Daughter: Alexandrea; Granddaughters: Amarah and Jerzey.
Travels to locations by bus since she hates flying.
Once worked in a mortuary where her job was applying makeup to corpses.
Was nicknamed Whoopi (as in "whoopi-cushion") because of being overly flatulent. She added the name Goldberg, taken from the Jewish side of her family.
Holds an honorary degree from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa.
Dropped out of high school and became addicted to heroin. She ended up marrying her drug counselor. She cleaned up and later divorced him. In 1974 she moved to California and helped found the San Diego Repertory Company, where she used the name, Whoopi Cushion. Before making it as an actress, she worked as a bank teller, a bricklayer and in a mortuary.
She was inspired to become an actress by watching Nichelle Nichols's portrayal of Uhura on "Star Trek" (1966).
Is dyslexic.
Asked Gene Roddenberry for a role in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) because she was a big fan. She was given role of "Guinan", the head of the Ten-Forward lounge. Her character was named for real life 19th Century bartender Texas Guinan.
Was the second African American woman to win an Oscar.
Has over 4 different action figures modeled after her character, Guinan, from the "Star Trek" series and the films.
Has a tattoo of Woodstock (the bird from the Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" cartoon strip) on her shoulder.
Has her own production company, One Ho Productions, which backs most of her movies and television projects that she produces.
Was one of the eulogists at Gene Roddenberry's funeral in 1991, along with other Star Trek stars Nichelle Nichols and Patrick Stewart.
Did a private stand-up comedy routine entitled "If E.T. landed in Oakland" in front of, among others, Steven Spielerg and Michael Jackson which eventually won Whoopi the lead in The Color Purple.
One of only four actresses who won the quadruple crown of acting: The Oscar, Tony, Emmy and Grammy.
Her performance as Oda Mae Brown in "Ghost" (1990) is ranked #95 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.
When talking about critics while on the Queen Latifah show - "You can say whatever you want about me but talk about my daughter and I'll beat your ass up."
"My family is Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist and Catholic. I don't believe in man-made religions."
"I'm a big old egoistical baby and that's okay. I can accept it."
"I told her her I would play a Venetian blind, dirt on the floor, anything." [about Alice Walker, author of "The Color Purple", in which Goldberg eventually played a leading role]
"Actors have no color. That's the art form."
About Star Trek: "I know I'm never going up [for real] in anybody's rocket ship. I know this, because I hate to fly. Gene Roddenberry's vision always included a multi-ethnic group of people. I thought that was pretty amazing. Being on Star Trek has been a great way to sort of expand on the universe and be a part of it." (1994 interview)
On how she got cast in Star Trek: the next generation: "I did it because, frankly, I couldn't get any other work then. I like the show, so I asked if I could be on it. As a matter of fact, I asked twice. The first time, I sent a message to LeVar Burton asking him to tell the producers that I would really like to be on the show. He got the message to the producers and they said, 'Yeah, right. Whoopi wants to do Star Trek.' One of the members [Gates McFadden] left the show and I heard about it, so I approached the show's producers again and said, 'Listen, I don't know if you know it or not, but I've been trying for a long time now to get on this show.' They said LeVar had told them about it and they thought he was kidding. I told them I can't do all the episodes but I would like to do some of them. 'Can I have the job?' They finally said, 'Sure, we'll build you a bar.' And they built me Ten-Forward. I got to go in and be really sage and wear great hats. I also got to hang out with some extraordinary people, like Patrick Stewart, LeVar and Jonathan Frakes." (1994 interview)
On working with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The connections between us is family. Its just family. And its unshakable, you know. Because you look around and you see a great part of your active adult life. Great part of my active adult life was spent with the cast and crew of Star Trek." (2002 interview from Star Trek: Nemesis)
