Oprah Winfrey Biography

Oprah Winfrey, Television Personality

Birthdate: January 29, 1954

Birthplace: Kosciusko, Mississippi

Sign: Aquarius

Oprah Gail Winfrey, born January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi, was originally Orpah after the Biblical character. But conflicting reports as to how she became Oprah quickly surfaced. It had been said that her family and friends weren't able to pronounce Orpah and instead uttered Oprah. There is also a report that a midwife wrote the misspelled name on the birth certificate.

Oprah's parents were unmarried teenagers. She had spent her first six years in poverty with her grandmother, who taught her how to read before she turned 3. She moved with her mother at age 6. She claimed her cousin, uncle, and a family friend molested her when she was 9.

The now "Queen of Talk" excelled academically and skipped two of her earliest grades. She received a scholarship to attend Nicolet High School in Wisconsin. At 14, she became pregnant but the baby died immediately after birth. She was then sent to live with her father in Tennessee.

Her father, although strict, had been encouraging. She became an honor student and voted Miss Popular. She had placed second in the nation in dramatic interpretation and won an oratory contest, which secured her a full scholarship to Tennessee State University. At 18, she won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant.

She became the youngest news anchor and the first black female news anchor at Nashville's WLAC-TV. In 1983, Oprah moved to Chicago to host a low-rated morning talk show, AM Chicago. She had made the talk show the highest rating in Chicago, even overtaking Phil Donahue. The AM Chicago had been named The Oprah Winfrey Show and began its broadcast nationally on September 8, 1986.

The Oprah Winfrey Show had been her catapult to being a household name. In 1993, the most watched interview ever was when she interviewed Michael Jackson, with an audience of one hundred million. Oprah has millions of followers in the U.S. alone.

In 1985, Winfrey had co-starred in "The Color Purple." She received critical acclaim as Sofia and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. "The Color Purple" has now been made into a Broadway musical, which she produced.

Oprah lives on "The Promised Land," her 42-acre ocean and mountain view estate in California. She owns estates in New Jersey, Miami, Colorado, Hawaii and an apartment in Chicago.

Her steady partner, Stedman Graham, has been with her since 1986. They had been engaged in 1992 but the marriage never took place. She also owns a school for underprivileged girls in South Africa, which she named the "Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls."

Oprah's best friend is Gayle King, who has been with her since she was 20 years old. King is currently the editor of Oprah's "O, The Oprah Magazine." They have been the target of rumors that the two are gay and they are romantically involved with each other. They have both denied the gossips.

In July 2007, TV Guide had reported that Oprah was the highest paid entertainer in the U.S. earning $260 million. Today, her net worth is estimated at approximately $2.5 billion.