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Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958 in New
Orleans, Louisiana) is an American
actress, stand-up comedian, and most
recently, host of a Television
syndication|syndicated talk show.

==Career==
DeGeneres rose to national attention when her
material was turned into the subject matter for
the successful 1990s Situation comedy|sitcom,
Ellen (TV show)|Ellen (called These Friends of
Mine during its first season).  The show was
popular for its first few seasons due in part to
DeGeneres's style of quirky observational humor. 

The show reached its height of attention in April
1997 when DeGeneres (and her character on the
show) came out of the closet and publicly declared
that she was a lesbian.  In spite of the
controversy, or perhaps because of it, the Coming
out|outing episode was one of the highest-rated
episodes of the show. As one of the first openly
gay performers playing an openly gay character on
television, she was all but forced into a role as
a gay rights activist. Her sitcom seemed to turn
entirely into a show about homosexuality; lesbian
activist Chastity Bono found the show to be "too
gay".  After sinking ratings, the show was
cancelled, and DeGeneres returned to the stand-up
comedy circuit.

DeGeneres returned to television in 2001 in
television|2001 with a new sitcom, The Ellen Show.
Though her character was again lesbian, it was not
the central theme of the show. It received
critical praise but low viewership and was
cancelled after one season. Some speculated that
DeGeneres's star had faded. However, in 2002
DeGeneres redeemed herself as hostess of the 2002
Emmy Awards. Hosted following three cancellations
due to terror threats following the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks, the show required a newer,
more somber tone that at the same time allowed
viewers to temporarily forget the tragedy.
DeGeneres delivered, receiving several standing
ovations for her performance that evening. She
memorably delivered the following line: "We're
told to go on living our lives as usual, because
to do otherwise is to let the terrorists win, and
really, what would upset the Taliban more than a
gay woman wearing a suit in front of a room full
of Jews?"

DeGeneres has also performed two critically
acclaimed stand-up routines, the first was called
Ellen DeGeneres: The Beginning (2000) and was
taped live at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
Her most recent one which was taped in the same
location was entitled Ellen DeGeneres: Here and
Now (2003). 

DeGeneres lent her voice to the role of "Dory" in
the 2003 hit animated film Finding Nemo. The film
returned DeGeneres to the limelight, with critics
giving her rave reviews. Many speculate that
DeGeneres would have been nominated for a Best
Supporting Actress Academy Award|Oscar if not for
the Academy voters' seemingly suspicious attitudes
towards non-live action performance work.

In September of 2003 DeGeneres launched a daytime
television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Amid a crop of several talk shows surfacing in
2003 and hosted by high-profile
celebrity|celebrities (including Sharon Osbourne
and Rita Rudner), DeGeneres's show has
consistently risen in the Nielsen Ratings and
received widespread critical praise.  DeGeneres'
show was nominated for eleven Emmy Award|Daytime
Emmy Awards its freshman season, winning four,
including Best Talk Show.

Since November 2004, DeGeneres has appeared in a
new ad campaign for American Express. Since May
2005 she's been a contributing blogger at The
Huffington Post.

Ellen also stars in an attraction at Disneyland's
Epcot in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. She plays
opposite Bill Nye(the science guy) in The Universe
of Energy. The ride has since been renamed to
"Ellen's Energy Adventure".

==Personal life==
Her relationship with former Another World (TV
series)|Another World actress Anne Heche turned
into fodder for the tabloid press.  After several
years in the spotlight, Heche broke up with her.
DeGeneres then dated photographer Alexandra
Hedison for several years, and they appeared on
the cover of Advocate magazine (ironically, after
their split had already been announced to the
press). DeGeneres is now in a committed
relationship with the Arrested Development star,
Portia de Rossi.

==Bibliography==
*My Point... and I do Have One
*The Funny Thing Is...

==Discography==
*Ellen Degeneres: Taste This

==Partial filmography==
*Finding Nemo (2003)
*If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000)
*The Love Letter (1999)
*Edtv (1999)
*Mr. Wrong (1996)

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

Ellen Lee DeGeneres (born January 26, 1958 in New
Orleans, Louisiana) is an United States|American
actor|actress, stand-up comedian, and, most
recently, host of a Television
syndication|syndicated talk show.

==Career==
DeGeneres rose to national attention when her
material was turned into the subject matter for
the successful 1990s Situation comedy|sitcom,
Ellen (TV show)|Ellen (called These Friends of
Mine during its first season).  The show was
popular in its first few seasons due in part to
DeGeneres's style of quirky observational humor;
it was often referred to as a female Seinfeld.

The show reached its height of attention in April
1997 when DeGeneres (and her character on the
show) came out of the closet and publicly declared
that she was a lesbian.  In spite of the
controversy, or perhaps because of it, the Coming
out|outing episode was one of the highest-rated
episodes of the show. As one of the first openly
gay performers playing an openly gay character on
television, she was all but forced into a role as
a gay rights activist. Her sitcom seemed to turn
entirely into a show about homosexuality; lesbian
activist Chastity Bono found the show to be "too
gay".  After sinking ratings, the show was
cancelled, and DeGeneres returned to the stand-up
comedy circuit.

DeGeneres returned to television in 2001 in
television|2001 with a new sitcom, The Ellen Show.
Though her character was again lesbian, it was not
the central theme of the show. It received
critical praise but low viewership and was
cancelled after one season. Some speculated that
DeGeneres's star had faded. However, in 2002
DeGeneres redeemed herself as hostess of the 2002
Emmy Awards. Hosted following three cancellations
due to terror threats following the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks, the show required a newer,
more somber tone that at the same time allowed
viewers to temporarily forget the tragedy.
DeGeneres delivered, receiving several standing
ovations for her performance that evening. She
memorably delivered the following line: "We're
told to go on living our lives as usual, because
to do otherwise is to let the terrorists win, and
really, what would upset the Taliban more than a
gay woman wearing a suit in front of a room full
of Jews?"

DeGeneres has also performed two critically
acclaimed stand-up routines, the first was called
Ellen DeGeneres: The Beginning (2000) and was
taped live at the Beacon Theatre in New York City.
Her most recent one which was taped in the same
location was entitled Ellen DeGeneres: Here and
Now (2003). 

DeGeneres lent her voice to the role of "Dory" in
the 2003 hit animated film Finding Nemo. The film
returned DeGeneres to the limelight, with critics
giving her rave reviews. Many speculate that
DeGeneres would have been nominated for a Best
Supporting Actress Academy Award|Oscar if not for
the Academy voters' seemingly suspicious attitudes
towards non-live action performance work.

In September of 2003 DeGeneres launched a daytime
television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
Amid a crop of several talk shows surfacing in
2003 and hosted by high-profile
celebrity|celebrities (including Sharon Osbourne
and Rita Rudner), DeGeneres's show has
consistently risen in the Nielsen Ratings and
received widespread critical praise.  DeGeneres'
show was nominated for eleven Emmy Award|Daytime
Emmy Awards its freshman season, winning four,
including Best Talk Show.

Since November 2004, DeGeneres has appeared,
dancing, in a new ad campaign for American
Express. Since May 2005 she's been a contributing
blogger at The Huffington Post.

Ellen also stars in an attraction at Walt Disney
World's Epcot in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. She
plays opposite Bill Nye (the science guy) and
Jamie Lee Curtis in the Universe of Energy
pavilion. In 1996, the ride was renamed as
"Ellen's Energy Adventure."

==Personal life==
Her relationship with former Another World (TV
series)|Another World actress Anne Heche turned
into fodder for the tabloid press.  After several
years in the spotlight, Heche broke up with her.
DeGeneres then dated photographer Alexandra
Hedison for several years, and they appeared on
the cover of Advocate magazine (ironically, after
their split had already been announced to the
press). DeGeneres is now in a committed
relationship with the Arrested Development star,
Portia de Rossi.

==Bibliography==
*My Point... and I do Have One
*The Funny Thing Is...

==Discography==
*Ellen Degeneres: Taste This

==Partial filmography==
*Finding Nemo (2003)
*If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000)
*The Love Letter (1999)
*Edtv (1999)
*Mr. Wrong (1996)



==External links==
*imdb name|id=0001122|name=Ellen DeGeneres
*http://ellen.warnerbros.com/ The Ellen DeGeneres
Show official website
*http://www.pub.umich.edu/daily/1999/apr/04-09-99/
news/news5.html DeGeneres talks about coming out
experience, an April 1999 article about her
appearance at the University of Michigan
*http://www.sbts.edu/mohler/FidelitasRead.php?arti
cle=fidel017 Commentary on Ellen's "coming out"
from the website of the Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary


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