A star from the original 'The Color Purple' makes a surprise appearance in the remake — here's what to know about the cameo

• Warning: There are spoilers ahead for "The Color Purple."
• An actor from the original 1985 movie can be spotted early on.
• It's a nod to their original role in the Oscar-nominated movie.

Warner Bros.' "The Color Purple" remake features a special cameo from a star of the original 1985 movie.

Both adaptations of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel follow Celie's journey to find her voice and independence in a segregated Georgia where she's physically and sexually abused by her father and, later, her husband as she's treated like property across the early 1900s.

Early in the new movie, a teenage Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) goes into labor. Unlike in the 1985 adaptation, a midwife is present to assist her.

As Celie gives birth, Whoopi Goldberg is revealed as the midwife at the foot of the bed.

Why Goldberg's appearance in the movie is significant

Goldberg played Celie in director Steven Spielberg's 1985 adaptation and was nominated for best actress at the 58th Academy Awards.

While Goldberg didn't take home the Oscar (she lost to Geraldine Page for "The Trip to Bountiful"), "The Color Purple" played an important role for the actor as she transitioned from theater to film.

After hearing Walker read the book on the radio, Goldberg reached out to the author.

"I wrote her a letter, said if they ever make a movie of this — very bold — I'd play dirt on the floor and went on my way," Goldberg recalled for an episode of "Oprah's Master Class." (Oprah Winfrey also starred in the 1985 film as Sofia.)

Goldberg was shocked to receive a letter back from Walker, who said she knew her work. Soon after, Spielberg offered the lead role to Goldberg. "The Color Purple" was her first movie.

Goldberg later told the Television Academy Foundation she believed the film didn't win any of its 11 Oscar nominations because The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wasn't happy with the movie largely for its depiction of Black men and because Spielberg, a white man, directed it.

It's one of the most nominated Oscar movies in history without any wins.

"I think that most people believe and need to be reminded that adversity exists everywhere," Goldberg previously told the American Film Institute of the film's lasting message.

"If we can focus and move forward, and keep ourselves moving forward, no matter what, that we will get through and prevail," Goldberg added.

Spielberg and Winfrey serve as producers on the new adaptation while Fantasia Barrino reprises her Broadway role as a grown-up Celie.