'''John Joseph Travolta''' (born February 18, 1954) is an Academy Award nominated American actor, singer, and dancer.
Biography
Early life
Travolta, the youngest of the six children born to Salvatore and Helen Travolta, was born in Englewood, New Jersey. His father, Salvatore, was an Italian American semi-professional football player turned tire salesman. His mother was an Irish American actress and singer under her maiden name Helen Cecilia Burke who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama teacher.
Career
After dropping out of Dwight Morrow High School after his junior year, Travolta moved to New York City to get a job as a performer. He landed roles in the touring company of ''
Grease'' and on Broadway in ''Over Here!'' singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin.'" Travolta also cut singles for a local record company, but the songs were quickly forgotten. But eventually, he moved to Los Angeles, California to further his career in show business.
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). 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).
thumb|right|150px|John Travolta as Danny Zuko (right) in ''Grease (film)|Grease''.
Around this time he also had a hit single on Midlands International Records entitled "Let Her In" peaking at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 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). His mother and his sister Ann appeared as extras in ''
Saturday Night Fever'' and his sister Ellen appeared as a waitress in ''
Grease''. Travolta performed several of the songs on the ''
Grease'' soundtrack album, that eventually went on to sell more than 10 million copies. In 1980, Travolta inspired a nationwide country music craze that followed on the heels of his hit film, ''
Urban Cowboy'', in which he starred with Debra Winger.
After ''
Urban Cowboy'' came a string of flops that sidelined his acting career. Some suggest that he was typecast as a disco stud or 1970s icon, which could be the reason his agent intervened on several occasions to turn down acting roles. During that time he was offered, but turned down, lead roles in what would become box office
