Ellen DegeneresSpeaker and Booking Agent Information

Though DeGeneres's early forays into series television were not successful (she appeared as a supporting player in two short-lived TV situation comedies in the period 1989-92, Open House and Laurie Hill), she scored a hit headlining her own 1994 sitcom on ABC "These Friends of Mine" (later renamed Ellen after its first season). She made TV history in April 1997 when her character, and DeGeneres herself personally, revealed that she was a lesbian. However, the show was canceled the following season due to declining ratings, after which DeGeneres returned to the stand-up circuit. In 2001, DeGeneres launched a new series, The Ellen Show, on CBS, but it suffered from poor ratings and was canceled.

Redemption as a television artiste came in 2003, when DeGeneres's daytime talk show, Ellen: The Ellen DeGeneres Show proved to be both a critical hit and a commercial success. Along with good ratings, the show has won unprecedented kudos from the industry, winning 15 Emmy Awards in its first three seasons on the air and becoming the first talk show in TV history to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show in its first three seasons.

DeGeneres has also made a name for herself as a host of awards shows. She hosted the Grammy Awards in 1996 and 1997, as well as the Primetime Emmy Awards in 2001 and 2005. In February 2007, she had the ultimate TV awards show gig, hosting the Oscars, which she hosted again in 2014.

Think "television funnywoman" and it's likely one woman will come to mind: the inimitable Ellen DeGeneres. A beloved TV icon and entertainment pioneer, DeGeneres's distinctive comedic voice has resonated with audiences from her first stand-up comedy appearances to her current work as the host of the Emmy-winning Ellen DeGeneres Show.

It was DeGeneres's work in the hit show Ellen that cemented her place as a pioneer in the world of television. The sitcom's critically acclaimed "The Puppy Episode" marked DeGeneres's character's coming out as a lesbian to a record 46 million viewers, effectively changing television history. Since then, DeGeneres has appeared in numerous films (including as the voice of "Dory" in the Pixar hit Finding Nemo); become a New York Times best-selling author with her books The Funny Thing Is... and Seriously... I'm Kidding; enjoyed a judging stint on American Idol; and hosted the Oscars, Emmys, and Grammys. Most recently, she can be seen as a spokesperson for Cover Girl Cosmetics.

In her enlightening, hilarious presentations, DeGeneres shares the personal stories and insights she has gleaned from her years as an actress, television personality, and comedian. Audiences will walk away delighted and inspired by her pioneering rise to success.