Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Gail Winfrey is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which ran in national syndication for 25 years, from 1986 to 2011. Globally, she is the richest Black woman and the wealthiest female celebrity. Dubbed the "Queen of All Media", she was the richest African-American of the 20th century and was once the world's only Black billionaire. By 2007, she was often ranked as the most influential woman in the world and in 2026 was named the greatest living self-made American.

Oprah Winfrey was born in rural Mississippi in 1954 and experienced a challenging childhood, including poverty and abuse. Despite these early hardships, she excelled academically and began her broadcasting career in local radio and television news in Nashville and Milwaukee before moving to Chicago.

• •Oprah Winfrey was the first Black woman to own a production company in the United States.
• •She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, one of the highest civilian honors in the U.S.
• •Oprah Winfrey's first name, 'Oprah,' was originally intended to be 'Orpah,' a biblical name, but was misspelled on her birth certificate and she grew to prefer it.
• •She was a finalist for the role of Shug Avery in the 1985 film 'The Color Purple,' a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination.