In the next few years, he appeared in some of his most memorable screen roles: Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever (1977) and as Danny Zuko in Grease (1978). Around the same time he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979) in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack's mother).Īround this time he also had a hit single entitled "Let Her In" peaking at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
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Travolta gained his first major movie role as Billy Nolan, a sadistic bully who taunted Sissy Spacek's Carrie White in the horror film Carrie (1976). But eventually, he moved to Los Angeles, California to further his career in show business. Travolta also cut singles for a local record company, but the songs were quickly forgotten. He landed roles in the touring company of Grease and on Broadway in Over Here! singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'". His family was Catholic.Īfter dropping out of Dwight Morrow High School after his junior year, Travolta moved to New York City to get a job as a performer. Travolta grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and has said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture. Travolta, the youngest of six children, was born in Englewood, New Jersey to Salvatore Travolta, a second-generation Italian American semi-professional football player turned tire salesman, and Helen Cecilia Burke, an Irish American actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama teacher.
He became known during the late 1970s, establishing a career as a leading Hollywood actor, and has subsequently continued appearing in major films, including his 1990s roles in Pulp Fiction and Get Shorty. John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, singer, entertainer and aviator.