Actress Whoopi Goldberg was born on November 13, 1955, in New York, USA. After graduating from school, she got a regular job, but in 1974 she moved to San Diego and became a founding member of a repertory theater company. She honed the acting skills she learned in a children's theater group at the age of eight, and her talent as a stand-up comedienne blossomed. It was Alice Walker, the novelist behind the 1985 film The Color Purple, who saw her and fell in love with her. She recommended her to director Steven Spielberg, who cast her in the lead role of Celie, achieving the remarkable feat of being nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in her debut film. Goldberg continued to appear in films after that, although she didn't have any hits. Her breakthrough came in 1990's Ghost. In this film, Goldberg played the role of fraudulent psychic medium Oda Mae Brown, and her comical acting perfectly suited the character, earning her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In 1992, she played the lead role of Deloris in Sister Act, which became a huge hit, running for over six months, solidifying her presence in Hollywood.

Goldberg was also known as a huge Star Trek fan, leading to her playing the semi-regular character Guinan in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. She was the first woman to host the Academy Awards in 1996. However, film offers dwindled with the arrival of the 21st century, and in 2007 she announced her retirement from acting during a television broadcast. Since then, she has focused on hosting talk shows and other events.

In her personal life, she married motion picture union president Lyle Trachtenberg in 1994, but the couple divorced after just one year. She had been married twice before, and this was her third divorce.