Oprah Winfrey was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Growing up was a hardship for her. “At six years old Winfrey was sent north to join her mother and two half-brothers in a Milwaukee ghetto, an extremely poor and dangerous neighborhood. At twelve years old she was sent to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee” (Oprah Winfrey Biography). While living in a bad and poor neighborhood, at age nine many family members sexually abused her. She did not let that stop her and became determined to turn her life around, Oprah went to school and did very well at Tennessee State University along with getting to be the first African American on the evening news as a co anchor. Her life and career took off from there, which is why …show more content…
A few popular examples of entertainment that Oprah has acted in are A Wrinkle in Time, Greenleaf, Brewster Place, and The Color Purple (“Oprah Winfrey.” IMDb) . She produced many of the films that she starred in. “In 1998, she produced and starred in the feature film Beloved, adapted from the book by the Nobel Prize-winning American author Toni Morrison” (Oprah Winfrey.” Academy of Achievement) . Oprah is known as a great actor because of her strong roles and the way she portrays the person she is playing. She does not think of it as just another acting job, she views it as a way to touch the viewers. “Oprah appears to revel in highlighting the overlooked stories of black women” (Adewunmi, Bim). This quote explains how seriously Winfrey takes feminism. She loves to play the role of a strong, independent black women to help children, just like her, that had a hard time growing up and not having a good chance in life because of their ethnicity and gender. Roles such as Lee Daniels the Butler and The Color Purple, we see her doing just that. Oprah Winfrey has such a notorious acting career that is loved by people all around the world which makes her a significant American …show more content…
“While viewers may have not personally experienced everything guest shared while sitting across from Oprah, it was her ability to find something in each story that was universal or could relate” (The Oprah Winfrey Show: 'Hour-long life lessons' that changed TV forever). She would open up on her show, discussing her experiences with sexual abuse and segregation, making everyone who watched feel like she was their friend. She made everyone feel comfortable and showed that it is okay to talk about your problems and views of the world. “She seemed to love her people more than the people loved her” (Ibid). Oprah used her show to help and to give, “As she grew in popularity, she began to use her show as a platform to not only tell stories of those whom we may ignore or be fascinated by, but also to help raise up those she respected and loved” (Ibid). The show had a 25 year run, ending on May 25, 2011. With every segment that she had on her show, she was certain to touch human lives with whatever she had to show. One great example of this is in 1988 when she showed everyone on her talk show that she had lost 67 pounds. Instead of just telling everyone that she lost that much, she decided to show them what that fat looks like. “Winfrey added a visual aid, wheeling out a red wagon holding 67 pounds of fat” (Jones, Isabel.) . One other example is