Biography
Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is the most influential black woman alive.
Despite being born into poverty, she aspired to greatness and achieved it. She is a billionaire and philanthropist.
She is world famous for being the host of the popular talk show Oprah Winfrey Show.
The show aired for a quarter of a century (25 years) and was the highest-rated television show during its run.
In addition to being a talk show host, she is also a television producer, actress, and author. Due to her influence in the industry, she has been dubbed the Queen of All Media.
She is a very successful businesswoman and currently serves as the Chairwoman of two companies, Harpo Productions and the Oprah Winfrey Network.
American landlord
Oprah Winfrey |
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 Oprah Winfrey: History, Biography, Photos |
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| Wiki Events & About Data | |
| Full name: | Oprah Gail Winfrey |
| Stage name: | Oprah Winfrey |
| Born: | January 29, 1954 (age 70) |
| Place of birth: | Kosciusko, Mississippi |
| Height: | 1.69 minutes |
| Nationality: | American |
| Boyfriend • Husband: | Stedman Graham |
| Job: | Actors • Host |
| Net worth: | $2.5-4 billion |
Early life
Oprah Winfrey was born out of wedlock on January 29, 1954. Her mother, Venita Lee, was only nineteen years old when she was born.
She was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Although she was originally named Orpah after a biblical character in the Book of Ruth, people in her community mispronounced her name, calling her Oprah. The latter name stuck over time.
For the first six years of her life, she lived in the home of her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee. Her mother moved out of Mississippi shortly after she was born. She lived in poverty during this time because her grandmother earned a low wage.
She couldn’t even afford to wear clothes that were saved and had to wear clothes made from potato sacks. Her grandmother taught her to read before she was three. Lee was a devout Christian and regularly took Oprah to the local church.
When she was six years old, she moved to live with her mother in Wisconsin. Venita worked as a maid and her job required long hours. Therefore, she did not have enough time to take care of Oprah. In 1962, when she was twelve years old, her mother sent her to live with her father, who was living in Tennessee. This was because her mother had another child, Patricia, and she found it difficult to care for both children.
In addition to Patricia, she has two half-siblings. Her half-brother, Jeffery, was an AIDS patient who died in 1989. Patricia died of cocaine addiction in 2003.
She was a victim of sexual abuse as a child, and the perpetrators happened to be close relatives – an uncle, cousin and family friend. At the age of fourteen, she became pregnant with a son. However, the baby was born prematurely and died within minutes of birth.
Oprah Winfrey spent the rest of her teenage years living with her father, Vernon, a disciplinarian. He made sure she studied hard and pushed her to pursue success.
Education
Oprah Winfrey attended Lincoln High School in Milwaukee for a short time before transferring to Nicolet High School because of her high grades. She did not complete her high school education at the school because her mother sent her to live with her father.
In Nashville, she enrolled in East Nashville High School and graduated as an honor student. While in high school, she was a very popular student and a member of the drama team. She studied Communications at Tennessee State University. She was able to pay for her tuition because she won a scholarship for participating in a speech contest.
Career
Her first job was at a local grocery store. A very beautiful woman, Oprah Winfrey entered and won the Miss Black Tennessee Pageant at the age of seventeen. During her senior year of high school, she was hired by a local black radio station, WVOL. She worked as a part-time news reporter for the station. After a few years as a radio reporter, she decided to move to Television. She was hired by Nashville-based WLAC Television. She anchored the station’s news program and made history as the station’s first black female news anchor. From 1976 to 1978, she held jobs as a news anchor and anchor at the following stations: WJZ-TV (based in Baltimore) and WLS-TV (based in Chicago).
In 1986, Roger Ebert pitched the idea of hosting a show at his television station to Oprah Winfrey. She took the idea and signed a contract with King World to broadcast it. The show was originally called At The Movies, but was later renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show aired its first episode on September 8, 1986. The show started out as a tabloid talk show, but over time, Oprah began to talk about topics such as geopolitics, spirituality, meditation, and heart disease.
The Oprah Winfrey Show aired for twenty-five years (1986 to 2011). The final episode aired on May 25, 2011. During its run, it was the most-watched talk show in the world, making Oprah Winfrey a global star. This is why she was voted the Most Influential Woman in the World in 2007. Her 1993 interview with pop legend Michael Jackson was the fourth most-watched event in American television history. She is one of the world’s biggest media moguls and serves as the Chairman and CEO of Harpo Productions. She is currently the President, CEO, and Chief Creative Officer of The Oprah Winfrey Network.
In addition to hosting, she co-produced and starred in the short-lived series The Women Of Brewster Place in 1989. She produced the musical The Color Purple on Broadway in 2005. As an actress, she has starred in the films: The Color Purple (1985), Beloved (1998), Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005), Charlotte’s Web (2006), Bee Movie (2007), The Princess ad the Frog (2010), A Wrinkle In Time (2018), and Crow: The Legend (2018).
Oprah Winfrey is a prolific author. She has co-written five books and is the publisher of magazines – O, The Oprah Magazine and O At Home. As a successful woman, she has diversified her fortune and invested in food companies such as Weight Watchers and True Food Kitchen.
Awards and nominations
Oprah Winfrey was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Oscars for her role in The Color Purple
List of movies played
- Purple
- Dear
- Their eyes are on God
- Charlotte’s Web
- Movie about bees
- The Princess and the Frog
- Wrinkles of Time
- Raven: Legend
Social media
Media queen, Oprah Winfrey has over 1.4 million followers on Instagram and over 43.4 million followers on Twitter.
- Instagram Username – @owntv
- Twitter Username – @Oprah
Personal life
Oprah Winfrey was the first black person to become a billionaire and has been the richest African American for many years. She currently lives on a 47-acre estate in Montecito, California, called The Promise Land. She also owns a home in New Jersey, an apartment in Chicago, and estates in Florida and Miami.
She has been in a long-term relationship with Stedman Graham. The two lovers began dating in 1986 and have been together for the past thirty-five years. Although they were engaged in November 1992, the wedding was postponed and has never taken place since. Her best friend is Gayle King, the editor of O, The Oprah Magazine. The couple has been friends for a long time. Maya Angelou is one of Oprah’s mentors and close friends.
Oprah Winfrey has an ideal height of 1.69 m.
Net worth
As a world-famous and multi-talented celebrity, Oprah Winfrey’s net worth is estimated to be between $2.5-4 billion.
