Rosie O'Donnell

Roseann O'Donnell was born on March 21, 1962, in Commack, New York, the third of five children of Roseann Teresa (née Murtha) and Edward Joseph O'Donnell. Her father had immigrated from County Donegal, Ireland, during his childhood, and her mother was Irish American. O'Donnell was raised Roman Catholic. Her mother died of breast cancer on March 17, 1973, four days before O'Donnell's eleventh birthday. While attending Commack High School, she was elected homecoming queen, prom queen, senior class president, and class clown. Her interest in comedy began during those years, including a school performance in which she imitated Gilda Radner's character Roseanne Roseannadanna. After graduating in 1980, she briefly attended Dickinson College before transferring to Boston University, ultimately leaving without a degree. Her brother is Daniel J. O'Donnell, the first openly gay man elected to the New York State Assembly.

O'Donnell began touring stand-up comedy clubs in 1979. Her national breakthrough came in 1984 on the television competition series Star Search, where she won five consecutive weeks and gained wide exposure. She made her television series debut in 1986 on Gimme a Break!, playing a neighbor to Nell Harper's character. In 1988, she joined VH1 as a veejay and began hosting Stand-up Spotlight, a showcase for emerging comedians. A 1992 Fox Network sitcom, Stand By Your Man, co-starring Melissa Gilbert, was short-lived, but that same year O'Donnell made her feature film debut in A League of Their Own alongside Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, and Madonna. Subsequent film roles included parts in Sleepless in Seattle, The Flintstones, Beautiful Girls, Exit to Eden, and Wide Awake, as well as voice work as the gorilla Terk in Disney's Tarzan.

In 1996, O'Donnell launched The Rosie O'Donnell Show through her production company KidRo Productions. The syndicated daytime program ran until 2002 and won multiple Daytime Emmy Awards. During its run, O'Donnell earned the nickname "Queen of Nice" for her style of interaction with guests and studio audiences. The show regularly featured Broadway cast members as guests, and O'Donnell promoted productions through ticket giveaways and on-air performance segments. Following the 1999 Columbine shootings, she became a vocal advocate for gun control and a prominent figure in the Million Mom March. She used a $3 million book advance for her 2002 memoir Find Me to establish her For All foundation and fund additional charitable projects, encouraging celebrity guests on her show to participate.

O'Donnell came out as a lesbian in 2002 and became an outspoken advocate for lesbian rights and gay adoption. She is a foster and adoptive mother. That year, The Advocate named her its Person of the Year, and she became a regular contributor to the magazine in 2023. She is also a co-founder of R Family Vacations, an LGBT family vacation company. From 2006 to 2007, she served as a moderator on The View, a tenure marked by a public dispute with Donald Trump and on-air disagreements over the Bush administration's Iraq War policies. She hosted Rosie Radio on Sirius XM between 2009 and 2011, then hosted The Rosie Show on OWN from 2011 to 2012. She returned to The View in 2014 for a five-month run before departing due to personal issues. From 2017 to 2019, she starred in the Showtime comedy series SMILF.

O'Donnell's Broadway career spanned from 1994 to 2004. She starred in Grease and also appeared in productions of Seussical and Fiddler on the Roof. Beyond performing, she has worked as a television producer, magazine editor, celebrity blogger, and author, with memoirs including Find Me (2002) and Celebrity Detox (2007). In early 2025, shortly after Donald Trump was inaugurated for a second presidential term, O'Donnell relocated to Ireland and applied for Irish citizenship through descent. In July 2025, Trump threatened to revoke her U.S.-born birthright citizenship.