John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is a two-time Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award-nominated and Golden Globe Award-winning American actor, dancer and singer, best known for his leading roles in films such as Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Pulp Fiction.

Travolta, the youngest of six children, was born and raised in Englewood, New Jersey, an inner-ring suburb of New York City. His father, Salvatore Travolta, was a semi-professional football player turned tire salesman and partner in a tire company. His mother, Helen Cecilia (née Burke), who was 42 when Travolta was born, was an actress and singer who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama and English teacher. His father was a second-generation Italian American and his mother was Irish American; He grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and has said that his household was predominantly Irish in culture. His family was Roman Catholic.

After attending Dwight Morrow High School, Travolta moved across the Hudson River to New York City and landed a role in the touring company of the musical Grease and on Broadway in Over Here! singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'". He then moved to Los Angeles to further his career in show business.

Travolta played a messenger on the CBS soap opera The Edge of Night. He also appeared on another CBS serial The Secret Storm. Travolta's first California-filmed television role was as a fall victim in, Emergency! (S2E2), in September 1972, but his first significant movie role was as, "Billy Nolan," a bully who was goaded into playing a prank on Sissy Spacek's character 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 (1975â??1979), in which his sister, Ellen, also occasionally appeared (as Arnold Horshack's mother).

Around this time he also had a hit single entitled "Let Her In" peaking at number ten 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). These two films were among the most commercially successful pictures of the decade and catapulted Travolta to international stardom. Saturday Night Fever earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. At age 24, Travolta became one of the youngest performers ever nominated for the Best Actor Oscar though he lost to Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl. 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. Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Perfect, co-starring Jamie Lee Curtis, and Two of a Kind, a romantic comedy reteaming him with Olivia Newton-John, were all commercial disasters severely beaten up by critics. 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 hits, including American Gigolo, Flashdance, An Officer and a Gentleman, Splash and Fatal Attraction. Disenchanted, Travolta pursued flying and eventually earned his license to command aircraft. His only hit film was Look Who's Talking with Kirstie Alley and a baby voiced by Bruce Willis.

It was not until he played Vincent Vega in Quentin Tarantino's hit Pulp Fiction (1994), for which he received an Academy Award nomination, that his career was revived. The movie shifted him back onto the A-list, and he was inundated with offers. Coincidentally, before Travolta took the role he visited Tarantino, who was living in the same ramshackle apartment in Los Angeles that Travolta had inhabited when he got his start. Notable roles following Pulp Fiction include a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty (1995), an FBI agent/terrorist in Face/Off (1997), a desperate attorney in A Civil Action (1998), a Bill Clinton-esque presidential candidate in Primary Colors (1998) and a military detective in The General's Daughter (1999).

Travolta also starred in Battlefield Earth (2000) based on a work of science fiction by L. Ron Hubbard, in which he played the leader of a group of aliens that enslaves humanity on a bleak future Earth. The film received almost universally negative reviews and did very poorly at the box office. The film won a Razzie Award for Worst Film of the Year at the 2000 awards. Travolta, who joined Scientology in 1975 and endorses Hubbard's teachings, had hoped that the film would be well received and be the first in a series of Hubbard film adaptations. In 2004, Travolta played Deputy Chief Mike Kennedy in the Ladder 49. This film was notable for being the first post-9/11 film that focused on the life of a crew of firefighters. Travolta starred as a successful businessman gone broke/biker in 2007's Wild Hogs. Travolta plays Edna Turnblad in the remake of Hairspray, his first musical since Grease.

His most recent film is the lead voice role of the Disney film Bolt (2008), where he plays a lost canine actor trying to get home and also sung "I Thought I Lost You,' the duet for the ending credits of the film with co-star Miley Cyrus. In 2009 he will appear in Old Dogs, a live-action comedy, co-starring with Robin Williams and Bernie Mac.

Travolta married actress Kelly Preston in 1991. The couple had two children: Jett, born on April 13, 1992, and Ella Bleu, born in 2000. Their son, Jett died on January 2, 2009 while the family was on holiday in The Bahamas. A Bahamian death certificate was issued, attributing the cause of death to a seizure. Jett, who had a history of seizures, reportedly suffered from Kawasaki disease in early childhood.

The couple has regularly attended marriage counselling, and Travolta admits that this has helped the marriage.

Travolta was previously involved with actress Diana Hyland, whom he met while filming The Boy in the Plastic Bubble; Hyland died of breast cancer in 1977.

Travolta is a certified pilot and owns five aircraft, including an ex-Australian Boeing 707-138 airliner. The plane bears the name Jett Clipper Ella in honor of his children. Pan American World Airways was a large operator of the Boeing 707 and used Clipper in its names. The 707 aircraft bears the marks of Qantas, as Travolta acts as an official goodwill ambassador for the airline wherever he flies. His $4.9 million estate in the Jumbolair subdivision in Ocala, Florida, is situated on Greystone Airport with its own runway and taxiway right to his front door.

Travolta has been a practitioner of Scientology since 1975 when he was given the book Dianetics while filming the movie The Devil's Rain in  .

On January 23, 2009, three people were arrested in the Bahamas in connection with a multi-million dollar extortion plot against the Travolta family around the circumstances of Jett's death. It is believed that the plot centered around a "refusal to transport" document allegedly signed by Travolta when paramedics arrived to treat Jett, that a police spokesman noted did not apply in the Travolta case. One of the men, Obie Wilchcombe, a member of the Bahamian Parliament and former Bahamian Minister of Tourism, was described as a "close friend" of the Travolta family. The other two people allegedly involved are EMT Tarino Lightbourne and former senator Pleasant Bridgewater, who was charged with abetment to extort and conspiracy to extort. She resigned from the Senate as a result of the allegations.

Year	Film	Role	Other notes
1975	The Tenth Level	John	TV-Movie
	The Devil's Rain	Danny
1976	The Boy in the Plastic Bubble	Tod Lubitch	TV-Movie Nominated â?? TV Land Award
	Carrie	Billy Nolan
1977	Saturday Night Fever	Tony Manero	National Board of Review Award for Best Actor Nominated â?? Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated â?? Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1978	Moment by Moment	Strip Harrison
	Grease	Daniel "Danny" Zuko	Henrietta Award - World Film Favorite Actor Nominated â?? Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1980	Urban Cowboy	Buford 'Bud' Uan Davis
1981	Blow Out	Jack Terry
1983	Staying Alive	Tony Manero
	Two of a Kind	Zack Melon
1985	Perfect	Adam Lawrence
1987	Basements	Ben	TV segment "The Dumb Waiter"
1989	Look Who's Talking	James Ubriacco
	The Experts	Travis
1990	Look Who's Talking Too	James Ubriacco
1991	Shout	Jack Cabe
	Eyes Of An Angel	Bobby	aka The Tender
	Chains of Gold	Scott Barnes	TV-Movie; also writer
1992	Boris and Natasha: The Movie	Himself	(cameo)
1993	Look Who's Talking Now	James Ubriacco
1994	Pulp Fiction	Vincent Vega	Nominated â?? Academy Award for Best Actor Nominated â?? BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Nominated â?? Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama Nominated â?? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
1995	Get Shorty	Chili Palmer	American Comedy Award Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Nominated â?? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
	White Man's Burden	Louis Pinnock
1996	Michael	Michael
	Phenomenon	George Malley
	Orientation: A Scientology Information Film	Himself	(short subject)
	Broken Arrow	Maj. Vic 'Deak' Deakins
1997	Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's	Himself	(documentary)
	Mad City	Sam Baily
	Face/Off	Sean Archer/Castor Troy	Nomination â?? Saturn Award for Best Actor
	She's So Lovely	Joey Giamonti	also executive producer
1998	A Civil Action	Jan Schlichtmann
	The Thin Red Line	Brigadier General Quintard
	Junket Whore	Himself	(documentary)
	Primary Colors	Governor Jack Stanton	Nomination â?? Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1999	The General's Daughter	Warr. Off. Paul Brenner/Sgt. Frank White
	Our Friend, Martin	Kyle's dad	(animated educational film, voice only)
2000	Welcome to Hollywood	Himself	(mockumentary; cameo)
	Lucky Numbers	Russ Richards
	Battlefield Earth	Terl	also producer
2001	Domestic Disturbance	Frank Morrison
	Swordfish	Gabriel Shear
2002	Austin Powers in Goldmember	"Austinpussy" Johann van der Smut / Goldmember
2003	Basic	Tom Hardy
2004	Ladder 49	Captain Mike Kennedy
	A Love Song for Bobby Long	Bobby Long
	The Punisher	Howard Saint
2005	Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D	James Benson "Jim" Irwin	(narrator; documentary)
	Be Cool	Chili Palmer
2006	Lonely Hearts	Elmer C. Robinson
2007	Wild Hogs	Woody Stevens
	Hairspray	Edna Turnblad	Nominated â?? Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture Nominated â?? Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2008	Bolt	Bolt the Dog	voice Nominated â?? Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song
2009	Old Dogs	Simon Greer	awaiting release
	The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3	Benard Ryder	awaiting release
	From Paris with Love	Charlie Wax	post-production

Pulp Fiction (1994) US$140,000 Get Shorty (1995) US$3.5 million Broken Arrow (1996) US$17 million Phenomenon (1996) US$18 million Michael (1996) US$15 million

Face/Off (1997) US$15 million Mad City (1997) US$17 million Primary Colors (1998) US$18 million Ladder 49 (2004) US$20 million Hairspray (2007) US$14 million including ca. US$3 million perquisites

Year	Title	Role	Other notes
1972	Emergency!	Casey	Episode: "Kids"
	Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law		Episode: "A Piece of God"
1973	The Rookies	Eddie Halley	Episode: " Frozen Smoke"
1974	Medical Center	Danny	Episode: "Saturday's Child"
1975-1979	Welcome Back, Kotter	Vincent "Vinnie" Barbarino