1. A Leader Study

2.  Name: Ellen DeGeneres  Date of Birth:January 26, 1958  Birth Place: Metairie, La.  Comedian, Talk Show Host, Actress, Humanitarian, Philanthropist, & Kindness Ambassador

3.  Becoming a poster child for the gay movement may never have been part of Ellen DeGeneres' lifelong to- do list, but the snappy one-liner queen created a media whirlwind when she came out on the cover of Time in 1997.  The resulting controversy put pressure on her then relationship, contributed to the cancellation of her popular sitcom, Ellen, and left her mired in depression for three years. But, she rebounded as the daffy voice of Dory in Disney's Finding Nemo and topped the ratings and the Emmys with her hit talk show.  DeGeneres, who is the face of CoverGirl and served as a judge on American Idol, married longtime girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi, in 2008. She went on to host the Oscars for a second time in 2014

4.  Ellen DeGeneres turned down a role in Friends before starring in Ellen.  Before she got her start in comedy, Ellen DeGeneres worked as a vacuum cleaner saleswoman, TGIFriday's waitress and an oyster shucker in New Orleans.  There is a ride featuring Ellen DeGeneres at Walt Disney World's Epcot park – Ellen's Energy World.  Oprah Winfrey played Ellen DeGeneres' therapist on the 1997 "coming out" episode of Ellen. DeGeneres' friends Laura Dern, Demi Moore, Melissa Etheridge, K.D. lang and Billy Bob Thornton also made cameos.  Ellen DeGeneres used to love Hot Sox – tall, glittery socks popular in the early '70s. But after moving to small-town Texas, she decided to give them away: "I'm going to a place where they have gun racks on the back of the pickup trucks…I just have to get rid of anything weird," she told The New York Times in 2001.

5. 19741980  Teenage Trauma DeGeneres and her mother leave New Orleans for the small town of Atlanta, Texas. Her older brother Vance, 18, stays in New Orleans with their father, Elliott, an insurance salesman. In Texas, DeGeneres is secretly molested by her new stepfather as her mother struggles with breast cancer. After she graduates high school and moves back to New Orleans, she finally tells her mother the truth.  Comedic Tribute DeGeneres, 21, develops a relationship with Kathy Perkoff, 23, a poet. "They were two very creative people, crazy and young and very much in love," Perkoff's sister Rachel remembers. The pair's happiness is abruptly cut short when Perkoff dies in a car accident. Afterwards, DeGeneres writes her first monologue, "A Phone Call to God," about mortality, and performs it at her first stand- up job, emceeing at a New Orleans comedy club. Her performance wins her the 1984 Showtime's Funniest Person in America award.

6. 1986“Heeeeeere’s Johnny!”  DeGeneres becomes the first female comedian Johnny Carson invites for a chat on the couch on The Tonight Show. "I'm sitting on this mattress infested with fleas [in 1980], and I thought, 'I'm going to do this on Johnny Carson, and I'm going to get called over to the couch, and I'll be the first woman in history ever to get called over,'" she says on Today. "I had created that experience because I wanted it."

7. 19891994  Let's Play Secretary DeGeneres expands her repertoire to television with the Fox sitcom Open House, which features her as Margo Van Meter, a sparky receptionist at a L.A. real estate firm. The show lasts one season, but it introduces DeGeneres' observational, oddball sense of humor to Hollywood execs. "In Open House I was trying to be this goofy character," she tells the Seattle Post- Intelligencer. "She was so over-the-top and so weird."  Star of the Small Screen DeGeneres finds her niche in the ABC sitcom These Friends of Mine as bookstore employee Ellen Morgan. The show, which costars Jeremy Piven and Joely Fisher, is revamped in its second season as Ellen. It enjoys huge success and earns DeGeneres four Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy nominations, a writing Emmy win, and three Golden Globe nods in its five-year run.

8. 19972001  "Yep, I'm Gay" DeGeneres publicly comes out on the cover of Time, making her TV's first openly gay star. Conservative Rev. Jerry Falwell proclaims her "Ellen DeGenerate," while the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation later gives her a special honor. "I didn't choose to be anything other than a comedian," she tells Time. "I just happen to be gay, and I didn't feel like keeping it a secret, so I announced it. It all turned into this whole big political thing."  A Spoonful of Ellen The Emmys are delayed twice after 9/11, but CBS and the Academy promise a show that will "reaffirm the spirit of the American people." In her second turn hosting, DeGeneres is lauded for her deft, sensitive performance. "I felt it was important for me to be here tonight," she says during the telecast, "because what would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?" DeGeneres gets a standing ovation at the close of the ceremony

9. May 30thSeptember 8th  The Life Aquatic DeGeneres voices Dory, a neurotic fish with a memory problem, in Disney's Finding Nemo. The movie grosses more than $860 million worldwide and wins Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. "I wrote it completely with [Ellen] in mind," Nemo director Andrew Stanton tells the Chicago Sun-Times.  Comeback Kid The Ellen DeGeneres Show launches DeGeneres back into the national spotlight. Her dance moves, A-list guests and deadpan comebacks earn her multiple Daytime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Talk Show and Outstanding Host. "I want the show to reach people and to be something positive," she tells W. "[in 1998], I lost my show, I lost my entire career, and I lost everything for three years. I got to learn that I was strong enough to start over again."

10. JuneSeptember 18th  Makeup and Revelations DeGeneres lands on the cover of fashion magazine Allure with the headline, "The Comedy and the Tears." She publicly reveals her stepfather’s sexual abuse towards her for the first time: "It's important for teenage girls out there to hear that there are different ways to say no. And if it ever happens to them, they should tell someone right away."  A Gracious Host DeGeneres hosts the 57th Annual Emmy Awards a few weeks after Hurricane Katrina. She keeps the evening respectful but light, starting with her opening monologue: "This is the second time I've hosted the Emmys after a national tragedy, and I just want to say that I'm honored, because it's times like this that we really, really need laughter. And be sure to look for me next month when I host the North Korean People's Choice Awards."

11. HitchedCoverGirl  Ellen Marries Portia DeGeneres, 50, and girlfriend Portia de Rossi, 35, marry at their L.A. home. "What can I say? I'm the luckiest girl in the world," says DeGeneres.  Ellen Named Latest CoverGirl On an episode of her talk show, DeGeneres announces that she is the "new face of CoverGirl." While striking an exaggerated model-like pose, she then explains, "That's the first thing they teach you when you're a CoverGirl." The 50-year- old host, who appears in ads in January, admits, "It's a very cool thing, I'm honored and the photo shoot was 'easy, breezy, beautiful... CoverGirl.'"new face of CoverGirl

12. 10 Million YouTube Followers American Idol Host Used comedy to cure her Mom during divorce and breast cancer battle Hosted Academy Awards 3 times so far Other movies: The Love Letter and EdTV