Erik Jensen is an American film, television and theatre actor born and raised in northern Minnesota. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from Carnegie Mellon University in 1992. He is also a playwright who co-wrote the play The Exonerated with Jessica Blank.

Career[link]

Erik Jensen has had many roles in TV series most notably in the role of legendary Thurman Munson of the New York Yankees in The Bronx Is Burning.

In addition to his work as a performer, Erik co-wrote the multi-award-winning, critically acclaimed play The Exonerated with his wife Jessica Blank.^[1] It ran Off-Broadway in New York City for nearly 2 years and starred Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn, and Delroy Lindo.^[2] The play is based on interviews they conducted with more than 40 exonerated death row inmates. In Spring 2002, it was staged at The Actors' Gang Theater.^[3] It was nominated for five Ovation Awards and three NAACP Awards, winning the Ovation for "Best World Premiere Play". Bob Balaban's production of The Exonerated ran for more than 600 performances off-Broadway; toured nationally. It was made into a movie for Court TV starring Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Aidan Quinn, and Susan Sarandon;^[4] and was produced internationally in Dublin,^[5] Edinburgh,^[6] London,^[7] Japan, Mexico, and Italy. The Exonerated won the 2003 Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Fringe First, and Herald Angel Awards. It has also received awards from Amnesty International, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and Death Penalty Focus. The Exonerated has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese.

Erik Jensen and wife Jessica Blank are preparing a new documentary play, "Iraq Refugee Project" and a film based on Blank's novel Almost Home.

Personal life[link]

Erik Jensen is married to writer/actor Jessica Blank. They live in Brooklyn.

Filmography[link]

Feature films, TV movies and shorts

• 1991: Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace as boat owner (TV movie)
• 1992: What She Doesn't Know as thug (TV movie)
• 1993: The Dark Half as Male Student
• 1993: Striking Distance as Kid on Steps
• 1995: A Horse for Danny as Mooner (TV movie)
• 1995: Inflammable as Roland Fantaine (TV movie)
• 1996: Ripe as Dave
• 1996: Twisted as Man who kills Can Man
• 1997: Colin Fitz as Dean
• 1997: Julian Po as Tyler
• 1998: Anima
• 1998: Montana as Karl
• 1998: Above Freezing as Richie
• 1998: Arresting Gena as Stevie
• 1999: The Love Letter as Ray
• 1999: Cherry as Man #3
• 2000: Brooklyn Sonnet as Frankie the Snake
• 2000: Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 as Stoner #2
• 2001: Black Knight as Derek
• 2002: The Year That Trembled as Todd Franklin
• 2002: Heartbreak Hospital as HH producer
• 2003: Undermind as Ian Waye
• 2004: Messengers as David Richards
• 2005: The Exonerated as Jeff
• 2005: Hitler, Stalin & Walter O'Malley as Jules (short)
• 2005: The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie as Photographer
• 2006: The House Is Burning as Carl
• 2006: Sup 2down as Ewan
• 2007: Serial as Gary Whitlock
• 2007: Game of Life as Larry
• 2008: Quality Time as Tucker (short)
• 2008: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 as Video Store Manager Phil
• 2009: Speed Grieving as Scott (voice) (short)
• 2009: Stream as Marco (short)
• 2009: Virtuality as Dr. Jules Braun (TV movie)
• 2011: The Loop as Bearded Man
• 2011: Gun Hill as Tommy Griffin (TV movie)

TV series

• 1994: Law & Order (TV series - 1 episode - as George Harding in "Grief)
• 1995: Central Park West as Jeffrey (TV series - 1 episode - "Lunar Eclipse")
• 1996: Swift Justice as Mutrix (TV series - 1 episode - "Pilot")
• 1997: Dellaventura (TV series - 1 episode - "Hell's Kitchen")
• 1998: Law & Order (TV series - 1 episode - as Joey Springfield in "Coma")
• 1998: The Last Don II as Frankie Lips (TV mini-series)
• 2000-2001: Deadline (TV series - 3 episodes - as Feldman in "Just Lie Back", "Perception" and "Pilot")
• 2002: Third Watch (TV series - 1 episode - as Larry in "Transformed")
• 2003-2007: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV series - 7 episodes - as A.D.A. Jeffrey Sinclair)
• 2004: Strong Medicine (TV series - 1 episode - as Gaby's Father in "The Real World Rittenhouse")
• 2004: Alias (TV series - 1 episode - as Philip Terrance in "Blood Ties")
• 2004: Century City (TV series - 1 episode - as Randolph Clemens in "The Face Was Familiar"))
• 2005: Rescue Me (TV series - 1 episode - as Ringmaster in "Happy")
• 2006: Love Monkey (TV series - 8 episode - as Jeff))
• 2007: The Bronx Is Burning (TV series - 8 episodes - as Thurman Munson)
• 2007: Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV series 1 episode - as Boyd in "Renewal)
• 2008: New Amsterdam (TV series - 1 episode - as Durst in "Honor")
• 2009: The Good Wife (TV series - 1 episode - as Josh Baldwin in "Conjugal")
• 2010: Past Life (TV series - 1 episode - as Patrick in "Regressing Henry")
• 2010: Gravity (TV series - 6 episodes - as Ralph)
• 2010: Law & Order: Criminal Intent (TV series - 1 episode - as Richard Celeste in "Palimsest")
• 2010: Drop Dead Diva (TV series - 1 episode - "A Mother's Secret")
• 2011: Lie to Me (TV series - 1 episode - as Wayne in Funhouse)
• 2011: NCIS: Los Angeles (TV series - 1 episode - as FBI Agent Landon Frisbee - in "Archangel")
• 2011: Leverage (TV series - 1 episode - as John Connell in "The Carnival Job")
• 2011: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (TV series - 1 episode - as Walter Harris in "Frank Reynolds' Little Beauties")

Theater[link]

Writer

• 2002: The Exonerated (co-wrote with Jessica Blank)

Actor

• Y2K by Arthur Kopit (Manhattan Theater Club
• Corpus Christi by Terrence McNally (Manhattan Theater Club)
• Spain (Manhattan Class Company)
• Schmucks as Lenny Bruce (Wilma Theater, Philadelphia)

References[link]

Interview with Jensen regarding his graphic novel projects.==External links==

• The Exonerated official website

Ajay Kalahastri Naidu (born 12 February 1972) is an Indian-American actor.

Naidu was born in Evanston, Illinois.^[1] He attended Evanston Township High School. He trained with the American Repertory Theater's Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard University.^[1]

His first professional acting job was the film Touch and Go(released in 1986) which he won from an open call. He starred in the TV-movie, Lady Blue (1985) as "Paquito". This was followed by an ABC Afterschool Special episode, "No Greater Gift" (1985), where he played "Nick Santana", a 12-year old boy with a terminal illness. He then appeared in the "MacGyver" TV series' first season episode, "To Be a Man" in 1986.

Other film credits when younger include Where the River Runs Black (1986) and Vice Versa (1988). Between 1988 and 1995 he worked extensively in classical theatre.

He returned to film acting in SubUrbia (1996), where he was praised for his role as the convenience store owner, "Nazeer Choudhury" and for which he was nominated for an independent spirit award for best supporting actor.

On screen, Naidu has appeared in the cult film Office Space, as well as K-Pax, Subway Stories, π, Requiem for a Dream, Bad Santa, The War Within, The Guru, Waterborne, Loins of Punjab Presents among others. He co-starred as a series regular in the sitcom LateLine and had guest starring roles on the television dramas The Sopranos, The West Wing and Bored to Death.

Naidu has been working extensively with musicians from the Asian underground music movement for many years as both a dancer and an M.C and his vocals have appeared on many records, most notably Talvin Singh's mercury award winner "OK".

In 2006 he directed his first feature film Ashes which had its release in 2010 and for which he won Best Actor accolades from both the MIACC Film Festival in New York, and The London Asian Film Festival.

His most recent Theatre credits include A world tour of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure with Simon McBurney's Theatre Complicite, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui alongside Al Pacino, and The Little Flower of East Orange alongside Ellyn Burstyn at New York's Public Theater.^[2] He is engaged to actress Heather Burns.^[3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ajay Naidu at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2009)

William Thomas Sadler (born April 13, 1950) is an American actor who works in film and television. His television and motion picture roles have included Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller in The Pacific, Luther Sloan in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sheriff Jim Valenti in Roswell, convict Heywood in The Shawshank Redemption, and—perhaps most notably—the Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, a role for which he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor,^[1] and his role as the villainous Colonel Stuart alongside Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2.

Early life[link]

Sadler was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Jane and William Sadler.^[2] From an early age, he took to performing in front of an audience. Armed with a variety of stringed instruments, Sadler found hometown success during his high school years at Orchard Park High School. He took on the persona as Banjo Bill Sadler,^[3] a banjo wielding singer who could crack jokes while playing. Both students and teachers enjoyed his performances immensely, which led Sadler to audition for the senior play under English teacher Dan Larkin's persuasion. He won the role, which brought about his personal discovery of wanting to become an actor. After graduating high school, he enrolled in SUNY Geneseo. Following that, he spent two years at Cornell University where he earned his Master's degree in Acting with a minor in Speech Communications. He is a certified speech teacher and particularly skilled at accents. When his studies were done, Sadler began his auditions.

Career[link]

Sadler took his first post-school role in Florida and soon relocated to Boston, moving in with his sister while scrubbing the floors of a lobster boat by day and cutting his acting chops at night. Slowly working up the nerve to take a shot at the big time in New York, a chance meeting with an old schoolmate on a trip into the city resulted in Sadler's casting in an off-off-Broadway production of Chekhov's Ivanov. After a brief turn at the Trinity Square Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, Sadler moved back to New York and rented an apartment in the East Village, beginning a grueling 12 years in which he appeared in over 75 productions, including originating the role of "Sgt. Toomey" in the Broadway run of Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, opposite Matthew Broderick in 1985.

Sadler is best known for his roles in the 1990 action film Die Hard 2 as Colonel Stuart, as Heywood in the 1994 prison drama The Shawshank Redemption, the Grim Reaper in the 1991 comedy Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and as Brayker in Demon Knight. He was also a series regular on the television series Roswell as Sheriff Jim Valenti and in Wonderfalls as Darrin Tyler. Other film credits include Trespass, K-9, Project X, Disturbing Behavior, Kinsey, The Battle of Shaker Heights, Purple Heart and Jimmy and Judy.

Sadler's TV guest appearances include In the Heat of the Night, Roseanne, Tru Calling, CSI, Numb3rs, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He had a recurring role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Luther Sloan, a member of a covert organization called Section 31. He appeared in three episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in its final two seasons. In 2007, he played Carlton Fog on ABC's Traveler, and in 2008 he appeared in both NBC's Medium as well as Fox Television's Fringe. The 1989 pilot episode of the HBO horror anthology series Tales from the Crypt featured Sadler in its lead role. In March 2011, Sadler will make a guest appearance in NBC's Chase.^[4]

He portrayed Julius Caesar in the contemporary adaptation of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar on Broadway alongside Denzel Washington at the Belasco Theatre. Recently, he finished shooting with American independent filmmakers Dylan Bank and Morgan Pehme on the film Nothing Sacred. Sadler portrayed the robot Victor in the 2010 video game Fallout: New Vegas.

Personal life[link]

While Sadler performed on the New York stage, he met Marni Joan Bakst. They married in 1978 and have one daughter.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• William Sadler at the Internet Movie Database
• William Sadler at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)

Shamika Cotton
Shamika Cotton with her friend Bob Ketchum at The Wire wrap party
Born	Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
Other names	Shamika Lee Cotton
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2003–present

This article relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Please add citations from reliable sources. (March 2008)

Shamika Cotton is an American actor from Cincinnati, Ohio. She is perhaps best known to television viewers as Michael Lee's drug-addicted mother Raylene Lee in the acclaimed HBO series The Wire.

Career[link]

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Shamika Cotton graduated from Cincinnati's competitive School for the Creative and Performing Arts .^[1] In 2006, Cotton appeared on the "I Wanna Be A Soap Star" reality series to good reviews, and her performances from the show were also highlighted on Entertainment Tonight.

In November, 2007, Cotton launched a weekly videocast on YouTube entitled the “Shamika Chronicles”,^[2] a series that follows her life and offers a realistic look at the daily life and work of an aspiring actress.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Shamika Cotton at the Internet Movie Database

This article about an American theatre actor is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

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]