Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey revolutionized the talk show market with her unique and natural style and rose to become the host of the most watched daytime show on television, which boasts 22 million viewers daily (three-fourths of whom are women). She is the first African American to own her own TV studio. The multitalented Winfrey is also a millionaire businesswoman, a talented actress, owner of a movie production company, and committed philanthropist.

Personal Life

Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29, 1954, on a farm in Kosciusko, Mississippi. She was supposed to be Orpah, from the Bible, but for some unknown reason, she has been known as Oprah almost from birth. Her unmarried parents, Vernon Winfrey and Vernita Lee, separated soon after she was born, leaving her to be raised by her maternal grandmother. "She certainly wasn't an educated woman, but she taught me the shape of letters, and she taught me my Bible stories," Winfrey recalled in Life magazine. By the time she was six, Winfrey had moved to Milwaukee to live with her mother. During this time, she was sexually abused by a teenage cousin and then by other male relatives and friends. "I was, and am, severely damaged by the experience [of abuse]. All the years that I convinced myself I was healed, I wasn't," she told Redbook. "I still carried the shame, and I unconsciously blamed myself for those men's acts."

Winfrey had a contentious relationship with her mother, often acting out as a bid to gain attention. Once she faked a robbery in her house, smashed glasses, feigned amnesia, and stole her mother's purse, all because she wanted newer, more stylish glasses. It seemed Winfrey was heading down a road of destruction until her mother sent her to live with her father in Nashville at age 14. Winfrey said her father saved her life. He was very strict and provided her with guidance, structure, rules, and books. He required his daughter to complete weekly book reports, and she went without dinner until she learned five new vocabulary words each day. She joined her school's drama club and became a prize-winning orator, winning a $1,000 college scholarship after delivering a short speech entitled "The Negro, the Constitution, and the United States" to 10,000 Elks Club members in Philadelphia. She was the first black woman to win Nashville's Miss Fire Prevention title. In 1971 she was named Miss Black Tennessee. In 1976 she graduated with a degree in speech communications and theater from Tennessee State University.

In 1986 Winfrey received a special award from the Chicago Academy for the Arts for unique contributions to the city's artistic community and was named Woman of Achievement by the National Organization of Women. The Oprah Winfrey Show won several Emmys for Best Talk Show, and Winfrey was honored as Best Talk Show Host.

In addition to her numerous daytime Emmys, Winfrey has received other awards. In 1993 Winfrey won the Horatio Alger Award "given to those who overcome adversity to become leaders in their fields," according to Jet magazine. She was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1994 and received the George Foster Peabody Individual Achievement Award, one of broadcasting's most coveted awards, following the 1995-1996 season. Further, she received the IRTS Gold Medal Award, was named one of America's 25 Most Influential People of 1996 by Time magazine, and was included on Marjabelle Young Stewart's 1996 list of most polite celebrities. In 1997 Winfrey received TV Guide's Television Performer of the Year Award and was named favorite Female Television Performer at the 1997 People's Choice Awards. In 1998 Entertainment Weekly named Winfrey the most powerful person in show business.

Winfrey has used her popularity and influence to advocate for political causes as well. In 1991 the tragic story of a four-year-old Chicago girl's molestation and murder prompted Winfrey, a former abuse victim, to propose federal child protection legislation designed to keep nationwide records on convicted abusers. She did this with the help of former Illinois governor, James Thompson. In addition, Winfrey pursued a ruling that would guarantee strict sentencing of individuals convicted of child abuse. The result was a bill signed by President Clinton that allows child care providers to check the background of prospective employees.

Winfrey resides with her partner, Stedman Graham, in a condominium on Chicago's Gold Coast. She also owns a house in Tennessee and a Wisconsin condo. In 2001 she purchased a 42-acre seaside estate on the Santa Barbara coast for $50 million. She volunteers time with a variety of nonprofit organizations, churches, shelters, and youth programs.

Career Details

While in college, Winfrey already knew what she would do--pursue a career in broadcasting. As a freshman in college, she was twice offered a job by the Nashville CBS affiliate. Initially, Winfrey refused both overtures, but on the advice of a speech teacher, who reminded her that job offers from CBS were "the reason people go to college," she decided to give the station a try. She became, at age 19 and still a college sophomore, the coanchor of the evening news. When she left Tennessee State, Winfrey headed to Baltimore to become a reporter and coanchor of ABC affiliate WJZ-TV. The station sent her to New York for a beauty makeover, which Winfrey believes was her assistant news director's attempt to "make her Puerto Rican." She also attributes the makeover to an incident when she was told her "hair's too thick, nose is too wide, and chin's too big."

Nonetheless, Winfrey continued to excel. Around 1977 she became a cohost on the Baltimore Is Talking show, which, under her leadership, boasted better ratings than Phil Donahue's talk show. After seven years in Baltimore, Winfrey was hired by the general manager of WLS-TV, ABC's Chicago affiliate, after he saw Winfrey in an audition tape sent in by her producer.

Winfrey seemed to have a magic touch that could turn humdrum programs into interesting shows with solid ratings. In January 1984 she became anchor of the ailing A.M. Chicago, a morning talk show that consistently placed last in the ratings. Winfrey did a complete overhaul of the show, changing its focus to current and controversial topics. The effect was immediate: one month later the show was ranked even with Donahue's program. Three months later it had inched ahead. In September 1985 it was renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show and was expanded to one hour. In a matter of months, Winfrey's show was syndicated to television stations in more than 120 American cities. Subsequently, Donahue moved to New York. Just a year after the show