Happy Birthday, John Travolta! His Most Iconic Roles

While Travolta caught his big break with a recurring role on the show “Welcome Back, Kotter,” his turn as Tony Manera in 1977’s “Saturday Night Fever” catapulted him to superstardom and an Academy Award nomination. The film, a Bee Gees-soundtracked ode to disco and 1970s Brooklyn, was met with fanfare and made Travolta into an icon.

Hot off the heels of the dance-heavy “Saturday Night Fever,” Travolta got to flex his vocal cords in “Grease,” a big-screen adaptation of the 1971 musical of the same name. Travolta starred as Danny Zuko, a bad-boy greaser who taps into his more sensitive side when he is smitten by fellow Rydell High School Sandy Olsson, played by Olivia Newton-John.

Quentin Tarantino has a knack for creating characters that pop off the screen. John Travolta unexpectedly shined in the director's 1994 classic as Vincent Vega, regalvanizing his career as the drug-addicted hitman who gets the job done during official hits, philosophical diner-booth chats, and sometimes both at once.

Close your eyes and imagine Travolta’s roles, and it’s hard to unsee him as the goateed bad guy in 2001’s “Swordfish.” Travolta is perfect as Gabriel Shear, starring alongside Halle Berry and Hugh Jackman in this very early-aughts cyber crime thriller.

Because every legacy star needs an Eddie Murphy bit-character moment. What better opportunity than in “Hairspray,” where Travolta took on the genre-bending role of Edna Turnblad, who is inspired to feel comfortable in her body after seeing her young overweight daughter shine on popular local program “The Corny Collins Show.”