Roseann Teresa O'Donnell was born on March 21, 1962 in Bayside, Queens, New York. When she was about to turn eleven, her mother died of breast cancer, leaving her in the care of her father and four siblings. Her interest in comedy began when she was in high school, where she imitated Gilda Radner’s character Roseanne Rosannadanna. She was educated at Dickinson College and later at Boston University where she dropped out to pursue comedy. She was first discovered in a comedy club in Long Island by Ed McMahon's daughter and was placed on Star Search where she won five weeks in a row. Coming out in 2002, Rosie is a self proclaimed lesbian who believed that it was important to bring attention to the gay adoption issue which she felt strongly for. She protested against adoption agencies that refused adoptive rights to gay and lesbian parents. She has also written an autobiography entitled Find Me where she talked about her relationship with a woman, her childhood and early adulthood. Her book took a spot as second place on the New York Times bestseller list.
Rosie O'Donnell co-hosts
The View alongside Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Barbara Walters. She represents the liberal side of things, as she sometimes opposes Elisabeth Hasselbeck's conservative views. Like Joy Behar, she is into comedy, and brings a little humor to the show. The show is a recipient of the 2003 Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Talk Show". It has run ten seasons and features hot news topics, celebrity interviews, general entertainment, and awareness issues for the youth and women.
(Photo courtesy of ABC)