Ellen DeGeneres

Born: 26th January 1958
Where: Metairie, Louisiana

Ellen graduated from high school, and went on to college for a month only to conclude that it wasn't for her.

After working as a runner in a law firm, her career as a comedienne began with an appearance on the stage where she did little more than consume a burger with fries.

She started doing stand-up comedy and it wasn't long before she had progressed to star in her own sitcom, Ellen.

Ending speculation about her sexual orientation, she announced that actress Anne Heche was her lover. Making history as the first lead character to do so, TV's Ellen followed suit in a 'coming out' episode.

In 1982, she was nominated for the title of 'Funniest person in America', and later won Showtime magazine's comedy award.

Aside from hosting the Emmies and the Grammies, DeGeneres was nominated for Best Actress in the Golden Globe Awards and won the Entertainment Weekly award for Entertainer Of The Year in 1997.

Her feature film credits include EDtv, The Love Letter, Goodbye Lover, Coneheads and Mr. Wrong in which she starred with Bill Pullman.

In 2003 she voiced Dory, a fish with short-term memory loss in animated adventure Finding Nemo.