Joseph Allen Travolta (born October 14, 1950) is an American actor, singer, producer, director and screenwriter.
He is the older brother of actor
John Travolta.
Early life
Travolta was born and raised in
Englewood, New Jersey, a nearby suburb of New York City, where he attended
Dwight Morrow High School
Dwight Morrow High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Englewood, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Englewood Public School District. The school also serves students from Engle ...
. 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; 1912–1978), 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 is one of six children including actors
John Travolta,
Ellen Travolta and
Margaret Travolta
Margaret Travolta (born December 31, 1946) is an Americans, American actress.
Early life
Travolta was born in Englewood, New Jersey to a Catholic family. The daughter of Salvatore Travolta and Helen Cecilia married and maiden names, née Burke, s ...
.
He graduated from
Paterson State College with a degree in special education in 1974.
Career
Travolta began a singing career in 1978 as a recording artist on
Casablanca Records
Casablanca Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Republic Records. Under its founder Neil Bogart, Casablanca was most successful during the disco era of the mid to late 1970s. The label current ...
, releasing his
eponymous album. The following year he made his acting debut starring in the feature film ''Sunnyside'' for
Filmways Productions. He then became a guest star in the 1980s television show ''
Simon & Simon
''Simon & Simon'' is an American crime drama television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981, to September 16, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS, and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two disparate brothers who oper ...
'' (episode: "The Hottest Ticket in Town").
Additional acting credits include work with director
John Landis
John David Landis (born August 3, 1950) is an American comedy and fantasy filmmaker and actor. He is best known for the comedy films that he has directed – such as ''The Kentucky Fried Movie'' (1977), ''National Lampoon's Animal House'' (1978 ...
on multiple feature film projects: ''
Amazon Women on the Moon
''Amazon Women on the Moon'' is a 1987 American satirical science fiction film that parodies the experience of watching low-budget films on late-night television. The film, featuring a large ensemble cast including cameo appearances from film and ...
'' (1987), ''
Beverly Hills Cop III
''Beverly Hills Cop III'' is a 1994 American action comedy film starring Eddie Murphy and directed by John Landis, who had previously worked with Murphy on ''Trading Places'' and ''Coming to America''. It is the third film in the Beverly Hills C ...
'' (1994), ''
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
'' (1991), and ''
Susan's Plan'' (1998). He was also a series regular on the
WB television hit ''
Movie Stars
A movie star (also known as a film star or cinema star) is an actor or actress who is famous for their starring, or leading, roles in movies. The term is used for performers who are marketable stars as they become popular household names and wh ...
'' (1999).
Stage performances include starring roles in ''
Bye Bye Birdie
''Bye Bye Birdie'' is a stage musical with music by Charles Strouse and lyrics by Lee Adams, based upon a book by Michael Stewart.
Originally titled ''Let's Go Steady'', ''Bye Bye Birdie'' is set in 1958. The short story "Dream Man", authored ...
'', ''
Guys and Dolls
''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...
'', and ''
West Side Story
''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents.
Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...
''. He wrote and directed ''Diva Las Vegas'' in 1989, which went on to win the Italian Funny Film Festival.
In 1991, Joey Travolta produced and starred in ''Da Vinci's War''. He later produced and starred in the sequel, ''
To the Limit'' (1995). He made directing his main priority in 1994. He directed the action thrillers ''Hard Vice'' (1994) and ''
Navajo Blues
''Navajo Blues'' is a 1996 American crime-action film produced and directed by Joey Travolta and starring Steven Bauer, Irene Bedard and Charlotte Lewis.
Plot
A Las Vegas police detective hides out from the Mafia on a Navajo reservation overr ...
'' (1996). Subsequent titles include ''Earth Minus Zero'' (1996), ''
Laws of Deception
''Laws of Deception'' is an erotic suspense thriller film produced in 1997. Written by Rollin Jarrett and directed by Joey Travolta, it stars C. Thomas Howell, James Russo, Amber Smith, Nick Mancuso and Brian Austin Green.
Plot synopsis
The p ...
'' (1997), ''Detour'' (1999), ''
Mel
Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to:
Biology
* Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL)
* National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL
People
* Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...
'' (1996), ''Partners'' (2000), ''
Enemies of Laughter
''Enemies of Laughter'' is a 2000 American romantic comedy film directed by Joey Travolta and starring David Paymer, Judge Reinhold, Rosalind Chao, Marilu Henner, Bea Arthur and Peter Falk. This was Arthur's final film.
Plot
Cast
*David Paymer ...
'' (2000), and ''Waiting to Live'' (2002).
For television audiences he directed the police drama ''
L.A. Heat'' (1999), ''Friday Night After the Movies'' (2010), and the syndicated
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
series ''
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show'' (2007). He has directed music videos as well such as
Aqua's ''
Doctor Jones
"Doctor Jones" is a song by Danish dance-pop group Aqua. Released as the band's fourth single overall, it was the follow-up to their most successful song "Barbie Girl" in many regions. "Doctor Jones" ended the assumptions that Aqua would be a o ...
'' and
Latvia's entry, in
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasti ...
, ''
Pirates of the Sea''.
Disability advocate
Travolta has worked as a
special education
Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...
teacher in New Jersey. In 2005, he produced a documentary film called
Normal People Scare Me, directed by a 15 old boy with
autism whom he mentored. Around this time, he founded
Inclusion Films, which involve individuals with special needs in the process of making films.
He has collaborated with a non-profit organization called HEAL to form a
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
based ''HEAL Film Camp with Joey Travolta''.
In 2019, Travolta directed ''Carol of the Bells'' for Inclusion Films starring
R.J. Mitte as an adoptee who discovers his biological mother has Down Syndrome. 70% of the crew had developmental disabilities. The film won the
Audience Award for Best Feature at the
2019 San Diego International Film Festival. His next feature film titled ''Let's Work'' premiered at SDIFF in the documentary competition in October 2020.
Personal life
Travolta is married to Wendy Shawn (daughter of comedian
Dick Shawn
Dick Shawn (born Richard Schulefand, December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap comed ...
)
and they have one daughter, Rachel.
References
External links
*
Interview with Joey Travolta about autism and Normal People Scare Me
{{DEFAULTSORT:Travolta, Joey
1950 births
Living people
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
20th-century American writers
American male film actors
American film producers
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American people of Irish descent
American writers of Italian descent
Dwight Morrow High School alumni
People from Englewood, New Jersey
Shepherd University alumni
William Paterson University alumni
Film directors from New Jersey
Travolta family
American film directors of Italian descent