Claim: Whoopi Goldberg is a girl.

Caryn Elaine Johnson -LRB- born November 13 , 1955 -RRB- , known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg -LRB- -LSB- ˈwhʊpi -RSB- -RRB- , is an American actress , comedian , author and television host . She has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards for her work in television and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Emmy Award , a Grammy Award , an Oscar , and a Tony Award . She was the second black woman in the history of the Academy Awards to win an acting Oscar .   In the period drama film The Color Purple -LRB- 1985 -RRB- , her breakthrough role was playing Celie , a mistreated black woman in the Deep South , for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress . In the romantic fantasy film Ghost -LRB- 1990 -RRB- , Goldberg played Oda Mae Brown , an eccentric psychic who helped a slain man -LRB- Patrick Swayze -RRB- save his lover -LRB- Demi Moore -RRB- , for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress .   In 1992 , she starred as a pretend nun in the comedy Sister Act . From 1998 to 2002 , she was co-producer of the television game show Hollywood Squares . Since 2007 , she has been the moderator of the daytime television talk show The View .