Ellen DeGeneres

DeGeneres was born and raised in Metairie, Louisiana, to Elizabeth Jane "Betty" (née Pfeffer) (born 1930), a speech therapist, and Elliott Everett DeGeneres (1925–2018), an insurance agent.

She has one brother, Vance, a musician and producer.

She was raised a Christian Scientist.

Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958) is an American former comedian, television host, actress, and writer.

Her parents filed for separation in 1973 and were divorced the following year.

Shortly after, her mother married Roy Gruessendorf, a salesman.

Betty Jane and Ellen moved with Gruessendorf from the New Orleans area to Atlanta, Texas.

Vance stayed with his father.

When she was 15 or 16 years old, DeGeneres was molested by her stepfather.

Gruessendorf used her mother's recent breast cancer diagnosis as an excuse to touch her inappropriately, saying he needed to examine her breasts for lumps.

Eventually, he tried to break down her door and sexually assault her, prompting her to run away from home and spend the night in a hospital.

DeGeneres told her mother about the abuse a few years later, but Betty Jane did not believe her, and remained married to Gruessendorf for 18 years afterward.

She finally realized that DeGeneres had been telling the truth when his accounts of his behavior toward his stepdaughter kept changing.

DeGeneres graduated from Atlanta High School in May 1976, after completing her first years of high school at Grace King High School in Metairie.

She moved back to New Orleans to attend the University of New Orleans, where she majored in communication studies.

After one semester, she left school to do clerical work in a law firm with a cousin, Laura Gillen.

Her early jobs included a stint at J. C. Penney and waitressing at TGI Fridays and another restaurant.

She also worked as a house painter, a hostess and a bartender.

She relates much of her childhood and career experiences in her comedic work.

DeGeneres started performing stand-up comedy at small clubs and coffee houses.

Her stand-up career started in the early 1980s and included a 1986 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

In the early 1980s she began to tour nationally, and in 1984 she was named Showtime's funniest person in America.

By 1981, she was the emcee at Clyde's Comedy Club in New Orleans.

DeGeneres cites Woody Allen and Steve Martin as her main influences at this time.

She starred in the sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for "The Puppy Episode".

She starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002.

As a film actress, DeGeneres starred in Mr. Wrong (1996), EDtv (1999), and The Love Letter (1999), and provided the voice of Dory in the Disney/Pixar animated films Finding Nemo (2003) and Finding Dory (2016); for Finding Nemo, she was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, the first time an actress won a Saturn Award for a voice performance.

During the fourth season of Ellen in 1997, she came out as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Her character, Ellen Morgan, also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey, and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues, including the coming-out process.

Gruessendorf died in 1997.

She also hosted the syndicated television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show from 2003 to 2022, for which she received 33 Daytime Emmy Awards.

In 2008, she married her longtime girlfriend Portia de Rossi.

DeGeneres has hosted the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and the Primetime Emmys.

She has authored four books and started her own record company, Eleveneleven, as well as a production company, A Very Good Production.

She also launched a lifestyle brand, ED Ellen DeGeneres, which comprises a collection of apparel, accessories, home, baby, and pet items.

She has won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, 20 People's Choice Awards (more than any other person), and numerous other awards for her work and charitable efforts.

In 2010, she served as a judge on the ninth season of American Idol.

In 2016, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

After a 15-year hiatus from performing stand-up comedy, DeGeneres appeared in a 2018 Netflix stand-up special, Relatable.

In January 2020, DeGeneres received the Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globes for her work on television, becoming the first recipient after its inaugural namesake Carol Burnett.