Born November 21, 1945 in Washington, D.C.
A leading lady and star of American TV and films, Hawn was raised in suburban Takoma Park, Maryland, by a Presbyterian musician father and a Jewish mother who ran a dance studio and jewelry stores. She began taking ballet and tapdancing lessons at three and made her professional acting debut at 16 playing Juliet in a production of the Virginia Stage Company.
Hawn then studied drama at the American University, paying her tuition by operating a dance studio. Dropping out of college at 18, she arrived in New York City and landed her first job as a chorus line cancan dancer at the 1964 World’s Fair. Later, Hawn worked as a go-go dancer, appeared in occasional stock productions, and played a bit part in Disney’s “The One and Only Genuine Original Family Band.”
After appearing on TV in the aborted series “Good Morning World” (1967-68), Hawn won national popularity as a kooky blonde in the zany TV comedy show “Laugh-In” (1968-70). She left the cast to make films and won a best supporting actress Academy Award for her first role, in “Cactus Flower” (1969).
Hawn was nominated for another Oscar, in the lead category, for her performance in “Private Benjamin” (1980), a film she also produced. She remained one of Hollywood’s most popular screen personalities into the 1990s.
Divorced from actor-director Gus Trikonis and from Bill Hudson of the Hudson Brothers rockcomedy group, she has been sharing home since 1986 with actor Kurt Russell and their children.
Oscar Alert
In 1969, Goldie Hawn won the Supporting Actress Oscar in a race that included Cathy Burns in “Last Summer,” Dyan Cannon in “”Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice,” Sylvia Miles in “Midnight Cowboy,” and Susannah York in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They”
In 1980, Goldie Hawn lost the Best Actress Oscar to Sissy Spacek in “Coal Miner’s Daughter.”
