Ellen Degeneres

  

                                                                    Ellen Degeneres 

 Ellen Degeneres was born and raised in Metairie , Louisiana and grew up with her parents. Once her parents had divorced she moved to Atlanta, Texas. Ellen graduated from Atlanta High School and then went back to New Orleans to further her education as she majored in communication studies. After her first semester she decided to leave school to work at a law firm with her cousin. Her first jobs jumped around to things such as retail, waitressing, hostessing, etc. 

Ellen during the beginning of her career

     After that she began to start her comedy career. She would do stand up at local coffee houses and small clubs. In the early 1980s she began to go on tour with her comedy and in 1984 she was named Showtime's funniest person in America. After this she began getting featured in different sitcoms such as shows called Open House and Duet. Ellen's fame began to rise in April in 1997, when she went on the Oprah Winfrey Show and had come out as a lesbian.  In 2001,  Ellen had come out with a new sitcom called The Ellen Show which only lasted 13 episodes before critics said her jokes were unfunny and she supposedly treated her writers poorly. Ellen then launched her daytime talk show which is what we are all firmiliar with in 2003 called The Ellen Degeneres Show and this is when her gained the most popularity. The show was nominated for 13 Emmy awards in its first season, and a total of 25 Emmys during the first three seasons. (1) She would often give prizes to her audience. She would also bring on people who have made an impact on the world and have given back to their community. She usually would reward them in checks or giving them appliances that would help their needs. 

Once Ellen had continued to grow successful she began to become an author. She has published three books titled The Funny Thing Is...., Home, My Point...And I Do Have One and Seriously... I'm Kidding. These books have discussed multiple different events that have taken place in Ellens life. Ranging from the events that had shaped her into the women she is today. She discusses her experience with coming out in the public eye. She also uses her book as an outlet for expressing thoughts and things she had to go through to get comfortable sharing her sexuality with the world making her a great representation for teens. She also discusses her molestation she experienced from her step father and how she worked through it. (3)

I personally think Ellen is an amazing role model for these viewers. Many young women struggle with having role models who have made it out of the situation they were in. Having Ellen to look up too is very beneficial as she tries to have a positive outlook on life whilst giving back to those in need.

Sarah Elizabeth who is a book reviewer for the Taking on a World of Words blog described Ellens book Seriously... Im Kidding as being perfect. She states, "This book was exactly what I was expecting which was perfect. I wanted something honest and lighthearted. I wanted someone who was going to talk about her life and poke fun at herself but who is uplifting and a wonderful role model. This is a woman who won the Presidential Medal of Freedom and she had me laughing at silly jokes in her book." (2)

WORKS CITIED

1 “Ellen DeGeneres Biography - Life, Childhood, Parents, Story, History, School, Mother, Young, Book, Old, Information, Born.” Notablebiographies.com, 2014, www.notablebiographies.com/news/Ca-Ge/DeGeneres-Ellen.html.

2 “Book Review: Seriously… I’m Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres (4/5).” Taking on a World of Words, 22 May 2017, samannelizabeth.wordpress.com/2017/05/22/book-review-seriously-im-kidding-by-ellen-degeneres-45/. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024. 

3 “Profiles.” Bc.edu, 2019, mediakron.bc.edu/profiles/ellen-degeneres.

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