DeGeneres, Ellen

Popular stand-up comedian and television star Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian in 1997, making her a cultural icon and also engendering tremendous backlash and the cancellation of her popular television show. Coming out, first on The Oprah Winfrey Show and then on her sitcom Ellen, made DeGeneres a pioneering spokeswoman for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues. Subsequently, her relationships, her gender identity, and her sexual orientation have provided many women and men with an accessible, friendly, and down-to-earth model for lesbianism. Her public struggles with homophobia and bad relationships have drawn compassion from many viewers and have highlighted the continued marginalization of lesbian and bisexual women in Hollywood and by the media.

DeGeneres was born in Louisiana in 1958, where her parents Betty and Elliott DeGeneres raised her as a Christian Scientist until they separated in 1973. Her mother remarried after the divorce; she and DeGeneres moved from Louisiana to Texas. DeGeneres later returned to New Orleans for college but completed only a semester of school before leaving to work at a law firm with her cousin. She held a range of odd jobs during this period as she began to pursue stand-up comedy as her profession.

Heavily influenced by Woody Allen and Steve Martin, DeGeneres quickly became the emcee at Clyde's Comedy Club in New Orleans in 1981. After touring with her comedy routine, she was named Showtime's “Funniest Person in America” in 1982. She achieved substantial success in the 1980s, most notably becoming the first female comedian that Johnny Carson invited over for an onscreen chat after her performance on the Tonight Show in 1986.

DeGeneres transformed her stand-up comedy into the sitcom Ellen (originally called These Friends of Mine), which ran from 1994 until 1998. She would not return to serial television until 2001, when The Ellen Show began airing on CBS. In 2003, she turned her attention to a daytime talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show. DeGeneres has appeared in several supporting roles in films including Coneheads (1993), Mr. Wrong (1996), and Goodbye Lover (1998). She also garnered rave reviews for her voice work as Dori in the Pixar film Finding Nemo (2003). She has written two books- My Point-And I Do Have One (1995) and The Funny Thing Is … (2003).

After she came out as a lesbian on The Oprah Winfrey Show, DeGeneres became a pioneering figure for LGBT rights. As Jennifer Baumgardner has suggested in Look Both Ways, DeGeneres “brought a familiar and loved visage to the scary debate” surrounding AIDS and LGBT sexuality during the 1990s.

DeGeneres's relationship with Anne Heche-a relationship in which Heche publicly called DeGeneres her wife but that ended when Heche left DeGeneres for a man-highlighted some of the continuing tensions within LGBT culture between lesbians and bisexuals, and also in media representations of sexual choices.

DeGeneres dated Alexandra Hedison from 2001 to 2004, with whom she appeared on the cover of The Advocate; she left Hedison for the Australian actress Portia de Rossi, star of the television shows Ally McBeal and Arrested Development. After California overturned the Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage, DeGeneres and de Rossi married.

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