Oprah Winfrey

BORN: JANUARY 29, 1954, KOSCIUSKO, MS

You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.

Very few people are recognized by one name, but Oprah is one of them. She is known worldwide as a glamorous media mogul, successful business owner, television and movie star, billionaire, and philanthropist. Oprah’s name is also her brand.

From the time she was a very young child, Oprah Winfrey knew that she had a big voice inside of her that was waiting to be heard. Born to a teenage single mother, Oprah lived in poverty with her maternal grandmother in rural Mississippi, followed by a troubled home life with her mother in Milwaukee, where she was physically and sexually abused by male relatives. Finally, in Nashville, Tennessee, her father provided a stable home life. Oprah became an honor student, was voted her high school’s most popular girl, joined the speech team, and won a scholarship to Tennessee State University. After winning a Miss Black Tennessee beauty contest at age seventeen, she got a job broadcasting the news part-time on a local Black radio station. She was so impressive that, at nineteen, Oprah became Nashville’s youngest and first Black female television news anchor at WLAC-TV, and was recruited to co-anchor the six o’clock news at WJZ-TV in Baltimore.

In 1986, Oprah moved to Chicago to host a failing half-hour morning talk show, and within a year, AM Chicago was a hit. She expanded the program to an hour and renamed it The Oprah Winfrey Show, which became one of the most successful television shows for twenty-five years. In 2011, Oprah launched her own cable channel called OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.

As an actress, Oprah has appeared in the TV miniseries The Women of Brewster Place and in such movies as The Color Purple, Beloved, and A Wrinkle in Time. Her company, Harpo Productions, has developed and produced documentaries, films, and a Broadway musical of The Color Purple. Oprah is also the publisher of the popular magazine O.

Oprah has used her voice and her wealth to support social justice, the arts, and education, including the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa. Her many awards and honors include being named the first recipient of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award. She was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.