John Travolta

Bio

From immortalizing the phrase ‘up your nose with a rubber hose’ to ruling the disco in a white polyester suit, John Travolta has created iconic characters on both television and in the movies. John was born in Englewood, New Jersey, on February 18, 1954, to a semi-professional football playing Italian-American Dad and an Irish-American Mom, an actress, singer and high school drama teacher. John dropped out of school in his junior year, moving to New York City and landing a role in the touring company of the musical Grease - what foreshadowing! The budding ham moved to Los Angeles for bit appearances on various situation comedies and commercials until 1975, when he was cast as tough-talking Sweathog Vinnie Barbarino on the TV classic, Welcome Back, Kotter. Within his first year on the show, John went from being a supporting character to the star of the show. In 1976 the made-for-TV movie (and cult fave) The Boy in the Plastic Bubble and the top ten single ‘Let Her In’ kept the Travolta trajectory on the up and coming. The two roles that followed Kotter  cemented John’s reputation as one of Hollywood’s hottest stars - Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever and Danny Zuko in Grease. In 1980, John had half of America trading in their platform shoes and gold chains for cowboy hats and boots with Urban Cowboy. The '80s weren’t as kind; his primary hit was the 1989 comedy Look Who’s Talking. John’s unlikely comeback vehicle arrived thanks to eccentric director Quentin Tarantino, who rebirthed the former Sweathog as hitman Vincent Vega in 1994's Pulp Fiction. From there, the on-again mega-star tore through Face/Off with Nicolas Cage, Get Shorty, and Primary Colors. Battlefield Earth, based on an L. Ron Hubbard novel, nearly derailed John's success train in 2000, but he hasn’t faltered since, even returning to musicals, playing Edna Turnblad in 2007’s Hairspray.