Whoopi Goldberg
26 quotes
Biography
Caryn Elaine Johnson, known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg, is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality. She is one of 28 entertainers to receive the EGOT, consisting of an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award.
"When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else. And it'll become like a wildfire."
"Art and life are subjective. Not everybody's gonna dig what I dig, but I reserve the right to dig it."
"We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark."
"We're born with success. It is only others who point out our failures, and what they attribute to us as failure."
"I'm an actor. That's what I do. I'm not a stand-up comic. I do characters. I'm very good. I'll be better. But right now I'm a very good actor."
"But I want very much to be accepted as a good actor, and I have to admit this. Just before the first screenings of The Color Purple, I had some doubts about my name. Steven had told me the billing would read, "And Introducing Whoopi Goldberg as Celie." I had nightmares that when it appeared, a little ripple of laughter would run through the audience and it would grow and grow until it became a horrendous roar of guffaws. Well, I forced myself to go to a screening, and when my name appeared, all I could think was, "Oh, my, how elegant that looks!" And no one laughed at all.""
"Actresses can only play women. I'm an actor, I can play anything."
"The name was a fluke. A joke. It started when I was doing A Christmas Carol in San Diego. We'd sit backstage and talk about names we'd never give our children, like Pork Pie or Independence. Of course, now people are walking around with those names. A woman said to me, "If I was your mother, I would have called you Whoopi, because when you're unhappy you make a sound like a whoopee cushion. It sounds like a fart." It was like "Ha-ha-ha-ha—Whoopi!" So people actually started calling me Whoopi Cushion. After about a year, my mother said, "You won't be taken seriously if you call yourself Whoopi Cushion. So try this combination: Whoopi Goldberg."
"Most of all, I dislike this idea nowadays that if you're a black person in America, then you must be called African-American. Listen, I've visited Africa, and I've got news for everyone: I'm not an African. The Africans know I'm not an African. I'm an American. This is my country. My people helped to build it and we've been here for centuries. Just call me black, if you want to call me anything."
"Thanks! Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted this! You don't know...my brother sitting there, he says "Thank God we don't have to listen to anymore... you can do it now!" My mom's home, everyone's watching... I have to thank the people at Paramount; I have to thank Jerry Zucker for taking the time he took before he decided to use me because he was sure it was for me... I have to thank Patrick Swazye... he was a stand up guy and went to them and said "I wanna do it with her"… I wanna thank Demi... I wanna thank everybody who makes movies... I come from New York; as a kid, I lived in the projects and you're the people I watched...you're the people that made me wanna be an actor... I'm so proud to be here, I'm proud to be an actor and I'm gonna keep on acting, and thank you so much!"
"I know it wasn't rape-rape. I think it was something else, but I don't believe it was rape-rape."
"For many, many, many years, there were not Jews in Israel. Okay?"
"Sitting at the table during Color Purple and looking up and suddenly realizing I was acting in front of Steven Spielberg, was pretty cool. It was pretty good."
"You know, be an actor because you love to act. Don't be an actor because you think you're going to get famous, because that's luck."
"When I was doing ensemble theater and comedy work, I felt I had some talents. But when I started doing my shows in Berkeley and found that I could be funny on my own, I was shocked."
"I used my imagination to make the grass whatever color I wanted it to be."
"I'm fighting the label of 'Black' actress simply because it's very limiting in people's eyes, especially people who are making movies."
"I don't have pet peeves I have whole kennels of irritation."
"It's being willing to walk away that gives you strength and power - if you're willing to accept the consequences of doing what you want to do."
"It's being willing to walk away that gives you strength and power - if you're willing to accept the consequences of doing what you want to do."
"I think the idea that you know who your inner self is on a daily basis, because... you know. What's good for you 25 years ago may not be good for you now. So, to keep in touch with that, I think that's the first ingredient for success. Because if you're a successful human being, everything else is gravy, I think."
"Is there any forgiveness? If somebody does something wrong, we now have copped this "off with the head" attitude, which, I confess, feels great sometimes, but come on. Why do we paint everyone with the same brush? Why does it seem more & more we want people ruined rather than rehabilitated?"
"Don't you believe that the punishment should fit the crime? Isn't that what justice is? Letely, though, I wonder if we've gotten more into vengenance than justice."
"My family is Jewish, Buddhist, Baptist and Catholic. I don't believe in man-made religions."
"If I was doing a talk show, I would do the kind of show that comes on just once a month, with amazing guests."