Ellen Degeneres, born on January 26, 1958. With a noble Mother as Betty DeGeneres who is an activist for the American LGBT rights and former speech therapist, and a younger sibling to Vance DeGeneres. Ellen grew up in the suburbs with Vance and parents who divorced after 22 years of marriage while Ellen was still a teenager. Ellen and Betty have been supporting each other since with pride notability in the lesbian community. As growing up, she had dreams of being a veterinarian, but felt as if she wasn’t intellectual enough. Ellen then attended the University of New Orleans when she dropped out of studying Communications after the first semester. She then afterwards would end up working numerous dead end jobs such as waitressing and selling vacuum cleaners, which was not giving her enough opportunities. After landing numerous dead end jobs, she was able to find her calling after an event when faced with stage fright. Ellen was 28 at the time and was forced to cope with this stage fright by responding to it with humor and having it end up being a hit for her and the crowds. She was faced with hardships that led her to coping with those feelings with humor throughout her life. With this humor, she has now been acclaimed as the highest paid US television talk-show host, out-earning her good friend Oprah Winfrey.
She married her long time admirer Portia De Rossi in 2008 after meeting at an awards show. Ellen had moved up so high in the entertainment industry, appearing on The Tonight Show, starring in roles such as Mr. Wrong (1996), EDtv (1999), The Love Letter (1999), and the voice of Dory for the Pixar Animated Film Finding Nemo (2003). From the appearance on Nemo, she was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and was a first time actor to have won for a voice performance for such an Award. From her vast growth in entertainment, she decided to create a sitcom starring Ellen Degeneres on Ellen (1994-1998) and then The Ellen Show (2001-2002). She was then honored to host the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and Primetime Emmys, all while winning her own of 30 Emmys, 20 People’s Choice Awards. By president Barack Obama, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016 for being the most high profile lesbien in the entertainment industry. Recently, in January 2020, Ellen was awarded the Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globes, which she was the second ever to receive it after Carol Burnett herself in 2019. Ellen has been able to publish four books in her time and with her own recording company Eleveneleven, as well as A Very Good Production. Ellen strives to bring joy into her audience's lives and has launched her new collection of lifestyles that included apparel, accessories, home, baby, and pet items.
https://mediakron.bc.edu/profiles/ellen-degeneres https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/people/ellen-degeneres-life-story-462038