John Travolta's then-and-now photos during his 54-year career as he turns 72

Fresh faced and just 21-years-old, Travolta got his start in the usual way; appearing in small or uncredited roles on longer series, including his first TV appearance as a concussed construction worker on Emergency!. His first break came with a role in Welcome Back, Kotter as Vinnie Barbarino, one of Gabe Kotter’s troublemaking students. 

But it wasn’t a done deal that the actor would join the Kotter crew. He’d just been offered a Broadway role and was desperate for cash. In an essay for Emmy, creator and star Gabe Kaplan recalls Travolta told him, “I was going to take the Broadway job because I needed the money, but [casting director] Stalmaster got me a small part in a horror flick called The Devil’s Rain, just to tide me over until Kotter auditions started.” 

The actor stayed with the Kotter team for 82 episodes between 1975 and 1979, a role that set him on the road to international fame. 

Travolta hit the big time with Saturday Night Fever, boogying the nights away as Tony Manero. The paint store clerk finds love with Stephanie ahead of a big dance competition and John Travolta found fame in the all-singing, all-dancing feature. Speaking to Ocala StarBanner, the actor said of his role: “I think it was the blueprint for everything that has happened to me. It put me on the map. It was my first Academy Award nomination.” 

He explained: “It all paid off in a bigger way than we ever imagined. I just felt like I was doing my job, but it went to this extraordinary level where we ended up on the cover of Time magazine.”

Fans were hopelessly devoted when the 23-year-old actor’s next feature, Grease, was released in 1978 with a catchy soundtrack, kitchy 50s style and compelling romance between Travolta’s bad-boy Danny Zuko and sweet Sandy Olsson. Grease guaranteed Travolta’s spot in movie history and remains one of his most beloved roles.

The leading man advocated strongly for Olivia Newton John’s casting as his romantic match and the pair clearly shared a close bond. Marking her passing on Instagram, John wrote: “My dearest Olivia, you made all of our lives so much better. Your impact was incredible. I love you so much. We will see you down the road and we will all be together again. Yours from the moment I saw you and forever! Your Danny, your John!”

In this 1980’s Western, John takes on a more stoic role as cowboy Bud Davis. When the country boy moves to Houston to find work while staying with his uncle, he keeps getting drawn back to local nightclub Gilley’s. Finding love with the power of dance stays a common theme even in this bull-riding feature as Bud falls for cowgirl Sissy. With hopes of buying some land, he starts working alongside his uncle at an oil refinery until a competition at Gilley’s catches his eye.

John worked opposite An Officer and a Gentleman star Debra Winger. Debra is one of the 1980s most well-known leading ladies, with features in Terms of Endearment and Shadowlands, as well as three Oscar nominations for Best Leading Actress.

Dancing would prove not just to be magic on-screen for John, but an off-screen charm too when he met his late wife Kelly Preston at a screen test for the 1989 comedy The Experts, which follows two New Yorkers who get jobs at a nightclub in the curiously named Smalltown, USA which turns out to be a spy training facility in the USSR. 

While the actress was still married to actor Kevin Gage, Travolta has said it was love at first sight. Preston recalled their first meeting on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen in 2018, saying “Well, I was not that happily married, let’s put it that way. I was really with the wrong person.” 

She said of marriage to John that, “[We dance] all the time, all the time. The kids dance with us, we go out dancing. We love it.” John and Kelly married in 1991, and stayed together until her death in 2020.

In 2007, Travolta revisited his musical roots in the musical adaptation of Hairspray – the stage show an adaption of 1988’s movie feature. The musical follows Tracy Turnblad as she auditions for a new vacancy on The Corny Collins Show, hosted by James Marsden as the titular Corny Collins. Tracy leads a campaign against racism and discrimination and finds love with Zac Efron’s Link Larkin.

John stars as Tracy’s mother, Edna Turnblad who worries her daughter will be discriminated against due to her weight. She herself struggles with her body images and agoraphobia, which she works to overcome. 

His most recent projects have put John firmly back in the role of action hero. Cash Out (2024) sees the actor attempt a heist with his brother and subsequently negotiate with his ex-lover who happens to be lead negotiator. In the 2025 sequel High Rollers, John returns as master thief Mason Goddard attempting to both execute a casino heist and rescue his kidnapped lover. 

His upcoming project, Black Tides, will have John starring alongside his daughter Ella Bleu Travolta. The survival thriller follows an estranged father whose attempts to reconnect with his daughter result in a sailboat attack by rogue orcas.