Travolta, the youngest of the six children in a Roman Catholic family to Salvatore and Helen Travolta, was born in Englewood, New Jersey. His father was an Italian American semi-professional football player turned tire salesman. His mother was an Irish American actress and singer under her maiden name Helen Cecilia Burke who had appeared in The Sunshine Sisters, a radio vocal group, and acted and directed before becoming a high school drama teacher.
After dropping out of Dwight Morrow High School after his junior year, Travolta moved to New York City to get a job as a performer. He landed roles in the touring company of Grease and on Broadway in Over Here! singing the Sherman Brothers' song "Dream Drummin.'" Travolta also cut singles for a local record company, but the songs were quickly forgotten. But eventually, he moved to Los Angeles, California to further his career in show business.
Travolta gained his first major movie role as Billy Nolan, a sadistic bully who taunted Sissy Spacek's Carrie
White in the horror film Carrie (1976). Around the same time he landed his star-making role as Vinnie Barbarino in the TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975