Celebrity Biographies
John Travolta
He’s into charming hooligan roles. He became a teen idol after starring in teen film milestones like Grease and Saturday Night Fever , then came the Sunday hangover and ended up relegated to second-rate comedies. But John Travolta is a man of character, like his characters, he never gave up until he got a second chance.
Born on February 18, 1954, in Englewood (New Jersey), John Joseph Travolta was the youngest of six children born to a humble Italian-American couple, formed by Salvatore, owner of a tire shop, and Helen, an acting teacher. Influenced by the artistic vocation of his mother, John began to participate in musicals at school from a very young age, and received dance classes with Fred Kelly, brother of Gene Kelly himself . When it came to dancing, he was second to none, so he was recruited to debut in a Broadway musical in the early 1970s. He then became popular in the US on the 1975 TV series Welcome Back, Kotter . That same year he made his film debut, with La lluvia del diablo, mediocre horror film. It also belonged to this genre, although its quality was much higher, Carrie , where Travolta made life impossible for the protagonist. In 1977, Saturday Night Fever unleashed a true fever -pun intended- in theaters, and made Travolta the quintessential youth icon of the 70s. Even more successful was Grease , a nostalgic musical co -starring Olivia Newton-John , which It was reminiscent of the 50’s.
Travolta started the 80s with a bang, with Impacto , a pleasant thriller, from the best of Brian de Palma . But the public began to turn their backs on him right away. Both the mediocre comedy Tal for Tal , where she once again coincided with Olivia Newton-John, and The Fever Continues , the sequel to Fever… , passed unnoticed.
Relegated to by-products no one remembers, he took refuge in the Church of Scientology, becoming one of its most active members. During the filming of The Experts , a second-rate sitcom, he met actress Kelly Preston , another Scientologist with whom he fell in love, and with whom he married in 1991. Love suited the actor, who began to rebound his career with the hit family comedy Look Who’s Talking , which had two sequels.
But the most outstanding and curious event in Travolta’s career was his brilliant return to stardom when Quentin Tarantino invited him to dance with the prettiest, Uma Thurman , in Pulp Fiction , where he was a thug and she was his boss’s wife. Nominated for an Oscar for best actor, for this work, he once again became one of the most sought-after actors. He ended up reconquering the movie mecca in How to Conquer Hollywood , meta-cinematic fun.
In recent years, Travolta has had time for everything. She has performed impossible action sequences in Broken Arrow and Face and Face , two John Woo films . She has also made films critical of the media ( Mad City ), politics ( Primary Colors ) and war ( The Thin Red Line ). The actor could afford some flops, like Battlefield: Earth , but he has specialized in quality commercial films, like Basic , Brigade 49 or Be Cool , sequel to How to Conquer Hollywood .