Entrepreneur
Oprah Winfrey
Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29, 1954,
in Kosciusko, Mississippi.
She entered Tennessee State University
in 1971 and began working in radio and
television broadcasting in Nashville.
In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore, where she hosted the TV chat show, People Are Talking.
Eight years later, she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show, A.M. Chicago.
Her success led to nationwide fame and a role in Steven Spielberg's 1985 film, The Color Purple, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Winfrey launched the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986 as a nationally syndicated program.
he soon gained ownership of the program from ABC, drawing it under the control of her new production company, Harpo Productions ('Oprah' spelled backwards) and making more and more money from syndication.
Winfrey campaigned for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in December 2007, attracting the largest crowds of the primary season to that point.
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