Profile of the Day: John Travolta

Happy birthday to John Travolta! Today the star turns 67.

Image: John Travolta / Georges Biard, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

John Joseph Travolta was born on February 18, 1954 in Englewood, New Jersey. He was the youngest of six children born to Salvatore Travolta and Helen Cecilia Burke. He grew up in a family of entertainers and at 16, dropped out of high school to pursue an acting career in New York.

He got his first taste of success when he was cast as Vinnie Barbarino on the television sitcom, Welcome Back, Kotter. Just a few short years later, he took on his most iconic roles in the films Saturday Night Fever and Grease, which catapulted his status as an international superstar. His performance in Saturday Night Fever earned Travolta his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

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