Recent Shows: Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Biography:
Emmy-winning talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres was born on January 26,
1958, in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. Her father,
insurance salesman Elliot De Generes and her mother Elizabeth, a
real-estate agent, were divorced when she was 16 years ...(read more)
Emmy-winning talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres was born on January 26,
1958, in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. Her father,
insurance salesman Elliot De Generes and her mother Elizabeth, a
real-estate agent, were divorced when she was 16 years old. Her mother
remarried, and her new husband, salesman Roy Gruessendorf, moved the
family (which included Ellen's brother) 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 lead to better gigs, including her first appearance on
"Tonight Show, The" (1962) with 'Johnny Carson (I)' in 1986.
Though DeGeneres' 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, "Ellen Show, The" (2001) , on CBS, but it suffered from poor ratings and
was canceled.
Redemption as a television artiste came in 2003, when DeGeneres'
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 will have the
ultimate TV awards show gig, hosting the Oscars.
Jon C. Hopwood
Trademarks:
* Blue sneakers.
* Blue sneakers.
Quotes:
* "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 ...(read more)
* "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
interview on "20/20" (1978) .
* 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."
* "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 "Flying Nun, The" (1967) .
* "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."
* "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 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?"
* 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 became a
comedian. My audience is filled with every kind of person you can
imagine, and I love that." (Redbook, January 2006)
* "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)
* "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)
* "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'.]
* "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.
* 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)
|
User Videos
No videos have been tagged to this Actor/Actress.
Find & Tag Videos:
|
Posted on 04/25/08 02:03 PM.
she is sweet! yeah! is the best! i know! :)
Posted on 08/16/07 02:21 PM.
Hi my name is Dhydra & i live in a small town in the caribbean called Belize. Everyday i look forward to watch your show because you will never know what to expect each day you watch. Keep up the excellent job your doing Elle.