| John Travolta  AKA John Joseph Travolta
Born: 18-Feb-1954
Birthplace: Englewood, NJ
Gender: Male
Religion: Scientology
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Matter of Dispute
Occupation: Actor Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Saturday Night Fever John Travolta came to fame playing Vinnie Barbarino on the popular 1970s sit-com Welcome Back Kotter. He also had a small but crucial part in Carrie, and played the title role in the TV tearjerker The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. On the set of Plastic Bubble, he had a famous affair with Diana Hyland, the actress who played his mother. Hyland died of cancer the following year, while she was playing the mom on early episodes of Eight is Enough. Travolta parlayed his TV fame into movie stardom, dancing in Saturday Night Fever, singing in Grease, and squaredancing in Urban Cowboy.
Travolta's career sank with spectacular duds like Moment by Moment with Lily Tomlin, Two of a Kind with Olivia Newton-John, and Staying Alive, the Sylvester Stallone-directed sequel to Saturday Night Fever. After that, Travolta made three semi-popular Look Who's Talking movies with Kirstie Alley, but otherwise dropped off the Hollywood map. In 1994, Quentin Tarantino sought him out for Pulp Fiction. Travolta played the oddly innocent hit-man Vincent Vega, and danced with Uma Thurman. After that, he was an A-list star again. His subsequent films include Get Shorty, Swordfish, and Face/Off, with Travolta as Nicolas Cage and Cage as Travolta.
A long-time Scientologist, Travolta produced and starred in a 2000 film adaptation of L. Ron Hubbard's science fiction novel Battlefield Earth, one of cinema's all-time turkeys. In The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell said it "may well turn out to be the worst movie of this century". Roger Ebert said it was "not merely bad; it's unpleasant in a hostile way". Travolta says he once used Scientology's "Assist" method, a system of healing through "getting in communication" with the body, to speed Sting's recovery from "a sore throat and flu symptoms or something."
Father: Salvatore Travolta (semi-pro football player, d. 26-May-1995)
Mother: Helen Burke (drama coach, swimmer, b. 18-Jan-1912, d. 3-Dec-1978 cancer)
Brother: Joey Travolta (actor, b. 14-Oct-1950)
Sister: Ellen Travolta (actress, b. 6-Oct-1940)
Sister: Ann Travolta (actress)
Sister: Margaret Travolta (actress)
Brother: Sam Travolta (actor)
Girlfriend: Diana Hyland (actress, until her death)
Wife: Kelly Preston (actress, Scientologist, m. 12-Sep-1991)
Daughter: Ella Bleu Travolta (b. 3-Apr-2000)
Son: Jett Travolta (b. 13-Apr-1992)
High School: (dropout)
Concerned Businessmen's Association of America
Scientology
Wedding: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (2006)
Italian Ancestry Paternal
Irish Ancestry Maternal
Risk Factors: Toupee, Yoga
TELEVISION
Welcome Back, Kotter Vinnie Barbarino (1975-1979)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Hairspray (20-Jul-2007)
Wild Hogs (2-Mar-2007)
Lonely Hearts (30-Apr-2006)
Be Cool (Nov-2004)
A Love Song for Bobby Long (2-Sep-2004)
Ladder 49 (26-Aug-2004)
The Punisher (16-Apr-2004)
Basic (28-Mar-2003)
Austin Powers in Goldmember (22-Jul-2002)
Domestic Disturbance (30-Oct-2001)
Swordfish (4-Jun-2001)
Welcome to Hollywood (27-Oct-2000) Himself
Lucky Numbers (24-Oct-2000)
Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 (10-May-2000)
The General's Daughter (18-Jun-1999)
Our Friend, Martin (1999) [VOICE]
The Thin Red Line (25-Dec-1998)
A Civil Action (25-Dec-1998)
Primary Colors (20-Mar-1998)
Mad City (10-Oct-1997)
Face/Off (27-Jun-1997)
She's So Lovely (15-May-1997)
Michael Jackson: HIStory on Film - Volume II (1997) Himself
Michael (25-Dec-1996)
Phenomenon (3-Jul-1996)
Broken Arrow (9-Feb-1996)
Get Shorty (20-Oct-1995)
White Man's Burden (05-Oct-1995)
Pulp Fiction (14-Oct-1994)
Look Who's Talking Now (05-Nov-1993)
Boris and Natasha (17-Apr-1992) Himself
Shout (04-Oct-1991)
Eyes of an Angel (25-Sep-1991)
Chains of Gold (25-Jul-1991)
Look Who's Talking Too (14-Dec-1990)
Look Who's Talking (13-Oct-1989)
The Experts (1989)
Perfect (7-Jun-1985)
Two of a Kind (16-Dec-1983)
Staying Alive (15-Jul-1983)
Blow Out (24-Jul-1981)
Urban Cowboy (6-Jun-1980)
Moment by Moment (22-Dec-1978)
Grease (7-Jul-1978)
Saturday Night Fever (16-Dec-1977)
The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (12-Nov-1976)
Carrie (3-Nov-1976)
The Devil's Rain (Jul-1975)
Rotten Library Page:
John Travolta
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