Find out how this EGOT winner made her fortune.

Whoopi Goldberg has pretty much done it all—and, as a member of the EGOT club, won it all.

Born Caryn Elaine Johnson on Nov. 13, 1955, in New York City, Goldberg’s life got off to a rough start as she battled dyslexia and drug addiction. She got sober and married her drug counselor, Alvin Martin, in 1973; they were married for six years and welcomed daughter Alexandrea Martin before divorcing in 1979.

Goldberg started her showbiz career as a stand-up comedian in earnest in the late 1970s, earning the nickname “Whoopi” for her frequent (and we’re assuming hilarious) flatulence. “When you’re performing on stage, you never really have time to go into the bathroom and close the door.

So if you get a little gassy, you’ve got to let it go,” she told The New York Times. “So people used to say to me, ‘You’re like a whoopee cushion.’ And that’s where the name came from.”

Goldberg moved to California in the 1970s, where she joined a theater troupe, then taught comedy and acting lessons (for students including Courtney Love).

Director Mike Nichols, who Goldberg said went on to become her mentor, discovered her when she performed her one-woman show The Spook Show. The rest, as they say, is history: Here’s Whoopi Goldberg’s net worth and how she made it, from her big break to The View.

What is Whoopi Goldberg’s net worth?

Goldberg’s net worth is estimated to be a cool $30 million.

What does Whoopi Goldberg make for The View?

Goldberg is most visible on The View, where she’s served as the show’s moderator since 2007. Back in 2016, her annual salary for the daily talk show was estimated to be in the $5 million to $6 million range. She told The New York Times in 2019 that The View is simply “a job” to her, explaining, “In a way, I am playing a role. These are not conversations that I’m having with my friends. If they were, we’d be doing it differently. My friends and I can talk about things in-depth in a different way than you can on television.”

In November 2024, she further proclaimed that she was on The View because she needed the money.

“I appreciate that people are having a hard time,” she said. “Me, too. I work for a living. If I had all the money in the world, I would not be here, OK? So, I’m a working person, you know?”

Though she doesn’t take her job too seriously, it’s served her well, earning her a slew of Daytime Emmy nominations and one win for Outstanding Talk Show Host.

How much did Whoopi Goldberg make for Sister Act and Sister Act 2?

One of Goldberg’s most beloved and successful roles is that of lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier in 1992’s Sister Act and its sequel, 1993’s Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit.

The first film was so successful, bringing in more than $230 million worldwide, that Goldberg was reportedly able to command a salary in the $7 million to $12 million range for the sequel—making her, at that point, the highest-paid actress in Hollywood.

Given the franchise’s success, it’s no surprise that Goldberg is producing and starring in Sister Act 3 with none other than Tyler Perry attached to produce. The movie was originally scheduled for release in 2024, but due to co-star Maggie Smith’s death in September 2024, the film will likely not be seen until 2025.

How much did Whoopi Goldberg make for The Color Purple?

Director Steven Spielbergwas such a fan of Goldberg’s one-woman Broadway show that in 1985—long before Sister Act came along—he tapped her to star in The Color Purple.

Goldberg received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her role of Celie, but info on how much she earned for her performance is scarce. Chances are that Goldberg made only a fraction of what she’d make for future films, considering The Color Purple‘s total budget was just $15 million and Goldberg, at the time, had only one other big-screen credit to her name.

How much did Whoopi Goldberg make for Ghost?

Besides The Color Purple and Sister Act, Goldberg’s most notable film role is surely her Oscar-winning turn as medium Oda Mae Brown in 1990’s Ghost, which was the highest-grossing movie of that year with box office receipts of $505 million. (It’s still in the top 100 highest-grossing movies of all time.)

The movie cost a comparatively paltry $22 million to make, and Goldberg got second billing after Patrick Swayze andDemi Moore—so again, her salary on that project probably wasn’t super-high by Hollywood standards.

In fact, Goldberg has frequently said that the studio didn’t even want her for the role, but Swayze insisted she be cast. When she won her Oscar, she thanked Swayze for being a “stand-up guy.”