Submitted by: kirkland on Saturday September 09th, 2006 at 10:54 AM EST

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has chosen the genial daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres to be host of next year's Academy Awards, with the latest direction of the broadcast to be "sparkly, up and fun," said the show’s producer, Laura Ziskin.

"She's very warm," Ms. Ziskin said of Ms. DeGeneres on Friday. "She can be really sharp, and biting, and topical. But she’s never mean or jaded." She added: "I want to do a big entertainment show, and Ellen is an entertainer."

Ms. DeGeneres, 48, said she had long dreamed of being the host of the Oscars, and promised to bring her own tone to the show. "It's cool to be edgy," she said in an interview on Friday. "But I think comedy should be smart, funny and able to be enjoyed by everybody, not holier than thou."

» Full story @ NY Times