Ellen DeGeneres booking

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Ellen DeGeneres is arguably the most famous gay female comedian on the planet, with a string of top
comedy shows and her own talk show, Ellen has worked hard challenging public opinion of openly gay
relationships in the spotlight.
“For me, it’s that I contributed, … That I’m on this planet doing some good and making people happy.
That’s to me the most important thing, that my hour of television is positive and upbeat and an antidote
for all the negative stuff going on in life.” Ellen Lee DeGeneres was born 26 January 1958 in New
Orleans, Louisiana. She was the daughter of an insurance salesman and a working mother who were
divorced when DeGeneres was a teenager. When she was growing up she dreamed of becoming a
veterinarian but she gave up the idea because she was not book smart. Instead, she waited tables,
sold vacuum cleaners, painted houses, worked as a legal secretary. DeGeneres’ older brother, Vance,
was the creator of the Play-Doh character Mr. Bill on the long-running NBC comedy skit programme
‘Saturday Night Live’, and was long considered the humorous member of the family. Then, once,
during a public speaking event, DeGeneres found herself frightened by the crowd and used humour to
get through the experience. She was a hit, and received offers to do stand-up comedy. She began
performing in 1981, bolstered by her mother’s moral and financial support. At the age of 23, she began
performing at a local coffeehouse. She made her big debut in 1986 when, acting on a tip from Jay
Leno, ‘The Tonight Show’ starring Johnny Carson sent a booking agent to catch her act at the Improv
in Hollywood. As a result of that engagement, DeGeneres was invited onto ‘The Tonight Show’ and
earned the distinction of being the only female comic to be invited by Johnny Carson to sit on the
famed ‘couch’ during her first visit.
She then began making regular appearances on the talk show circuit, including performances on ‘The
Late Show with David Letterman’, ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’, ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’, ‘Later
with Greg Kinnear’, ‘Larry King Live’, and ‘Good Morning, America’. She was also profiled in detail on
ABC’s ‘PrimeTime Live’. Her wit won over audiences, and DeGeneres finally found success as an
actress with her own prime-time sitcom, the self-titled television series, ‘Ellen’. The series was
originally titled ‘These Friends of Mine’, but was renamed in 1994. From that point, she enjoyed a
dizzying evolution from its beginnings as an ensemble show to its development into a showcase for
DeGeneres. The show faced strong criticism when, in April 1997, DeGeneres’ character became the
first lead in sitcom history to openly acknowledge her homosexuality on air. An ABC affiliate in
Birmingham, Alabama, refused to air the landmark episode. Fearing controversy, some of the show’s
sponsors, Daimler Chrysler among them, withdrew advertisements. Several episodes following her
reveal had gay themes and, throughout the remainder of the season, DeGeneres and ABC executives
faced a storm of criticism. But the show also received rounds of applause from gay-friendly activists
including DeGeneres’ mother, Betty Degeneres, who appeared on numerous talk shows in support of
her daughter. Despite a supportive audience; an Emmy Award for the coming-out episode; and the
show’s groundbreaking place in television history; ‘Ellen’ was cancelled in 1998. But DeGeneres had
already made the move to the big screen, starring in the dark comedy ‘Mr. Wrong’ (1996) as a woman
in search of the perfect man. She has also appeared in the comedy ‘EdTV’ (1999), starring Matthew
McConaughey, and the television production of ‘If These Walls Could Talk 2′ (2000), in which she
shared a much publicised love scene with Sharon Stone.
Returning to television in 2003, Ellen DeGeneres became a big hit with daytime viewers with her selftitled talk show, ‘Ellen’. Since its inception, the show has won an Emmy, nearly a dozen Daytime
Emmy Awards, and numerous People’s Choice Awards. In 2003, DeGeneres lent her voice to the
animated box office smash, ‘Finding Nemo’. The next year she received two Emmy Award
nominations for her stand-up comedy special ‘Ellen DeGeneres: Here and Now’.

A unique combination of kind and funny, Ellen DeGeneres has been a popular choice for award show
host in recent years. She has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards twice, and the Academy Awards for
the first time in 2007. In September of 2009, Ellen made headlines again when she was chosen to fill
the coveted fourth slot as a judge on the ninth season of ‘American Idol’. Former judge Paula Abdul
announced her departure from the show earlier in the year. Show executives had been searching for a
replacement for several months. In addition to her stand-up, film, and television career, Degeneres is
also the author of several books, including ‘My Point … and I Do Have One’ (1995) and ‘The Funny
Thing Is…’ (2004). For several years, DeGeneres dated actress Anne Heche and, in 1999, the couple
bought a home together in Los Angeles. Although at one point they publicly announced their desire to
be married, the couple broke up in August 2000. DeGeneres then dated Alexandra Hedison for a few
years before becoming involved with actress Portia de Rossi in December 2004.
DeGeneres married de Rossi on 16 August 2008, in what was perhaps the highest-profile gay
marriage after California legalised the unions.