The Nelas Academy

WHOOPI GOLDBERG

United States | Film • Television • Comedy • Theatre

Whoopi Goldberg is an American actress, comedian, producer and television personality whose career has made her one of the most recognizable Black women in international entertainment. She first attracted major attention through her one-woman stage production The Spook Show, which became a successful Broadway production and earned her a Grammy Award. Her film breakthrough came with Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple, for which she received an Academy Award nomination. She later won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Ghost. Her extensive film career includes Sister Act, The Long Walk Home, The Lion King, Girl, Interrupted and Till. Goldberg also became a major television figure as moderator of The View. Her achievements across theatre, film, television and music have placed her among the rare entertainers to achieve EGOT status—winning Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.

The Nelas Research Focus: Black Comedy • Film • Television • Theatre • Cross-Platform Entertainment

THE NELAS 100 GREAT WOMEN OF COLOR 1975–2025
HALL OF FAME EDITION
(50-Year Retrospective Research Project)

The Nelas 100 Great Women of Color is a curated research and documentation selection, not a definitive ranking of all Black and African women who have contributed to global entertainment.

The Nelas 100 Great Women of Color 1975–2025 is a research and documentation project of The Nelas Academy which is an emerging international media, arts and cultural research institution created to celebrate and preserve the contributions of Black and African women in creative arts, entertainment, music, film, modelling, poetry, fashion, pageantry and cultural presentation.

© Published by the Media & Research Department of
The Nelas Academy of Arts, Media and Television.