
• "Dance or Die" on The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monáe (2010)

Bibliography[link]

• The Seventh Octave, 1998, Moore Black Press ISBN 0-9658308-1-0
• She, 1999, MTV/Pocketbooks ISBN 0-671-03977-6
• Said the Shotgun to the Head, 2003, MTV/Pocketbooks ISBN 0-7434-7079-6
• The Dead Emcee Scrolls, 2006, MTV/Pocketbooks ISBN 1-4165-1632-8
• Chorus, 2012, MTV Books ISBN 1-4516-4983-5 ^[22]

Filmography[link]

• Downtown 81 (voice) (1981/2000)
• Underground Voices (1996)
• Slam (1998)
• SlamNation (1998)
• I'll Make Me a World (1999)
• King Of The Korner (2000)
• K-PAX (2001)
• The N Word (2004)
• Lackawanna Blues (2005)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Site
• Saul Williams at Discogs
• Saul Williams at the Internet Movie Database
• Saul Williams: Volcanic Sunlight

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth^[1] (born June 17, 1987), simply known as Kendrick Lamar, is an American rapper and songwriter from Compton, California currently signed to Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope. He first gained major attention after the release of his 2010 mixtape Overly Dedicated. In 2011, his album Section.80, released exclusively through iTunes, instantly ranked as one of the top digital hip hop releases of the year.^[2] Lamar has amassed a large internet following, is a member of hip hop collective Black Hippy, along with Jay Rock, Schoolboy Q and Ab-Soul, and has worked with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Wiz Khalifa, Game, Drake, Busta Rhymes and Tech N9ne among other popular artists.^[3]

Biography[link]

1987-2009: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Kendrick Lamar was born in Compton, California, a community southeast of Los Angeles city limits, to parents from Chicago, Illinois.^[4] At the age of eight, in 1995, Lamar witnessed his idols, Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre film the music video for their hit single "California Love," a very significant moment in Lamar's life.^[5] In 2003 at the young age of sixteen, Lamar released his first mixtape, Youngest Head Nigga In Charge under the name K. Dot.^[6] The mixtape was able to garner enough attention for Lamar to get a record deal with Top Dawg Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based independent record label.^[6] He then released a twenty-six track mixtape two years later titled Training Day.^[7] More recognition came Lamar's way after a video of a Charles Hamilton show surfaced, where Hamilton goes in the crowd and battles rappers at attendance. Lamar didn't hesitate and began rapping a verse over Milkbone's "Keep It Real", that would later appear on a track titled "West Coast Wu-Tang".^[5] In 2008 Lamar made a cameo appearance on Jay Rock's "All My Life (In the Ghetto)" music video. After receiving a co-sign from Lil Wayne, he released his third mixtape in 2009 titled C4, heavily themed around Tha Carter III LP.^[8] Soon after, he decided to drop his stage name K. Dot and go by his real name. This resulted in him releasing a self-titled EP; the Kendrick Lamar EP in late 2009.^[9]

[edit] 2010–2011: Overly Dedicated and Section.80

Kendrick performing at a concert in Toronto, Canada

In 2010 he toured with Tech N9ne and Jay Rock on The Independent Grind tour.^[6] On September 23, 2010 he released O(verly) D(edicated) a highly acclaimed mixtape that included a song titled "Ignorance is Bliss" in which he glorifies gangsta rap and street crime but ends each verse with "ignorance is bliss" giving the message "we know not what we do".^[10][11] It was that song specifically that made hip hop producer Dr. Dre want to work with Lamar.^[12] This led to him working with Dre and Snoop Dogg on Dre's Detox album and him considering signing to Aftermath Entertainment.^[6][13] In January 2011 Lamar said his debut album was 90% finished.^[6]

In early 2011 Lamar was featured on XXL Magazine's 2011 Freshman cover along with CyHi the Prynce, Meek Mill, Mac Miller, Yelawolf, Lil B, Big K.R.I.T. and Diggy Simmons among others.^[14] On July 2, 2011, Lamar released his third solo project Section.80 to critical acclaim. It features guest appearances from GLC, Colin Munroe, Schoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and includes production from longtime collaborator Sounwave, Wyldfyer, Terrace Martin, J. Cole and more. On the topic of whether Section.80 would be an album or a mixtape Lamar said "I treat every project like it’s an album anyway. It’s not gonna be nothing leftover. I never do nothing like that. These are my leftover songs y’all can have ‘em, nah. I’m gonna put my best out. My best effort. I’m tryna look for an album in 2012". The first single for Section.80 was the J. Cole produced track "HiiiPower", of which the concept was to further explain the HiiiPower movement. Section.80 went on to sell over 10,000 copies in its first week^[15] without any television or radio coverage and received many very positive reviews. In the second half of 2011, Lamar appeared on Game's The R.E.D. Album, Tech N9ne's All 6's and 7's, 9th Wonder's The Wonder Years and Drake's Take Care.

In August 2011, while onstage with Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Game, at the West Los Angeles concert, the three of them crowned him the "New King of the West Coast"^[16]

[edit] 2012–present: Good Kid in a Mad City

On February 15, 2012, a song titled "Cartoons & Cereal" featuring Gunplay of Triple C's was leaked.^[17] Lamar revealed later that the track was for his upcoming album and he was planning to shoot a video for it.^[18]

In March 2012, MTV announced that Top Dawg Entertainment, the independent record label Lamar is signed to, have closed a joint venture deal with Interscope Records and Aftermath Entertainment, marking the end of his career as an independent artist. Under the new deal, Kendrick Lamar’s projects, including his upcoming debut studio album Good Kid in a Mad City will be jointly released via Top Dawg, Aftermath and Interscope, while releases from the rest of Black Hippy will be distributed via Top Dawg and Interscope.^[19]

Lamar premiered "The Recipe", his debut single and the lead single from Good Kid in a Mad City, at Power 106 on April 2, 2012. The track was released for digital download the following day. The song was produced by Scoop DeVille and features Dr. Dre.^{[citation needed]}

It was announced on May 14, 2012, that Lamar is working on a collaborative album with J. Cole. In an interview with Bootleg Kev, Cole stated that "I just started working with Kendrick the other day. We got it in, finally, again. We got maybe four or five [songs] together."

Personal life[link]

In high school, Centennial in Compton, Lamar was a good student.^[4] Lamar said that he has seen relatives who have died in his dreams for years. Tupac Shakur is also his favorite rapper, and influences not only his music, but his day-to-day lifestyle as well. In terms of subject matter, Kendrick Lamar has often been compared to Tupac Shakur. ^[6][20][21] He revealed that his favorite and most influential rappers are Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Nas, Jay-Z and his label-mate Eminem.

Discography[link]

• Section.80 (2011)
• Good Kid in a Mad City (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Kendrick Lamar on Twitter
• kedricklamar.com Official Site

Whoopi Goldberg
Goldberg in New York City, November 2008
Born	Caryn Elaine Johnson (1955-11-13) November 13, 1955 (age 56) New York City
Occupation	Actress, comedienne, radio disc jockey, producer, author, singer-songwriter, talk show host,
Years active	1981–present
Spouse	Alvin Martin (1973–1979; divorced) David Claessen (1986–1988; divorced) Lyle Trachtenberg (1994–1995; divorced)
Partner	Frank Langella (1996–2001)

Whoopi Goldberg ( /ˈhwʊpi/, born Caryn Elaine Johnson; November 13, 1955)^[1][2] is an American comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.

Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple (1985) playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her first Golden Globe Award for her role in the film. In 1990, she starred as Oda Mae Brown, a psychic helping a slain man (Patrick Swayze) find his killer in the blockbuster film Ghost. This performance won her a second Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Notable later films include Sister Act and Sister Act 2, The Lion King, Made in America, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Girl, Interrupted and Rat Race. She is also acclaimed for her roles as the bartender Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Terry Doolittle in Jumpin' Jack Flash. More recently, she had performed the voice of Stretch in Toy Story 3 and made an appearance in Glee as Carmen Tibideaux.

Goldberg has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards for her work in television. She was co-producer of the popular game show Hollywood Squares from 1998 to 2004. She has been the moderator of the daytime talk show The View since 2007. Goldberg has a Grammy, two Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Tony (for production, not acting), and an Oscar. In addition, Goldberg has a British Academy Film Award, four People's Choice Awards, and has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. All of this has made her one of the most accomplished actors of her generation, and she is one of the few entertainers who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Award.

Early life[link]

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, Jr., a clergyman.^[3][4] Goldberg has described her mother as a "stern, strong, and wise woman" who raised her as a single mother after Goldberg's father had left the family.^[5] Goldberg's recent ancestors migrated north from Faceville, Georgia, Palatka, Florida, and Virginia.^[6] Results of a DNA test, revealed in the 2006 PBS documentary African American Lives, traced part of her ancestry to the Papel and Bayote people of modern-day Guinea-Bissau. Her admixture test indicates that she is 92 percent is of sub-Saharan African origin and 8 percent is of European origin.^[7][8]

Her stage name, Whoopi, was taken from a whoopee cushion; she has 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."^[9][10] She adopted the traditionally German/Jewish surname Goldberg as a stage name because her mother felt the original surname of Johnson was not "Jewish enough" to make her a star.^[11] According to an anecdote told by Nichelle Nichols in the documentary film Trekkies, a young Goldberg was watching Star Trek, and upon seeing Nichols' character Uhura, exclaimed, "Momma! There's a black lady on TV and she ain't no maid!"^[12] This spawned life-long fandom of Star Trek for Goldberg, who would eventually accept a recurring guest-starring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Between the years of 1979 and 1981, she lived in Communist East Germany, working in a number of theater productions. During her travels, she would smuggle various items into the country for the artists she stayed with.^[13]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Goldberg trained under famed acting teacher Uta Hagen at the HB Studio. She first appeared onscreen in 1981–82 in Citizen: I'm Not Losing My Mind, I'm Giving It Away, an avant-garde ensemble feature by San Francisco filmmaker William Farley. Goldberg created The Spook Show, a one-woman show composed of different character monologues, in 1983. Director Mike Nichols was instantly impressed and offered to take the show to Broadway. The self-titled show ran from October 24, 1984 to March 10, 1985 for a total of 156 sold-out performances. While on Broadway, Goldberg's performance caught the eye of director Steven Spielberg. He was about to direct the film The Color Purple, based on Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker. Having read the novel, she was ecstatic at being offered a lead role in her first motion picture. Goldberg received compliments on her acting from Spielberg, Walker, and music consultant Quincy Jones. The Color Purple was released in late 1985, and was a critical and commercial success. It was later nominated for 11 Academy Awards including a nomination for Goldberg as Best Actress. The film did not win any of its Academy Award nominations, but Goldberg won the Golden Globe Award.

A comedic and dramatic balance[link]

Goldberg at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.

Goldberg starred in Penny Marshall's directorial debut, Jumpin' Jack Flash, and began a relationship with David Claessen, a director of photography on the set, and the couple married later that year. The film was a success, and during the next two years, three additional motion pictures featured Goldberg, Burglar, Fatal Beauty, and The Telephone. Though not as successful as her prior motion pictures, Goldberg still garnered awards from the NAACP Image Awards. Claessen and Goldberg divorced after the box office failure of The Telephone, which Goldberg was under contract to star in. She tried to sue the producers of the film, to no avail. The 1988 movie, Clara's Heart, was critically acclaimed, and featured a young Neil Patrick Harris. As the 1980s concluded, she participated in the numerous HBO specials of Comic Relief with fellow comedians Robin Williams and Billy Crystal.

In January 1990, Goldberg starred with Jean Stapleton in the TV situation comedy Bagdad Cafe. The show ran for two seasons on CBS. Simultaneously, Goldberg starred in The Long Walk Home, portraying a woman in the Civil Rights Movement. She played a psychic in the 1990 film Ghost, and became the first black female to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in nearly 50 years, and only the second black female in Oscar history to win an acting award.^{[citation needed]} Premiere Magazine named her character, Oda Mae Brown, to the list of Top 100 best film characters of all time.^[14]

Goldberg starred in Soapdish and had a recurring role on Star Trek: The Next Generation as Guinan, which she would reprise in two Star Trek movies. On May 29, 1992, Sister Act was released. The motion picture grossed well over US$100 million and Goldberg was nominated for a Golden Globe. Next, she starred in Sarafina!. During the next year, she hosted a late-night talk show, The Whoopi Goldberg Show and starred in two more motion pictures Made in America and Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. From 1994 to 1995, Whoopi appeared in Corrina, Corrina, The Lion King (voice), The Pagemaster (voice), Boys on the Side, and Moonlight and Valentino. Goldberg became the first African-American female to host the Academy Awards in 1994. She hosted the Awards again in 1996, 1999, and 2002. Goldberg released four motion pictures in 1996: Bogus (with Gerard Depardieu and Haley Joel Osment), Eddie, The Associate (with Dianne Wiest) and Ghosts of Mississippi (with Alec Baldwin and James Woods). During the filming of Eddie, Goldberg began dating co-star Frank Langella, a relationship which lasted until early 2000. In October 1997, Goldberg and ghostwriter Daniel Paisner, cowrote Book, a collection featuring insights and opinions.^{[15][clarification needed]} In November and December 2005, Goldberg revived her one-woman show on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre in honor of its 20th anniversary.

From 1998 to 2001, Goldberg took supporting roles in the How Stella Got Her Groove Back with Angela Basset, Girl, Interrupted with Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, Kingdom Come, and Rat Race with an all-star ensemble cast. She also played the voice of Liz on the first four seasons of popular PBS program The Magic Schoolbus. She starred in the successful ABC-TV versions of Cinderella, A Knight in Camelot, and the TNT Original Movie Call Me Claus. In 1998, she gained a new audience when she became the "Center Square" on Hollywood Squares, hosted by Tom Bergeron. She also served as Executive Producer, for which she was nominated for 4 Emmys.^[16] She left the show in 2002, and the "Center Square" was filled in with celebrities for the last two on-air seasons without Goldberg. In 2003, Goldberg returned to television, starring in the NBC comedy, Whoopi, which was canceled after one season. On her 48th birthday, Goldberg was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Goldberg also appeared along side Samuel Jackson and Angela Bassett in the HBO special Unchained Memories, narrating slave narratives. During the next two years, she became a spokeswoman for Slim Fast and produced two television sitcoms: Lifetime's original drama Strong Medicine that ran for six seasons and Whoopi's Littleburg, a Nickelodeon show for younger children. Goldberg made guest appearances on Everybody Hates Chris, as an elderly character named Louise Clarkson. She produced the Noggin sitcom Just For Kicks, in early 2006. She was a guest at Elton John's 60th birthday bash and concert at Madison Square Garden on March 25, 2007.

[edit] The View

Goldberg at Comic Relief in 2006

On September 4, 2007, Goldberg became the new moderator and co-host of The View, replacing Rosie O'Donnell.^[17] O'Donnell stated on her official blog that she wanted Goldberg to be moderator. Goldberg's debut as moderator drew 3.4 million viewers, 1 million fewer than O'Donnell's debut ratings. After two weeks, however, The View was averaging 3.5 million total viewers under Goldberg, a 7% increase from 3.3 million under O'Donnell the previous season.^[18]

Goldberg's first appearance on the show was controversial when she made statements about Michael Vick's dogfighting as being "part of his cultural upbringing" and "not all that unusual" in parts of the South.^[19][20] Another comment that stirred controversy was the statement that the Chinese "have a very different relationship to cats" and that "you and I would be very pissed if somebody ate kitty."^[21] Some defended Goldberg, including her co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, saying that her comments were taken out of context by the press, because she repeated several times that she did not condone what Vick did.^[22]

On more than one occasion, Goldberg has expressed strong disagreement and irritation with different remarks made by Elisabeth Hasselbeck, such as on October 3, 2007, when Hasselbeck commented that Hillary Clinton's proposed US$ 5,000 baby entitlement might lead to fewer abortions because of women wanting to keep the money.^[23][24]

Goldberg also created controversy when on September 28, 2009, during a discussion of Roman Polanski's case, she opined that Polanski's rape of a thirteen year old in 1977^[25][26] was not "rape-rape".^[27] Goldberg later clarified that she had intended to highlight the exact charge brought against Polanski, namely statutory rape, i.e. unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, rather than rape with an unwilling participant.^[28] Polanski had been initially charged with "rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under 14, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor",^[29] but under a plea bargain, Polanski pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor with the graver charges dropped,^[30][31][32] before fleeing to France, hours before he was to be formally sentenced.^[29]

After comedienne Kathy Griffin referred to Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown's daughters as "prostitutes", Goldberg said that if anyone insulted her daughter like that then "I would beat their ass." The audience reacted with shock, and support.^[33][34]

Other media appearances[link]

Goldberg in New York City protesting California Proposition 8 (2008).

Goldberg performed the role of Califia, the radiant Queen of the Island of California, for a theater presentation called Golden Dreams at Disney California Adventure Park, the second gate at the Disneyland Resort, in 2000. The show, which explains the history of the Golden State (California), opened on February 8, 2001, with the rest of the park. Golden Dreams closed in September 2008 to make way for the upcoming Little Mermaid ride planned for DCA.

In 2001, Goldberg hosted the 50th Anniversary of I Love Lucy, a 50s black-and-white sitcom, celebrating the legacy of Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance, and William Frawley.^{[citation needed]}

Goldberg hosted the 2001 documentary short, The Making of A Charlie Brown Christmas. In July 2006, Goldberg became the main host of the Universal Studios Hollywood Backlot Tour, in which she appears multiple times in video clips shown to the guests on monitors placed on the trams.

Along with her many contributions to film and television and her major impact on this industry, Whoopi Goldberg was a main narrator for HBO's 2003 film, Unchained Memories.

Goldberg made a guest appearance on the hit television show 30 Rock, in which she played herself. She is shown as endorsing her own workout video. In Season 4 of the show, Goldberg counsels Tracy Jordan on winning the "EGOT", the coveted combination of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards.

Goldberg was involved in controversy in July 2004 when, at a fundraiser for John Kerry at Radio City Music Hall in New York, Goldberg made a sexual joke about President George W. Bush, by waving a bottle of wine, pointing toward her pubic area and saying: "We should keep Bush where he belongs, and not in the White House." Slim-Fast, took exception to these comments made by Goldberg and dropped her from the then current ad campaign.^[35]

From August 2006 to March 2008, Goldberg hosted Wake Up With Whoopi, a nationally syndicated morning radio talk and entertainment program.

In October 2007, Goldberg announced on the air that she would be retiring from acting because she is no longer sent scripts, saying, "You know, there's no room for the very talented Whoopi. There's no room right now in the marketplace of cinema".^[36]

On July 14, 2008, Goldberg announced on The View that from July 29 to September 7, she would perform in the Broadway musical Xanadu.

On November 13, 2008, Goldberg's birthday, she announced live on The View that she would be producing, along with Stage Entertainment, the premiere of Sister Act: The Musical at the London Palladium. The show began on Wednesday, May 6, 2009, with the official press night on June 2, 2009. The show featured actress Sheila Hancock and Patina Miller, amongst others.

She also gave a short message at the beginning of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008 wishing all the participants good luck, and stressing the importance of UNICEF, the official charity of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.^[37]

Since its launch in 2008, Goldberg has been a contributor for wowOwow.com, a new website for women to talk culture, politics and gossip.^[38]

Goldberg has also been an advocate for human rights worldwide, moderating a panel at the Alliance of Youth Movements Summit^[39] on how social networks can be used to fight violent extremism^[40] in 2008, and also moderating a panel at the UN in 2009^[41] on human rights, children and armed conflict, terrorism, human rights and reconciliation.

On December 13, 2008, Goldberg guest starred on The Naked Brothers Band, a Nickelodeon rock- mockumentary television show. Before the episode premiered, on February 18, 2008, the band performed on The View and the band members were interviewed by Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd.

On December 18 through 20, 2009, Goldberg performed in the Candlelight Processional at Epcot in Walt Disney World. She was given a standing ovation during her final performance for her reading of the Christmas story and her tribute to the guest choirs performing in the show with her.^{[citation needed]}

She also makes a guest appearance in Michael Jackson's short film for the single "Liberian Girl".

She made an appearance on the seventh season of the cooking reality show Hell's Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay where she was a special guest sitting at the chef's table in the kitchen where she was served by the contestants.^{[citation needed]}

On January 14, 2010, Goldberg made a one-night-only appearance at the Minskoff Theatre to perform in the mega-hit musical The Lion King.^{[citation needed]}

Goldberg made her West End debut as the Mother Superior in musical version of Sister Act for a limited engagement set for August 10–31, 2010,^[42] but prematurely left the cast on August 27, to be with her family; her mother had suffered from a severe stroke.^[43] However, she returned to the cast for five performances.^[44] The show closed on October 30, 2010.^[45]

In 2012, Goldberg guest starred as Jane Marsh, Sue Heck's guidance counsellor in "The Middle". In one scene, Jane reminds her co-workers that her birthday is November 13, Goldberg's actual birthday.

Personal life[link]

Goldberg has been married three times — in 1973 to Alvin Martin (divorced in 1979, one daughter), in 1986 to cinematographer David Claessen (divorced in 1988), and in 1994 to the actor Lyle Trachtenberg (divorced in 1995).^{[citation needed]} She has also been romantically linked with actors Frank Langella and Ted Danson.^{[citation needed]}

In 1973, when Goldberg was 18, she and Alvin Martin had one daughter, Alexandrea (now an actress and producer who has used the stage names Alex Martin and Alex Dean). Goldberg became a grandmother at the age of 34 when her then 16 year-old daughter gave birth to a daughter, Amarah Skye. And through Alex, Goldberg has another two grandchildren who are 6 and 9 years younger than Amarah.^[46]

On August 29, 2010, Goldberg's mother Emma Johnson died after suffering a stroke.^[47][48] Goldberg left London at the time, where she had been performing in Sister Act the Musical, but returned to perform on October 22, 2010.

She has admitted publicly to having been a "high functioning" drug addict years ago, at one point being too terrified to even leave her bed to go use the toilet.^[49] Goldberg suffers from dyslexia.^[50]

Goldberg currently lives near Glenmont the home of inventor Thomas Edison in the gated community of Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey.

Awards and honors[link]

Goldberg has received two Academy Award nominations, for The Color Purple and Ghost, winning for Ghost. She is the first African American to have received Academy Award nominations for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. She is the recipient of the 1985 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for her solo performance on Broadway. She has received eight Daytime Emmy nominations, winning two. She has received five (non-daytime) Emmy nominations. She has received three Golden Globe nominations, winning two. She won a Grammy Award in 1985 and a Tony Award as a producer of the Broadway musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. 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 prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center as well as the Women in Film Crystal Award for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.^[51] In 2009, Goldberg won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host for her role on The View. She shares the award with co-hosts Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd, Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Barbara Walters.

Goldberg is one of few to win an Oscar, a Grammy, a Tony, and an Emmy. She has been seen in over 150 films, and during a period in the 1990s, Whoopi was the highest-paid actress of all time. Her humanitarian efforts include working for Comic Relief, recently reuniting with Billy Crystal and Robin Williams for the 20th Anniversary of Comic Relief.

In February 2002, Goldberg sent her Oscar statuette from Ghost to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to be cleaned and replated. During this time, the statuette was taken from its shipping container, and later retrieved by the shipping company, UPS.^[52]

In 1990, Whoopi was officially named an honorary member of the Harlem Globetrotters exhibition basketball team by the members.^[53]

She was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Award for outstanding achievement by a dyslexic in 1987.^[50]

Activism[link]

On April 1, 2010, Whoopi Goldberg joined Cyndi Lauper in the launch of her Give a Damn campaign to bring a wider awareness of discrimination of the LGBT community. The campaign is to bring straight people to ally with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community. Other names included in the campaign are Jason Mraz, Elton John, Judith Light, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Kardashian, Clay Aiken, Sharon Osbourne, and Kelly Osbourne.^[54] On a airing of The View on May 9, 2012, Whoopi stated that she is a Member of the National Rifle Association.^[55]

Filmography[link]

Film[link]