Ellen DeGeneres
Ellen Lee DeGeneres (/dɨˈdʒɛnərəs/; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and television producer. She was the star in the popular sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998, and has hosted her syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show since 2003. Her stand up career started in the early 1980s, culminating in a 1986 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, who likened her to Bob Newhart, and invited her for an onscreen chat after her set. She was the first comedienne invited by Johnny Carson to join him, a national, and the most influential endorsement available at the time for comics. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong (1996), appeared in EDtv (1999), and The Love Letter (1999), and provided the voice of Dory in the Pixar animated film Finding Nemo (2003), for which she was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first time an actress won a Saturn Award for a voice performance. In 2010 she was a judge on American Idol for its ninth season. She starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998, and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. During the fourth season of Ellen in 1997, she came out publicly as lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character, Ellen Morgan, also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey, and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues including the coming-out process. This made her the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on television. In 2008, she married her long-time girlfriend Portia de Rossi. DeGeneres has hosted the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and the Primetime Emmys. She has authored three books, and started her own record company, Eleveneleven. She has won 13 Emmys, 14 People's Choice Awards, and numerous other awards for her work and charitable efforts.