We have compiled for you the successful and remarkable life of Ellen DeGeneres, who both hosted famous guests and appeared on the screen with her talk show programs in different ways under her own name.
DeGeneres was born on January 26, 1958, in Metairie, Louisiana. She was born to her mother, speech therapist Elizabeth Jane "Betty" Pfeffer, and father to insurance agent Elliott Everett DeGeneres. DeGeneres has a musician and producer brother named Vance. DeGeneres, whose family has French, English, German and Irish roots, was raised as a Christian Scientist. In 1973, her parents separated, and the following year the decision to divorce was finalized. After a while, her mother married a salesman named Roy Gruessendorf. Ellen moved to Atlanta, Texas with her mother and stepfather.
Abused by her stepfather when she was 16, DeGeneres ran away from home in response, causing her to spend the night in the hospital. Although she told her mother about the abuse a few years later, her mother didn't believe her and she remained married to Gruessendorf for 18 years. Finally, she was able to realize that her daughter was telling the truth as her descriptions of her behavior towards Ellen continued to change.
Graduating from Atlanta High School in May 1976, DeGeneres returned to New Orleans to enroll at the University of New Orleans, where she majored in communication studies. A semester later, DeGeneres dropped out with her cousin Laura Gillen to take a clerical job at a law firm. Her first jobs included a job at JC Penney and a waitress at TGI Fridays and another restaurant. She has also worked in many different jobs as a painter, hostess and bartender.
DeGeneres started doing stand-up comedy in small clubs and coffee houses, and in 1981 she hosted the "Clyde's Comedy Club" in New Orleans. DeGeneres began touring around the country in the early 1980s, saying that Woody Allen and Steve Martin were the main influences on her. In 1984, she was named Showtime's "funniest person" in America. Additionally, she cites Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and Bob Newhart among her comedy influences.
Ellen's work in the early 1990s included the production of the science fiction comedy "Coneheads" (1993), directed by Steve Barron. DeGeneres co-starred with Bill Nye, Alex Trebek, Michael Richards and Jamie Lee Curtis in a series of films for a show called "Ellen's Energy Adventure" (1996-2017), part of the Energy of Energy attraction and pavilion at Walt Disney World Epcot took. Ellen hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and 1997.
In 1998, she voiced Prologue Dog as John's childhood pet in the fantasy comedy film "Dr. Dolittle," directed by Betty Thomas. Winning the Saturn Award for her performance as Ellen made history as the first and only time the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films gave an acting award for a voice performance.
DeGeneres' first regular TV role debuted as Margo Van Meter, an office worker on a short-lived Fox sitcom called "Open House." She also appeared on the series with Alison LaPlaca and Mary Page Keller. In 1992, Ellen was offered the role of Nurse Nancy MacIntyre in producers Neal Marlens and Carol Black's sitcom "Laurie Hill." Despite accepting the role and performing very well, the series was canceled after only four episodes. But the producers were so impressed with DeGeneres' performance that they soon decided to cast her in "These Friends of Mine," the next ABC pilot they co-created with David S.
DeGeneres' comedy career became the basis of the sitcom "These Friends of Mine" in its first season, which later became "Ellen". The show became popular in its first few seasons, in part due to DeGeneres' observational humor, and DeGeneres became often referred to as the "female Seinfeld."
The show "Ellen" reached its peak in popularity in April 1997 when DeGeneres appeared as a lesbian on the talk show "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Her character in the sitcom also sneaked out of her closet to her therapist, hosted and animated by Oprah Winfrey. The debut episode, titled "The Puppy Episode" featuring Ellen, became one of the highest-rated episodes of the series.
DeGeneres returned to the television world with "The Ellen Show," a new CBS sitcom starting in 2001. The sitcom was canceled after 13 episodes. Ellen hosted the televised broadcast of the Emmy Awards on November 4, 2001. In September 2003, a daytime television comedy talk show program called "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" hosted by Ellen began. One of the few celebrity-hosted talk shows that appeared at the start of that season, the show has been on the rise. It has been lauded both in the ratings and widely critically. The show was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmy Awards in its first season and won four awards, including Best Talk Show. The show also earned 25 Emmy Awards for its first three seasons on the air. DeGeneres was known for dancing and singing with the audience at the start of the show and during commercial breaks. In addition, with the help of her sponsors, she often gave free prizes and outings to get in the studio audience of her show.
Ellen voiced the role of Dory, a friendly fish with short-term memory loss, in the Disney/Pixar animated comedy-drama film "Finding Nemo" (2003), directed by Andrew Stanton. Ellen's voice-over performance garnered many accolades. Additionally, she won the Saturn Award, the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Sound from an Animated Movie, and the Annie Award for Outstanding Voice Acting from the International Animated Film Association. It also earned a nomination for the Chicago Film Critics Association Award.
In August 2005, Ellen hosted the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony on September 18, 2005. Ellen hosted the 79th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on February 25, 2007, making her the first openly gay person to host the event.
DeGeneres made a surprise appearance at Tulane University's graduation ceremony in New Orleans in May 2006. Between sketches, DeGeneres needed to go some places, but was given bed rest in May 2007 due to a ligament tear in her back. Continuing to host her show in a hospital bed, Ellen's guests also sat in their hospital beds. Alongside this, Ellen added, "the show must go on, as they say."
Ellen celebrated the 1000th episode of her show on May 1, 2009. Guest stars at this celebration included Oprah Winfrey, Justin Timberlake, and Paris Hilton. Jennifer Aniston and Justin Timberlake surprised DeGeneres on the show's 2,000th show in December 2015.
DeGeneres appeared as a judge on the ninth season of the TV series "American Idol." DeGeneres is contracted to be a judge on the show for at least five seasons. From the series, which debuted on February 9, 2010, Ellen announced on July 29, 2010 that she would leave the series after one season. DeGeneres said she came out, saying she thought the series "wasn't right for me". In 2014, an on-air selfie edited by 86th Academy Awards host Ellen made her mark, becoming the fifth most retweeted tweet ever.
In 2016, she voiced the same character in the animated comedy-drama adventure movie "Finding Dory", a sequel. Upon its release, the film was praised by critics. In addition to being the third highest-grossing film of 2016, it also completed its theatrical release as the fourth-highest-grossing animated film of all time. In addition, the film made a name for itself by breaking many box office records.
Ellen began hosting the NBC game show "Ellen's Game of Games" during the 2017–2018 season. The series, which premiered on December 18, 2017, was based on games played on the talk show. In January 2018, regular episodes of the show began. Also, after a 15-year hiatus from performing stand-up comedy, DeGeneres made it through with a role in the 2018 Netflix stand-up special "Relatable."
On May 12, 2021, DeGeneres announced that she would be ending her talk show "Ellen's Game of Games" after its nineteenth season ends in 2022. The show said goodbye by airing its final episode on May 26, 2022, with Jennifer Aniston, Pink and Billie Eilish as guests, where Portia de Rossi and other members of the DeGeneres family sat in the audience.
Private life
In 1997, Ellen confirmed that she is a lesbian. This choice received a lot of attention in the media, which put pressure on Ellen and caused her to fall into depression. She had an affair with actress Anne Heche, which lasted until August 2000. She then maintained a close relationship with photographer Alexandra Hedison until 2004. Since then, Ellen has been in a relationship with former actress Portia de Rossi. Following the lifting of the same-sex marriage ban in California, the couple got engaged and married in August 2008 in their own home with four dogs and three cats.
In November 2004, Ellen danced in an advertising campaign for the company "American Express". Her last ad for the company was shared in November 2006, and the following year the ad won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Advertising. In September 2008, Ellen began working with the brand CoverGirl Cosmetics, and Ellen's face became the focus of the brand's advertisements from January 2009. Also, this beauty campaign was Ellen's first campaign. On May 26, 2010, Ellen revealed on her show that she started her own record label called "eleveneleven".
Ellen launched it in the summer of 2015 under the lifestyle brand "ED by Ellen". Later, the name of the brand was changed to "ED Ellen DeGeneres". The brand's collection included clothing, shoes, accessories, pets, babies and household items. In February 2017, Ellen's dog collection on "PetSmart" was put up for sale. Later that year, a collection of cats was also introduced. In November 2017, the brand launched a collection benefiting from Ellen's "#BeKindToElephants" campaign featuring one-piece t-shirts and dolls, with all proceeds donated to the "David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust".
Ellen was named "the 50th most powerful woman in the world" by Forbes magazine in 2015. Forbes magazine named her the 12th highest paid entertainer in the world, with her estimated earnings in 2020. A big animal lover, Ellen is also vegan. For this reason, she supports and takes part in campaigns to protect animals and raise awareness.