Vance DeGeneres

Biography

Vance DeGeneres is an American Actor, Producer, Comedian, screenwriter & Musician. He is the older brother of popular TV host Ellen DeGeneres.

Vance has produced projects such as The Incredible Burt Wonderstone(2013), "Inside Comedy", Crazy, Stupid, Love(2011)

He has written material for Award events (including grammy and Oscars) and TV series episodes (in "Childhood Thoughts", "Gary the Rat", "Hitz", "Ellen", "Eerie, Indiana")

As an actor, he has appeared in the movie The Incredible Burt Wonderstone(2013), in series such as "Gary the Rat", and TV shows of his sister Ellen ("Ellen" and "The Ellen Show")

Childhood- Family

Vance Elliott DeGeneres born on 2nd September 1954 in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States to Elliott DeGeneres(Father) & Betty DeGeneres(Mother)- an LGBT rights activist & speech therapist.

Mother- Betty DeGeneres

Betty DeGeneres is a former speech therapist and an LGBT rights activist. She was born Elizabeth Jane Pfeffer on May 20, 1930, in Violet, Louisiana.

She is the author of the books "Love, Ellen: A Mother-Daughter Journey and Just a Mom.", "In Love, Ellen: A Mother-Daughter Journey".

She has appeared in Ellen DeGeneres' show a couple of times. She was married to Elliot DeGeneres from 1952-1974. Then to Roy Gruessendorf till 1980. She has survived breast cancer and often talks about it in public to raise awareness.

[Vance DeGeneres's Mother Betty & Sister]

[Elliot DeGeneres and Ellen DeGeneres]

Sister- Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen DeGeneres the famous show host of "The Ellen" show os the younger sister of Vance DeGeneres. She was born on January 26, 1958, in Metairie, Louisiana.

Ellen is an LGBT activist, renowned host and an actress known for works such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2003-), Finding Nemo(2003)(as the voice of Dory), Little Big Shots(as producer), Finding Dory (voice of Dory) among others.

She hosted Oscars in 2014.

[Vance DeGeneres with sister Ellen DeGeneres]

Marriage- Wife

Vance DeGeneres and Joanna DeGeneres

In 2013 Vance married headshot photographer Joanna at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa (California). The event was attended by his sister Ellen, her spouse Portia de Rossi, friend and actor Steve Carrell.

The two had been together since 2010. 

On their Anniversary in 2016, Joanna posted on this on Instagram: "I laugh every day and I married my best friend, I highly recommend following that same path." The two adopted an Australian Labradoodle named Taters in 2018.

[Vance DeGeneres and wife Joanna Degeneres]

Vance DeGeneres and Mimi DeGeneres

Vance was married to Mimi DeGeneres from 1990 to 1991.

Trivia & Facts

• Ancestry: He is of English, French, German, Irish descent. His maternal grandfather was a German and grandmother an Irish.
• Marine Corps: Vance worked in the Marine Corps for two years, he was ranked corporal before retiring.
• When his parents divorced, he stayed with his father while Ellen went with her mother.
• Radio Host: Vance worked in WRNO-FM (99.5 FM) in the 1970s and hosted a program called "New Wave New Orleans"
• The Cold (rock band): Vance was a member of the New Orleans based rock band formed in 1979, The members of the band were- Barbara Menendez, Chris Luckette, Kevin Radecker, Bert Smith. Vance DeGeneres worked on bass.
• Controversy: Vance sued filmmaker Walter Williams (in 1979) who demanded half the profits from his character Mr. Bill
• The Ellen DeGeneres Show: He has appeared on some episodes in his sister Ellen's super hit show. He once appeared with the band Cowboy mouth to perform the song "The Avenue"
• House of Schock: Vance co-founded the live rock band "House of Schock" in the 1980s with the drummer Gina Schock, they release an album for Capitol Records.
• The Daily Show: He worked as a correspondent on the show between 1999-2001 when it was being presented by Jon Stewart for Comedy Central. He co-hosted many of the episodes alongside Jon Stewart from 1999-2015
• Carousel Productions: Vance has been working as a producer on Steve Carell's production company for many years now.
• Rick Springfield & Vance DeGeneres Present the Miniseries: the 60 Second Guide to Songwriting with a Partner: Vance and Rick Springfield created online series, which included two songs "The Wall Will Fall","Welcome To Your Bright New World" for the benefit of 'Feeding America'.

Philanthropy- Activist

• He was in the video about women's health and issues in 2001, it mostly dealt with pregnancy, morning sickness, and other exclusive difficulties women face.
• He supports LGBTQ issues. His mother is also an LGBT activist, and his sister Ellen, one of the high profile LGBT activists of Hollywood, and herself a Lesbian.
• He supports animal rights activism.

Music Career

The Walter Ego(1991): Vance composed a song for the Comedy short video

Vance co-created the character "Mr. Bill" in the TV show Saturday Night Live (1975)

Cowboy Mouth(1998-2007): A New Orleans based band formed in 1992 has had Paul Sanchez, Fred LeBlanc, John Thomas Griffith, Regina Zernay, Sonia Tetlow, Jonathan Pretus for members. Vance played Keyboard for them. He was part of the team in 1998, parted ways with them, and rejoined the team again in 2007 as a rhythm guitar player, replacing the original member Paul Sanchez.

DeGeneres Music: Vance produced music with the label 'DeGeneres Music', He has produced Middle Of Nowhere ‎(for House Of Schock), Do The Dance / Missing Hit Man (for The Cold)

The Light JAckets: He is a member of the folk-pop band 'The Light jackets'

Soundtracks

Filmography

Movies

TV Series

Short movies

Specials

Discography

Quotes

• How many "thoughts and prayers" does it take to stop these weekly school shootings? 1 billion? 2 billion? That many thoughts and prayers have to work, right?
• Even if I had 4 or 5 other sisters, Ellen would still be my favorite, most probably.
• If you're a young comedian or comedy writer, do yourself a favor and study Garry Shandling's body of work. A true comedy genius.
• Since it seems like it's now ok to self-identify as whatever race you'd like to be, I'm re-thinking my whole Caucasian thing.
• I invented a new product. It's called "Selfie Stick." You use it to hit people who are annoying you with selfie sticks.
• Sure, I guess I like Throwback Thursdays as much as anybody else, but you know who I bet really loves them? Fish.
• If you took all the "pundits" on all the cable news channels and laid them end to end on the moon, I'd be very appreciative.
• I just thought of the perfect tweet. Why perfect? Because it's both funny and pithy, and pith is important if you're going to craft the perf
• That dog in Seattle that takes the bus to the dog park by himself makes me feel foolish for paying for Uber rides for my dog.
• I'm starting a crowdfunding thing to help me generate money so that I have money to help when I get crowdfunding requests from friends.

News and Updates

• Oscars: He was one of the writers at the 2014 Oscar events which was hosted by his sister Ellen.
• The 79th Annual Academy Awards(2007): Vance was a writer on  the show which was directed by Joel Gallen & Louis Horvitz
• The 39th Annual Grammy Awards(1997): He was a writer at the event directed by Walter Miller. Vince was one of the production team with his sister Ellen
• The 46th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards(1994): He was one of the writers in the team that included Louis Horvitz & sister Ellen

References

1. Vance DeGeneres wiki
2. Vance DeGeneres Discogrpahy
3.