Whoopi Goldberg starred in some of the most iconic movies in the 1990s. She won an Oscar for her role in Ghost. But the roles weren’t meant for her. She admitted that she took them from white actors. Keep reading for all the details on the shocking statement.
Whoopi Goldberg Took Her Biggest Film Roles From White Actors
Whoopi Goldberg is a household name now, thanks to The View and her long movie career. However, she was still finding her footing in Hollywood in the early 1990s. Finding roles as a Black actress was even harder back then than it is now. But Whoopi Goldberg had a surefire way to land roles: take them from white actors.
She opened up on Keke Palmer’s Baby, This is Keke Palmer podcast about how she was cast in some of the biggest movies in the 1990s. “Apparently I’m Black. I guess I didn’t realize it, so every time I went looking for something, they went, ‘No, no, no, this isn’t for you,’” Whoopi Goldberg said about constantly getting turned down for roles. In response, she told her agent to send her “all the stuff that people have turned down.”
She added, “I got Burglar that way, because that was Bruce Willis’ movie. Jumpin’ Jack Flash was Shelley Long’s movie. There’s several, a whole bunch of movies.” She took the roles white actors rejected.
But her unforgettable role in Ghost came about a different way. Whoopi Goldberg credits Patrick Swayze for pushing the studio to cast her as Oda Mae Brown after they didn’t want her. She went on to win Best Supporting Actress for the film.
Bette Midler Turned Down Sister Act
Whoopi Goldberg played Sister Mary Clarence in the 1992 movie Sister Act. She reprised the role in the sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. But like many of her previous roles, it wasn’t meant for her. The singing nun role was written for Bette Midler. However, the Wind Beneath My Wings singer turned it down.
Bette Midler explained why she said no to the role in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine. “I turned down Sister Act because I said, ‘My fans don’t want to see me in a wimple.’ And Whoopi said, ‘Bring on the go**amn wimple.’”
Whoopi Goldberg admitted that her movies weren’t always box office hits. They became classics in another way. “Listen, they didn’t always work on the box office, but when they got on television, people lost their minds. People didn’t always have money to go see the movie, but they could see it on TV. A lot of my movies have become these kind of classics [that way].”
The rise of streaming services brought many of Whoopi Goldberg’s most famous movies to a new audience. She’s been trying to get Sister Act 3 made for years. So far, the studios haven’t picked it up. Tell us in the comments if you want to see a third movie in the series.
Jennifer Havener grew up in a small town in Upstate New York. She earned her B.A in Writing & Literature from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado. She always knew watching reality TV shows and soap operas, particularly ‘Days of Our Lives’, would come in handy someday. When she’s not writing, she’s playing with her dogs, Lola and Ruger
