How 'Finding Nemo' Launched Ellen DeGeneres' Comeback

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Finding Dory, opening in theaters on Friday, stars one of the most popular entertainers in the United States: Ellen DeGeneres, who is currently hosting the thirteenth season of her Emmy-winning daytime talk show. She’s also a two-time Oscar host, spokeswoman for American Express and Cover Girl, a former American Idol judge, and taker of the most retweeted selfie in history. But none of this was true when DeGeneres first voiced the character of Dory, the cheery blue tang with short-term memory loss, for 2003’s Finding Nemo. In fact, the comedian was at the lowest point in her career. “I went through a phase, whether it was true or not, where my perception was, ‘Everyone hates me now,’” DeGeneres said in an interview the year that Nemo was released. Here’s how an animated movie about a forgetful fish helped DeGeneres get back on her feet.

DeGeneres, now 58, rose to fame through her quirky, self-deprecating stand-up in the 1980s. Like many comedians of the time, she channeled her comedy into a sitcom: Ellen, which ran from 1994 to 1998. The show was popular, but not particularly headline-grabbing… until DeGeneres declared herself a lesbian on the cover of Time magazine (”Yep, I’m Gay”) in April 1997. The coming-out profile has since become somewhat of a standard public-relations move for celebrities bold enough to leave the closet, but at the end of the 20th century, it was still a jaw-dropper. Even more unprecedented was her decision to have her television character, Ellen Morgan, come out as a lesbian as well. (DeGeneres timed her personal announcement to coincide with the airing of the episode, which was preceded by a season’s worth of “Ellen might be gay” hints.) Although gay-centric TV plots were becoming increasingly common by the mid-90s — including Friends’ lesbian wedding episode in 1996 — there were no gay lead characters on prime time.

It turned out to be a highly controversial move. The coming-out episode of Ellen attracted a series-high 42 million viewers, but scared away advertisers, including Chrysler, Wendy’s, and JCPenney (for whom DeGeneres, ironically, later became a spokesperson). Moral Majority leader Jerry Falwell spoke for many of the more homophobic objectors, saying of Ellen, “If she chooses to live this way, that’s her business…But we don’t want her dumping that into the hearts and minds of the kids of America.” The backlash extended even to the episode’s one-shot guest stars. Oprah Winfrey, who played Ellen Morgan’s therapist, got what she has since described as “the worst hate mail I’ve ever received.” Laura Dern, after playing the lesbian who helped Ellen Morgan realize she was gay, has said she could not get another acting job for over a year.

But DeGeneres herself seemed to be doing just fine. “Now, I feel completely comfortable with myself, and I don’t have to be fearful about something damaging my career if it gets out, because now I’m in control of it — sort of,” she told Time. She and her new girlfriend, up-and-coming actress Anne Heche, seemed blissfully happy (even though their PDA inspired one fellow guest at the 1997 White House Correspondents’ Dinner to call them a “freak show”). “I think it’s forever. That’s a good feeling,” DeGeneres told Diane Sawyer.

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When it was announced that Finding Nemo was gonna be made Disney/Pixar did a surprising celebrity voice search for the character Dory which in turn turned out to be Ellen DeGeneres and I think it truly was Finding Nemo that made Ellen a superstar in TV again and if you look at Dory's personality in Finding Nemo you can see a lot of Ellen DeGeneres in Dory which is why I think Disney cast Ellen for Dory's voice and I think Dory herself is based on Ellen too. But after her two sitcoms Ellen DeGeneres was a short lived celebrity who mainly focused on making comedy albums and doing comedy concerts. But if it wasn't for Finding Nemo Ellen DeGeneres would not have made a comeback with her talk show and made herself a big celebrity now. And when Finding Dory came out Ellen's popularity soared and she has shown no signs of slowing down but I think when Ellen got cancelled Ellen DeGeneres got really sad thinking that she would not find fame again. I think Ellen really shows it well in the role of Dory in Finding Nemo because not only does she show her own personality in Dory but she makes you laugh
Bestie