Oprah Winfrey

"Oprah" redirects here. Not to be confused with Orpah or Opera.
For the talk show, see The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Oprah Winfrey
Winfrey in 2023
Born
Orpah Gail Winfrey

(1954-01-29) January 29, 1954 (age 70)
Kosciusko, Mississippi, U.S.
Alma materTennessee State University (BA)
Occupations
  • Television presenter
  • actress
  • television producer
  • media proprietor
  • philanthropist
  • author
Years active1973–present
WorksMedia projects
Title
PartnerStedman Graham (1986–present)
Children1[1]
AwardsFull list
Websiteoprah.com
Signature

Oprah Gail Winfrey (/ˈoʊprə/; born Orpah Gail Winfrey;[a] January 29, 1954), known mononymously as Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011.[3][4] Dubbed the "Queen of All Media",[5] she was the richest African-American of the 20th century[6][7] and was once the world's only black billionaire.[8] By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world.[9][10]

Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a single teenage mother and later raised in inner-city Milwaukee. She has stated that she was molested during her childhood and early teenage years and became pregnant at 14; her son was born prematurely and died in infancy.[11] Winfrey was then sent to live with the man she calls her father, Vernon Winfrey, a barber in Nashville, Tennessee, and landed a job in radio while still in high school.[4] By 19, she was a co-anchor for the local evening news. Winfrey's often emotional, extemporaneous delivery eventually led to her transfer to the daytime talk show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place,[12] she launched her own production company.

Credited with creating a more intimate, confessional form of media communication,[13] Winfrey popularized and revolutionized[13][14] the tabloid talk show genre pioneered by Phil Donahue.[13] By the mid-1990s, Winfrey had reinvented her show with a focus on literature, self-improvement, mindfulness, and spirituality. Though she has been criticized for unleashing a confession culture, promoting controversial self-help ideas,[15] and having an emotion-centered approach,[16] she has also been praised for overcoming adversity to become a benefactor to others.[17] Winfrey also emerged as a political force in the 2008 presidential race, with her endorsement of Barack Obama estimated to have been worth about one million votes during the 2008 Democratic primaries.[18] In the same year, she formed her own network, the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN). In 2013, Winfrey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.[19]

In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[20] Then in October, she finished the Marine Corps Marathon in less than four and a half hours.[21] She has received honorary doctorate degrees from multiple universities.[22] Winfrey has won many awards throughout her career, including 19 Daytime Emmy Awards (including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman's Award), two Primetime Emmy Awards (including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award), a Tony Award, a Peabody Award, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award awarded by the Academy Awards, in addition to two competitive Academy Award nominations. Winfrey was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2021.[23]

  1. ^ "Oprah Winfrey in Melbourne for Australian tour 2015 spreads a message of love, reveals lost child". News.com.au. Archived from the original on September 26, 2017. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  2. ^ "Oprah Winfrey Interview". Oprah Winfrey. Academy of Achievement. February 21, 1991. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  3. ^ "Oprah Winfrey signs with King World Productions for new three-year contract to continue as host and producer of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" through 2010–2011" (Press release). King World Productions. August 4, 2004. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved September 24, 2009.
  4. ^ a b "Oprah Winfrey". Biography. February 17, 2021. Archived from the original on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  5. ^ Oswald, Brad (January 26, 2010). "Yes, she's Queen of all Media, but to Discovery, she's Life itself". Winnipeg Free Press. Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  6. ^ Denenberg, Dennis; Roscoe, Lorraine (September 1, 2016). 50 American Heroes Every Kid Should Meet (2nd Revised ed.). Millbrook Press. ISBN 978-1-5124-1329-8. Archived from the original on June 7, 2024. Retrieved October 27, 2020.
  7. ^ Miller, Matthew (May 6, 2009). "The Wealthiest Black Americans". Forbes. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  8. ^ "Oprah Winfrey buys $14 million ski chalet in Colorado". The Telegraph. February 4, 2016.
  9. ^ Meldrum Henley-on-Klip, Andrew (January 3, 2007). "'Their story is my story' Oprah opens $40m school for South African girls". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved March 4, 2007.
  10. ^ "The most influential US liberals: 1–20". The Daily Telegraph. London. October 31, 2007. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  11. ^ Mowbray, Nicole (March 2, 2003). "Oprah's path to power". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  12. ^ "#562 Oprah Winfrey". Forbes Special Report: The World's Billionaires (2006). October 2006. Archived from the original on February 9, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  13. ^ a b c Tannen, Deborah (June 8, 1998). "The TIME 100: Oprah Winfrey". Time. Archived from the original on July 4, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  14. ^ "Coming After Oprah" (Press release). Dr. Leonard Mustazza. Archived from the original on June 25, 2003. Retrieved August 25, 2008.
  15. ^ Tacopino, Joe (January 25, 2010). "Oprah, Glenn Beck are America's favorite TV personalities: poll". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on January 30, 2010. Retrieved August 26, 2010.
  16. ^ Chapman, Roger (2010). Culture wars: an encyclopedia of issues, viewpoints, and voices. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 619–620. ISBN 978-0-7656-1761-3. Retrieved May 31, 2011.
  17. ^ Mandela, Nelson (May 3, 2007). "Oprah Winfrey". The TIME 100. Archived from the original on May 5, 2007. Retrieved February 1, 2008.
  18. ^ Steven, By (August 6, 2008). "So Much for One Person, One Vote – Freakonomics Blog". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved January 8, 2018.
  19. ^ Slack, Megan (November 20, 2013). "President Obama Honors Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients". Archived from the original on July 29, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  20. ^ "Winfrey, Oprah". National Women's Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved April 9, 2019.
  21. ^ "GOING THE DISTANCE: OPRAH THE MARATHON". Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2024.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  23. ^ "New Members". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Archived from the original on May 23, 2021. Retrieved April 24, 2021.


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