Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey [born Orpah Gail Winfrey (given name changed to Oprah); January 29, 1954] is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled ('The Operah Winfrey Show ') multi-award-winning talk show , which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. She has been ranked the richest African American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and was for a time the world's only black billionaire. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.

Early Life

Oprah Winfrey was born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, to an unmarried teenage mother Vernita Lee (born c. 1935),who was a housemaid

After Winfrey's birth, her mother traveled north and Winfrey spent her first six years living in rural poverty with her grandmother, Hattie Mae Lee ,in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Her grandmother was so poor that Winfrey often wore dresses made of potato sacks, for which the local children made fun of her. Her grandmother taught her to read before the age of three and took her to the local church, where she was nicknamed "The Preacher" for her ability to recite Bible verses.

Her world changed for the worse at age six, when she was sent to Milwaukee to live with her mother, who had found work as a housemaid. In the long days when her mother was absent from their inner city apartment, young Oprah was repeatedly molested by male relatives and another visitor. The abuse, which lasted from the ages of nine to 13, was emotionally devastating.

After giving birth to a baby boy who died in infancy, she went to Nashville, Tennessee to live with her father.Vernon Winfrey was a strict disciplinarian, but he gave his daughter the secure home life she needed. He saw to it that she met a curfew, and he required her to read a book and write a book report each week. "As strict as he was," says Oprah, "he had some concerns about me making the best of my life, and would not accept anything less than what he thought was my best." In this structured environment, Oprah flourished, and became an honor student, winning prizes for oratory and dramatic recitation.

At age 17, Oprah Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant and was offered an on-air job at WVOL, a radio station serving the African American community in Nashville. She also won a full scholarship to Tennessee State University, where she majored in Speech Communications and Performing Arts. Oprah continued to work at WVOL in her first years of college, but her broadcasting career was already taking off. She left school and signed on with a local television station as a reporter and anchor.

 ' The Oprah Winfrey Show '

In 1976, she moved to Baltimore to join WJZ-TV News as a co-anchor. There, she co-hosted her first talk show, 'People Are Talking', while continuing to serve as anchor and news reporter. She had found a niche that perfectly suited her outgoing, empathetic personality. In January 1984, she was invited to Chicago to host a faltering half-hour morning program on WLS-TV. In less than a year, she turned 'AM Chicago' into the hottest show in town. The format was soon expanded to an hour, and in September 1985 it was renamed ' The Oprah Winfrey Show'.

A year later, The Oprah Winfrey Show was broadcast nationally, and quickly became the number one talk show in national syndication. In 1987, its first year of eligibility, the show received three Daytime Emmy Awards in the categories of Outstanding Host, Outstanding Talk/Service Program and Outstanding Direction. The following year, the show received its second consecutive Emmy as Outstanding Talk/Service Program, and Oprah herself received the International Radio and Television Society's "Broadcaster of the Year" Award. She was the youngest person ever to receive the honor.

Films

* By the time America fell in love with Oprah Winfrey the talk show host, she had already captured the nation's attention with her poignant portrayal of Sofia in Steven Spielberg's 1985 adaptation of Alice Walker's novel, The Color Purple. Winfrey's performance earned her nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress.

* Critics again lauded her performance in 'Native Son', a movie adaptation of Richard Wright's classic 1940 novel.

* In 1998, she produced and starred in the feature film Beloved, adapted from the book by the Nobel Prize-winning American author Toni Morrison.

* In 2005, she produced a film adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, with a screenplay by Suzan-Lori Parks. The same year, she produced a successful Broadway musical version of The Color Purple. 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.

Production

Her love of acting and her desire to bring quality entertainment projects into production prompted her to form her own production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., in 1986.

Today, Harpo is a formidable force in film and television production, as well as magazine publishing and the Internet. In 1988, Harpo Productions, Inc. acquired ownership and all production responsibilities for The Oprah Winfrey Show from Capitol Cities/ABC, making Oprah Winfrey the first woman in history to own and produce her own talk show.

The following year, Harpo produced its first television mini series, 'The Women of Brewster Place', with Oprah Winfrey as star and Executive Producer.

It was quickly followed by the TV movies 'There Are No Children Here' (1993), and 'Before Women Had Wings'(1997), which she both produced and appeared in.

Since the 1990s, Oprah began to emphasize spiritual values, healthy living and self-help, and her program became more popular than ever.

She initiated a campaign to establish a national database of convicted child abusers, and testified before a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of a National Child Protection Act.

President Clinton signed the "Oprah Bill" into law in 1993, establishing the national database she had sought, which is now available to law enforcement agencies and concerned parties across the country.

Her influence over the publishing industry exploded when she began her on-air book club in 1996. "Oprah Book Club" selections became instant bestsellers, and in 1999 Winfrey received the National Book Foundation's 50th anniversary gold medal for her service to books and authors. She herself has authored five books. A proposed book on weight loss, to be co-written with her personal trainer, has received a publisher's advance fee reported to be the highest in history.

She now publishes two magazines, O, The Oprah Magazine, and O at Home. The launch of her first magazine was the most successful start-up in the history of the industry. When Forbes published its list of America's billionaires for the year 2003, it disclosed that Oprah Winfrey was the first African-American woman to become a billionaire.

 Social Service and Charity

* The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls - South Africa is a girls-only boarding school that officially opened in January 2007 in Henley on Klip near Meyerton, south of Johannesburg, South Africa. It was founded by Oprah Winfrey to provide educational and leadership opportunities for academically gifted girls from impoverished backgrounds in South Africa.

* With her success, she has also become one of the world's most generous philanthropists. In 2000, Oprah's Angel Network began presenting a $100,000 "Use Your Life Award" to people who are using their own lives to improve the lives of others.

Since the 1990s, Oprah began to emphasize spiritual values, healthy living and self-help, and her program became more popular than ever.

She initiated a campaign to establish a national database of convicted child abusers, and testified before a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on behalf of a National Child Protection Act.

President Clinton signed the "Oprah Bill" into law in 1993, establishing the national database she had sought, which is now available to law enforcement agencies and concerned parties across the country.

Politics

In the 2008 presidential election, Winfrey publicly endorsed a political candidate for the first time, hosting a fundraiser for Senator Barack Obama and appearing with him at campaign events. It is widely believed that her support was crucial to his winning the Democratic nomination -- and the Presidency itself.

Latest plans

* In 2008, she also announced plans for a new broadcasting venture with the Discovery Health Channel, to be renamed Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

* In a 2010 interview on the Larry King program at the end of that year, she announced her decision to end her run on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The final broadcast took place on May 25, 2011, after 24 seasons and over 5,000 broadcasts.

* She now hosts a nightly program,'Oprah's Lifeclass', on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Personal  Wealth

Oprah Winfrey makes her principal home on a 42-acre ocean-view estate in Montecito, California, just south of Santa Barbara, but also owns homes in another six states and the island of Antigua.

The business press measures her wealth in numerous superlatives:--

* the highest-paid performer on television,

* the richest self-made woman in America,

* and the richest African-American of the 20th century.

More difficult to calculate is her profound influence over the way people around the world. She has been rightly called "the most powerful woman in the world."

Awards  and  Recognition

* In 1987 Oprah received the International Radio and Television Society's "Broadcaster of the Year" Award. She was the youngest person ever to receive the honour.

* In 1998 received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

* Oprah Winfrey was named one of the "100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century" by Time magazine.

* President Clinton signed the "Oprah Bill" into law in 1993, establishing the national database she had sought, which is now available to law enforcement agencies and concerned parties across the country.

* Her wide-ranging philanthropic efforts were recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2011 with a special Oscar statuette, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

* According to Forbes list of America's billionaires for the year 2003,  Oprah Winfrey was the first African-American woman to become a billionaire.

LIST OF PERSONS SHE INTERVIEWED

Michael Jackson , President Barak obama and First lady Michelle Obama, George W.Bush, Nelson Mandela,Sidney Poitier, Maya Angelon, Tina Turner, Salma Hayek, The Dalai Lama, Dr. Phil McGraw and Dr. Mehmet Oz., Elie Wiesel, Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan are some of the persons she intrviewed.

Oprah  and India

  

Oprah Winfrey: India is 'greatest show on Earth'

On a visit to Jaipur, India, Oprah Winfrey called the country "the greatest show on Earth" in an interview with CNN sister network CNN-IBN.

"What I've learned is, you can't see India in a week," Winfrey told the network in an interview airing Sunday. "You can't see India in two weeks ... India is so complex, I would have to say it's the greatest show on Earth. I've never seen anything like it. India, I'll be back again and again."

Oprah Winfrey landed in Mumbai this week, where she brought traffic to a standstill as fans waited eagerly for a glimpse of the celebrity talk show host. Oprah is in India to film a segment of her new show, "The Next Chapter," staying at The Taj Mahal Palace at Colaba.

Jaipur Literature Festival: Oprah Winfrey charms 'chaotic' India

JAIPUR: Amid raucous cheers from thousands of admirers, television superstar Oprah Winfrey praised the contrast of calm and chaos in India at the annual Jaipur Literature Festival which is fast becoming a global cultural gala.

* At the Jaipur Literary Festival Oprah got a standing ovation as she walked in for a session. As crowds surged to enter the venue, with many of them stopped despite valid entry tickets, a poster sticking out told the story: "I have waited for 10 years to get a minute of your time."

* At the Jaipur LitFest, the talk show queen tells NDTV's Barkha Dutt that had she got married, she would have got divorced by now. "Because I really am my own woman," she says.

Oprah visited the Bachchans 

The most talked about moment of her trip was a visit to the home of Bollywood mega-stars Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan.  Bollywood mega-stars Aishwarya Rai and Amitabh Bachchan introduced two-month-old Beti B to Oprah Winfrey, when she visited their Indian home on Tuesday.

Excited Amitabh Bachchan, who drove Oprah from her residence to the party, tweeted, "The gracious Oprah Winfrey visits our home, to meet us and bless the baby...warm hearted, endearing...drive her to the party in her honour. And Oprah in sari..looking lovely!!"

Oprah at the party

Later they attended a glittering party hosted in Oprah Winfrey's honor by Parmeshwar Godrej at her residence in Mumbai.

At the party Oprah was surrounded by Bollywood celebrities. India Today reported that amongst the glitterati were Imran Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Anupam Kher, Shilpa Shetty with hubby Raj Kundra, Lara Dutta, Neha Dhupia, Dino Morea, Sameera Reddy, Kalki Koechlin,Preity Zinta, Hritik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra, Sonam Kapoor and Kangna Ranaut. Oprah looked the part in an orange and gold sari.

 Pregnant Lara Dutta seemed to be very excited to meet Oprah. On her Twitter page, the ecstatic actress posted a picture of her with Oprah and Shahrukh and wrote, "@Oprah and @iamsrk, two people I absolutely adore! Thankyou for making my day! Now can go into labour happily!”

Posting a picture with Oprah, actress Neha Dhupia, says, "With @Oprah .... She is oh so charming." "Tonight was dinner at the Godrej House with Oprah Winfrey. Nice to see her wear a beautiful Sari. Also nice to see Ash out after so long!," actress Priety Zinta said.

Actress Sameera Reddy also tweeted, "My God! Oprah Winfrey is the warmest most down to earth person I have ever met! What a personality! I'm thrilled!"

Oprah seemed very curious to know about the Hindi film industry. She mingled with the entire film fraternity present there.

Oprah visited The Taj Mahal

US talk show queen Oprah Winfrey,

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/video/special/oprah-s-india-namaste-jaipur-salaam-bombay-678&cp

on her maiden visit to India, visited the Taj Mahal.

External Links : Wikipedia, Rediff.com.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/video/special/oprah-s-india-namaste-jaipur-salaam-bombay-678&cp

***********************************************************************