Ellen Degeneres Height, Weight, Age, Spouse, Biography & More
Some Lesser Known Facts About Ellen Degeneres
- Does Ellen Degeneres smoke: Not Known
- Does Ellen Degeneres drink alcohol: Yes
- Ellen DeGeneres is of French, Irish, English and German descent.
- Before making it big in the entertainment industry, Ellen worked as a bartender, a waitress, a paralegal, a vaccum cleaner saleswoman and a painter.
- Ellen DeGeneres began performing stand-up in 1981 and was named Showtime’s “Funniest Person in America” the following year.
- She is the 11th cousin of Singer-Actress Madonna.
- When Degeneres appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” in 1986, she became the first female comedian ever to be asked to sit on the “hot seat.”
- In 1997, Ellen came out publicly as a lesbian. For this display of courage, almost 20 years later, President Barack Obama honored her with the Medal of Freedom. In a speech to honour Ellen’s contribution, she was referred to as someone who “lifted spirits” and “brought joy”.
- Ellen was the voice of Dory in Finding Nemo.
- In 2005, Ellen set up a ‘Hurricane Katrina’ relief fund that raised $7 million.
- She finds herself unfortunate to have turned down a role in the renowned American Sitcom- Friends.
- Because of her love for music, Ellen launched her own record label, eleveneleven, in 2010.
- In November 2011, the then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, named Ellen DeGeneres a Special Envoy for Global AIDS Awareness.
- Ellen also received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2012.
- In March 2014, host Ellen tweeted a “selfie” of herself with a number of stars in attendance at the year’s edition of Academy Awards. However, the picture crashed the servers of Twitter as it was re-tweeted a record 3 million times.
- Ellen once hosted the popular singing reality show- American Idol.