Ellen DeGeneres

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My hero is Ellen DeGeneres. I have always admired her for being so generous and kind, and for being so open about who she is. I heard about Ellen through her show, the Ellen DeGeneres Show. 

Ellen has a firm belief that everyone should be helped. She supports many different charities and foundations such as the Artists Against Racism, Feeding America, Love Our Children USA, and countless others. Once a woman from Florida wrote her a letter about how she and her husband and two children were struggling right now. Ellen was touched and invited them to come on her show. When they did Ellen gave them a new crib, bottles, baby food, and a year's supply of diapers for their baby daughter. She also gave them $10,000 to help them buy a car, but later surprised them with a new car because theirs was going to be taken away. Nobody asked her to do this; she did it simply out of the kindness of her heart.

Ellen was born on January 26, 1958 in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the daughter of an insurance salesman and a working mother. While she was growing up, Ellen wanted to be a veterinarian; however she gave up the dream because she was not "book smart". In 1973, when Ellen was sixteen her parents filed for divorce and her mother was later remarried and moved the family to Texas.

Ellen is important to me because she is so kind. She is a very big animal lover and is constantly rescuing them. Nobody has to get down on their knees and beg for her help because she is already so willing to give it. I also admire that she did not even think of pursuing a job being a comedian. One day while giving a speech and became frightened by the crowd and used her humor to get her through it. She was later asked to do stand-ups.

Ellen's beginning on television was not very successful; she starred in two short-lived TV comedies. In 1994, she scored a sitcom on ABC called "These Friends of Mine" and later renamed "Ellen" after its first season. However the show was canceled due to poor ratings in 1997. In 2001 she launched "The Ellen Show", which suffered from poor ratings and was canceled. In 2003 when "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" came to TV it was both a critical hit and a commercial success. Her show has won 15 Emmy Awards. Even through all that stopping and starting again she never gave up the determination to keep trying and is now one of the most successful women of all time and was even named one of the top 50 powerful women in Forbes magazine.