This is what John Travolta, the star of Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Pulp Fiction, looks like now

John Travolta is one of Hollywood’s most enduring and recognizable stars. The American actor and singer first rose to prominence in the 1970s on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and in the film Saturday Night Fever. From there, his popularity soared with major titles such as Grease and Pulp Fiction, directed by Quentin Tarantino.

Born on February 18, 1954, in Englewood, New Jersey, Travolta has taken on roles that earned him numerous award nominations, including the Oscars, BAFTAs, Critics Choice Awards and Golden Globes.

How has John Travolta changed throughout his career?

Among his many films, Saturday Night Fever brought Travolta his first Academy Award nomination. The 1977 American musical drama, directed by John Badham, cast him as Tony Manero, a young Brooklyn man who escapes his dead-end working-class life and family frustrations through disco dancing. With a soundtrack by the Bee Gees, the film turned disco into an international cultural phenomenon, propelled by songs such as “Stayin’ Alive,” “How Deep Is Your Love” and “Night Fever.”

He followed with another box-office smash, Grease (1978), directed by Randal Kleiser. Travolta played the iconic Danny Zuko opposite Olivia Newton-John as Sandy Olsson. The 1950s-set musical became a defining film of its era, with songs including “You’re the One That I Want,” performed by Travolta and Newton-John, topping charts in the United States and the United Kingdom. “Summer Nights,” “Sandy,” “Greased Lightnin’” and “We Go Together” were also part of the soundtrack.

In 1981 he returned to the screen in Blow Out, directed by Brian De Palma. The thriller cast him as Jack Terry, a sound engineer who accidentally records evidence of a murder. Two years later came the sequel Staying Alive, which follows Tony Manero five years after the events of Saturday Night Fever.

Reinvention and career revival

In 1989, Travolta appeared in the comedy Look Who’s Talking, once again achieving international success. He played James, a cab driver who becomes a devoted father figure to a newborn baby.

In Pulp Fiction (1994), directed by Quentin Tarantino, Travolta portrayed Vincent Vega, a hitman caught up in intertwined tales of crime and redemption in Los Angeles. The film revitalized his career, featuring iconic scenes such as the dance sequence with Uma Thurman’s character, Mia Wallace, and earning him his second Oscar nomination.

He then worked on Broken Arrow (1995), Michael (1996), Phenomenon (1996) and The General’s Daughter (1999).

In 2007, he returned to musicals with Hairspray, directed by Adam Shankman, a 2002 Broadway adaptation that won eight Tony Awards. He played Edna Turnblad.

In 2008, Travolta lent his voice to the animated film Bolt, voicing the title character, and later participated in the animated project Gummy Bear (2015).

The series The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story cast him as defense attorney Robert Shapiro.

In 2019, in The Poison Rose, Travolta played Carson Phillips, a former football star turned private investigator. In 2023, Mob Land, directed by Nicholas Maggio, featured him as a local sheriff in an action thriller.

That same year, The Shepherd – produced by Travolta and Alfonso Cuarón – adapted the classic novella by Frederick Forsyth, with Travolta portraying a rescue pilot.

For this year, Paramount Pictures is prioritizing a reunion between Nicolas Cage and Travolta for a sequel to Face Off, the 1997 action classic directed by John Woo, although the project has yet to secure a director.

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