Ellen DeGeneres is a performer.
Ellen DeGeneres . DeGeneres starred in the popular sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and has hosted her syndicated TV talk show , The Ellen DeGeneres Show , since 2003 . Her stand-up career started in the early 1980s , and included a 1986 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . As a film actress , DeGeneres starred in Mr. Wrong ( 1996 ) , appeared in EDtv ( 1999 ) , and The Love Letter ( 1999 ) , and provided the voice of Dory in the Pixar animated films Finding Nemo ( 2003 ) and Finding Dory ( 2016 ) ; for Nemo , she was awarded the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress , the first time an actress won a Saturn Award for a voice performance . She starred in two television sitcoms , Ellen from 1994 to 1998 , and The Ellen Show from 2001 to 2002 . This made her the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on television .