Born: January 29, 1954, Kosciusko, MS

Education: Tennessee State University, B.A., 1976

Born in Mississippi poverty and raised by her grandmother in Milwaukee, Winfrey had a difficult childhood (raped at a very young age). She came of age in Nashville, Tennessee with her father. Working at a radio station, she rose from high school and college newscaster to media icon.

Before fans embraced her as a talk-show host, she portrayed the tragic Sofia in The Color Purple, earning five Best Supporting Actress nominations. Critics also liked her in Native Son, based on the novel by Richard Wright.

She took television and America by storm. The Oprah Winfrey Show was peerless. Her keys for audience appeal turned on emotion, empathy, literature, self-improvement, and spirituality. Popular guests appeared and the show explored “uplifting, meaningful subjects.” Race was rarely explicit but a subtext in guests’ personal experiences of failure, faith, illness, and relating to others. Oprah's Book Club selections tended to entwine race in stories of class, gender, love, or religion. Oprah's Angel Network supported charities and antipoverty agencies around the world, helping the truly disadvantaged. Also, she created The World's Largest Piggy Bank to finance all college expenses for fifty students. Today a philanthropist of international significance, she donates generously to education, including black colleges, Chicago Public Schools, and Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.