Ellen Degeneres

Ellen DeGeneres was born January 26, 1958 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Growing up Ellen had always dreamed of being a veterinarian, but she was not book smart, so instead she sold vacuums, waited tables, painted, and worked as a legal secretary. “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” (A&E Television Networks). When she was 23 years old she started doing stand up 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” (A&E Television Networks). Ellen is extremely witty and has a way of just coming up with something funny to say in any situation. “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” (A&E Television Networks). In 1997 Ellen openly came out with her homosexuality and that made for huge controversy, because her character was the first lead in sitcom history to ever do so. “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” ( A&E Television Networks). Many of her episodes after the reveal had homosexual