Actors - Ellen DeGeneres

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	Actors - Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and, most recently, host of the syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Early life

Ellen DeGeneres was born on January 26, 1958 at Ochsner Hospital in Metairie, Louisiana to Elliot (insurance salesman) and Betty (real-estate agent). She is of French, English, German and Irish descent.

Along with her brother Vance she was raised as a Christian Scientist until the age of thirteen, when she left the religion. This was when her parents were divorced. Shortly after the divorce DeGeneres and her mother moved from the New Orleans area to Atlanta, Texas. She graduated from Atlanta High School on May 21, 1976.

She moved back to New Orleans to attend the University of New Orleans, where she majored in communications. After one semester, she left school to do clerical work in a law firm. She also held a job selling clothes, including dresses, at the chain-store the Merry-Go-Round at the Lakeside Shopping Center in New Orleans. Other working experiences included a waitress at TGI Friday's and another restaurant, a house painter, a hostess, a bartender and an oyster shucker. Finally, DeGeneres realized she didn't want to "answer to a boss" and started to figure out what she really wanted to do.

Career

Stand-up comedy

Whenever Ellen DeGeneres' friends put together a show or party, she was asked to do a comedy routine. She did an act and was soon asked to perform as a stand-up comedian at small clubs and coffeehouses, and eventually became the emcee at Clyde's Comedy Club (the only comedy place in New Orleans at the time). While working at Clyde's in 1981, DeGeneres recorded her club performances.

After traveling around the United States performing her comedy act, she was chosen in a national competition in 1982 by the cable channel Showtime as the funniest person in America. She then appeared on late night television and comedy programs.

Soon afterward, DeGeneres was invited to perform on the Tonight Show by booking agent/Producer Jim McCawley for her first appearance in 1986. She was the first female to ever be asked over to the couch to visit with Johnny Carson on her first visit. Jim McCawley truly believed that she was going to be a hit and often spoke in praise of her when her name was mentioned.

She also appeared as a stand-up comedian as early as on the HBO Tenth Annual Young Comedians special, where she was introduced as an up-and-coming talent by Young Comedians show veteran Harry Anderson.

Before getting her own show, DeGeneres began her television career on the short-lived TV sitcom Open House (1989-1990) and Laurie Hill (1992).

DeGeneres has also performed two HBO stand-up specials. The first was called Ellen DeGeneres: The Beginning (2000) and was taped live at the Beacon Theatre in New York City. Her most recent one, which was taped in the same location, was entitled Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now (2003). After she began her talk show, Degeneres said she would no longer do stand-up tours.

Ellen sitcom

DeGeneres rose to national attention when her material was turned into the subject matter for the successful 1994-1998 sitcom, Ellen (called These Friends of Mine during its first season). The ABC show was popular in its first few seasons due in part to DeGeneres's style of quirky observational humor; it was often referred to as a female Seinfeld
.

Ellen reached its height of attention in April 1997 when DeGeneres (and her character on the show) came out of the closet on national television and publicly declared that she was a lesbian. In spite of the controversy, or perhaps because of it, the outing episode was one of the highest-rated episodes of the show. As one of the first openly gay performers playing an openly gay character on television, she was all but forced into a role as a gay rights activist. Her sitcom began to primarily focus on her character's relationship with another woman; and even the lesbian activist Chastity Bono found the show to be "too gay". After sinking ratings, the show was canceled, and DeGeneres returned to the stand-up comedy circuit. Not forgetting the nosedive her lucrative network television show took, Ellen would later re-establish herself as a successful talk show host, this time projecting no particular sexuality and avoiding the topic altogether. Ellen has inspired many other lesbians to come out of the closet and is a major influential figure.

Ellen's Energy Adventure

DeGeneres starred in a series of films for a show named Ellen's Energy Adventure, which is part of the Universe of Energy attraction and pavillion at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center. The film starring Ellen DeGeneres, also features Bill Nye the Science Guy, Alex Trebek, Michael Richards, and Jamie Lee Curtis. The show revolves around DeGeneres falling asleep, and finding herself in an energy-themed version of Jeopardy!, playing against an old rival (portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis) and Albert Einstein. The next film has DeGeneres hosting an educational look at energy - co hosted with Bill Nye (the science guy). The ride first opened on September 15, 1996 as Ellen's Energy Crisis, but was quickly renamed to Ellen's Energy Adventure.

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