Versatile African-American stand-up comedienne/performance artist whose stage show of character sketches brought her to the attention of Hollywood. With her trademark dreadlocks, gravelly voice and blunt, hip yet compassionate style, Goldberg was unconventional star material to be sure, and the ups and downs of her career clearly represent the attempts of producers to smooth over what they consider to be her "rough edges." She made an auspicious feature debut with an atypically subdued but very moving performance in Steven Spielberg's controversial THE COLOR PURPLE (1985), but subsequently her energetic presence was underutilized in a series of mostly uninspired vehicles until her Oscar-winning performance as a fake psychic medium in the 1990 box-office hit, GHOST.
Things were not all dark for this unique actress during the second half of the 80s before GHOST; JUMPIN' JACK FLASH (1986) and CLARA'S HEART (1988) have their fair share of ardent admirers. Goldberg became a seemingly ubiquitous presence on TV, racking up over 80 appearances in specials (most notably "Comic Relief" and its followups), several memorable guest spots ("Moonlighting," "Dolly," "A Different World") and a stint with "Bagdad Cafe," a short-lived comedy series co-starring Jean Stapleton. Between 1988 and 1994, Goldberg also played a likeable if rather modest recurring role as Guinan, the enigmatic alien bartender, on the hit syndicated series "Star Trek: The Next Generation." She has also produced several specials for cable and syndication.
Her feature career revivified by GHOST, Goldberg went on to a dignified dramatic role in the pre-civil rights 50s era film THE LONG WALK HOME (1990) and a comic part in SOAPDISH (1991) before starring in the surprise blockbuster comedy of 1992, SISTER ACT. She ended 1992 with a strong supporting role in Robert Altman's THE PLAYER and the lead in SARAFINA!. Goldberg also began hosting her own late night one-on-one chat show, "The Whoopi Goldberg Show" (Syndicated, 1992-93). Low-key and informal, the show featured major stars, but lackluster ratings led to a quick cancellation. She returned to films with MADE IN AMERICA (1993), a comedy co-starring Ted Danson, and was paid $8 million for her participation in the inevitable sequel SISTER ACT 2: BACK IN THE HABIT (1993).
