John Travolta will become 69 years Saturday

Travolta in 1983

John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. His father was a second-generation Sicilian American with roots in Godrano, Province of Palermo, and his mother was Irish American. Travolta came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes Carrie (1976), Saturday Night Fever (1977), Grease (1978), and Urban Cowboy (1980). His acting career declined throughout the 1980s, but he enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s with his role in Pulp Fiction (1994) and went on to star in films including Get Shorty (1995), Broken Arrow (1996), Phenomenon (1996), Face/Off (1997), A Civil Action (1998), Primary Colors (1998), Hairspray (2007), and Bolt (2008).

Travolta in 2023

Travolta was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performances in Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction. He won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for his performance in Get Shorty and has received a total of six nominations, the most recent being in 2011. In 2014, he received the IIFA Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema. In 2016, Travolta received his first Primetime Emmy Award, as a producer of the first season of the anthology series American Crime Story, subtitled The People v. O. J. Simpson. He also received an additional Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of lawyer Robert Shapiro in the series.

Travolta dancing with Diana, Princess of Wales, at the White House in 1985; the dress she wore came to be known as the "Travolta dress".

Outside of acting, Travolta is also a singer-songwriter. He has released 9 albums, including 4 singles that have charted on the Billboard Hot 100's Top 40. His albums have been typically accompanied with films he's starred in, such as Grease: The Original Soundtrack from the Motion Picture (1978)–which topped the Billboard 200. Travolta is also a private pilot.