Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey is America’s first lady of talk shows, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, broadcast from Chicago, which was the highest-rated television program of its kind in history and ran in national syndication for 25 years from 1986 to 2011. Dubbed the “Queen of All Media”, she was the richest African American of the 20th century and North America’s first black multi-billionaire, and she has been ranked the greatest black philanthropist in American history. Winfrey has made generous contributions to charitable organizations and institutions such as Morehouse College, the Harold Washington Library, the United Negro College Fund, and Tennessee State University. In 2006, she gave $58,300,000 to charity to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy, Oprah’s Angel Network, and other groups. By 2007, she was sometimes ranked as the most influential woman in the world. Winfrey has won many accolades throughout her career which includes 18 Daytime Emmy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Chairman’s Award, 2 Primetime Emmy Awards, including the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, a Tony Award, a Peabody Award and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, awarded by the Academy Awards and two additional Academy Award nominations. In 2013, She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama. Oprah has become the first African American woman to own a cable network. It is called OWN, which stands for Oprah Winfrey Network.