Ellen DeGeneres

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Birthday:

26 January 1958, Metairie, Louisiana, USA

Birth Name:

Ellen Lee DeGeneres

Height:

171 cm

Emmy-winning talk show host Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born in Metairie, Louisiana, a New Orleans suburb. She is the daughter of Betty DeGeneres (née Elizabeth Jane Pfeffer), a speech therapist, and Elliott Everett DeGeneres, an insurance agent. Her brother is musician and producer Vance DeGeneres. Her parents divorced when she was sixteen years old. Her mother remarried, and her new husband, salesman Roy Gruessendorf, moved the family to Atlanta, Texas.After graduating from Atlanta High School in 1976, Ellen attended the University of New Orleans as a communication major, but she dropped out after one semester. She held a wide variety of jobs until she turned to stand-up comedy, making her bones at small clubs and coffeehouses before working her way up to emcee Clyde's Comedy Club by 1981. Her comedy was described as a distaff version of Bob Newhart. Beginning in the early 1980s, she toured nationally and was named the funniest person in America after winning a competition sponsored by the cable network Showtime. This led to better gigs, including her first appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in 1986.Though DeGeneres's early forays into series television were not successful (she appeared as a supporting player in two short-lived TV situation comedies in the period 1989-92, Open House (1989) and Laurie Hill (1992)), she scored a hit headlining her own 1994 sitcom on ABC "These Friends of Mine" (later renamed Ellen (1994) after its first season). She made TV history in April 1997 when her character, and DeGeneres herself personally, revealed that she was a lesbian. However, the show was canceled the following season due to declining ratings, after which DeGeneres returned to the stand-up circuit. In 2001, DeGeneres launched a new series, The Ellen Show (2001), on CBS, but it suffered from poor ratings and was canceled.Redemption as a television artiste came in 2003, when DeGeneres's daytime talk show, Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003) proved to be both a critical hit and a commercial success. Along with good ratings, the show has won unprecedented kudos from the industry, winning 15 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air and becoming the first talk show in TV history to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show in its first three seasons.DeGeneres has also made a name for herself as a host of awards shows. She hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and 1997, as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2001 and 2005. In February 2007, she had the ultimate TV awards show gig, hosting the Oscars, which she hosted again in 2014. Show less «

I'm a lesbian, an Aquarian, and a vegetarian.

People always ask me 'Were you funny as a child?' Well, I was an accountant.

"I was raised around heterosexuals, as all heterosexuals are. That's where us gay people come from - you heterosexuals." - during her interv...Show more »

"I was raised around heterosexuals, as all heterosexuals are. That's where us gay people come from - you heterosexuals." - during her interview on 20/20 (1978). Show less «

On her love scene with Bill Pullman in Mr. Wrong (1996): "It's a combination of Something Wild (1986), After Hours (1985) and Mary Poppins (...Show more »

On her love scene with Bill Pullman in Mr. Wrong (1996): "It's a combination of Something Wild (1986), After Hours (1985) and Mary Poppins (1964)....if Mary Poppins were naked." Show less «

"The '60s were when hallucinogenic drugs were really, really big. And, I don't think it's a coincidence that we had the type of shows we had...Show more »

"The '60s were when hallucinogenic drugs were really, really big. And, I don't think it's a coincidence that we had the type of shows we had then like The Flying Nun (1967). Show less «

I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother ...Show more »

I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her. Show less «

My grandmother started walking five miles a day when she was sixty. She's ninety-seven now, and we don't know where the hell she is.

You say you're sick and tired of hearing about me? I've got news for you: I'M sick and tired of hearing about me.

On hosting the Emmys after the 9/11 tragedy (November 4, 2001): "We're told to go on living our lives as usual, because to do otherwise is t...Show more »

On hosting the Emmys after the 9/11 tragedy (November 4, 2001): "We're told to go on living our lives as usual, because to do otherwise is to let the terrorists win, and really, what would upset the Taliban more than a gay woman wearing a suit in front of a room full of Jews?" Show less «

Sometimes the greatest things are the most embarrassing.

"I just like observing people-it's something I've done ever since I was a kid, and I got really good at it. That's a big part of why I becam...Show more »

"I just like observing people-it's something I've done ever since I was a kid, and I got really good at it. That's a big part of why I became a comedian. My audience is filled with every kind of person you can imagine, and I love that." (Redbook, January 2006) Show less «

"I'd like to be more patient! I just want everything now. I've tried to meditate, but it's really hard for me to stay still. I'd like to try...Show more »

"I'd like to be more patient! I just want everything now. I've tried to meditate, but it's really hard for me to stay still. I'd like to try to force myself to do it, because everybody says how wonderful meditation is for you, but I can't shut my mind up. So patience and learning is the key." (Redbook, January 2006) Show less «

"I look at anything in nature and how things work-the stars, the pyramids-and I can't imagine that there's not some kind of design to it all...Show more »

"I look at anything in nature and how things work-the stars, the pyramids-and I can't imagine that there's not some kind of design to it all. There's got to be something big that we don't understand. I do believe in Jesus. I believe in being good to one another. Life is about spending our time here contributing and not taking away. That's my faith." (Redbook, January 2006) Show less «

Really, he called me that? Ellen Degenerate? I've been getting that since the fourth grade. I guess I'm happy I could give him work. [When t...Show more »

Really, he called me that? Ellen Degenerate? I've been getting that since the fourth grade. I guess I'm happy I could give him work. [When told in an interview that, after she revealed her homosexuality, Jerry Falwell called her 'Ellen Degenerate']. Show less «

There's two things I've always wanted to do in my life. One is to host the Oscars. The second is to get a call from Laura Ziskin. You can im...Show more »

There's two things I've always wanted to do in my life. One is to host the Oscars. The second is to get a call from Laura Ziskin. You can imagine that day's diary entry. - After receiving a call from Ziskin, producer of the 2007 Oscars, requesting that Ellen host. Show less «

Every morning, I would come down to the kitchen and I would see myself making coffee and I would think 'oh, she's pretty'. (on what life wou...Show more »

Every morning, I would come down to the kitchen and I would see myself making coffee and I would think 'oh, she's pretty'. (on what life would be like with an identical twin) Show less «

On why she, a non-singing entertainer, would be a successful American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002) judge replacement: I know I'm ...Show more »

On why she, a non-singing entertainer, would be a successful American Idol: The Search for a Superstar (2002) judge replacement: I know I'm going to be a great judge - because I've spent my whole life being judged. Show less «

Find out who you are and be that person. That's what your soul was put on this Earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth and everything ...Show more »

Find out who you are and be that person. That's what your soul was put on this Earth to be. Find that truth, live that truth and everything else will come. Show less «

What goes up must come down, which is why I don't wear tube tops.

Never follow anyone else's path, unless you're in the woods and you're lost and you see a path; then, by all means, you should follow that p...Show more »

Never follow anyone else's path, unless you're in the woods and you're lost and you see a path; then, by all means, you should follow that path. Show less «

I'm glad I'm funny. I'm glad I make people happy, because that's very important. But I'm most proud to be known as a kind person...Because k...Show more »

I'm glad I'm funny. I'm glad I make people happy, because that's very important. But I'm most proud to be known as a kind person...Because kindness spreads, and the world is a little nicer out there. Show less «

We can sit and worry about what's going to happen to us two weeks from now. I'd rather focus on the amazing things happening right in front ...Show more »

We can sit and worry about what's going to happen to us two weeks from now. I'd rather focus on the amazing things happening right in front of us. Animals help us do that. Show less «

Be kind to one another.

Why do they say we're over the hill? I don't even know what that means and why it's a bad thing. When I go hiking and I get over a hill, tha...Show more »

Why do they say we're over the hill? I don't even know what that means and why it's a bad thing. When I go hiking and I get over a hill, that means I'm past the hard part and there's a snack in my future. Show less «