èPARA éPAR@ ` :TEXT ` ,Winfrey, Oprah1954╨talk-show host, actor and producerBorn on January 29, 1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi, Oprah Winfrey spent her earliest years on her grandmother╒s farm. At six she moved to Milwaukee to live with her mother, but within a few years she began to be abused by male family members and acquaintances there. Sent at age twelve to live with her father in Nashville, Tennessee, she began to excel in school and more than once was promoted a grade level ahead of her schoolmates. In high school, after becoming involved in extracurricular activities including drama and speech programs, she was hired to broadcast news at a local radio station. She then earned a scholarship to study speech and drama at Tennessee State University in Nashville, where, in her sophomore year, she joined WTVF-TV, a CBS affiliate, as the first African-American woman in Nashville to coanchor the local evening news. After graduation she left WTVF for a position as reporter and coanchor for the six o╒clock news with WJZ-TV, an ABC affiliate in Baltimore. In 1977 Winfrey began hosting the station╒s morning talk show, People are Talking. In 1984, she moved to WLS-TV in Chicago to host A.M. Chicago, a talk show which was losing its viewers to competing talk-show host Phil Donahue. Within three months, A.M. Chicago topped its competitor╒s ratings, and by 1985 Winfrey's program had been expanded to an hour and renamed The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 1986, her show was syndicated nationally, and Winfrey formed her own TV production company, Harpo Productions.By 1994 The Oprah Winfrey Show boasted several Emmy awards and 17 million viewers, and Winfrey had become one of the most recognizable personalities in the United States. Unconstrained by journalism╒s demands of objectivity, Winfrey used her program to would draw people out with her warmth and directness, often eliciting moving and personal tales from both guests and audience members.Her success as a talk-show host also led to an acting career. In 1985, Winfrey appeared in Steven Spielberg╒s adaptation of Alice Walker╒s novel, The Color Purple. Playing the role of Sofia, she earned nominations for both an Academy award and a Golden Globe award. She later appeared in the film adaptation of Richard Wright╒s Native Son and an acclaimed TV mini-series, The Women of Brewster Place, 1989. A respected businesswoman, she also began buying film rights to literary works, including Beloved, Toni Morrison╒s tale of slavery, and Kaffir Boy, Mark Mathabane╒s South African autobiography.An outspoken crusader against child abuse, Winfrey established a ╥little sisters╙ program in Chicago╒s Cabrini-Green housing project; she also created a training program to help people of color gain production skills and access to jobs in the film and television industry. In 1986 she received the Woman of Achievement award from the National Organization for Women. The National Association for the Advancement Colored People also recognized Winfrey four times with its Image award, 1989-1992, and in 1989 it named her Entertainer of the Year. styl ` & ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ 9 !I ≥ 5¬ ≤ !I ù 5¬ ÿ !I f !I x !I ½ !I ╖ !I " !I . !I ù !I ¡ !I " 5¬ # !I + !I A !I ¿ 5¬ ⌐ !I & !I ▐ 2 !I < !I L !I ÷ !I !I " !I = !I á !I º !I ⌐ !I ▐ ╢ !I ╬ !I ╪ !I
