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Quick Facts
- NAME: John Travolta
- OCCUPATION: Actor
- BIRTH DATE: February 18, 1954 (Age: 59)
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Englewood, New Jersey
- AKA: John Travolta
- Full Name: John Joseph Travolta
- ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius
Best Known For
John Travolta is a Golden Globe-winning actor whose breakout role was in "Saturday Night Fever." He had a career revival in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction."
Videos see all videos
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Saturday Night Fever - John Travolta Stories (Inside Story) (3:23)
Saturday Night Fever - John Travolta Stories
Cast and cew members share their memories of working with John Travolta on set.
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Play NowJohn Travolta. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 01:56, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/john-travolta-9509927.
John Travolta. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/john-travolta-9509927 [Accessed 21 May 2013].
"John Travolta." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 01:56 http://www.biography.com/people/john-travolta-9509927.
"John Travolta," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/john-travolta-9509927 [accessed May 21, 2013].
"John Travolta," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/john-travolta-9509927 (accessed May 21, 2013).
John Travolta [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/john-travolta-9509927.
John Travolta, http://www.biography.com/people/john-travolta-9509927 (last visited May 21, 2013).
John Travolta. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/john-travolta-9509927. Accessed May 21, 2013.
Synopsis
John Travolta was born on February 18, 1954, in Englewood, New Jersey. He dropped out of high school by age 16 to pursue acting and soon joined the Broadway cast of Grease. He became a star as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV series Welcome Back Kotter, followed by the hit films Saturday Night Fever and Grease. Travolta made a career comeback in 1994, with Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
Early Career
John Joseph Travolta was born on February 18, 1954, in Englewood, New Jersey. The youngest of six children born into a family of entertainers, John Travolta dropped out of high school by age 16 to pursue a career in acting. He made his debut in an off-Broadway production of Rain (1972), then joined the Broadway cast of Grease, as well as the hit musical Over Here! starring The Andrews Sisters.
In 1975, Travolta shot to stardom for his role as Vinnie Barbarino in the hit TV series Welcome Back Kotter. The following year, he won the lead in the critically acclaimed TV movie, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. International fame came with two successive box-office hits, Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Grease (1978). He earned an Oscar nod for his role in the former, becoming an icon for disco nightlife and '70s culture.
Career Highlights
At the top of his game, it seemed John Travolta could do no wrong in the late 1970s. What he came up with were a series of hits (Urban Cowboy) and misses (Moment by Moment, Staying Alive, Two of a Kind). By the end of the 1980s, despite a brief comeback with the Look Who's Talking series, Travolta's poor career choices, missed opportunities and horrendous films landed him in the has-been actor category.
Then, in 1994, Travolta made a career comeback when he starred in Quentin Tarantino's crime smash Pulp Fiction. He earned his second Academy Award nomination and went on to win a Golden Globe for his performance in the critically acclaimed film Get Shorty. Other notable films include Broken Arrow, Phenomenon, Primary Colors, The General's Daughter, and Ladder 49.
Recent Roles
After a long string of dramatic roles, Travolta returned to his musical roots with the film adaptation of the Broadway smash Hairspray (which in itself was based on the 1988 film by John Waters) in 2007. The film tells the story of a plump young girl who wants to be a performer on a local dance show.
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View groupDance pioneers like Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly—remembered for his groundbreaking performance in 1952's Singin' in the Rain—truly set the stage for Hollywood's dance-film genre. John Travolta, Jennifer Beals, Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Grey and Natalie Portman are some of the performers who took up where Astaire, Rogers and Kelly left off, repopularizing dance on film for later generations. Biography.com's Famous Movie Dancers group examines the lives and careers of these high-stepping performers who will always be remembered for their unforgettable moves.
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