Key scenes highlight her range:
Goldberg’s casting was a stroke of structural genius. Oda Mae serves as the audience surrogate. She reacts to the absurdity of the situation with the skepticism and fear that the audience feels. When Sam Wheat first speaks through her, her reaction isn't mystical awe—it's sheer terror.
When she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, it was a historic moment. She became only the second Black woman to win an acting Oscar, following Hattie McDaniel for Gone with the Wind in 1940. The gap of over five decades highlighted the lack of opportunity for Black actresses in Hollywood.
Ultimately, Ghost works because it trusts its audience to laugh through their tears. Whoopi Goldberg was the key to that trust. She took a script about death and mourning and reminded everyone that sometimes, the best way to face the unknown is with a sense of humor.
After Sam Wheat (Patrick Swayze) is murdered, his ghost learns he can’t communicate directly with his girlfriend, Molly (Demi Moore). He tracks down Oda Mae, a small-time con artist running a fake mediumship business, and forces her to help him expose his killer and warn Molly.