Oprah Gail Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) is an American media executive, actress, talk show host, television producer, and philanthropist. She is best known for The Oprah Winfrey Show, which aired nationally from 1986 to 2011 and was the highest-rated program of its kind. She was the richest African American of the 20th century and North America's first black multi-billionaire. Winfrey has been ranked the greatest black philanthropist in American history and has sometimes been recognized as the most influential woman in the world.
Born into poverty in Mississippi, Winfrey was raised in Milwaukee. She faced childhood abuse and teenage pregnancy, with her son dying in infancy. She later lived with Vernon Winfrey in Tennessee and began a career in radio and television, becoming a co-anchor by age 19. She transformed a low-rated Chicago talk show into a top-rated program, then launched her own production company and syndication. Winfrey is credited with popularizing a confessional style of media and breaking taboos around LGBT representation on television. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. By the mid-1990s, her show focused on literature, self-improvement, mindfulness, and spirituality. She played a political role in the 2008 presidential race by influencing votes for Barack Obama. In 2013, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and honorary doctorates from Duke and Harvard. In 2008, she founded the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).
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