Rosie was born Roseann Teresa O'Donnell on March 21, 1962 into a chaotic Irish family in Commack, Long Island, New York, the middle of five children (Eddie, Danny, Maureen and Timmy). Her mother, also named Roseann, died of cancer in 1972 when Rosie was only 10, leaving her father Edward to raise the family. She says she grew up watching television virtually 24 hours a day.

Rosie excelled in high school, at least socially (she maintained a B average). In the Commack High School class of '80 she was elected Homecoming Queen, Senior Class President, Student Council Member, Class Clown and Personality Plus. She played on all the sports teams and played drums in a rock band.

Inspired by Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand, Rosie wanted to be in show business from a very early age. At 16 she performed her first stand-up date when she memorized a Seinfeld routine she'd seen Jerry perform on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. At 18, she dropped out of college (she attended Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA, and Boston University, eeking out a 1.62 GPA) and started working the club circuit, traveling alone on dark roads in cars that seemed to have a death wish and living in seedy, club-provided accommodations.

Having endured this trial by comedy fire (she's performed club dates in 47 of the 50 states), Rosie made her television debut as a Star Search finalist in 1984 (she lost the finals to fellow standup comic Steve Mittleman), then won critical praise for her sitcom role as a Boston-Irish dental hygienist -- Nell Carter's neighbor -- during Gimme A Break's last 11 episodes in 1986.

After Gimme a Break, Rosie was asked to host and produce VH-1's Stand Up Spotlight, which gave her an outlet for her earthy humor. It also helped broaden her appeal and opened the door for her own TV show, Fox's Stand By Your Man (1992), a vehicle that let Rosie improvise and hone her scene-stealing talents, even though it only lasted seven weeks.

She subsequently appeared as Meg Ryan's friend in Sleepless in Seattle and starred with Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez in Another Stakeout (both 1993). In the latter, she essayed a tough-talking district attorney who goes undercover to locate a missing witness. Rosie and Dreyfuss were quite amusing as each tried to outsmart the other.

Rosie next co-starred as Betty Rubble in the popular live-action feature version of The Flintstones and was the only thing worth watching in the misguided comedy Exit to Eden (both 1994). That same year, she made her singing and dancing debut on Broadway as Rizzo in the revival of Grease.

Rosie played a wisecracking doctor (portrayed as a teenager by Christina Ricci) in the female ensemble comedy Now and Then (1995) and followed with another smart-mouthed character in the ensemble comedy beautiful girls (1996).

A major turning point in Rosie's life occured when she adopted two-day old Parker Jaren, on May 27, 1995. After the arrival of Parker, she continued to make a couple of movies, host charity and awards shows, even do occasional stand-up dates. But during the filming of the children's movie Harriet the Spy (1996) in late 1995, she realized that she was missing out on much of her son's childhood. That's when she decided to make a serious career change and become a TV talk-show host.

In January of 1996 she inked a deal with Warner Brothers to host a new daytime television show modeled after the Merv Griffin and Mike Douglas variety-talk shows of the 1970's. She wanted to avoid the sleaze of other contemporary daytime talk shows and concentrate on the celebrities and live performances that usually show up only on the late-night shows.

In March 1996, after completing a prior commitment to appear in the film Wide Awake, she began full-time work on The Rosie O'Donnell Show. The show made it's national debut on June 10, 1996, after two weeks of rehearsal shows. It became the hottest new daytime talk show since The Oprah Winfrey Show. The show lasted six seasons, with the final show airing June 26, 2002.

Rosie and her partner Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell enjoy a WNBA game in Miami

Now that the show is over, Rosie has sold her five-story brownstone townhouse on Manhattan's West 81st Street. She now lives in her five-bedroom home in Nyack, NY, with her long-time girlfriend and spouse Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell and their four children Parker, Chelsea Belle, born September 20, 1997, Blake Christopher, born December 5, 1999, and Vivienne Rose, born to Kelli November 29, 2002. Kelli, a former Nickelodeon cable network executive, was introduced to Rosie in 1998 by Rosie's brother Daniel.

Rosie adopted Parker and Chelsea alone, but she and Kelli adopted Blake together. Friends say Kelli used an anonymous sperm donor after they were unable to adopt 4-year-old foster child Mia because Florida state law bars gay adoption. They reportedly have signed a legal agreement that gives them equal rights as parents of Vivienne. Kelli also filed for legal guardianship of Parker and Chelsea. On February 26, 2004, Rosie and Kelli were married in San Francisco.

Rosie and Cyndi Lauper are working on a two-person show they'll headline, based on Rosie's autobiography Find Me; Rosie is producing a movie on the life of slain photojournalist Dan Eldon; she is trying to develop a children's video; she's considering another book; she is involved with a deal for Showtime on a project called America, based on a novel by E.R. Frank; and she's even considering some acting jobs.

If you would like to read a more about Rosie, check out my book, EVERYTHING ROSIE!