It's easy to imagine that Oprah joined the world as the fully formed, all-knowing being that she is now. But, as she demonstrated on her show this week, even Miss Winfrey had to start somewhere. Even though that place wasn't exactly the bottom, it's still humbling to see the star back in her more amateur days.
Oprah's staff somehow managed to track down an ancient audition tape from the job that's credited for launching her career. As she explained to the audience, she was working in Baltimore when she heard about an opening on a little show called AM Chicago. She stayed up all night crafting the perfect video résumé and, well, the rest is history. She nailed the audition, and AM Chicago wound up becoming The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Oprah was humble enough to play this throwback tape — in which she discusses the origins of her name — for the world to see. In her own words, she can't believe she got the job. For our part, we can't believe there was ever a time when Oprah wasn't, you know, Oprah.
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