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Rosie O'Donnell
| Rosie O'Donnell born March 21, 1962, in Commack, Long Island. Her father designed cameras for spy satellites, her mother was a homemaker. When Rosie was 10 years old, her mother died of pancreatic and liver cancer, leaving Rosie & her 4 brothers & sisters to fend for themselves emotionally. Rosie found idols & role models in Lucille Ball, Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand, Carol Burnett. Rosie caught the acting bug when she imitated Gilda Radner's character "Roseanne Rosannadanna" for a high school skit-inciting praise, then a conviction to pursue an acting career through comedy. By watching & imitating other comics, such as Jerry Seinfeld, O'Donnell eventually came up with her own material & honed her magnetic presence for the stage. After graduating from high school, Rosie embarked on a grand tour of the United States, appearing in 49 states over a five-year period. It was a difficult & enlightening time for O'Donnell. She realized the unhealthy lifestyle & the sexist climate revolving around the comedy world. She told Robert Hoffler of Buzz, "Everybody was doing drugs and drinking, & I was just this little girl on the road, scared in her room." Rossie O'Donnell studied at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania & Boston University & made 5 winning appearances on Star Search before moving to LA in 1984. She landed a part of NBC's popular sitcom Gimme a Break before cable music video channel, VH-1, snatched her up as a veejay. When the station decided to stop using veejays, Rossie O'Donnell convinced them both to create a showcase for comedians, Stand-Up Spotlight, & keep her on as its host. Stand-Up Spotlight became the VH-1's most popular show, and O'Donnell hosted for four years. In 1992, after appearing in several television specials, O'Donnell made a much-desired & anticipated move to film when Penny Marshall cast her as Madonna's loveable sidekick in A League of Their Own. O'Donnell forged many connections & friendships during filming, which served to enhance her career, including an enduring relationship with co-star Madonna. Her role spurned a string of "best-friend" roles including "Becky," Meg Ryan's closest pal in 1993's Sleepless in Seattle. She played assistant district attorney, Gina Garrett, in John Badham's Another Stakeout alongside Emilio Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss, and made a cameo in Carl Reiner's Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct spoof, Fatal Instinct. She also appeared as a wise-cracking hairdresser in Beautiful Girls. O'Donnell began a trend of making performances in less than extraordinary films. In 1994, Rosie O'Donnell's dream of performing live on stage materialized when she was cast as Rizzo in Tommy Tune's Broadway revival of Grease!. However, both the production and O'Donnell's performance met lukewarm reviews. O'Donnell expressed concern about the message of the play, with its sexist premise about a girl who must transform herself into a tightly-clad tramp to gain acceptance by her boyfriend and his friends. Following her Broadway debut, O'Donnell appeared in Lesli Linka Glatter's coming of age film, Now and Then alongside and Melanie Griffith and Demi Moore made a cameo on the TV sitcom Bless This House. In February 1995, after a two-year hiatus, O'Donnell returned briefly to stand-up in order to prepare for an HBO comedy special. Rosie O'Donnell has taken her popularity and put it to good use. She established the "Rosie's For All Kids Foundation" in 1997. Since its inception, the Foundation has raised more than $56 million & awarded more than $22 million dollars in grants to over 1,400 child-related non-profit organizations to benefit low income families across the country. Rosie established a fund to provide $3 million dollars to children & families displaced by Katrina. In 2003 she established "Rosie's Broadway Kids," a program that provides in-school, after-school & summer instruction in musical theater to the public school children of New York. In 2004 Rosie & Kelli O'Donnell launched R Family Vacations, & with 1,500 people - gay, lesbian, straight, young & old - set sail on the first ever gay family cruise to the Caribbean. S HBO aired the documentary "All Aboard Rosie's Family Cruise," directed by Emmy nominee Shari Cookson. The documentary, which recently garnered three Emmy Award nominations, chronicles this historic undertaking, offering a glimpse of a society shaped by a truly diverse, inclusive network of families. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival in the spectrum category. For six years Rosie was America's best friend for an hour each day as host & executive producer of "The Rosie O'Donnell Show." However in May 2002 she decided to leave her successful show. In her phenomenal first season on the air, Rosie won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Host. She continued her success by winning Daytime Emmys for both Outstanding Talk Show Host and Outstanding Talk Show. She won a Primetime Emmy for The 52nd Annual Tony Awards, has graced the cover of Newsweek magazine (dubbed the "Queen of Nice"); was cited as one of Time magazine's 25 Most Influential People in America (1997); was named one of Ladies Home Journal's Fascinating Women of the Year (1996); one of Barbara Walter's 10 Most Fascinating People of 1996; and Entertainment Weekly named her 1996's Entertainer of the Year. ------------------------------------- In April 2001, Rosie made her media debut as the editorial director of Rosie, the magazine she launched for G&J USA publishing, in partnership with her own KidRo productions. The magazine was a celebration of humanity with humor & heart. The December 2002 issue was its last. Rosie launched her website, www.Rosie.com, where she publishes her photos, artwork, answers questions & keeps a blog. Rosie shared her gift for writing with the release of her book Find Me in April 2002. As an author, she offered a brave & powerful account of an extraordinary experience that changed her life. Find Me reached number two on the New York Times Bestseller List. Rosie combined her love of Broadway and '80s pop musical sensation Boy George & produced the musical "Taboo," based on his life. Rosie starred in CBS's Hallmark Hall of Fame production, "Riding the Bus with My Sister," in which she made her dramatic television debut. The telepic is directed by Angelica Huston and co-stars Andie MacDowell. Rosie also completed a 3-arc episode on Showtime's acclaimed hit, "Queer as Folk," scheduled to air this fall, and recently filmed a guest-starring spot on HBO's hit series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Rosie spent her childhood staring at posters of Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler, dreaming of "being them" - her ideals of the all-around performer. With her multi-faceted talents, she is well on her way to living that dream. References: www.rosie.com www.acmewebpages.com/rosie http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/bios/rosie_o'donnell.html www.flickr.com/photos/rosie www.forallkids.org
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