10 Surprising Facts About Oprah Winfrey

Oprah Winfrey has been a worldwide hit since her national television appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1986. She is known worldwide as a news reporter, daytime host, actress, producer, philanthropist and multimedia mogul.

Winfrey, who has been in the spotlight for decades, also founded a non-profit foundation under her own name to educate women and children around the world. Here are 10 incredible facts about this kind, charming woman👇

1. Her real name is not Oprah!

Although the world knows her as Oprah, Winfrey’s birth name is actually Orpa Gale Winfrey. It was named after a woman whose name is mentioned in the “Book of Ruth” in the Bible. Oprah explains her name change as a mispronunciation.

Winfrey said in an interview in 1991: “My name was chosen from the Bible. Aunt Ida chose this name, but no one really knew how to spell it, so it was spelled Orpah on my ID card, but people put a P before an R because they didn’t know how to pronounce it. The name on my birth certificate was later changed to Oprah.”

2. She won a beauty pageant in the early years of her career.

In 1971, at the age of 17, Winfrey won the Miss Black Tennessee beauty pageant. That same year, she also entered the Miss Black America pageant but lost to Joyce Warner.

3. He got his first media job while still in high school.

Oprah began working as a part-time news reporter for Tennessee radio station WVOL while in high school. In 1973, at the age of 19, he became the youngest person to present news on WLAC-TV in Nashville. She was still in college at the time and was the first black woman to hold that position.

4. Oprah receives a full scholarship to the University of Tennessee.

Winfrey joined the public speaking team in high school and won first place in a public speaking competition. This qualifies him for a full scholarship at the University of Tennessee in Speech Communication and Performing Arts.

5. Twice nominated for an Oscar

Although she has yet to win an Oscar, Winfrey has been nominated for two Academy Awards. Her first nomination was for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Sophia Johnson in Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple, but unfortunately she lost the award to someone else.

Nearly 30 years later, at the 87th Academy Awards in 2015, Winfrey was nominated for Best Picture as a producer. However, he still didn’t win.

However, in recognition of her work as a philanthropist, the Academy awarded Oprah an honorary Oscar, the Gene Hersholt Humanitarian Award, in 2011.

6. Oprah has voiced in several films

Winfrey has also worked as a voice actress. She voiced Eudora in Disney’s The Princess and the Frog, Gussie, the goose, and other characters in the 2006 adaptation of Charlotte’s Web.

7. The media empire is huge

Winfrey founded Harpo Productions, Inc. in 1986. He is the owner, president and CEO of this media and entertainment company. Since its launch, Harpo has helped launch popular daytime talk shows, growing from a television company to a multimedia empire. In addition, the name “Harpo” is an inverted version of the name “Oprah”.

8. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013.

In 2013, President Barack Obama awarded Oprah Winfrey with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the highest honor the President of the United States can bestow on a civilian.

9. He even has his own grocery store

In 2017, Winfrey partnered with Kraft Heinz Company to launch a new venture called Mealtime Stories, LLC. As part of this initiative, 10 percent of profits are donated to Rise Against Hunger and Feeding America, two charities dedicated to addressing food shortages.

Winfrey learned to read before she was 3 years old. Her favorite novel is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. She first read this book when she lived with her mother in Wisconsin.