Ellen DeGeneres to host 2014 Oscars

LOS ANGELES, United States – Comedienne and daytime TV personality Ellen DeGeneres will host the 2014 Academy Awards, her second time emceeing the annual star-studded event, the Academy announced on August 2.

DeGeneres tweeted the news to her 21 million followers.

“It’s official: I’m hosting the #Oscars! I’d like to thank @TheAcademy, my wife Portia and, oh dear, there goes the orchestra,” she wrote.

When stars and starlets take to the red carpet on March 2 next year, DeGeneres will assume the daunting task of entertaining not only the Hollywood elite at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, but tens of millions of home viewers.

Earlier this year, smart-mouthed comedian Seth MacFarlane held an audience of more than 40 million people as host.

READ: Seth MacFarlane not doing Oscars again

Academy Award emcees are often roasted post-ceremony, making the job one of Hollywood’s toughest gigs.

“There are few stars today who have Ellen’s gift for comedy, with her great warmth and humanity. She is beloved everywhere,” said Oscars producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron in a statement.

DeGeneres, who will host what will be the 86th annual awards, last hosted in 2007.

She is best-known for her daytime series “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” now in its 10th season, and sitcom “Ellen,” which ran from 1994 to 1998.

Among a spate of accolades, DeGeneres received a Peabody Award and Emmy for the “Ellen” episode wherein her character came out as a gay woman to 46 million viewers.

In recent years, DeGeneres has branched into film, starring as the voice of Dory the fish in Pixar’s animated feature “Finding Nemo” and its sequel scheduled for release in 2015.

READ: Ellen Degeneres announces ‘Finding Dory’

“I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time,” she said in a statement. “You know what they say – the third time’s the charm.” – Rappler.com

Ellen DeGeneres image from Shutterstock