|  this is neat information that I thought i would share, I don't know a whole lot about her so this clears alot of things up.
Birth Name
Ellen Degeneres
Birth Date
01/26/1958
Birthplace
New Orleans, Louisiana
Credits
6 Movies, 19 TV appearances, 14 awards
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Family
Family:
has two stepsisters
Father: Elliott DeGeneres
divorced from DeGeneres' mother
Mother: Betty DeGeneres
divorced from DeGeneres' father; had a brief marriage after she dropped out of college prior to wedding Elliott; became first non-gay spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign's Coming Out Project, which battles homophobia, in 1997
Step-Father:
crude-talking Texan referred to simply as "B" in Betty DeGeneres' "Love, Ellen: A Mother/Daughter Journey" (1999); Betty left him and remarried him, finally leaving him for good in 1990; made two sexual advances on Ellen when she was teen, about which Ellen did not tell her mother until 1981; deceased
Step-Mother:
previously married; had two daughters; DeGeneres has said that her stepmother and father threw her out of the house when she came out as a lesbian, saying she would be a bad influence on her young stepsisters
Brother: Vance DeGeneres
born c 1954; first big break came as part of the creative team for "The Mr. Bill Show", originally submitted to "Saturday Night Live" (NBC) by his New Orleans roommate Walter Williams and him as a comic home movie; wrote several episodes for the fantasy kid series "Eerie, Indiana" and the 1994 Emmy Awards; also wrote for "Ellen" during the "coming out" season; later was correspondent on the Jon Stewart hosted "The Daily Show" (Comedy Central)
Hookups
Companion: Alexandra Hedison
actor; began dating in fall 2000; had an on-again, off-again relationship until 2004
Companion: Portia de Rossi
actor; began dating December 2004
Notes
"I was serving coffee and Xeroxing at a law firm in New Orleans, and all of sudden, I was the Funniest Person in America. It was nice to win, but imagine having to wear that title around your neck for a year." --Ellen DeGeneres, to Jefferson Graham of USA Today, March 29, 1994
"I was thinking what's the thing anyone could ask me now or say about me? And it's like nothing, really. I mean, not even Howard Stern can hurt me now." --DeGeneres to Time, April 14, 1997
"My show wasn't appreciated, and my talent isn't appreciated, and I wish people could get beyond the fact that I'm gay. I'm sure even talking like this brings it up again--'If she would just shut up for two years, then we'd hire her.' That's what people say: Has it been enough time, has it died down? But we're just trying to be truthful, and what we've learned is that it is a hard town to be truthful in." --DeGeneres in Los Angeles Times Magazine, November 29, 1998
"Right now, the jury is still out on my career. Let's see if I can accomplish what I want to accomplish, which is getting over sterotypes. I still think in 30 years we'll be dealing with homophobia, and it would be nice to have 'Ellen' on Nick at Nite along with Mary Tyler Moore, someone that[gay] kids could identify with. I have a tendency to diminish what I do for a living, but I also know I'm going to leave here, and I won't be somebody who just had a sitcom but someone who helped change people's minds." --DeGeneres quoted in TV Guide, October 11, 1997
Named Best Female Comedy Club Stand-up at the 1991 American Comedy Awards
Milestones
(2007) "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" earned 12 Daytime Emmy nominations
(1997) Acted in Roland Joffe's "Goodbye, Lover", alongside Don Johnson, Dermot Mulroney and Mary-Louise Parker; released theatrically in 1999
Cast as a regular in the "Duet" spin-off series "Open House" (Fox)
(1992) Cast in the short-lived series "Laurie Hill" (ABC)
(1999) Co-starred as Kate Capshaw's best friend in "The Love Letter"(2000) Co-starred with Sharon Stone as a lesbian couple trying to have a child in the Anne Heche-directed segment of "If These Walls Could Talk 2" (HBO); also served as an executive producer; production nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Made for Television Movie
(1997) Earned Emmy nomination for playing herself in an episode of the HBO comedy series "The Larry Sanders Show"(1993) Feature acting debut, "Coneheads"(1991) Feature debut, "Wise Cracks"(1996) First leading role in films, "Mr. Wrong"(1980) First stand-up appearance, in a New Orleans comedy club, consisted of eating Whopper, fries and a shake
(2004) Guest role on the HBO series "Six Feet Under"(1999) Had featured role as a TV programmer in "EdTV"; garnered unintentional laughs when her character proclaims "I know what women want"(2000) Headlined the HBO comedy special "Ellen DeGeneres: The Beginning"; also served as executive producer and writer; garnered Emmy nominations for Outstanding Individual Performance in Variety and for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special
(2003) Hosted own TV show, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" (ABC)
(2005) Hosted the 2005 Primetime Emmy Awards
(2007) Hosted the 79th Annual Academy Awards ceremony (aired in February); earned an Emmy nomination for Best Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program
(2001) Hosted the annual telecast of the Emmy Awards; received Emmy nomination
(1996) Hosted the annual telecast of the Grammy Awards; received Emmy nomination
(1986) Made first appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson"; allegedly the first female comic asked to the couch on her first show
(2001) Made long-awaited return to sitcoms as star and executive producer of "The Ellen Show", debuting in the fall on CBS
(1982) Named "Funniest Person in America" by Showtime, after a nationwide search
(1997) Publicly revealed that she is a lesbian just prior to having her TV character come out (April)
Raised in New Orleans and Texas
(2004) Received a Grammy nomination for Best Comedy Album for "The Funny Thing is..."(1990) Starred in her own HBO comedy special
Starred in the ABC sitcom "Ellen", a retooled version of "These Friends of Mine"; received four consecutive Emmy nominations as lead actress in a comedy series
(1994) Starred in the ensemble sitcom, "These Friends of Mine" (ABC)
(1986) TV debut on HBO's "The Young Comedians All-Star Reunion"(1988-1989) TV series debut, "Duet" (Fox)
Toured the country performing stand-up act
(2003) Voiced the absent-minded fish Dory in the animated hit feature "Finding Nemo"
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