Oprah Winfrey

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Oprah Winfrey was born in Mississippi in 1954. She was raised by her grandmother on a farm. Oprah and others learned early that she was very intelligent. At the age of only 3 she was able to read and was already performing. From the ages of 6-13 she lived with her mother.

As a young girl she was abused and molested by her uncle. She ran away because of this and was sent to a juvenile detention home but wasn't allowed to stay because all the beds were taken. She then had to move in with her father, who was very strict. He made her read and write a book report every week.

Oprah has worked on many different radio stations, starting when she was 17. In 1984 she started working on "AM Chicago." The show became so popular everyone called it "The Oprah Winfrey Show." She won a daytime Emmy in the category of outstanding host.

Oprah has also been in movies and was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actress in the movie "The Color Purple." She loved to act and perform in front of people so much she decided to create her own company, HARPO productions Inc, HARPO films and HARPO video Inc. By 1988 her company, HARPO, was responsible for and owned "The Oprah Winfrey Show."

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The first trait I picked that I thought would suit Oprah would be that she is very intelligent. I believe this because at the age of only three she already knew how to read and she read for her church. At the time of her life when she was living with her father she had to learn to organize her time and make time to finish the book reports that were due every week. Oprah Winfrey also made the show "AM Chicago" extremely popular. When she was 17 she got a job doing radio for VWOL and later she became the co-anchor for WTZ-TV news. She attended Tennessee State University where she majored in speech communications and performing arts. Oprah was the first African American woman to become a billionaire. Oprah has overcome so many things to be where she is at today. When she was younger she had to have a lot of confidence in order to get over the fact that her family wasn't rich but was actually very poor. She overcame all these things but she was determined to make it all the way.

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I think that Oprah is also very caring because she donates a lot of her money to charity. Sometimes, when people think of the rich and famous they picture very selfish and self-centered people. Oprah is definitely not one of these people. She makes millions and gives a lot of it away. Almost every day she gives away things to all the audience members. She also visits many places in need such as Africa in order to raise money for AIDS or other deadly diseases. Oprah also helped out Dr. Phil by letting him go on her show at least once a week when he didn't have his own show. Now Dr. Phil is also very successful with his own show.

I also think that Oprah is not perfect. This is a quality that many people look up to in a role model. She has had many problems with her weight and a lot of people do. Sometimes she gains a lot of weight but other times you will see her and she looks great. Oprah just recently lost 100 pounds; this was over a long period of time. Most celebrities we see are picture perfect and are beautiful and skinny. This shows that Oprah is not a perfect person. She did not grow up in a perfect home where everything was normal and fine. She wasn't rich so it was hard to get recognized for her hard work. She ran away when she was 13, and got sent to a juvenile detention home, but wasn't allowed to stay. Oprah also grew up being molested and abused by her uncle. This could have been a point in her life where she could have given up, but she didn't. I believe because she faced issues that some everyday people have to deal with, this makes her an even greater hero to her fans. When people see normal people facing normal problems they will tend to look up to them because it makes them seem "real," unlike other celebrities.

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Oprah has so many other great qualities that make her a hero, but I think the three I chose are some of the best. She is very intelligent, which is one of the reasons why she is so successful today. Oprah is very caring, which is why a lot of people may think of her as "an angel on earth." Oprah is also not perfect; she makes mistakes like everyone else does and she has problems too. I believe and know these are great reasons to why Oprah Winfrey is such a great hero to many of us, and she should be recognized for her hard work and courage.