Grease actor was actually John Travolta’s sister and you probably never realised

Grease actor John Travolta once managed to convince the movie musical’s casting crew to shoehorn his sister into a pivotal scene.

In 1978, the world fell head-over-heels for John, then 23, and Olivia Newton-John, then 28, when they stepped out as greaser Danny Zuko and Australian exchange student Sandy Olsson, respectively.

The pair fronted the American romance film Grease; portraying a couple of on-again-off-again high schoolers who eventually fall in love and drive off into the sunset.

Alongside the two protagonists were the T-Birds, Kenickie (Jeff Conaway), Doody (Barry Pearl), Sonny (Michael Tucci) and Putzie (Kelly Ward) as well as the Pink Ladies, Rizzo (Stockard Channing), Frenchy (Didi Conn), Jan (Jamie Donnelly) and Dinah Manoff (Marty).

But did you know 70-year-old John’s flesh-and-blood sister also played a part in the iconic movie?

Grease was released in 1978. (Paramount Pictures/Fotos International/Getty Images)

Ellen Travolta, who is 14 years older than John, portrayed an unnamed waitress at the Frosty Palace.

In the scene, she and a group of similarly dressed servers crowd around a television screen to watch Rydell High host the National Dance-Off.

Ellen only has one line which she says while pointing to the TV set.

“Oh, there’s Danny and Sandy,” she cries.

Opening up about how she landed the role in 2018, Ellen told the Spokesman: “I was on the lot at Paramount, I was guesting on a sitcom or something, and I came by the set.

Ellen Travolta (left) was cast as a waitress in Grease. (Paramount Pictures)

“And [John] said, ‘Do you want to be in the movie? Can my sister be in the movie?’ Literally…

“So the next day they wrote me in a part. That’s how loose it was and never knowing the success it would become.”

Ellen added that she still gets residual cheques ‘every 13 weeks for 40 years’ for her one or two days on set.

"I had a lot of fun," she continued.

Elsewhere, she told the publication that she believes Grease has endured for so many years because it made such an ‘incredible’ impact.

Ellen explained further that its success is simply because it’s a ‘love story with great music’.

Ellen is now 84 years old. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for Hallmark Media)

“I don’t care for the play,” she admitted. “I think the movie is way better than the play.”

Following her role in Grease, Ellen went on to win acting credits in the 1979 TV movie Elvis as well as series such as Murder She Wrote and the American legal drama Judging Amy.

Despite being 84, Ellen continues to act and most recently appeared in the 2022 festive film, Haul out the Holly.