Whoopi Goldberg is a person.
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ( AMPAS ) . It is given in honor of an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role while working within the film industry . Whoopi Goldberg . In the period drama film The Color Purple ( 1985 ) , her breakthrough role was playing Celie , a mistreated black woman in the Deep South , for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress .