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John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, singer, entertainer and aviator. He became known during the late 1970s, establishing a career as a leading Hollywood actor, and has subsequently continued appearing in major films, including his 1990s roles in Pulp Fiction and Get Shorty.
Early life
Travolta, the youngest of the six children, was born in Englewood, New Jersey to Salvatore Travolta, a second-generation Italian American semi-professional football player turned tire salesman, and Helen Cecilia Burke, an Irish American actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama teacher. She was 42 when Travolta was born. Travolta grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and has said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture. His family was Catholic.
Career
After dropping out of Dwight Morrow High School after his junior year, Travolta moved to New York City to get a job as a performer. He landed roles in the touring company of Grease and on Broadway in Over Here! singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'.'" Travolta also cut singles for a local record company, but the songs were quickly forgotten. But eventually, he moved to Los Angeles, California to further his career in show business.
Travolta gained his first major movie role as Billy Nolan, a sadistic bully who taunted Sissy Spacek's Carrie White in the horror film Carrie (1976). Around the same time he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979) in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack's mother).
Around this time he also had a hit single entitled "Let Her In" peaking at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the next few years, he appeared in some of his most memorable screen roles: Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and as Danny Zuko in Grease (1978). His mother and his sister Ann appeared as extras in Saturday Night Fever and his sister Ellen appeared as a waitress in Grease. Travolta performed several of the songs on the Grease soundtrack album, that eventually went on to sell more than 10 million copies. In 1980, Travolta inspired a nationwide country music craze that followed on the heels of his hit film, Urban Cowboy, in which he starred with Debra Winger.
After Urban Cowboy came a string of flops that sidelined his acting career. Some suggest that he was typecast as a disco stud or 1970s icon, which could be the reason his agent intervened on several occasions to turn down acting roles. During that time he was offered, but turned down, lead roles in what would become box office hits, including American Gigolo, An Officer and A Gentleman, and Splash. The first two films ultimately starred Richard Gere in the lead role and went to become box office successes. This was also the case with the movie Chicago - the role of lawyer Billy Flynn was offered to Travolta, but ultimately was played by Gere; the film went on to become a highly commercial and critical success. His only hit film during this period was alongside Kirstie Alley and a baby voiced by Bruce Willis in Look Who's Talking. However, it wasn't until he played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's hit Pulp Fiction (1994), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, that his career was revived. The movie shifted him back onto the A-list, and he was inundated with offers. Coincidentally, before Travolta took the role he visited Tarantino, who was living in the same ramshackle apartment in Los Angeles that Travolta had inhabited when he got his start. Notable roles following Pulp Fiction include a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty (1995), an FBI agent in Face/Off (1997), a desperate attorney in A Civil Action (1998) and a military detective in The General's Daughter (1999).
Travolta also starred in Battlefield Earth (2000) based on a work of science fiction by L. Ron Hubbard, in which he played the leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth. The film received almost universally negative reviews and did very poorly at the box office. Travolta, who converted to Scientology in 1975 and endorses Hubbard's teachings, had hoped that the film would be well received and be the first in a series of Hubbard film adaptations. In fact, the film won a Razzie Award for Worst Film of the Year at the 2000 awards.
Travola is currently starring as a workaholic turned biker in "Wild Hogs" 2007.
Travolta will play Edna Turnblad in the 2007 adaptation of Hairspray.
Personal life
Travolta married actress Kelly Preston in 1991. They have a son named Jett, and a daughter named Ella Blue. On April 10, 2006, Mark Ebner of Hollywood, Interrupted made a public plea to Travolta and Preston to have their son treated for autism, alleging five reliable sources—including representatives from Cure Autism Now and The Autism Perspective—who claim that Jett suffers from autism, and not from Kawasaki syndrome as stated by the parents. His brother Joey Travolta recently produced a documentary about autism.
Travolta is a qualified pilot and owns five airplanes, including an ex-Australian airliner, the Qantas 707-138. The plane bears the name Jett Clipper Ella in honor of his son Jett and his daughter Ella. Pan Am was a large operator of the 707 and used Clipper in their names. His US$4.9 million estate in the Jumbolair subdivision in Anthony, Florida is situated on Greystone Airport with its own runway and taxiway right to the door.
In 1992, he wrote and illustrated a short children's book entitled Propeller One-Way Night Coach about the fictional journey of an 8-year-old boy named Jeff across the USA in the 1950s. He celebrated with the Australian national football team in their dressing room following their qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
| Latest news about John Travolta |
John Travolta wears denim to the OscarsWhile most celebs were dressed to the nines, one in particular kept it casual. John Travolta showed up to Sunday's Oscar ceremony wearing… jeans! He even presented an award that evening. What do you think, is wearing denim to the Oscars ... Continue reading
Modern Dream Homes: John Travolta's Florida Residence | ChicTip ...When you talk about celebrity, it doesn't get much bigger than John Travolta. I was at a lunch event this week and someone mentioned to me that I. Continue reading
THE AWARDS CIRCUIT BLOG: John Travolta presenting:John Travolta presenting: Best Original Song "Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova "Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen ... Continue reading
THE AWARDS CIRCUIT BLOG: Nikki Blonsky & John TravoltaNikki Blonsky & John Travolta. presenting Hairspray clip! Blonsky: does everyone like it? (What a ugly dress!) Posted by Clayton Davis at Sunday, January 27, 2008. 0 comments: Post a Comment. Newer Post Older Post Home ... Continue reading
John Travolta -- Unzipped | TMZ.comAfter having dinner with a male friend at Katsuya in Brentwood on Tuesday, John Travolta started to let it all hang out. The 56-year-old is really fly. ... Continue reading
Seriously? OMG! WTF? » John Travolta doesn't have time for everythingJohn Travolta was seen outside of Katsuya yesterday. While we don't know what type of sushi he ate, we do know he went to the bathroom while he was in there because he forgot to zip up his jeans. Poor John, he is a busy man he doesn't ... Continue reading
Old Dogs Blu-Ray Review - Absolutely Awful Comedy With John ...“Wild Hogs,†the previous collaboration between John Travolta and director Walt Becker may have been problematic but it looks like something that could be used in a comedy class compared to this mess. ... Continue reading
John Travolta Still Grieving For SonJohn Travolta will grieve for his late son for the rest of his life. The 56-year-old actor admits the pain of losing his 16-year-old son Jett, who passed. Continue reading
A Good Choice . . .: John Travolta takes million dollars from fan ...John Travolta takes million dollars from fan in PU... The Right Way to Amend the Constitution, part 19 · Articles of Freedom, part 9 · Further Thoughts on God's Pie · Taken (2008) · Conservative Candidates Town Hall Meeting 3/9/10 M.. ... Continue reading
John Travolta Will Spend Lifetime Grieving Son's Death ...Since 2004, Hollywood's most hated website has been delivering the juiciest celebrity gossip. The blog is The go-to source for daily happenings in Hollywood. Written by the internet's most notorious gossip columnist, Perez Hilton (Mario ... Continue reading
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