Oprah Winfrey – Queen of all Media
COUNTRY OF BIRTH
United States
INDUSTRY
Television
TOP ACHIEVEMENTS
Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American talk show host, producer, actress and philanthropist. Oprah is internationally known for her talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Early Life
Winfrey had a difficult start in life. She was born in 1954 in rural Mississippi to a single teenaged mother from a poverty-stricken family. After being molested throughout her childhood Winfrey fell pregnant when she was 14. Her son died in his infancy and she was sent to live with a man who was allegedly her father in Tennessee. When she was still in high school, Winfrey started working at a radio station. At the age of 19 she became the co-anchor of the station’s evening news. Winfrey’s excellent on-air personality landed her a daytime job as a talk-show host, and her unique presence gave a significant boost to the show’s ratings. Before long the show went from being a local half-hour morning show to a full hour national talk show named – The Oprah Winfrey Show. Winfrey started her own internationally syndicated production company and became a millionaire at the young age of 32.
The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
Philanthropy
Oprah Winfrey is known for her legendary generosity and was awarded with the first Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. She has given away over $400 million to educational causes and made a donation of $12 million to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. She is also dedicated to improving the lives of children in South Africa where she has a school and is involved with raising funds for children infected with HIV.
Highest Rankings
Known as the ‘Queen of all Media’, Oprah Winfrey is not only ranked as the wealthiest African American in the 20th century, but also as the greatest African American philanthropist in America and the only African American multi-billionaire in American history. Between 1986 and 2011 The Oprah Winfrey Show received the highest ratings in its genre in history.
ADDITIONAL FACTS:
- Oprah was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013 by Barack Obama
- As a child Winfrey played games in which she interviewed her corncob doll and the crows outside
- Winfrey was named Orpah at birth, but changed her name to Oprah after it was continuously mispronounced
- Winfrey was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple
