AHS graduate Ellen DeGeneres receives Medal of Freedom

From Staff Reports

Actress, comedian, talk show personality and 1976 Atlanta High School graduate Ellen DeGeneres was among 21 people receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a White House ceremony on Nov. 22.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian honor. 
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, culminating in 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. In 2010 she was a judge on American Idol for its ninth season.
DeGeneres has hosted the Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, and the Primetime Emmys. She has authored three books and started her own record company, Eleveneleven. She has won 29 Emmys, 17 People’s Choice Awards, and numerous other awards for her work and charitable efforts.
Others in this year’s classes of Medal of Freedom winners include basketball stars Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan, actors Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks and Robert Redford, broadcaster Vin Scully and singers Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen.