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American comedienne and actor Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Johnson in New York City in 1949. Her original stage name was Whoopi Cushion. She won a Grammy award in 1985 for her comedy album Direct from Broadway. Her film credits include The Color Purple (1985), Ghost (1990), Sister Act (1992) and Girl, Interrupted (2000). Her performance in Ghost won her the Golden Globe and Academy awards for best supporting actress that year. She scooped up a Tony award in 2001-2002 as one of the producers of Thoroughly Modern Millie. She produced and was the center square of the new Hollywood Squares from 1998 to 2002. Her sitcom Whoopi aired in 2003–2004. Multi-talented and outspoken, she says of herself ". . . what I am is a humanist before anything - before I'm a Jew, before I'm black, before I'm a woman. And my beliefs are for the human race - they don't exclude anyone."

Here are some of the best lines attributed to Whoopi Goldberg:

"Normal is in the eye of the beholder. Normal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine."

"I don't have pet peeves. I have whole kennels of irritation."

At Elizabeth Taylor's 65th birthday party - "I'd like to present you with something no one else would dare to give you: Your first Social Security check."

"Denzel Washington's character was so scary in that movie, that he was the only man that could go out for a bite with Mike Tyson."

About animals on stage - "Last year they had a bear. They would have had him back but a lot of people got really mad because he was wearing real fur."

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