This American actor, with Italian background, whose famous grew at the end of the 70s, has a total net worth of $170 million. He was born on February 18th, 1954 in Englewood, New Jersey (United States). John Joseph Travolta is the youngest son of Salvatore Travolta, a former football player and owner of a tire shop, and Helen Travolta, an actress and acting teacher. He has five brothers named Margaret, Ellen, Annie, Joey and Sammy.
Early age.
Since he was very young, John (who was nicknamed Bone during his childhood) followed his mother’s acting steps by participating in theatrical productions. He later carried out musical plays performed in his hometown.
Dancing abilities.
Travolta became a consummate dancer in his youth, as his dance teacher was Fred Kelly, Gene Kelly’s brother. In early 1970s he made his Broadway debut with “Rain”, and in 1975 he achieved television stardom when he played Vinnie Barbarino in the series “Welcome Back, Kotter”. Thanks to this role Travolta became an idol among American teenagers.
Beginning in acting.
His manager began to make calls and eventually made the auditions. The first one was for the film The Last Detail (1973). This film counted with Jack Nicholson among his cast, but he was rejected despite all claiming he made a magnificent audition. The second was The Devil’s Rain (1975), where he performed with a moderate success that served as a shuttle in his career. It was in the filming of the Devil’s Rain where Travolta met actress Joan Prather, and through her, he entered to comprise of the Religious Philosophy Scientology in which he continues being a member until today.
He later co-starred in the horror film Carrie (1976), directed by Brian de Palma and based on one of the Stephen King’s novels.
His first starring role in the cinema was in the ABC telefilm, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), directed by Randal Kleiser (who two years later directed Grease), and co-starring Diana Hyland, actress 18 years older than Travolta, and with that after finishing filming, he began a relationship.
Consecration and Stardom: Saturday Night Fever and Grease.
At the end of 1976, John Travolta received a call that would change his life forever: the producer Robert Stigwood wanted him as protagonist for Saturday Night Fever (1977). If he accepted, he would also be the protagonist of the film version of Grease. And that’s how he got into Italian-American character Tony Manero, a dancer who changed the way he danced to everyone.
For doing this, he spent many nights in several discos observing how people danced,. Stigwood gave him the freedom to give any detail to the production, and Travolta studied dance and worked with a professional choreographer to produce his famous dance scene in the disco. This created a character that would become mythical.
After that film that made him nominated for the Academy Award as a Best Actor, he had another hit with Grease. But his career declined greatly in the 80 with Saturday Night Fever sequel Staying Alive, which was a total failure in the cinema.
