Using her talk show to promote good literature, she then revitalized America's reading habits with the Oprah Book Club, which turned classics into bestsellers and sparked a national book club reading craze. As an actress, she has been heard in a number of successful animated films, including Charlotte's Web, Bee Movie and The Princess and the Frog. In 1998, she produced and starred in Beloved, a film adaptation of the novel by the Nobel Prize-winning American author Toni Morrison. The first woman to produce and star in her own talk show, she also produced and starred in the miniseries The Women of Brewster Place, followed by There Are No Children Here and Before Women Had Wings. Her interview of Michael Jackson in 1993 drew more than 100 million viewers, making it the most watched interview in television history. She formed her own Harpo Productions in 1986 - "Harpo" is "Oprah" spelled backwards -as The Oprah Winfrey Show went national and her production company would become a major force not only in television but also in films, publishing and the then-burgeoning Internet field. Her relationship with The Color Purple would prove long-lasting: Oprah Winfrey produced a huge Broadway and national hit with the musical The Color Purple. Her love of acting was the real thing, and even as the rest of her whirlwind of a life continued, Oprah Winfrey later would again earn critical acclaim for her performance in the film adaptation of Richard Wright's classic Native Son. Her performance earned her nominations for both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Even as America fell in love with this straightforward, unassuming lady, Steven Spielberg watched some tapes of her show sent by Quincy Jones, liked what he saw, and offered Oprah Winfrey the role of Sofia in his film adaptation of Alice Walker's novel The Color Purple. Still, that history was far from finished. The show was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the rest is history. Chicago that she would redefine the talk show format and change television forever. But, for all her success, few could have expected that when she moved to Chicago in 1984 to host Channel 7's A.M. ![]() She joined WJZ-TV News in Baltimore as co-anchor, where she also co-hosted her first talk show, People Are Talking. At 19, she became the first female African American news anchor in Nashville. At 17, she won a beauty contest in Nashville, an on-air job with an African American radio station, and a scholarship from Tennessee State University, where she majored in Speech Communications and Performing Arts. "As strict as he was," she says, "he had concerns about me making the best of my life and would not accept anything he thought was less than my best." He gave Oprah the structure and home life she needed. She tried running away from that nightmare, was sent to a detention home only to be turned back when all the beds were full.Īlone and homeless at fourteen, she found her father Vernon in Nashville and found a home again. Her mother Vernita found work as a maid there, and while mother was away in their inner city apartment little Oprah was repeatedly abused, for years. Oprah recited po s and Bible verses in church, became known as the Little Speaker before she was sent away to Milwaukee. Her childhood was tough by any standards, but the grandmother who raised her in a farm in Kosciusko taught the little girl to read at the age of three. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born poor in rural Mississippi, to a soldier and an unwed teenage mother. From her soul-stirring performances on screen to her numerous producing endeavors and award-winning television show, she has spent her life creating innovative projects that have proven time and again her unique ability to enhance the world's exposure to the arts and perception of humanity. Her achievements would be enough to fill more than a few great lives, but in fact this beloved producer, television host, actress, major player on Broadway and in Hollywood, author and self-made billionaire philanthropist is the stuff of greatness. She has impacted nearly every aspect of the entertainment world while engaging, inspiring and enriching the lives of millions. ![]() (Producer, television host, actress, author born Januin Kosciusko, Mississippi)
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