Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey had a troubled childhood and adolescence. In her teens, she left for Nashville to live with her father. She enrolled in Tennessee State University in 1971 and began working in radio and television broadcasting.

In the early 1980s, she began hosting AM Chicago. It became a success, leading Winfrey to nationwide fame. A role in the 1985 film The Color Purple followed and earned Winfrey an Academy Award nomination.

The Oprah Winfrey Show entered national syndication in 1986 and became the highest-rated talk show in television history. The show was broadcast in more than 100 countries worldwide in its 25-year run. In 1986, Winfrey established Harpo Studios, making her the third woman in the American entertainment industry to own her own studio. Her monthly publication, O, The Oprah Magazine, debuted in 2000. As a producer, she helped give new life to The Color Purple on Broadway in 2005, eventually winning a Tony for Best Revival of a Musical.

Winfrey has received many honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and inclusion among TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” from 2004-2011. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.