Ellen Lee DeGeneres

Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born January 26, 1958 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the daughter of  an insurance salesman and a working mother who were divorced when DeGeneres was a teenager. When she was growing up she dreamed of becoming a veterinarian, but she gave up the idea because she was "not book smart." Instead, she waited tables, sold vacuum cleaners, painted houses, worked as a legal secretary.

DeGeneres' older brother, Vance, was the creator of the Play-Doh character "Mr. Bill" on the long-running NBC comedy skit program “Saturday Night live” , and was long considered the humorous member of the family. Then once, during a public speaking event, DeGeneres found herself frightened by the crowd and used humor to get through the experience. She was a hit, and received offers to do stand-up comedy. She began performing in 1981, bolstered by her mother's moral and financial support.

At the age of 23, she began performing at a local coffeehouse. She got her big debut in 1986 when, acting on a tip from Jay Leno, The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson sent a booking agent to catch her act at the Improv in Hollywood. As a result of that engagement, DeGeneres was invited onto The Tonight Show and earned the distinction of being the only female comic to be invited by Johnny Carson to sit on the famed "couch" during her first visit. She then began making regular appearances on the talk show circuit, including performances on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Later with Greg Kinnear, Larry King Live, and Good Morning, America. She was also profiled in detail on ABC's PrimeTime Live.

Her wit won over audiences, and DeGeneres finally found success as an actress with her own prime-time sitcom—the self-titled television series, Ellen. The series was originally titled These Friends of Mine, but was renamed in 1994. From that point, she enjoyed a dizzying evolution from its beginnings as an ensemble show to its development into a showcase for DeGeneres.

The show faced strong criticism when, in April 1997, DeGeneres' character became the first lead in sitcom history to openly acknowledge her homosexuality on air. An ABC affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama, refused to air the landmark episode. Fearing controversy, some of the show's sponsors, Daimler Chrysler among them, withdrew advertisements.

While growing up, Ellen battled internally with issues involving her sexual preference. As an adult she actively participates in organizations that benefit the people who are victims of hate crimes and discrimination. Recently Ellen posted an emotional video about teenage bullying that has resulted in suicide. The talk show host promotes many resources that support the anti- bullying problem which is a major issue in today’s society.  Ellen is very passionate about the subject and encourages the public to donate to organizations that are working to prevent the problem.

Born and raised in Louisiana, Ellen is not only into community service she also has a background in stand-up comedy. Years ago, after struggling to cope with the death of her girlfriend, who died in a tragic accident, she began her career as a comedian.

 Ellen has the excellent ability to light up any stage and make millions of people laugh. Laughter is good for the soul, and Ellen is quite the comedian. Despite discovering her new talent she still wasn’t happy with herself.  The thought always haunted her that if everyone found out that she was gay, they wouldn’t like her, laugh at her or support her career. Eventually she decided that her dignity was far more important and she did not want to live in shame anymore so she ousted her sexual preference.

As a result, her career took a turn for the worse. According to a commencement speech given by the celebrity in 2009 at Tulane University, her sitcom was canceled after six years and no one wanted to work with her. But on a positive note, she received letters from people who were contemplating suicide but chose not to end their lives because Ellen paved the way and set an example for the public eye. After that experience Ellen realized that she had a purpose in life. She was later offered a TV show that initially no one wanted to buy in to because they didn’t think that it would be successful.

During the speech, Ellen said after losing everything, she found out that the most important thing is to be true to yourself.