Ellen DeGeneres

May 05

Ellen and Anne

Actress Anne Heche, 27, and DeGeneres, 39, who met at the Vanity Fair post-Oscars party in March, announce their relationship to PEOPLE. "When I saw Ellen across the room, I just, like, swung across on the chandelier, and dropped down beside her. Our souls connected," Heche tells Oprah. "I don't feel like I'm gay," adds Heche, who has been with men in the past. "I just feel like I'm in love."

On the Silver Screen

DeGeneres appears in three movies – Ron Howard's EdTV, The Love Letter and Goodbye Lover. EdTV, starring Matthew McConaughey, is a critical success, but the other two are forgettable.

August 18

The End of the Affair

After 3½ years together, Heche and DeGeneres announce to New York's Daily News that they have broken up. Heche is found behaving strangely on the outskirts of Fresno, Calif., the next day and is briefly hospitalized. The following year, she'll marry cameraman Coleman Laffoon.

September 24

Ellen, Part II

DeGeneres plays another lesbian named Ellen in CBS' The Ellen Show. "A lot of the humor on sitcoms comes from being sarcastic and mean-spirited," she tells The New York Times. "I just have never liked that. I like things that are funny because they're silly or because they're smart." Her show is scheduled Fridays at 8:30 p.m. and is canceled three months later.

November 04

A Spoonful of Ellen

The Emmys are delayed twice after 9/11, but CBS and the Academy promise a show that will "reaffirm the spirit of the American people." In her second turn hosting, DeGeneres is lauded for her deft, sensitive performance. "I felt it was important for me to be here tonight," she says during the telecast, "because what would bug the Taliban more than seeing a gay woman in a suit surrounded by Jews?" DeGeneres gets a standing ovation at the close of the ceremony.

May 30

The Life Aquatic

DeGeneres voices Dory, a neurotic fish with a memory problem, in Disney's animated comedy Finding Nemo. The movie grosses more than $860 million worldwide and wins Best Animated Film at the Oscars the following March. "I wrote it completely with [Ellen] in mind," Nemo director Andrew Stanton tells the Chicago Sun-Times of his inspiration for Dory.

November 08

Hawking AmEx

American Express signs DeGeneres as one of its spokespeople for a global ad campaign. Photographer Annie Leibovitz shoots the print ads, and humorous TV commercials feature DeGeneres dancing and working with animal colleagues.