Oprah Winfrey Biography
Fast Facts
Oprah was born Orpah (a Biblical name) Gail Winfrey on January 29,1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Family members and friends pronounced her name as Oprah however and that is the version that stuck.
She learned to read aloud and perform recitations for her grandmother at the age of three.
At 19 years of age Oprah Winfrey started her adventures in broadcasting, making her the youngest news anchor and also the first African-American woman news anchor at Nashville's WTVF-TV
Oprah Winfrey is believed to be worth over 1 billion dollars according to the 2004 Forbes Magazine Issue. In 2003 it disclosed that she had become the first African American woman to reach billionaire status.
Winfrey has successfully negotiated a deal to extend her show to the 2010-11 season at which time she will be celebrating her show's 25th year on the air.
Oprah Winfrey was named one of the Most Influential People of the 20th Century by Time Magazine and in 1998 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
She was the driving force behind the national database of convicted child abusers which was signed into law in 1993 as "The Oprah Bill".
She formed her own production company in 1986 which she named Harpo Productions. It has become an indomitable force in television and film production and Harpo eventually bought and assumed responsibility for the Oprah Winfrey Show making her the first woman to own and produce her own television talk show.
She publishes her own magazines, O, The Oprah Magazine, and O at Home.
She co-founded the women's cable network Oxygen.
She started The Angel Network, an organization that collects millions of dollars for charities. In 2000, through this organization she started presenting a $100,000 "Use Your Life Award" to people who were using their lives to help others better themselves.
She was honored with the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award when it was initiated in 2002.
Oprah has never taken the plunge into marriage but has lived with her longtime partner Stedman for nearly 20 years.
Oprah Winfrey Biography
"Excellence is the best deterrent to racism or sexism." Oprah Winfrey
Oprah is willing to put her money where her mouth is. She uses her television show to promote excellence in all things and is constantly supporting and promoting excellent people who undertake worthy endeavors.
Life didn't start out very well for Oprah. After her parents split up when she was still a toddler, she was sent to her grandparents and raised by her grandmother until she was six. Then she was sent to live with her mother where things became horrible for her. She was sexually abused by relatives for years until the age of 14 when she went to live with her father.
Her father was very strict, yet he cared for his daughter and wanted her to reach for high standards. "As strict as he was," says Oprah, "he had some concerns about me making the best of my life, and would not accept anything less than what he thought was my best." Oprah had been so abused that she was out of control during this time in her life, rebelling against authority and experimenting with drugs and other self-destructive behavior.
She had endured much hardship in her life thus far, but she was blessed with the gift of high intelligence, and always performed well in school. She was awarded a university scholarship and it was at this time she was able to settle herself down and focus on creating a better life for herself. She earned a B.A. in Speech Communications and Performing Arts at Tennessee State University, graduating with honors. While at school she also joined various groups pursuing her interests in journalism and media.
She began her career in broadcasting when a Nashville radio station hired her when she was only 17. Two years later she went to work for another station as a reporter and news anchor. In 1976 she made another move, this time to Baltimore to co-anchor for WJZ-TV news. In 1978 she started co-hosting the station's talk show "People Are Talking" in addition to her responsibilities as news anchor and reporter. Her talents for hosting talk shows came shining through at this time and so in 1984 she went to Chicago to host a faltering talk show at WLS-TV. One year later she had successfully made that show "the hottest show in town". It was expanded to a one hour show and re-named "The Oprah Winfrey Show". It debuted nationally on September 8, 1986.
In 1985 Oprah co-starred in The Color Purple, a film produced by Steven Spielburg depicting Alice Walker's award-winning novel. Her performance as Sophia, the distraught housewife, captured national recognition and she was nominated for an Academy Award. The following year her talk show went national and the timing was absolutely perfect since people now knew who she was and had a good impression of her. Her talk show took off and there has been no turning back. Oprah has been building one success on top of another and she is building an empire of greatness.
People love her show because she has an attitude of service towards others. It has evolved into a channel of helpfulness towards humanity and many people glean critical, life-changing information and inspiration from her presentations. She has made a difference in people's lives in so many ways. One obvious examples of this is the book club she started. A featured book on her show would rocket to best-seller status because people so respect her opinion about what constitutes excellent material.
She is not shy about talking about her own demons. She struggled with weight mis-management and emotional eating throughout her life, and she took the huge risk of exposing herself by working through her problem on national television. Because she chose to work out her solution in the public eye, she inspired countless others to follow her example and better themselves. She never gave up on herself, by coming up with excuses as to why it was too hard to change her behavior, but instead did what she had to do and she is now considered the weight loss guru of America. She is ever-evolving, re-defining what is excellent for her, always doing her best...on her show and in her life she doesn't just talk the talk...she is walking the walk and having a lot of fun in the journey!
biography and biographies home page
Copyright © 2004 biography-and-biographies.com
Resources: Academy of Achievement: A Museum of Living History; Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; Woopidoo! Biographies
An interview with Oprah highlights this look at the plain-spoken Texan who became a national celebrity thanks to her show.