Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey (1954- ), American television talk-show host and actress, whose nationally syndicated talk show became one of the most popular programmes on television. Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, Winfrey went on to win a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, after a difficult childhood. While in college she became the first black woman to anchor the news on the local Nashville television station. After graduation, she worked as a television newscaster and later as a television talk-show host. She then became the host of the television talk show A.M. Chicago, which was renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1985. Dealing openly with controversial subjects, the show achieved national syndication in 1986. Many shows have tried to duplicate the formula, but Winfrey’s remains the most popular.

As an actress, Winfrey’s role as Sofia in the film The Color Purple (1985), from the novel by Alice Walker, won her an Academy Award (Oscar) nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The powerful and unsettling Beloved (Jonathan Demme, 1998), in which Winfrey starred as well as co-produced, was a pet project of hers, and was partly produced by her own company, Harpo Films, from the novel by Toni Morrison. Her February 1993 television special, an exclusive interview with reclusive superstar Michael Jackson, was highly publicized.

Winfrey is highly influential, and vies with Steven Spielberg for the position of the world’s highest paid entertainer. She has also produced films for television under the banner Oprah Winfrey Presents, including Before Women Had Wings (1997), in which she acted, and Amy & Isabelle (2001). Winfrey set up The Oprah Winfrey Foundation in 1987 in aid of women, children, and families and in 1997 established Oprah’s Angel Network, which also raises funds for good causes. She received the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the Emmys in 2002.