Oprah Gail Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is a highly influential American journalist, talk show host, actress, and mogul. Being one of the most respected and admired media figures in the entire world, she has used her various platforms to spotlight black American people, women of all races, LGBT people, victims of sexual abuse, among others. Her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show is the Trope Codifier for daytime talk-TV.
Despite growing up living poverty as well as surviving child molestation, she was able to secure a scholarship to college and win a beauty pageant, which attracted local news media. She began her career as a journalist and eventually ending up in Chicago in 1983, hosting their morning talk show, which was low-rated until she joined the team. Within months of her joining the crew, viewership grew and eventually overtook The Phil Donahue Show as the most watched show in Chicago. From there, Roger Ebert persuaded her to accept an offer from King World for a syndicated talk show.
The rest, as they say, is history. From there, her talk show became a huge hit and launched her career from TV journalist to media mogul. She acted in several films, started her own production company and eventually, launched a her own television network, the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Selected Filmography
- The Color Purple (1985)
- Ellen (1997)
- Beloved (1998, also producer)
- Our Friend Martin (1999)
- Charlotte's Web (2006)
- Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
- Bee Movie (2007)
- The Princess and the Frog (2009)
- The Butler (2013)
- Selma (2014, also producer)
- Greenleaf (2016, executive producer)
- The Star (2017)
- A Wrinkle in Time (2018) (2018)
