OPRAH WINFREY

Biography

Oprah's story is an inspirational one. Born on January 29th, 1954 in Kosciusko Mississippi, Winfrey's name was originally "Orpah," after the biblical figure in the book of Ruth. Several different stories allude to the fact that either a misspelling on her birth certificate or a struggle with the pronunciation of her name eventually led to "Oprah" being adopted as her given name.

a flower among weeds

Out of the throes of poverty, Winfrey was an extremely bright child; she learned to read at age 2 and a half, and skipped kindergarten. Her (unmarried) parents split when she was very young and subsequently, she was sent to live with her grandmother, on a farm with no indoor plumbing. Young Oprah received her first pair of shoes at the age of six.

That same year, she moved to Milwaukee to be with her mother and there, her life would be altered forever. Male members of her family sexually molested her from the time she was nine, and those events continue to affect Oprah until this day. In fact, Winfrey did not reveal her history of abuse until the late 1980s.

At 14, Winfrey broke the cycle of molestation and moved in with her strict but loving father in Nashville, Tennessee. The troubles, for a while, merely continued however. That year, she gave birth to a baby boy, who, born two months premature, died after two weeks. Winfrey revealed to her father that the past couple of years she had been a wild child, experimenting with drugs and sex. She was no doubt rebelling against the hell she was experiencing in Milwaukee.

a new beginning

Things did finally turn around. Thanks to her father's insistence that hard work and discipline were the only routes to success, Winfrey refocused her life and won a scholarship to Tennessee State University. During her studies, she worked as a radio announcer for WVOL in Nashville, and, after receiving a BA in Speech and Performing Arts, became a reporter for WTVF-TV; Nashville's first female and first black TV-news anchor.

1972's Miss Black Tennessee made huge strides during the period between 1976 and 1983. Living in Baltimore, Maryland, she was elevated from news anchor to co-host of the popular show People Are Talking on WJZ-TV. Coaxed by executives to take over the unsuccessful A.M. Chicago, she moved to the Midwest in 1984. By September of '85, Winfrey had made the show a hit -- it was renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show and was extended to an hour in length.

the color of money

Winfrey's big-screen debut was met with just as much applause as her confrontational-style talk show. Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple was released in 1985 and Winfrey, in the role of Sofia, was getting noticed on a much broader scale. In fact, she earned an Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress that year, and continued to act; she took on a role in the 1986 film adaptation of Richard Wright's book, Native Son.

a phenomenon in the making

As The Oprah Winfrey Show began to hit households worldwide, Winfrey knew she was part of something big. In 1986, she established Harpo Productions, Inc., a production facility that established her as only the third woman in American entertainment to own such a studio (and the first to own and produce her own talk show). The years went by and as Winfrey dealt with issues of health, love and relationships on her show, the nation embraced her. In 1987, the show took home three Daytime Emmys in its first year of eligibility. As it stands now, Winfrey and her talk show have collected 34 Emmys. She has also permanently withdrawn from the Daytime Emmys after receiving a Lifetime Achievement award in 1998.

some obstacles along the way

It would be unjust to say that Winfrey's career has not been without its fair share of bumps. Sued in 1998 by cattle farmers in Texas who claimed their loss in revenues was a direct result of her negative comments about eating meat on her show, Winfrey was forced to relocate her program to Amarillo as the trial took place. With the whole town and the jury on her side, she won the case and emerged as popular as ever.

Another bump came in the form of her "baby," the movie Beloved. Though she put her heart and soul into the Toni Morrison-authored novel-turned-film, it was a commercial flop.

the oprah empire

Of course, she bounced back. Reaching over 100 countries and 26 million homes in the U.S. daily, The Oprah Winfrey Show is one of a kind. And in 1994, Winfrey refocused the issues raised on the program. Instead of being almost Jerry Springer-like in content, as it was in the beginning, The Oprah Winfrey Show now asks viewers to "get with the program," focusing on self-improvement and the uplifting stories of everyday people. She also launched her phenomenally successful Book Club in 1996, which propelled every book featured onto bestseller lists nationwide.

Oprah has turned her successful daytime show into an empire; her interactive women's network known as Oxygen TV, O magazine and Angel Network are only three of her many successful ventures. Time magazine recognized her influence and named her one of the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century, not only because of her show, but also because of her charitable efforts. As proof of her golden heart, look no further than an instance in 1993 when, after heavy lobbying by Winfrey, President Clinton passed the Oprah Bill, aimed at putting an end to child abuse by establishing a database of child molesters in the nation.

Now the only African-American woman to ever be included on Forbes' billionaire list, Winfrey has perhaps run out of incredible "firsts" to call her own. Or -- with long-term beau Stedman Graham by her side -- has she?