Whoopi Goldberg has been making audiences laugh for decades with her fearless comedy and that instantly recognizable rasp. She's won an Oscar, dominated "The View," and became one of the few EGOT winners in Hollywood. But before all that success, she was just another performer trying to make it in showbusiness with a totally different name. What is Whoopi Goldberg's birth name?
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Correct Answer: Caryn Elaine Johnson
(Source)The woman who would become a Hollywood legend was born Caryn Elaine Johnson. She got the nickname "Whoopi" because she was gassy during performances and her colleagues said she was like a whoopee cushion. She wanted to use "Whoopi Cushione" as her stage name, complete with a French pronunciation, but her mother Emma shut that down fast. Her mother figured a Jewish surname would help her career in Hollywood, and so Johnson became Goldberg. Emma's instincts were spot on because Whoopi went on to become one of the few EGOT winners in entertainment history. Sometimes a mother really does know best, even when she's making up surnames.
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