John Travolta

• 1. Introduction

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  John Travolta was flying his Gulfstream, registered N728T, on the night of the 24th of November 1992. He was above a solid layer of cloud, descending toward Washington National Airport under instrument flight rules. Then the entire electrical system failed. During the emergency landing that followed, he came close to a mid-air collision with a USAir Boeing 727. The near miss was attributed to a risky decision by an air traffic controller. The man in that cockpit had been nominated for an Academy Award, written off by studios, and was still waiting for the role that would bring him back. How does an American actor go from television sitcoms to international stardom? Why did a career that peaked in the 1970s stall, and what revived it? And why does a film star keep returning to the sky?

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• 2. Englewood Roots

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  John Joseph Travolta was born on the 18th of February 1954 in Englewood, New Jersey, an inner-ring suburb of New York City. He was the youngest of six children.

  His father, Salvatore "Sam" Travolta, had played semiprofessional American football before turning to tire sales. He became a partner in a company called Travolta Tire Exchange. His mother, Helen Cecilia, born Burke, had sung with a radio vocal group called The Sunshine Sisters. She later acted and directed, then became a high school drama and English teacher.

  Joey, Ellen, Ann, Margaret and Sam Travolta, his siblings, all became actors. Each was inspired by their mother's love of theater.

  The family's roots ran through two countries. His father was a second-generation Italian American with roots in Godrano, Sicily, and his mother was Irish American. Travolta grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and described his household as predominantly Irish in culture. He was raised Catholic.

  In 1975, at age 21, he converted to Scientology. Joan Prather, a former actress, had given him the book Dianetics.

  Before that, in 1971, he had left Dwight Morrow High School as a junior at age 17. His next move was across the Hudson River, toward the stage.

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• 3. Stardom in the Seventies

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  In New York City, Travolta landed the role of Doody in the touring company of the musical Grease. He then reached Broadway in Over Here!, where he sang the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin'". Soon afterward he moved to Los Angeles.

  His first screen role in California came in September 1972. He played a fall victim in the second season of the series Emergency! His first significant film part was Billy Nolan in Carrie, released in 1976. Billy is a bully goaded into a prank on the character played by Sissy Spacek. The director was Brian De Palma.

  Around the same time, Travolta won the role that made him famous. He played Vinnie Barbarino in the ABC sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, which ran from 1975 to 1979. His sister Ellen occasionally appeared on the show as Arnold Horshack's mother.

  The television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble came next. Then came two of his best-known screen roles. In 1977 he played Tony Manero in the dance drama Saturday Night Fever, and in 1978 he played Danny Zuko in the musical Grease. Both were among the most commercially successful films of the decade, and both made him an international star.

  Saturday Night Fever earned him a Best Actor nomination at the Academy Awards. At age 24, he was one of the youngest performers ever nominated in that category. His mother and his sister Ann appeared briefly in the film. His sister Ellen played a waitress in Grease.

  Not everything worked. The 1978 romance Moment by Moment, starring Travolta with Lily Tomlin, failed. He rebounded in 1980 with Urban Cowboy, opposite Debra Winger, riding a nationwide craze for country music. That craze proved to be the last easy success he would have for some time.

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• 4. Fall and Revival

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  Blow Out, released in 1981 and directed by Brian De Palma, drew critical praise but disappointed at the box office. The reason was likely its bleak ending. A string of commercial and critical failures followed and sidelined his acting career.

  Two of a Kind, a 1983 romantic comedy, reunited him with Olivia Newton-John. Perfect, in 1985, paired him with Jamie Lee Curtis. Staying Alive, the 1983 sequel to Saturday Night Fever, required him to train rigorously as a professional dancer. He lost 20 lb for the part. The film grossed over $65 million, yet critics scorned it.

  During those years he turned down lead roles in films that became hits. American Gigolo and An Officer and a Gentleman both went to Richard Gere. Splash went to Tom Hanks.

  The turn began in 1989 with Look Who's Talking, in which he starred opposite Kirstie Alley. It grossed $297 million, his biggest hit since Grease. Sequels followed in 1990 and 1993.

  It was Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction in 1994 that truly revived him. Travolta played against type as the hitman Vincent Vega, alongside Samuel L. Jackson. The role earned him a second Best Actor nomination. It was also his third film alongside Bruce Willis. The film put him back on the A-list.

  Parts came quickly. In 1995 he played a movie-buff loan shark in Get Shorty and a factory worker in White Man's Burden. His performance in Get Shorty won him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy.

  In 1996 he played a corrupt Air Force pilot in Broken Arrow, an everyman with extraordinary powers in Phenomenon, and an archangel in Michael. In 1997 he played both an FBI agent and a terrorist in Face/Off. In 1998 he played a presidential candidate modeled on Bill Clinton in Primary Colors and a desperate attorney in A Civil Action.

  The decade closed in 1999 with The General's Daughter, in which he played a military investigator.

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• 5. After the Comeback

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  Battlefield Earth, released in 2000, was based on the novel by L. Ron Hubbard. Travolta starred in it and co-produced it. He played the villain, a leader of aliens who enslave humanity on a bleak future Earth.

  The film had been a dream project for him since 1982, the year the book appeared. Hubbard had written to him then, hoping to help bring about a film adaptation. Reviews were almost universally negative, and the film did very poorly at the box office. It earned Travolta two Razzie Awards.

  He stayed busy anyway. The 2000s brought Lucky Numbers in 2000, then Swordfish and Domestic Disturbance in 2001. Ladder 49 followed in 2004, Be Cool in 2005, and Lonely Hearts in 2006. Wild Hogs came in 2007, and The Taking of Pelham 123 and Old Dogs in 2009.

  Hairspray, in 2007, gave him a new kind of role. He played Edna Turnblad in the remake, his first musical since Grease. In 2008 he lent his voice to the title character of the Disney animated film Bolt.

  Since 2010 he has worked mostly in action films and thrillers, such as From Paris with Love in 2010 and Savages in 2012.

  At the 86th Academy Awards in 2014, Travolta introduced a singer on live television as "Adele Dazeem". The performer was Idina Menzel. He later apologized and said he was embarrassed. The slip became a popular internet meme. Menzel said that the mistake was "one of the best things that happened" in her career. That same year he received the IIFA Award for Outstanding Achievement in International Cinema.

  In 2016 he returned to television in the first season of American Crime Story, titled The People v. O. J. Simpson. He played the lawyer Robert Shapiro. The role brought a Primetime Emmy nomination for supporting actor. He also received an Emmy Award as a producer on the series.

  In 2020 he co-starred in Die Hart, an action-comedy web series made for the streaming service Quibi. It earned him another Primetime Emmy nomination.

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• 6. Records and Soundtracks

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  In July 1976, a single called "Let Her In" peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was Travolta's first hit as a singer. Over time he has released nine albums, including four singles that reached the Hot 100's Top 40.

  His first two studio albums, John Travolta in 1976 and Can't Let You Go in 1977, came out on the Midland International label. His albums have typically accompanied films he starred in.

  The biggest was the Grease soundtrack, released on the 14th of April 1978, on which he sang with Olivia Newton-John. It topped the Billboard 200 and was certified 13 times platinum by the RIAA. Its duet "You're the One That I Want" reached number 1 on the US chart. "Summer Nights" reached number 5.

  The pairing with Newton-John continued. In December 1983 the soundtrack to Two of a Kind included their song "Take a Chance". The Hairspray soundtrack, released on the 10th of July 2007, was certified platinum in the United States.

  Other collaborations followed. In 1997 he recorded "Two Sleepy People" with Carly Simon. In 2008 he sang "I Thought I Lost You" with Miley Cyrus for the film Bolt.

  He and Newton-John reunited once more for a holiday album, This Christmas, released on the 9th of November 2012.

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• 7. Life in the Air

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  A Boeing 707-138B that once flew for Qantas, formerly registered VH-EBM, sat at the center of Travolta's aviation life. He kept it painted in an old Qantas livery. He acted as the airline's official goodwill ambassador wherever he flew. He named the plane "Jett Clipper Ella" in honor of his children. "Clipper" echoes Pan Am, which used the word as its call sign and in the names of its aircraft.

  Travolta is a pilot rated to fly Boeing 707 and 747 aircraft, and he owns four planes. His estate in Ocala, Florida, sits at Jumbolair Airport. It has its own runway, with a taxiway running right to the house and two outbuildings for covered access to planes.

  In 2017 he donated the 707 to the Historical Aircraft Restoration Society, known as HARS, near Wollongong, Australia. The aircraft was expected to fly there in November 2019. The delivery slipped to 2020 because of the plane's condition. Travolta planned to be on board for the flight to Illawarra Regional Airport, where HARS is based. He was not allowed to fly it, however, because it was to be registered as an Australian aircraft.

  On the 13th of September 2010, in the first episode of the final season of her talk show, Oprah Winfrey made a startling announcement. She was taking her entire studio audience on an eight-day, all-expenses-paid trip to Australia. Travolta was the pilot. He had helped her plan the trip for more than a year.

  After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, he reportedly flew his 707 into the disaster area. It carried supplies, doctors, and Scientologist Volunteer Ministers.

  Aviation has also brought honors. In 1984 General Chuck Yeager presented him with the Golden Plate Award from the American Academy of Achievement. In 2007 he was inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation, and he serves as the award show's official ambassador.

  Flying even shaped his writing. He wrote a book, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, the story of a young boy's first flight. He adapted it into a 2026 film, his directorial debut. It premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, where he received an Honorary Palme d'Or. The film reached the streaming service Apple TV on the 29th of May 2026.

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• 8. Family and Loss

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  Diana Hyland was the first great love of Travolta's public life. He met the actress while filming The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. They stayed together until she died of breast cancer on the 27th of March 1977.

  In 1980 he dated the French actress Catherine Deneuve. He also had an on-again, off-again relationship with the actress Marilu Henner, which ended for good in 1985.

  In 1988, while filming The Experts, he met the actress Kelly Preston. They married in Paris in 1991 and had three children. Jett was born in 1992, Ella Bleu in 2000, and Benjamin in 2010. The couple regularly attended marriage counseling, and Travolta has said that therapy helped the marriage. They lived near Ocala, Florida.

  On the 2nd of January 2009, Jett died at age sixteen while on a Christmas vacation in The Bahamas. A Bahamian death certificate gave the cause as a seizure. Jett had a history of seizures and reportedly had Kawasaki disease since the age of two.

  A paramedic and a former Bahamas senator were later accused of trying to extort $25 million from Travolta, using private documents tied to Jett's death. Travolta testified at their trial. On the stand, he publicly confirmed for the first time that Jett was autistic and had suffered regular seizures. After a mistrial, Travolta dropped the charges. He has credited his immediate family and Scientology with helping him cope and move forward with his career.

  In Jett's memory he created the Jett Travolta Foundation, a nonprofit that helps children with special needs. It has contributed to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

  On the 12th of July 2020, Kelly Preston died at age 57 at the family's home in Clearwater, Florida. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer two years earlier and had been treated at several hospitals. At the time of her death she was being treated at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. Travolta then hinted on Instagram that he would pause his career. He wrote: "I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don't hear from us for a while".

  An unlikely friendship has also marked his later years. The rapper Pitbull worked with him on the 2018 film Gotti, scoring it and writing the song "Amore". In 2019, on Pitbull's advice, Travolta debuted a shaved head. Later that year he appeared in the music video for Pitbull's single "3 to Tango".

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