John Travolta was a huge star in the late 1970s, thanks to the success of TV's
Welcome Back, Kotter and the movies
Carrie (1976),
Saturday Night Fever (1977) and
Grease (1978). His career since has been a marvel of highs and lows:
Moment By Moment (1978) was a legendary bomb, but
Urban Cowboy (1980) was a pop culture trend-setter; he bombed again in
Blow Out (1981) and
Perfect (1983), yet he was in the financially successful comedy series
Look Who's Talking (1989-93); he was hailed for a "comeback" and received an Oscar for his role in
Quentin Tarantino's
Pulp Fiction (1994, co-starring
Uma Thurman), but the critics famously held their noses for
Battlefield Earth (2000). In spite of the lows, he is one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood and keeps making movies. He starred in
Swordfish (2001, with
Halle Berry and
Hugh Jackman),
Basic (2003, with
Pulp Fiction co-star
Samuel L. Jackson) and
Be Cool (2005's sequel to
Get Shorty, co-starring
Vince Vaughn), and in 2007 he had a memorable role as a Baltimore housewife in the musical film
Hairspray (also starring
Christopher Walken).
Extra credit: Travolta, like fellow superstar
Tom Cruise, is a Scientologist...He has a pilot's license and owns several aircraft...He has been married to actress Kelly Preston since 1991.
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