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Whoopi Goldberg on Knowing Who You Are

If you're looking for something to do this weekend, you can catch the new movie Big Stone Gap which opens this weekend, starring Ashley Judd in the lead, as well as Whoopi Goldberg.

FOX 5 were able to get an "accidental" interview with Whoopi and asked her about the role and what she's learned through her acting in general. Interesting to note is the lesson she learned from Spielberg that the crew behind the camera know more than the crew in front of it, so follow their lead. Click on the image to watch the full interview.

Growing up, Whoopi shared in separate interview (attached below) how much of an influence her mom has been in her life. It was her mom who suggested the addition of 'Goldberg' to her stage name, as her legal name is Caryn Johnson. 

It was also her mother who told her that being herself won't be hard as long as she doesn't have an issue with people not liking her, which she says implies that you know who are. Sounds very simple, but for people that are anything like me, being delivered from peoples' opinions (as my girl Tiphani on Periscope expresses it) is a new phenomena. Growing up (and I mean up until just recently) I cared way too much about what people thought of me. It truly is delivering to not care. If this is something you feel you still struggle with, perhaps this article from Huffington Post on 7 Ways To Stop Caring What Other People Think Of You might help. As stated earlier though, you really need to get to know who you are, and then be comfortable with the answer you conclude. The artist Faith Ringgold said it best when she said, "You can't sit around waiting for somebody else to say who you are." 

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The other piece of advice shared by Whoopi in the interview is one for all the aspiring actresses out there. She counters the question with her own, "Are you talking about being an actor or a movie star?" It's funny because I guess I never looked at the 2 as separate, but it's now blatantly clear that they are. So the advice Whoopi has for the aspiring actor is to put yourself out there and act in anything and everything you can possibly audition for. As for the aspiring movie star, she says it's just a fluke. When I heard that, I wasn't immediately convinced that that's true, but then again I'm looking in from the outside.

What do you think? Are there things one can do to increase their odds of becoming a movie star, or is it indeed just a fluke? Comment below.