“I learned compassion from being discriminated against. Everything bad that’s ever happened to me has taught me compassion”, says Ellen DeGeneres, an American comedian, and TV show host

Who doesn’t know Ellen from the very popular ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’? Her YouTube channel, ‘ellentube’ is one of the most subscribed channels and is running successfully till date. Be it a comedian, television host, actress, writer, or producer, Ellen has always added feathers to her cap in all her roles.

Ellen DeGeneres was born on January 26, 1958, in Metairie, Louisiana. Before she started her career as a comedian, Ellen worked as a bartender, a paralegal, as well as, as a waitress at T.G.I Friday’s. She began performing stand-up comedy at clubs and coffee houses and soon received a lot of applaud and recognition. She was even titled Showtime’s “funniest person in America”.

Ellen’s work and achievements have a long list: She has starred in many films and played the lead character in two television sitcoms, ‘Ellen’, aired from 1994-98 and then followed ‘The Ellen Show’ but it didn’t receive much love from the audience and was off-aired in a year.

Furthermore, Ellen has written 4 books, hosted the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and the Primetime Emmys. Hosting Emmy awards after the 9/11 attack was very courageous on Ellen's part as such a ceremony sounded inappropriate after the tragedy. But she did an excellent job with her brilliant performance and she received a lot of applauds that evening especially when she quoted, “What would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?”

She has won 30 Emmy awards, 20 People’s Choice Awards and many other honors and awards for her tremendous contribution to the entertainment industry and charitable works. In 2016, she was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States.

However, none of this was a cakewalk. Ellen had to face a lot of criticism after she came out as a gay in public on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Her character in the sitcom also came out of the closet during that time, and she was the first gay lead character on TV ever. But soon the show experienced falling down due to the sensitive content of homosexuality. Her professional career got severely affected since the revelation of her sexual orientation. She fought against her depression, and the stereotypical attitude of society and married the love of her life, Portia de Rossi.

She made a strong comeback as a talk show host and has interviewed many eminent personalities and celebrities. As an LGBT activist and a social worker, she has campaigned and voiced for the rights of animals and weaker section of society.  She is an exemplary icon, one who has a lot to inspire the world with!