Birthplace: Kosciusko, Mississippi
Best known as: Host of TV's Oprah
Orpah Winfrey is the most successful female talk show host in American TV history. She went into broadcasting in the early 1970s; after anchoring and reporting TV news in Nashville, Tennessee and Baltimore, Maryland, she landed a job on the morning show of A.M. Chicago in 1984. The next year she made her movie debut in The Color Purple (based on the Alice Walker book) and was nominated for an Oscar. In 1986 she launched The Oprah Winfrey Show, a TV talk show which featured celebrity interviews and discussions of social issues. The show was a smash hit and within a decade she was one of the richest women in the United States. "Oprah's Book Club," a feature of her show highlighting new books, became famous for its ability to create bestsellers. In 2000 she launched her own lifestyle magazine, O.
Extra credit: Winfrey launched the career of relationship specialist Dr. Phil, who became famous while making regular guest appearances on her show... Oprah's production company is named Harpo Productions -- "Oprah" spelled backwards... In a 1991 interview with the Academy of Achievement, Winfrey said that her name was spelled "Orpah" on her birth certificate, but that she has always been called Oprah instead.
