John Travolta

John Joseph Travolta was born on February 18, 1954, in Englewood, New Jersey, the youngest of six children. His father, Salvatore "Sam" Travolta, was a semiprofessional American football player who later became a tire salesman and partner in Travolta Tire Exchange. His mother, Helen Cecilia (née Burke), had performed with a radio vocal group called The Sunshine Sisters and worked as an actress and director before teaching drama and English at the high school level. All five of Travolta's siblings — Joey, Ellen, Ann, Margaret, and Sam — pursued acting, influenced by their mother's passion for theater. His father was a second-generation Italian American with roots in Godrano, Sicily, and his mother was Irish American. Travolta was raised Catholic and later converted to Scientology in 1975 at age 21, after receiving a copy of Dianetics from former actress Joan Prather. He attended Dwight Morrow High School but left as a junior at age 17 in 1971.

After dropping out, Travolta crossed the Hudson River to New York City, where he secured a role in the touring company of Grease, playing Doody. He subsequently appeared on Broadway between 1972 and 1974, with credits that included Over Here!, in which he performed the Sherman Brothers song "Dream Drummin'," and Grease. He then relocated to Los Angeles to pursue screen work. His first California television appearance came in September 1972 in Season 2, Episode 2 of Emergency!, and his first significant film role was as Billy Nolan in Brian De Palma's horror film Carrie (1976), opposite Sissy Spacek. Around the same time, he was cast as Vinnie Barbarino in the ABC sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979), a role that brought him widespread recognition; his sister Ellen occasionally appeared on the show as Arnold Horshack's mother.

Travolta's recording career also gained traction during this period. In July 1976, his single "Let Her In" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. He went on to release nine albums, four of which produced singles that charted in the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. Several of these albums were tied to his film work, including Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (1978), which reached number one on the Billboard 200. He performed on the Grease soundtrack album and appeared in the film as Danny Zuko. His role as Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, making him, at 24, one of the youngest performers ever nominated in that category. His mother and sister Ann appeared briefly in Saturday Night Fever, and his sister Ellen played a waitress in Grease.

Following the commercial disappointment of Moment by Moment (1978) with Lily Tomlin, Travolta rebounded with Urban Cowboy (1980), co-starring Debra Winger, which capitalized on a nationwide country music trend. He then starred in Brian De Palma's Blow Out (1981), which was critically praised but underperformed at the box office. A string of less successful projects followed, including Staying Alive (1983), the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, for which Travolta trained extensively and lost 20 pounds to portray a professional dancer — the film grossed over $65 million despite poor critical reception — as well as Two of a Kind (1983) with Olivia Newton-John and Perfect (1985) with Jamie Lee Curtis. During this stretch, Travolta was offered but declined lead roles in American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman, both of which went to Richard Gere, and Splash, which went to Tom Hanks. His career regained momentum with Look Who's Talking (1989), co-starring Kirstie Alley, which grossed $297 million.

After appearing in Look Who's Talking Too (1990) and Look Who's Talking Now (1993), Travolta's career was substantially revived when he played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis, earning a second Academy Award for Best Actor nomination. A succession of prominent roles followed: a loan shark in Get Shorty (1995), a corrupt Air Force pilot in Broken Arrow (1996), an archangel in Michael (1996), an FBI agent and terrorist in Face/Off (1997), an attorney in A Civil Action (1998), a presidential candidate in Primary Colors (1998), and a military investigator in The General's Daughter (1999).

In 2000, Travolta starred in and co-produced Battlefield Earth, based on L. Ron Hubbard's novel, playing the lead villainous role. The film received broadly negative reviews, performed poorly at the box office, and earned Travolta two Razzie Awards. Throughout the remainder of the decade he appeared in numerous films, including Swordfish (2001), Ladder 49 (2004), Be Cool (2005), Wild Hogs (2007), Hairspray (2007) — in which he played Edna Turnblad, marking his first musical film since Grease — and the Disney animated film Bolt (2008), for which he voiced the title character.

Travolta returned to television with a prominent role in The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story, portraying lawyer Robert Shapiro. He received a Primetime Emmy Award as a producer on the series and was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie. He received an additional Emmy nomination for his work in the action-comedy web series Die Hart in 2021. Across his career, Travolta's accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award and three Golden Globe Awards, along with nominations for two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. Outside of his entertainment work, Travolta is a licensed private pilot.