John Joseph Travolta born February 18, [ 1 ] is an American actor, singer, and producer. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. Travolta came to prominence starring in the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter — , followed by leading roles in Carrie , Grease , Urban Cowboy , and Blow Out Travolta returned to television portraying lawyer Robert Shapiro in the series The People v.
Simpson: American Crime Story. He was also Emmy-nominated for his role in the action-comedy web series Die Hart Outside of acting, Travolta has released nine albums, including four singles that have charted on the Billboard Hot 's Top His albums have typically accompanied films he has starred in, such as Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture , which topped the Billboard Travolta is also a private pilot.
His father, Salvatore "Sam" Travolta, was a semiprofessional American football player turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company, Travolta Tire Exchange. He grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture. Travolta's first screen role in California was as a fall victim in Emergency! Season 2, Episode 2 in September , [ 15 ] but his first significant movie role was as Billy Nolan , a bully who was goaded into playing a prank on Sissy Spacek 's character in the horror film Carrie directed by Brian de Palma.
Travolta performed on the Grease soundtrack album. Travolta followed up Urban Cowboy with a starring role in Brian de Palma 's film Blow Out , which was critically lauded but a box office disappointment, likely due to its bleak ending. He also starred in Staying Alive , the sequel to Saturday Night Fever , for which he trained rigorously to portray a professional dancer and lost 20 pounds 9.
During that time, Travolta was offered, but declined, lead roles in what would become box-office hits, including American Gigolo [ 28 ] and An Officer and a Gentleman , both of which went to Richard Gere , as well as Splash , which went to Tom Hanks.
