A Tribute To Opera Winfrey

Born in Kosciusko, Mississippi.

Lands her first broadcasting job as a reporter for radio station WVOL in Nashville.

Enrolls in Tennessee State University to study speech and performing arts.

Named Nashville's Miss Fire Prevention.

Named Miss Black Tennessee.

Sophomore year at Tennessee State University; switches media and becomes the first African-American anchor at Nashville's WTVF-TV.

Moves to Baltimore to co-anchor the six o'clock news. Recruited to co-host Baltimore's WJZ-TV's local talk show, People Are Talking.

Relocates to Chicago to host WLS-TV's morning talk show, AM Chicago. Becomes the number one talk show one month later. In less than a year, show expands to one hour and is renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Film debut as "Sofia" in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, based on the novel by Alice Walker. Oprah receives nominations for a Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

The Oprah Winfrey Show enters syndication to remain the number one talk show for fourteen consecutive seasons, and to receive 34 Emmys seven that are for the host.

Plays the role of "Mrs. Thomas" in Native Son.

Hosts the 14th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Harpo Productions, Inc. renovates a gigantic production facility and builds itself a home.

Produces and stars as "Mattie Michael" in the miniseries,The Women of Brewster Place, which recounts the lives of the female denizens of an inner-city brownstone.

Hosts the 17th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards.

Makes cameo appearance on TV's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Executive produces and performs in the TV Series Brewster Place.

Initiates the National Child Protection Act, testifying in front of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee to establish a national database of convicted child abusers.

Hosts The Essence Awards.

Produces and hosts a TV Special, Oprah: Behind the Scenes.

President Clinton signs the national "Oprah Bill" into law, establishing a national database of convicted child abusers. Since then, Oprah has joined the Presidents' Summit, a call to action for volunteerism in our communities.

Hosts One Child, One Dream: The Horatio Alger Awards.

Produces and stars as "LaJoe Rivers" in the TV movie There Are No Children Here.

Pledges to refocus the show on uplifting, meaningful subjects.

For her 40th birthday, Oprah runs the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C.; finishes at 4:29:15.

Receives the George Foster Peabody Individual Achievement Award and the International Radio and Television Society's Gold Medal Award.

Begin Oprah's Book Club, an on-air reading club, intended to get the country excited about literature again. All Oprah Book Club selections to date have become instant bestsellers.

Signs contract with ABC to provide prime-time programming beginning with the 1996-97 season.

Named Newsweek's most important person in books and media.

Named TV Guide's Television Performer of the Year.

Launches Oprah's Angel Network, a campaign to encourage people to open their hearts and help those in need. Projects include "The World's Largest Piggy Bank," a collection of small change to help send fifty students to college and building homes in every market The Oprah Winfrey Show airs with Habitat for Humanity.

Plays "Ellen's Shrink" on the TV series Ellen.

Executive produces and performs as "Miss Zora" in the TV movie Before Women Had Wings with Ellen Barkin.

Named one of the 100 Most Influential People of the 20th Century by Time Magazine.

Receives the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Lifetime Achievement Award.

Announces she will continue to produce and host The Oprah Winfrey Show until 2002.

Oprah graces the cover of Vogue.

Beloved premieres. In Beloved, Oprah plays "Sethe", a woman who escapes from slavery but is haunted by its heritage. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Toni Morrison, the film is directed by Academy Award®-winner Jonathan Demme.

Announces she will join producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner (Cosby, Roseanne) and Geraldine Laybourne (Nickelodeon) to launch Oxygen Media, Inc. a cable channel and interactive network for women.

Becomes "Professor Winfrey" teaching along with Stedman Graham at Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Presented with the National Book Foundation's 50th anniversary gold medal for all that Oprah's Book Club has done for books and authors.

from Oprah Winfrey's 1999 National Book Award acceptance

September 2000, Oprah's Angel Network begins presenting the $100,000 "Use Your Life Award" every Monday to people who are using their lives to improve the lives of others.

Oprah Winfrey signs a new two-year contract with King World Productions to continue as host and producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show through the 2003-2004 television season.