Whoopi Goldberg is one of an elite group of artists who have won the Grammy, the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, the Emmy and Daytime Emmy and a Tony Award. She is equally well-known for her humanitarian efforts on behalf of children, the homeless, human rights, education, substance abuse and the battle against AIDS, as well as many other causes and charities.

Born and raised in New York City, Whoopi worked in theatre and improvisation in San Diego and the Bay Area, where she performed with the Blake Street Hawkeyes theatre troupe. It was there that she created the characters which became The Spook Show and evolved into her hit Broadway show, Grammy Award-winning album and the HBO special that helped launch her career.

Whoopi made her motion picture debut in Steven Spielberg’s film version of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, for which she earned an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe Award. Her performance in Ghost earned her the Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and she has starred in such films as Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Clara’s Heart, The Long Walk Home, Soapdish, Sister Act, Made in America, Boys on the Side, Ghosts of Mississippi, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Girl, Interrupted, and such animated classics as The Lion King, and Toy Story 3. She appeared in the 2015 feature film adaption of Adriana Trigiani’s beloved novel, Big Stone Gap, opposite Ashley Judd, Patrick Wilson and Jenna Elfman. Whoopi most recently starred in Paramount Picture’s comedy Nobody’s Fool opposite Tiffany Haddish and in Furlough alongside Melissa Leo. Up next, she will lend her voice to the musically-driven, animated comedy Pierre the Pigeon-Hawk.

Whoopi’s many television credits range from series, mini-series and talk shows to movies and specials. She recently guest-starred on Blue Bloods and co-stars on the CBS drama, Instinct opposite Alan Cumming. She currently moderates ABC’s Emmy Award-winning The View, for which she has won a Daytime Emmy Award.

Whoopi has also produced numerous series, specials and movies for television, as well as theatrical productions on Broadway and around the world, including the Tony Award-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie and the Tony-nominated Sister Act: The Musical. She produced and made her directorial debut with the Emmy Award-nominated documentary, Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival before its critically-acclaimed run on HBO. Whoopi and her partner Tom Leonardis produced the docu-series According to Alex for BET and Strut, the GLAADAward-winning original series for Oxygen which follows a group of transgender models breaking down barriers in the world of fashion. Most recently, she executive produced the documentary Waldo on Weed which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Up next, Whoopi will develop a brand new US version of Win Your Country!, the ratings-winning primetime quiz format via her One Hoe Productions banner, in partnership with 44 Blue Productions LLC.

Whoopi’s Broadway credits include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Xanadu and she made her West End stage debut in a special limited run as Mother Superior in Sister Act: The Musical in 2011.

In 1992, Whoopi made her debut as an author with her first children’s book, Alice. She also wrote Whoopi’s Big Book of Manners and the Sugar Plum Ballerinas book series for young readers and her books for adults include Book, Is It Just Me? and If Someone Says ‘You Complete Me’…Run! Rizzoli will publish her forthcoming entertaining book, The Unqualified Hostess, this fall.

In 2016, Whoopi and award-winning edibles maker Maya Elisabeth, founded Whoopi & Maya, a California-based medical marijuana company, whose initial offerings included a signature line of herbal medical cannabis products, formulated to provide relief for women experiencing menstrual cramps and discomfort. Whoopi partnered with Zappos.com for the exclusive 2017 launch of Whoopi’s second collection of Holiday Sweaters. On May 15, 2019, Whoopi launched her first fashion brand DUBGEE in partnership with The Powell Companies Real, LLC. Founded, designed and inspired by Whoopi, the new fashion collection empowers and promotes individuality with stylish, comfortable and aspirational products that fit everybody and lifestyle. DUBGEE’s 41 new styles include tops, bottoms, tunics, dresses and loungewear. Sizes range from extra small to 3X with prices ranging from $89 to $390. The collection is available for purchase online and in-store at Neiman Marcus, Ashley Stewart, Amazon and Le Tote, exclusive subscription retailer.

Whoopi was recently elected to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Board of Governors, which sets the Academy’s strategic vision, preserves the organization’s financial health and assures the fulfillment of its mission. She was also honored in 2017 with the Disney Legends Award, which celebrates artists whose work has significantly contributed to Disney’s enduring reputation for creative excellence.

Emmy^® and WGA-nominated writer, producer and showrunner Benjamin Cavell began his television career with the critically acclaimed FX Network show Justified. For his work on the series, Cavell won a George Foster Peabody Award and received a WGA-Award nomination, and his episode “The Life Inside” was nominated for an Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America.

Cavell additionally served as a writer and co-Executive Producer for Showtime’s Homeland, which earned him an Emmy^® Award nomination, and for the first season of the Amazon drama Sneaky Pete. He is also the creator of the CBS series Seal Team, starring David Boreanaz.

Upcoming, Cavell serves as showrunner and co-creator of the highly anticipated limited series adaptation of Stephen King’s The Stand, coming to CBS All Access December 17, 2020. Starring Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgård, James Marsden, Odessa Young, Jovan Adepo, Amber Heard, Owen Teague, Henry Zaga, Brad William Henke, Greg Kinnear, Irene Bedard and Nat Wolff. The Stand is King’s apocalyptic vision of a world devastated by plague and embroiled in an elemental struggle between good and evil. The fate of mankind rests on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abagail (Goldberg) and a handful of survivors. Their worst nightmares are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg (Skarsgård), the Dark Man.
 
Cavell graduated cum laude from Harvard University, where he was a boxer and an editor for The Harvard Crimson.  He is also the author of Rumble, Young Man, Rumble, a collection of short stories published by Alfred A. Knopf, which was named a “Breakout Book” by Amazon and “Best Book of the Year” by Esquire.

Emmy nominated actor, Jovan Adepo was born in Oxford shire, England to his American father James a British police guard and mother Adelola, a student in the city of Oxford. Born into a military family meant life was always on the move. He moved to the United States at a young age, spending the majority of his upbringing in Maryland. With his mother an avid theatregoer and his father a movie buff, Adepo was exposed to electrifying performances from an early age.

Jovan can next be seen a series regular lead in the CBS All Access series, “Stephen King’s: The Stand” opposite Whoopi Goldberg, Alexander Skarsgård, James Marsden and Amber Heard. The miniseries will premiere Thursday, December 17, 2020.

Adepo has had an amazing last few year as one of the industry’s top emerging leading men. Adepo had two projects come out in winter 2019, first was the return of the Facebook series, “Sorry For Your Loss,” in which he starred opposite Elizabeth Olsen as her love interest. The show was a half-hour female-driven dramedy starring and executive produced by Olsen. Created and written by Kit Steinkellner (Z: The Beginning of Everything). The show ran for two seasons and launched Facebook’s original programming.

In addition to SFYL, Jovan also co-starred in the second season of Amazon’s uber hit series “Jack Ryan,” as a series regular opposite John Krasinski. Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, which hails from the “Lost” duo of co-showrunner Carlton Cuse and writer Graham Roland, Platinum Dunes, Skydance Television and Paramount TV, is a reinvention with a modern sensibility of the unexpected Tom Clancy hero.

In addition to his two fabulous shows, Jovan also made a bit of TV history in 2019 as one of the stars of two of most critically acclaimed TV projects since “People v. OJ.” First, Jovan starred as ‘Lionel Jefferson’ in the ABC, Jimmy Kimmel produced, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's "All in the Family" and "The Jefferson’s.'' The star-studded event brought in over 22M viewers on May 25th. Jovan starred opposite Woody Harrelson, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Foxx, Wanda Sykes. In addition to the Norman Lear project… Jovan also starred in Ava Duvernay’s ground breaking limited series for Netflix, “When They See Us.” The series told the true story of the Central Park 5. Jovan gave a riveting performance as ‘Anton McCray’ one of the CP5. The dramatic miniseries chronicles the true story involving the 1989 assault and rape of a jogger in New York City’s Central Park area. The attack made national headlines and subsequently resulted in the arrest and ultimate conviction of five teenagers. The case proved to be incredibly controversial and the teenagers in question were eventually exonerated years later thanks to DNA evidence. The series proved to be Netflix’s biggest watched limited series with 23M viewers.

Both were nominated for 2019 Emmy Awards with ‘Live in Front of a Studio Audience” winning its category.

Rounding out 2019, Jovan wowed audiences and comic book fans and gained his first with his portrayal of ‘Hooded Justice’ on the critically acclaimed HBO limited series, “Watchmen.” Jovan appeared in only one episode of the series, episode six, “This Extraordinary Being,” where he takes over the episode and tells the story of the black police offer Will Reeves a.k.a. Hooded Justice, the first black super hero who is also a homosexual. One of the story’s most elusive figures, the brutal vigilante called Hooded Justice is a peripheral but pivotal figure in the original graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. Hooded Justice was the very first masked vigilante hero in the “Watchmen” universe, responsible for launching the phenomenon that inspired all the others to don masks of their own. Underneath that hood and noose, so evocative of the Ku Klux Klan, was a black cop and survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Will Reeves. Employing a mask and a rope that his racist fellow police officers had used to terrify and intimidate him, he turned the terror back onto criminals — including those crooked cops. The revelation elevates a background player from the graphic novel to the status of protagonist. Jovan tackled portraying the first black/gay superhero with grace and finesse… He managed to relay the dignity along with the anger and fear that black men suffered at the hands of racists in 1938 and the need for justice and the need for fairness in life… The show premiered October 2019 and stars Regina King. Jovan was nominated for a 2020 Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie for his portrayal of ‘Officer Will Reeves/Hood Justice.’

Recently, Jovan wrapped production on the independent feature The Violent Heart opposite Grace Van Patten. The two star as the leads of the film that is written and directed by Karem Segna. The film will premiere at the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. In addition to The Violent Heart.

Jovan’s past credits include the main lead of the JJ Abrams produced horror thriller film for Paramount Pictures, titled Overlord (November 2018). Jovan is best known for his role in Oscar nominated film Fences as “Cory Maxson” the son of the characters played by Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. He was also a series regular on HBO’s critically acclaimed series, “The Leftovers.”

He currently resides in Los Angeles.

Odessa Young recently completed shooting the lead role in Mothering Sunday, Alice Birch’s feature adaptation of Graham Swift’s acclaimed novel. Directed by Eva Husson and also starring Olivia Coleman, Colin Firth and Josh O’Connor, Odessa plays “Jane Fairchild”, a young maid in 1924 England who is carrying on a secret affair with a young aristocrat. On one hot spring day a few weeks before Easter, tragedy strikes and Jane’s life is forever altered. Odessa previously starred opposite Elisabeth Moss and Michael Stuhlbarg in Josephine Decker’s Shirley for Killer Films which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. She received rave reviews for her portrayal of a young pregnant woman who moves in with famed suspense author Shirley Jackson and becomes entangled in the complicated drama that is Shirley’s life. Odessa will soon be seen in the CBS All Access limited event series The Stand, adapted from Stephen King’s novel. She plays “Frannie Goldsmith”, a pregnant young woman navigating a strange new world, who also has the foresight to recognize that there is evil lurking beyond the Dark Man. Previous credits include Trip Cullman’s Atlantic Theater Company’s production of The Mother opposite Isabelle Huppert, the Sundance hit Assassination Nation directed by Sam Levinson, Sam Taylor Johnson’s A Million Little Pieces opposite Aaron Taylor-Johnson and The Professor opposite Johnny Depp.

Danielle Turchiano is the senior features editor of television at Variety, where she heads up small screen series coverage across premieres, finales, awards season and everything in between. Prior to working at Variety she spent six years as a freelance entertainment writer and a few years as a social media manager and digital strategist. She is also a proud dog mom to instagram.com/therealmrmadisonc