OPRAH WINFREY

Oprah Winfrey, nada o 29 de xaneiro de 1954 en Kosciusko, Mississippi, é unha periodista, presentadora de programas de entrevistas, executiva de medios de comunicación, produtora de televisión, actriz, empresaria, crítica de libros e filántropa estadounidense.

É máis coñecida polo seu programa “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, que se emitiu entre 1986 e 2011 e foi o programa de entrevistas máis visto da historia, e polo que gañou varias veces o Premio Emmy. Tamén é unha influínte crítica de libros, actriz nominada a un Premio Óscar e editora da súa propia revista. Apodada “A Raíña de Tódolos Medios”, foi a afroamericana máis acaudalada do século XX, e a primeira multi-billonaria de raza negra de América do Norte. Foi cualificada como a filántropa afroamericana máis grande na historia americana. Tamén foi considerada varias veces como a muller máis influínte do mundo.

Naceu na pobreza no Mississippi rural, dunha nai solteira adolescente. Máis tarde criouse na cidade de Milwaukee. Afirmou que abusaron dela na súa nenez e os primeiros anos da adolescencia; quedou embarazada con 14 anos e sufriu un aborto. Entón foi enviada a vivir co home que ella chama o seu pai, Vernon Winfrey, un barbeiro en Tennessee, e conseguiu un traballo na radio mentres aínda estaba no instituto.

Cando tiña 19 anos, xa era copresentadora das noticias da tarde locais. A súa forma de falar a miúdo emotiva e improvisada finalmente levouna a pasar ó ámbito dos programas de entrevistas diurnos, e de seguido impulsou un programa de entrevistas de Chicago ata a primeira posición no ranking de audiencias.

En 1986 foi nominada ó Óscar como mellor actriz secundaria polo seu papel en A Cor Púrpura, e fundou a súa propia productora, Harpo Productions.

Recoñecida pola creación dunha forma de comunicación confesional máis íntima, popularizou e revolucionou o xénero dos programas de entrevistas. A través deste medio, rachou tabús do século XX e permiteu ás persoas LGBTQ entrar na cultura dominante a través de aparicións na televisión. En 1994, foi iniciada no National Women’s Hall of Fame.

A mediados dos 90, cando os programas de entrevistas comezaron a derivar cara ó telelixo, Oprah optou por soste-los seus propios criterios e afasta-lo seu programa desa tendencia, centrándose na literatura, a superación persoal ou a concienciación.

Ó longo da súa vida, superou a adversidade para transformarse nunha benefactora para outros. O 3 de agosto de 2011, despois de remata-lo o seu programa, a Academia de Artes e Ciencias Cinematográficas anunciou que sería galardoada co premio Óscar Humanitario Jean Hersholt, como recoñecemento ó seu labor polas causas sociais e filantrópicas.

En 2011, lanzou a súa propia cadea de televisión, a Oprah Winfrey Network.

En 2013, Obama concedeulle a Medalla Presidencial Da Liberdade, e recibiu doctorados honoris causa das Universidades de Duke e Harvard.

Nos Golden Globes de 2018, mentres se convertía na primeira muller negra en acepta-lo premio Cecil B. DeMille pola súa traxectoria, Oprah realizou un poderoso discurso sobre o acoso sexual, a discriminación racial e a liberdade de prensa, despois do cal moitas persoas suxeririon que debería presentarse como candidata ás eleccións presidenciais de 2020. Entre outras cousas, afirmou: “Durante moito tempo, as mulleres non foron escoitadas nin cridas se se atrevían a plantarlle cara ó poder deses homes coa verdade, pero o seu tempo acabouse”.

Oprah Winfrey, born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi, is a journalist, talk show host, media executive, television producer, actress, businesswoman, book critic and American philanthropist.

She is best known for "The Oprah Winfrey Show", which was broadcasted between 1986 and 2011 and was the most watched talk show in history, and for that she has won the Emmy Award several times. She is also an influential critic of books, an actress nominated for an Oscar Award and editor of her own magazine. Dubbed "The Queen of All Media," she was the wealthiest Afro-American of the twentieth century, and the first black multi-billionaire of North America. She was described as the greatest African American philanthropist in American history. She has also been considered several times as the most influential woman in the world.

She was born in poverty in rural Mississippi, to a teenage single mother. She was later raised in the city of Milwaukee. She has affirmed that she was molested in her childhood and the first years of her adolescence; she got pregnant when she was 14 and she underwent an abortion. She then was sent to live with the man she called her father, Vernon Winfrey, a barber in Tennessee, and got a job in the radio while she was still in high school.

When she was 19, she was already a co-host for the local evening news. Her often emotional and impovised way of speaking eventually led her to the field of daytime talk shows, and she promptly promoted a Chicago talk show to the top position in the audience ranking.

In 1986 she was nominated for an oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Color Purple, and founded her own production company, Harpo Productions.

Recognised for the creation of a more intimate confessional form of media communication, she popularised and revolutionized the genre of talk shows. Through this medium, she broke taboos of the twentieth century and allowed LGBTQ people to enter the mainstream through TV appearances. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

In the mid-90s, when talk shows began to drift towards trash television, Oprah chose to maintain her own criteria and distance her program from that trend, focusing on literature, personal development or awareness.

Throughout her life she overcame adversity to become a benefactor for others. On August 3, 2011, after finishing her show, the Academy of Arts and Cinematographic Sciences announced that she would be awarded the Humanitarian Oscar Jean Hersholt Award, as a recognition for her work for the social and philanthropic causes.

In 2011, she launched her own television network, the Oprah Winfrey Network.

In 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Obama, and received honorary doctorate degrees from the universities of Duke and Harvard.

In the Golden Globes of 2018, while becoming the first black woman to accept the Cecil B. DeMille award for her career, Oprah held a powerful speech on sexual harassment, racial discrimination and press freedom, after which many people suggested she should stand as a candidate for the presidential elections of 2020. Among other things, she said: “For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dared to speak their truth to the power of those men, but their time is up.”