Who is Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel ?

Who is Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel? The world knows him as a British soul singer and songwriter.[1] His name Olusegun means "God is victorious".[2] Known professionally by his first name, Seal is known for his numerous international hits and his marriage to supermodel Heidi Klum.

Seal was born 19 February 1963 in Paddington, London. The rumor that he was half Brazilian is false. He was adopted because his parents were unable to support him financially. He was raised in Paddington, a district of the City of Westminster in inner London. He received a 2 year diploma, or associates degree, in architecture and worked in various jobs in the London area.
While there have long been rumors as to the cause of the scars on his face, they are not the result of a tribal scarification rite. Seal’s appearance is the classic example of a relatively rare condition, discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE). Seal has revealed in interviews that he was afflicted with this syndrome as a teen. A condition where the immune cells attack various body tissues, DLE usually affects young people. Intense inflammation develops in the skin, particularly in sun-exposed areas. If not treated aggressively with sun protection and anti-inflammatory medicines, scarring can result. Not only did it cause the cheek scars, but he had significant scalp involvement, causing hair loss. The singer's condition has been in remission for years.

After a short time singing in local clubs and bars, in the 1980s he joined Push, a British funk band, and toured with them in Japan. In Asia, he joined a blues band in Thailand for a while before separating from the group and journeying throughout India on his own. When Seal arrived back in England, he was rumoured to sleep on the couch of an acquaintance of his, Julian Bunster, then a fashion model. He sometimes asked him "Do I sing well?" To which he often met the response that he sang better than most current artists. After a short while of living on the edge[vague], he met Adamski, a producer who was impressed by him. He was given the lyrics of the song "Killer", which was a huge hit in 1990.

Seal first came to public attention as vocalist on the Adamski single "Killer" in 1990. The single eventually reached number one in 1990 in the UK. Seal subsequently signed to ZTT Records and released his début album (produced by Trevor Horn), self-titled Seal, in 1991. Two versions of the album are known to be in circulation: the original "premix" version and a second, more common version with an updated mix. This is attributed to the demand for a produced single rushing the final album edit, and as Seal puts it, his and producer Horn's "inability to let go."[3]
Seal was positively received by critics. The singles "Crazy", "Future Love Paradise", and his own rendition of "Killer" performed well on the charts. In particular, "Crazy" became a hit in the United States in 1991, reaching number seven on the Billboard Music Charts and number two in the U.K.[4]
In April 1992 Seal performed with the surviving members of the rock band Queen at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Seal performed on his own singing the 1986 hit Who Wants To Live Forever and joined the rest of the acts for the all star finale singing We Are The Champions.

His second album, also self-titled Seal, was released in 1994. A success, the album featured the singles "Prayer for the Dying" and "Newborn Friend", later receiving a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. "Prayer for the Dying" became a minor pop hit in the U.S., peaking at #21 on the Billboard charts. A third single, "Kiss from a Rose", performed modestly when released but was later featured in the film Batman Forever. "Kiss from a Rose" won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1996, becoming Seal's best performing single on the US market (it topped the Billboard Hot 100 in late August 1995).

After the release of his previous album, in 1998, Seal released Human Being. The album was the product of a turbulent time in his life, including a split and later reconciliation with producer Horn as well as Seal's parting with ZTT Records and his signing with Warner Bros. Records in 1997. The record was panned upon its release. However, it received Gold record certification by the RIAA just two months after its release date.[5] The album provided three singles, "Human Beings", "Latest Craze", and "Lost My Faith".


In 2001, fans awaited the arrival of a new album, announced as Togetherland. However, after a protracted post-production period the album was cancelled. The official word was that Seal simply didn't think it made the grade, although this conflicts with other reports that said the album was turned down by the label because producers felt the album wouldn't be commercially successful. Even so, one single was released from the album. "This Could Be Heaven" was released in the US and featured on The Family Man soundtrack. Since December 2006, Seal has indicated that he has plans to excerpt cuts from Togetherland and make them available for streaming download. The complete or edited versions of the songs "All I Wanted To Say," "Elise" (also known as "Eliz"), "Love Is Better," and "This Could Be Heaven", are available as streaming audio only on Togetherland co-producer Henry Jackman's website.
Meanwhile, Seal co-wrote and provided vocals for the hit single "My Vision" from Jakatta in 2002. He also recorded a successful duet with French icon Mylène Farmer called "Les Mots" during that same period.



In 2003, Seal released his fourth album, which was again self-titled, except for Australia, where it was released under Seal IV. Although it didn't sell as well as either of his first two albums, this release brought him back into the public eye in the United States and continental Europe. Singles from the album included "Waiting For You", "Get It Together", and "Love's Divine" (released in 2004, and a big hit in several European countries).

In 2004, a greatest hits album entitled Seal: Best 1991-2004 was released, including a cover of the Bacharach / David classic "Walk on By" and a cover of Echo and the Bunnymen's song "Lips Like Sugar". Also for a small additional fee the album could be bought with a limited edition acoustic CD with acoustic covers of songs such as "Killer" And "Kiss from a Rose".

Also in 2004, Seal performed shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, France. The 6 July 2004 show was recorded and released about one year after as CD/DVD package, simply titled Live in Paris.


In June 2005, Seal recorded a special concert which was subsequently released in 2006, entitled One Night to Remember, as CD/DVD combination. The DVD includes a special "the making of" documentary in addition to the live performance. Recorded in a historic steel mill, the Altes Kesselhaus ("old boiler house"), in Düsseldorf, Germany, this performance includes a special version of Brahms' Lullaby which Seal sings in German and then in English for the exclusive audience. Unlike earlier recordings in which Seal is accompanied by his band, a full orchestra and choir of 52 musicians accompanies the singer.


System was released in the UK on 12 November 2007 and in the U.S. on 13 November 2007.[6] Seal describes the album as more dance-oriented, apparently a return to the roots of his first album. On the track titled "Wedding Day", Seal sings a duet with his wife, model Heidi Klum. The album's first single, "Amazing", was released on 25 September 2007, and was nominated for the "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance" Grammy at the 2007 50th Annual Grammy Awards.[7]
Seal performed "Amazing" and the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"at the 2007 Royal Variety Performance.
Seal also performed "Amazing" at the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in December, as well as the duet "Wedding Day" with his wife. Other performers at the 2007 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show include the Spice Girls and will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas. He appeared on the American Idol Season 7 Finale, singing with third-place contestant Syesha Mercado.


Seal's sixth studio album Soul was released on 11 November 2008 in the United States and 3 November 2008 internationally, and contains eleven soul classics produced by David Foster.
[8][9] The video for the first single, a cover of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come" is up on his official YouTube Page. As well, he will be mentoring the top 9 on Deutschland sucht den Superstar and performing one of his songs from the album.[1]


Seal proposed to German supermodel [Heidi Klum] on 24 December 2004 at 7,000 ft, in an igloo on a glacier in Whistler, British Columbia.[10]
On 10 May 2005, the couple married on a beach in Mexico near Seal's home on Mexico's luxurious Costa Careyes.[11]
The couple have two sons together, Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel (b. 12 September 2005)[12] and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel (b. 22 November 2006). Seal is also the adoptive father of Heidi's daughter, Helene "Leni" Klum (b. 4 May 2004), whom Heidi had with Renault Formula One team director and Italian businessman Flavio Briatore.[13] Seal is her only father figure, and he has praised Briatore for keeping his distance and not disrupting Leni's life.[14] Seal will be coaching the participants of Germany's TV show "Deutschland sucht den Superstar"(Popidol) in February/March 2009.[15]

Discography

Studio albums
1991 Seal
1994 Seal II
1998 Human Being
2003 Seal IV
2007 System
2008 Soul
1991 The Acoustic Session
1991 Violet: Acoustic EP
2004 Best 1991-2004
2005 Live in Paris
2006 One Night to Remember
2008 Live in Hattiesburg
DVDs
2004 Videos - 1991 - 2004
2005 Live in Paris
2005 Live At the Point - 1992
2006 One Night to Remember
2008 Soundstage (Blu-ray only) more

Who is Heidi Klum?

Who is Heidi Klum?[2] The world knows her as a German-American[3] model, actress, television host, business woman, fashion designer, television producer, artist, and occasional singer. She is married to singer Seal.
Klum was the Emmy Award-nominated hostess of Project Runway and Germany's Next

Klum was born June 1, 1973 and raised by her parents, Günther P. (a cosmetics company executive) and Erna (a hairdresser)[4] in Bergisch Gladbach, West Germany, a small city outside Cologne. Klum was persuaded by a friend to enroll in a national modeling contest called "Model 92".[5] Out of 25,000 contestants, Klum was voted the winner on April 29, 1992 and offered a modeling contract worth US$300,000 by Thomas Zeumer, CEO of Metropolitan Models New York.[6] [7] As the winner, she appeared on the Gottschalk Late Night Show, a top German television show with host Thomas Gottschalk, similar to late night shows with David Letterman or Jay Leno in the United States. She accepted the contract a few months later after graduating from school and decided not to try for an apprentice position at a fashion design school.[8]


Klum has been on the cover of fashion magazines, including Vogue, ELLE and Marie Claire. She became widely known after appearing on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and for her work with Victoria's Secret as an "Angel."[9] In addition to working with world class photographers on her Sports Illustrated shoots, she was the object/subject of Joanne Gair body painting works in several editions from 1999 to 2006.[10][11][12][13] She wrote the foreword to Gair's most recent book of body paint work.[14] She has been a spokesmodel for McDonald's, Braun, H & M, and Liz Claiborne, among others. She is currently a celebrity spokesmodel for Jordache[15] and Volkswagen. In addition to modeling, she has appeared in several TV shows, including Spin City, Sex and the City, Yes, Dear, and How I Met Your Mother. She had a role as an ill-tempered hair model in the movie Blow Dry, played a giantess in the movie Ella Enchanted and was cast as Ursula Andress in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers. She had cameo appearances in The Devil Wears Prada and Perfect Stranger.
In July 2007, having earned an estimated $8 million in the previous 12 months, Klum was named by Forbes as third on the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.[16] In 2008, Forbes estimated her income to be $14 million, which put Klum in second place on the list, surpassing Kate Moss ($7.5 million).[17] Klum is signed to IMG Models in New York City.


In December 2004, she became the host, judge and executive producer of the reality show Project Runway on the U.S. cable television channel Bravo, in which fashion designers compete for the opportunity to show their line at New York Fashion Week and receive money to launch their own fashion line. She received an Emmy Awards nomination for the show for each of the first four seasons.[18][19] In 2008, Klum and Project Runway received a Peabody Award, the first time a reality show had won the award.[20] Klum herself was nominated for an Emmy in 2008 for "outstanding host of a reality or reality-competition show" for Project Runway, the first year that category was recognized by the Emmys.[19]

Klum has designed her own clothing lines (including one for infants) that were featured in the German mail-order catalog "Otto." She also has designed shoes for Birkenstock, jewellery for Mouawad, a clothing line for Jordache, and swimsuits – featured in the 2002 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue – that, for a limited time, were available for sale through her personal website. She was one of the designers of the Victoria's Secret lingerie line "The Body", which was named after the nickname she received following her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show appearance.[21] Her Mouawad jewelry collection debuted on the cable shopping network QVC on September 14, 2006, and 14 of the 16 styles sold out after only 36 minutes.[22] A second line of her jewelry collection debuted on QVC on April 14, 2007, with similar success.[23] Klum's clothing line for Jordache launched on April 30, 2008.[24]
Klum has produced two fragrances, called "Heidi Klum" and "Me". She has also designed makeup for Victoria's Secret as part of their "Very Sexy Makeup Collection", titled "The Heidi Klum Collection". The first run debuted in Fall 2007. A second run was released in Fall 2008.[25]
Klum was also involved in the development of a namesake rose, the Heidi Klum rose,[26][27] which is available in Germany.
For the 2008 US Open, Klum designed a screen print t-shirt which was sold at the US Open shop. It featured child-like butterfly pictures and retailed at $40. Proceeds from the design are set to go to Unisphere, a non-profit organization which maintains Flushing Meadows-Corona park, home to the US Open.[28]



Germany's Next Topmodel is a German reality television show, which pits contestants against each other in a variety of competitions to determine who will win a modeling contract with IMG. Klum is the host, a judge, and co-producer of the show (along with model Tyra Banks).
Season winners are Lena Gercke,
Barbara Meier, and Jennifer Hof. All three seasons aired successfully on the German TV station ProSieben and a fourth season is on TV in Germany now.

Klum is an artist and had several of her paintings appear in various art magazines in the U.S. On September 27, 2002 she dedicated a sculpture she painted called "Dog with Butterflies" to commemorate the role of rescue dogs in the aftermath of September 11.[29]
In 2004, Klum co-authored Heidi Klum's Body of Knowledge with Elle magazine editor Alexandra Postman. The book gives Klum's biography as well as her advice on becoming successful. Prior to that, Klum had been an occasional guest columnist for the German television network RTL's website. She wrote an essay for the German newspaper Die Zeit.[30]
Klum's other projects have included music and video games. She is featured in the 2004 James Bond video game Everything or Nothing, where she plays the villain Dr. Katya Nadanova.[31] She has appeared in several music videos, including Jamiroquai's video "Love Foolosophy" from their album A Funk Odyssey, and Kelis's "Young, Fresh n' New," off her second 2001 album Wanderland.

In early 2009, Klum ventured into web-based videos, starring in "SPIKED HEEL: Supermodels Battle the Forces of Evil".[32] The web-series also starred fellow model Coco Rocha and was directed by fashion documentarian Doug Keeve (Unzipped, Seamless).[33] In the story, Klum aka 'The Kluminator,'[34] and her stylish sidekick Coco “The Sassy Superhero” Rocha battle the evil Dr. Faux Pas who is plotting to destroy Fashion Week. The heroines employ all sorts of tools in their arsenal, from blow-dryer guns to old-fashioned fist fights, in order to thwart Dr. Faux Pas' dastardly plans. The Kluminator and Girl Wonder avoid a chain of fashion disasters in their efforts to neutralize an evil death ray that threatens to vaporize the entire community of fashionistas gathered in Bryant Park. Also making guest appearances are Michael Kors, Leighton Meester,
Mel B and Christian Siriano.[35]

In November 2006, Klum released her debut single "Wonderland," which was written for a series of television advertisements for the German retailer "Douglas." Proceeds from the single were given to a children's charity in her hometown of Bergisch Gladbach.[36] She also contributed to her husband Seal's 2007 album System, singing the duet "Wedding Day", a song that Seal wrote for their wedding.[37]
In 2008, Klum was a featured guest on an American Volkswagen commercial, where she was interviewed by a black Beetle. When she commented that German engineering is so sexy, she caused the Beetle to blush and turn red. She also has been a part of several commercials for Volkswagen and McDonald's on German television.
In November 2008, Klum appeared in two versions of a Guitar Hero World Tour commercial, where she did a take on Tom Cruise's famous scene in Risky Business. In both versions, she lip-synced to Bob Seger's
"Old Time Rock and Roll" while dancing around the living room with the wireless guitar controller;[38] the director's cut, however, had her strip to her underwear halfway through the commercial and was broadcast only after prime time.[39]
Klum is a "Real Celebrity" on the website Stardoll. On Stardoll Klum has her own line of virtual jewelry for other members to purchase, and her own virtual clothing line called Jordache. You can go to Klum's suite and interact with her by doing interviews, sending pending requests or dressing up Klum's doll.
In what some pundits saw as a heavy-handed approach by Klum's lawyers, an unemployed Chemnitz butcher, who used Klum's picture in advertising for a local dance on a flyer and a web page, contested her subsequent takedown notice in court and lost, forcing him to pay court costs of 2300€. A German actress has pledged to pay on his behalf.[40][41]
On April 1, 2009, Klum appeared on the CBS television special, I Get That a Lot, as a girl working at a pizza shop.

Klum married stylist Ric Pipino in 1997; the couple divorced in 2002.[42] Following the divorce, she had brief relationships with Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis and Formula-1 mogul Flavio Briatore. In the autumn of 2003, Klum announced she was pregnant with Briatore's child. On the day she announced the pregnancy, Briatore was photographed kissing Fiona Swarovski, a jewelry heiress.[43] Klum and Briatore split up shortly thereafter. Klum gave birth to Leni Klum on May 4, 2004 in New York City, New York.[44]

In early 2004, while still pregnant, Klum began a relationship with musician Seal.[45] Klum and Seal married on May 10, 2005, on a beach in Mexico. They have two children together, both boys: Henry Günther Ademola Dashtu Samuel, born September 12, 2005 in Los Angeles, California[46] and Johan Riley Fyodor Taiwo Samuel born November 22, 2006 in Los Angeles.[47]
According to Klum, Flavio Briatore is not involved in Leni's life, and she has stated emphatically that "Seal is Leni's father."[48]
On hearing her family referred to as a "patchwork family", Klum said, "I'm not white, I'm a shade of brown," and added, "we're all different shades and we came together and we all love each other...it's actually kind of nice to have a 'patchwork family'."[49]
In 2008, Klum became a naturalized American citizen.

 Heidi Klum an Entertainer who has marketed herself as fashion icon and television personality.


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Who is Ellen Lee DeGeneres?

Who is Ellen Lee DeGeneres? The world knows her as a eleven-time Emmy Award-winning American stand-up comedienne, television hostess and actress. She hosts the award winning syndicated talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

She has hosted both the Academy Awards and the Primetime Emmys. As a film actress, she starred in Mr. Wrong, appeared in EDtv and The Love Letter, and provided the voice of Dory in Pixar's animated film Finding Nemo. She also starred in two television sitcoms, Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002. In 1997, during the fourth season of Ellen, she came out publicly as a lesbian in an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Shortly afterwards, her character Ellen Morgan also came out to a therapist played by Winfrey and the series went on to explore various LGBT issues as well as the coming out process.

DeGeneres was born January 26, 1958 in Metairie, Louisiana, the daughter of Betty, a speech therapist, and Elliott DeGeneres, an insurance agent.[1] She has one brother Vance DeGeneres, who is a producer and musician. DeGeneres was raised as a Christian Scientist until the age of 13. DeGeneres' parents filed for separation in 1973 and were divorced the following year. Shortly after, Betty Jane remarried, to Roy Gruessendorf, who also worked as a salesman. Betty Jane and DeGeneres moved away with Gruessendorf from the New Orleans area to Atlanta, Texas. Vance stayed with their father in New Orleans. DeGeneres graduated from Atlanta High School in May 1976, after completing her first years of high school at Grace King High School in Metairie, Louisiana. DeGeneres moved back to New Orleans to attend the University of New Orleans, where she majored in communications. After one semester, she left school to do clerical work in a law firm along with cousin Laura Gillen. She also held a job selling clothes at the chain store the Merry-Go-Round at the Lakeside Shopping Center in New Orleans. Other working experiences included being a waitress at TGI Friday's and another restaurant, a house painter, a hostess and a bartender.


DeGeneres started performing stand-up comedy at small clubs and coffeehouses. By 1981 she was the emcee at Clyde's Comedy Club in New Orleans. Degeneres describes Woody Allen and Steve Martin as her main influences at this time.[2] In the early 1980s she began to tour nationally, being named Showtime's Funniest Person in America in 1982.[3] In 1986 she appeared for the first time on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, who likened her to Bob Newhart.[4] When Carson invited her over for an onscreen chat after her performance, she became the first female comedian in the show's history to whom this honor was bestowed.[5]


Television and film work in the late 1980s and early 1990s included roles on television in Open House and in the film Coneheads.

DeGeneres' comedy material became the basis of the successful 1994-1998 sitcom Ellen, named These Friends of Mine during its first season. The ABC show was popular in its first few seasons due in part to DeGeneres' style of quirky observational humor; it was often referred to as a "female Seinfeld."[6]
Ellen reached its height of popularity in February 1997, when DeGeneres made her homosexuality public on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Subsequently her character on the sitcom came out of the closet in April to her therapist, played by Oprah Winfrey, that she was gay.[7] The coming out episode, entitled "The Puppy Episode", was one of the highest-rated episodes of the show, but later episodes of the series would fail to match its popularity, and after declining ratings, the show was canceled. DeGeneres returned to the stand-up comedy circuit, and would later re-establish herself as a successful talk show host.

DeGeneres starred in a series of films for a show named Ellen's Energy Adventure, which is part of the Universe of Energy attraction and pavilion at Walt Disney World's Epcot. The film also featured Bill Nye,
Alex Trebek, Michael Richards and Jamie Lee Curtis. The show revolved around DeGeneres falling asleep and finding herself in an energy-themed version of Jeopardy!, playing against an old rival, portrayed by Curtis, and Albert Einstein. The next film had DeGeneres hosting an educational look at energy, co-hosted with Nye. The ride first opened on September 15, 1996, as Ellen's Energy Crisis but was quickly renamed to the more positive-sounding Ellen's Energy Adventure.


DeGeneres returned to series television in 2001 with a new CBS sitcom, The Ellen Show. Though her character was again a lesbian, it was not the central theme of the show.


DeGeneres received wide exposure on November 4, 2001 when she hosted the televised broadcast of the Emmy Awards. Presented after two cancellations due to network concerns that a lavish ceremony following the September 11, 2001 attacks would appear insensitive, the show required a more somber tone that would also allow viewers to temporarily forget the tragedy. DeGeneres received several standing ovations for her performance that evening which included the line: "We're told to go on living our lives as usual, because to do otherwise is to let the terrorists win, and really, what would upset the Taliban more than a homosexual woman wearing a suit in front of a room full of Jews?"
In August 2005, DeGeneres hosted the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony which was held on September 18, 2005. This was three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, making it the second time she hosted the Emmys following a national tragedy. She also hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and in 1997.

DeGeneres lent her voice to the role of Dory
, a fish with short-term memory loss, in the summer 2003 hit animated Disney/Pixar film Finding Nemo. The film's director, Andrew Stanton, claimed that he chose her because she "changed the subject five times before one sentence had finished" on her show.[8] DeGeneres won the Saturn Award from the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for "Best Supporting Actress", "Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie" from the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards and the Annie Award from the International Animated Film Association for "Outstanding Voice Acting" for her work. She was also nominated for a Chicago Film Critics Association Award in the "Best Supporting Actress" category. She also provided the voice of the dog in the prologue of the Eddie Murphy film Dr. Dolittle.



DeGeneres launched a daytime television talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2003. Amid a crop of several celebrity-hosted talk shows surfacing in at the beginning of that season, such as those of Sharon Osbourne
and Rita Rudner, her show has consistently risen in the Nielsen Ratings and received widespread critical praise. It was nominated for 11 Daytime Emmy Awards in its first season, winning four, including Best Talk Show. The show has won 25 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air. DeGeneres is known for her dancing and singing with the audience at the beginning of the show and during commercial breaks. She often gives away free prizes and trips to her studio audience with the help of her sponsors. On November 17, 2005, the show was played in reverse.
DeGeneres celebrated her thirty-year class reunion by flying her graduating class to California to be guests on her show in February, 2006. She presented Atlanta High School with a surprise gift of a new electronic LED marquee sign.
In May 2006, DeGeneres made a surprise appearance at the Tulane University commencement in New Orleans. Following George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton to the podium, she came out in a bathrobe and furry slippers. "They told me everyone would be wearing robes," she said.
The show broadcast for a week from Universal Studios Orlando in March 2007. Guests that week included Jennifer Lopez
and Lynyrd Skynyrd, and skits included DeGeneres going on the Hulk Roller Coaster Ride and the Jaws Boat Ride.
In May 2007, DeGeneres was placed on bed rest due to a torn ligament in her back. She continued hosting her show from a hospital bed, tended to by a nurse, explaining "the show must go on, as they say." Guests sat in hospital beds as well.




On September 7, 2006, DeGeneres was selected to host the 79th Academy Awards ceremony, which took place on February 25, 2007.[9] This makes her the first openly gay or lesbian person to have hosted the event. During the Awards show DeGeneres said, "What a wonderful night, such diversity in the room, in a year when there's been so many negative things said about people's race, religion and sexual orientation. And I want to put this out there: if there weren't blacks, Jews and gays, there would be no Oscars, or anyone named Oscar, when you think about that."[10] Reviews of her hosting gig were positive, with one saying, "DeGeneres rocked, as she never forgot that she wasn't just there to entertain the Oscar nominees but also to tickle the audience at home."[11] In fact, Regis Philbin said in an interview that "the only complaint was there's not enough Ellen."
DeGeneres was nominated for an Emmy Award as host of the Academy Awards broadcast.[12]


DeGeneres, like many actors who are also writers, is a member of both the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Thus, although DeGeneres verbally supported the 2007 WGA strike she did not support it when she crossed the picket line the day after the strike began.[13][14] Her representatives said that she was competing with other first-run syndicated shows during the competitive November sweeps period, and that she could not break her contracts or risk her show lose its time slot. As a show of solidarity with the strikers, DeGeneres omitted her monologue during the strike, typically written by WGA writers.[15] The WGA condemned her while the AFTRA defended her.[16][17][18]


In November 2004, DeGeneres appeared, dancing, in an ad campaign for American Express. Her most recent American Express commercial, a two-minute black-and-white spot where she works with animals, debuted in November 2006 and was created by Ogilvy and Mather. In 2007, the commercial won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Commercial.
DeGeneres began working with Cover Girl Cosmetics in September 2008. Her face is the focus of new Cover Girl advertisements starting in January 2009. The beauty campaign will be DeGeneres' first.[19]


DeGeneres' relationship (1997-2000) with former Another World actress Anne Heche turned into material for the tabloid press. After several years in the spotlight, Heche broke up with DeGeneres and went on to marry cameraman Coley Laffoon.[20] From 2001 to 2004, DeGeneres had a relationship with actress/director/photographer Alexandra Hedison. The couple appeared on the cover of The Advocate after their separation had already been announced to the media.[21]
Since 2004, DeGeneres has been in a relationship with former Ally McBeal and Arrested Development star Portia de Rossi. After the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California, DeGeneres announced on a May 2008 show that she and de Rossi were engaged,[22][23] and gave de Rossi a three-carat pink diamond ring.[24] They were married on August 16, 2008 at their home, with 19 guests including their respective mothers.[24] They live in Beverly Hills, with three dogs and four cats.[25] They are both vegan.[26] The passage of Proposition 8[27] has put the marriage's legal status in doubt.[28]
In her book, Love, Ellen, DeGeneres' mother, Betty DeGeneres, describes being initially shocked when her daughter came out as a lesbian, but has become one of her strongest supporters, an active member of PFLAG and spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's Coming Out Project. She is also a breast cancer survivor.
In 2007, Forbes ranked DeGeneres' net worth to be US$65 million.[29]

Ellen DeGeneres has joined American Idol as the new fourth judge sitting alongside Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Kara DioGuardi. As the new judge, Ellen will offer her own unique perspective to the contestants throughout the competition.

The ninth season of American Idol premieres January 2010 on FOX. Ellen DeGeneres will join the judges' pannel after the auditions, which will feature appearances by guest judges Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Kristin Chenoweth, Joe Jonas,
Neil Patrick Harris, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry, and Shania Twain.

Awards

Daytime Emmy Awards
Outstanding Talk Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
Outstanding Talk Show Host, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Outstanding Special Class Writing, The Ellen DeGeneres Show – 2005, 2006
Emmy Awards
Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series, Ellen: "The Puppy Episode" – 1997
People's Choice Awards
Favorite Funny Female Star – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Favorite Talk Show Host – 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
Favorite Yes I Chose This Star – 2008

Filmography

more