Ellen DeGeneres is an American television host, comedian, actress, and writer born on January 26, 1958. She’s best known for her comedy hosting TV shows acting and writing. One of her big moments was starring in the TV show Ellen from 1994 to 1998. She even won an Emmy for an episode called “The Puppy Episode”. Later she hosted her talk show “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” from 2003 to 2022 winning a bunch of Daytime Emmy Awards.
Her career began with stand-up comedy in the early 1980s and she even appeared on The Tonight Show in 1986. She’s been in some movies like Mr. Wrong EDtv and The Love Letter. You might recognize her voice as Dory in the Disney/Pixar movies Finding Nemo and Finding Dory where she won an award for her voice work.
She’s also been on American Idol as a judge. Ellen’s been in a couple of sitcoms too Ellen and The Ellen Show. In 1997, during the fourth season of Ellen, she came out as gay on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Her character on Ellen also came out and the show talked about LGBT issues.
In 2008, she married Portia de Rossi. Ellen’s hosted big award shows like the Oscars Grammys and Emmys. She’s written books started companies and even has her lifestyle brand called ED Ellen DeGeneres. She’s won lots of awards for her work and charity including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. In 2020, she got the Carol Burnett Award at the Golden Globes.
| Full Name | Ellen DeGeneres |
| Date of Birth | January 26, 1958 |
| Place of Birth | Metairie, Louisiana, United States |
| Occupation | Comedian, Actress, Television Host |
| Height | 5 feet 7 inches (170 cm) |
| Spouse | Portia de Rossi |
| Children | None |
| Net Worth | $500 million |
Ellen DeGeneres Early Life and Education
Ellen DeGeneres grew up in Metairie Louisiana with her mom Betty a speech therapist and her dad Elliott an insurance agent. She has a brother named Vance who’s a musician. They were Christian Scientists.
When Ellen was 15 or 16 her stepdad Roy started acting strangely. He used her mom’s breast cancer as an excuse to do inappropriate things to Ellen. It got so bad that Ellen had to leave home and spend a night in the hospital. She told her mom about it a few years later but her mom didn’t believe her at first. It took a while for her mom to see the truth especially when Roy’s stories didn’t add up. Roy passed away in 1997.
Ellen finished high school at Atlanta High School in 1976. She started at Grace King High School but moved to Atlanta. Then she went to the University of New Orleans to study communication studies but left after one semester. She did various jobs like working at J.C. Penney and waiting tables at TGI Fridays. She even painted houses and worked as a bartender. Ellen often talks about her childhood and work experiences in her comedy.
Career
Ellen DeGeneres started doing stand-up comedy in small places like clubs and coffee shops. By 1981, she was hosting shows at Clyde’s Comedy Club in New Orleans. She looked up to Woody Allen and Steve Martin back then. In the early 1980s she began performing across the country and in 1984 she was named the funniest person in America by Showtime.
After a break of 15 years from stand-up comedy Ellen did a Netflix special called “Relatable” in 2018.
Ellen says she’s inspired by comedians like Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, and Bob Newhart.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Ellen appeared in a movie called “Coneheads.” She also did a series of films for a show called “Ellen’s Energy Adventure” at Walt Disney World’s Epcot. The show was about energy and featured famous people like Bill Nye and Alex Trebek. It closed in 2017.
Her first regular TV role was on a short-lived Fox sitcom called “Open House” in which she played a receptionist. She was also on a show called “Laurie Hill” in 1992.
She got her show called “Ellen” in 1994. It was popular because of her funny observations and some people called it a “female Seinfeld.”
In 1997, Ellen came out as a lesbian on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and her character on the sitcom also came out. This was a big moment but the show was canceled later.
She came back to TV in 2001 with a show called “The Ellen Show” but it didn’t last long. She then became a successful talk show host with “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” starting in 2003.
Her show became very popular and won lots of awards. Ellen was known for dancing with the audience at the start of the show but she stopped because it became too much.
She did lots of special things on her show like bringing her high school classmates on the show and giving gifts to schools. She also gave commencement speeches at Tulane University.
Ellen’s show was broadcast from Universal Studios Orlando once and she continued hosting even when she was on bed rest due to an injury.
She celebrated her 1000th and 2000th show with special guests. She also became a judge on “American Idol” for one season but left because it didn’t feel right for her.
She started hosting a game show called “Ellen’s Game of Games” in 2017 but it ended in 2021.
In 2021, Ellen DeGeneres announced that she would end her talk show after its nineteenth season. The final episode aired in 2022.
Net Worth
Ellen DeGeneres has an estimated net worth of $500 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. The main source of Ellen DeGeneres’s net worth is her television career, especially from hosting “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” She also makes money from acting, comedy, producing TV shows, writing books, and her lifestyle brand ED by Ellen.
Award Show Hosting
Ellen DeGeneres became even more famous after she hosted the Emmy Awards on November 4, 2001. The show had been postponed twice because of concerns after the September 11 attacks but Ellen managed to host it with a respectful tone while still bringing some joy to viewers. She got a lot of applause for her performance, especially for a joke she made about the Taliban.
In 2005, just after Hurricane Katrina Ellen hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards for the second time after a big national tragedy. She’s also hosted the Grammy Awards twice before that.
Then on September 7, 2006, Ellen was chosen to host the 79th Academy Awards in 2007. This made her the first openly gay person to host the Oscars. During the show, she talked about diversity and how important it is. People loved her hosting and some even wished she had more time on stage.
Ellen DeGeneres was nominated for an Emmy Award for her hosting at the Oscars. And then in 2013, it was announced that she would host the Oscars again in 2014.
One of the most famous moments from the Oscars was when Ellen took a selfie with a bunch of celebrities during the show. It became one of the most retweeted tweets ever. Ellen wanted to beat a record held by Meryl Streep and the selfie did just that. It got millions of retweets in just a short time. It even beat the record set by Barack Obama after he won the presidential election in 2012.
Talk Show Host to Lifestyle Brand Mogul
Ellen DeGeneres kicked off her lifestyle brand called ED by Ellen back in 2015. Then she tweaked the name a bit to ED Ellen DeGeneres to include the licensed part of her brand. This brand covers a whole bunch of stuff like clothes shoes accessories stuff for your pets babies and things for your home. Ellen even launched a collection for dogs at PetSmart in 2017 followed by one for cats later that year.
In 2017, she came out with a collection to support her #BeKindToElephants campaign where proceeds went to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. She also started the Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund teaming up with the Digit Fund to help gorillas through selling tees and footwear.
You probably remember Ellen as the voice of Dory in Finding Nemo and its sequel. She won a bunch of awards for that making history with a Saturn Award for her voice acting.
She’s also been in some ads for American Express and CoverGirl which raised some eyebrows because CoverGirl’s parent company tests on animals and Ellen’s all about being kind to animals. But she’s been the face of CoverGirl and has won awards for her ads.
Ellen’s also big into charity events. She’s headlined galas worked with the David Lynch Foundation and even became a spokesperson for J. C. Penney.
You might have seen her line of home products on QVC or noticed TCL TVs being the official TV of her show for five seasons straight.
In 2018, Ellen DeGeneres teamed up with Walmart to create a budget-friendly fashion line called EV1. She’s also dabbled in music starting her record label called “eleveneleven” and signing singer Greyson Chance. Ellen said she’s drawn to the number 11:11 hence the name of her label.
Personal Life
Ellen DeGeneres makes a lot of money and is famous. Forbes says she earned $84 million in 2020 and has a net worth of $370 million. That puts her among the highest-paid entertainers in the world. Forbes also ranked her as one of the most powerful women.
She’s super popular on social media too. In 2018, she had over 76 million followers on Twitter and 55.8 million on Instagram. But in 2023 her Twitter followers dropped to 75 million and she slipped a bit in the rankings. However, her Instagram followers shot up to 139 million.
Ellen is a fan of NFL football but doesn’t have a favorite team. She’s shown support for teams like the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers.
In 1997, Ellen came out as gay. This was a big deal in the media and it affected her career. But over time her family became supportive. She’s been in relationships with different women including actress Anne Heche and photographer Alexandra Hedison before marrying Portia de Rossi in 2008.
Ellen used to be a vegan and cares a lot about animals. She’s supported organizations like the Humane Society and PETA. She even promoted “Meatless Mondays” on her show.
Ellen has also been involved in charity work. She’s spoken out about AIDS awareness and donated to wildlife conservation efforts in Africa.
In 2020, some people accused Ellen of creating a bad work environment on her show. There were reports of bullying and racism among the staff. Ellen apologized and said she’d make things better. Some executives left and the show promised to change its culture. Ellen apologized again on the show.
