Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Winfrey is a well known television personality, actress, and entrepreneur whose syndicated daily show became the highest-rated talk show in the United States.
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Oprah Winfrey at an event for 30th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, 2015 (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Oprah Winfrey is a well known television personality, actress, and entrepreneur whose syndicated daily show became the highest-rated talk show in the United States. She is one of the richest and most influential women in the country.
Following her graduation from Tennessee State University she began a career in broadcasting and in 1984 she moved to Chicago to host The Oprah Winfrey Show .
Winfrey has engaged in numerous philanthropic activities, including the creation of Oprah’s Angel Network, which sponsors charitable initiatives worldwide. In 2007 she opened a $40 million school for disadvantaged girls in South Africa.
She formed her own television production company, Harpo Productions, Inc., in 1986, and a film production company, Harpo Films, in 1990. She appeared in Selma (2014), a film about Martin Luther King, Jr., that she produced and appeared in, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture.
Winfrey broke new ground in 1996 by starting an on-air book club. Each book chosen quickly climbed to the top of the best-seller charts, and Winfrey’s effect on the publishing industry was significant.
Winfrey has received numerous awards and honors. She has been named a Kennedy Center honoree, and in 2013 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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