Oprah Winfrey ( American Entrepreneur and philanthropist)

Biography:

Birthday: 29th January 1954

Father’s name: Vernon Winfrey

Mother’s name: Vernita Lee

Born in: Mississippi, United States

Nationality: American

Introduction:

Oprah Winfrey is an American Entrepreneur and philanthropist who is a self-made billionaire African-American woman. She is mostly popular for her multi-award-winning show “The Oprah Winfrey show”. Her childhood life was not simple and easy. She faced many problems like sexual abuse and mistreated as a child. But, now she is considered one of the most powerful and influential women in the world. Let’s try to find out her story and start with her childhood days. 

Childhood Life:

She was born in the year 1954, on January 29 in Mississippi. Her mother was Vernita lee who used to stay in a small town family farm. Her biological father was Vernon Winfrey who was a soldier and he temporarily stationed at a nearby base. They have a short time relationship. After that, her grandmother, Hattie Mae lee raised her.

Later, she stated that during her childhood period, her only friends were the animals on her family farm. When she was only 3 years old, then she gave her first recital at a local church. After she was physically abused with a number of male relatives, she moved to Nashville and there she started living with her father Vernon. 

Student Life:

She attended Nashville East high school in Nashville, Tennessee. In her senior year, she was chosen to read the news at a local news radio station and later on the same year she won the Miss Black Tennessee contest. 

Personal Life:

She disclosed the fact that she was raped by a family relative when she was 9 years old. She also disclosed the fact that she gave birth at the age of 14 but her child died due to infancy. She lives in California on a property named ‘The promised land’. She dated several celebrities including John Tesh, Roger Ebert but she never married any of them. She has been in a relationship for a long time with Stedman Graham. 

Working Life:

The local CBS television station in Nashville, Tennessee offered her the role of a co-anchor when she was a teenager. But, she turned it down three times and then, at the age of 19 she finally said yes for this show.

She failed the interview unfortunately but apart from all of this, she was offered a full-time job as a reporter for a Baltimore television news channel. But, her performance as a reporter was very poor and she was fired from the news division when she was 22 years old. But, later the director of the station gave her the opportunity to anchor a morning show namely ‘People are talking.’ For the next seven years, she did this show and her rating of this show was excellent. 

She moved to Chicago in the year 1981 and her purpose to move into Chicago was to host a talk show named ‘A.M. Chicago’. The show was a complete hit and after four years of running this show successfully, the producers of this show changed the name of this show and from then, the name of the show was “The Oprah Winfrey show”. Her debut movie was ‘The Color Purple’ and she did it in the year 1985.

After that in the next year, her talk show was broadcast nationally and she founded ‘Harpo studios’ in the same year. Her show won three ‘Daytime Emmy awards’ in the year 1987 and in the next year, it won an additional award for an outstanding talk show. 

After that, she started producing. In the year 1989, she produced and co-starred in the mini-series ‘The women of Brewster place’ and ‘brewster place’. After that, in the same year her company ‘Harpo productions’ started producing her show ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. After that, with Michael Jackson, she conducted an interview in the year 1993. The interview was a most-watched event in American television and the episode became one of the most-watched interviews. 

After that, in the year 1996 she launched a new show namely ‘Oprah’s Book Club’ and the show is based on book discussions. In the show, the books recommended by Winfrey sold millions of additional copies. She also played the role of a therapist in the year 1997 in an episode of Ellen. In the next year, she produced and starred in the movie ‘Beloved’ and in the same year the talk show ‘Oprah’s Angel Network’ and she provided funds to charitable and non-profit organizations.

She also launched ‘O, the Oprah Magazine’ in the year 2002 and later it was confirmed that it was one of the most successful ever in the magazine industry. She appeared as a guest in the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’ in the year 2005 and later some critics said that that was the best television event of the decade. After that, she also provided her voice in the animated film ‘charlotte’s web’ in the year 2006 and later in the same year, she also launched ‘Oprah Radio’ a channel on ‘XM satellite Radio’

In the next year, she again provided her voice for Judge Bumbleden in the film ‘Bee movie’. She endorsed Barack Obama in the presidential election in the year 2008. Her public support is one of the major factors in the victory. Additionally, in the next year, she also provided her voice in the film ‘The Princess and the frog’

Achievements:

• In the year 2000, she was honored with the ‘Spingarn Medal’ by NAACP.
  
• In 2011, she was awarded Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of motion pictures arts and sciences.
  
• She was awarded for the ‘Presidential Medal of Freedom’ in the year 2013
  
• In 2018, she won the Cecil B, Demille award, a golden gold lifetime achievement award.
  
• She was received dozens of awards and recognitions for her show and her acting career. 

Conclusion:

Oprah Winfrey is the richest and influential woman and she is one of the most powerful in the whole world. She is a self-made woman. She engaged herself in various philanthropic activities. This talented lady is now considered as one of the wealthiest American women in the United States.