Rosie O'Donnell

Biography: After a winning streak on Star Search, this tomboyish stand-up brought her brazen attitude and Long Island accent to a bunch of TV series and films, usually portraying a big-hearted, acid-tongued second banana. Highlights of her early work included a one-year stint on Gimme a Break!, A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, The Flintstones and her Broadway debut in a revival of Grease. In the mid 1990s, she made a decision that would change her career: tired of working long hours on movies and anxious to spend more time with her son, O'Donnell launched her own eponymous daytime talk show in 1996. An instant hit, the series cast the formerly brash comedian in a new role, that of Rosie "The Queen of Nice" — a show-tune-singing, Tom Cruise-loving, down-to-earth everywoman, who effortlessly connected with folk across America. During her tenure, she won a bunch of Daytime Emmys, hosted a number of award shows (the Tonys, the Grammys) and launched a magazine. But 2002 markedAfter a winning streak on Star Search, this tomboyish stand-up brought her brazen attitude and Long Island accent to a bunch of TV series and films, usually portraying a big-hearted, acid-tongued second banana. Highlights of her early work included a one-year stint on Gimme a Break!, A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, The Flintstones and her Broadway debut in a revival of Grease. In the mid 1990s, she made a decision that would change her career: tired of working long hours on movies and anxious to spend more time with her son, O'Donnell launched her own eponymous daytime talk show in 1996. An instant hit, the series cast the formerly brash comedian in a new role, that of Rosie "The Queen of Nice" — a show-tune-singing, Tom Cruise-loving, down-to-earth everywoman, who effortlessly connected with folk across America. During her tenure, she won a bunch of Daytime Emmys, hosted a number of award shows (the Tonys, the Grammys) and launched a magazine. But 2002 marked another change in trajectory for the star who, after years of speculation about her sexual orientation, officially came out as a lesbian. Soon after, she resigned from both her magazine and TV show to spend more time with her partner, Kelli Carpenter, and their ever-growing family. In 2004, in the midst of the ongoing debate over legalizing gay marriage, she and Carpenter wed in San Francisco. The couple also founded a gay-family-friendly travel company, which was chronicled in the documentary All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise. In 2006, O'Donnell returned to daytime TV after a four-year hiatus as the most-outspoken member of the chatfest The View. Although she only stayed with the show for a year, she helped boost ratings with her blunt banter, public feud with Donald Trump and frequent clashes with her conservative cohost Elisabeth Hasselbeck. In May 2007, a particularly heated political debate with Hasselbeck prompted O'Donnell to exit the talk show almost a month earlier than previously announced. That same year she wrote Celebrity Detox: (The Fame Game), a memoir that explored her need to step out of the spotlight for a bit. She later stopped blogging, explaining that "it wasn't providing joy," though she did update her Web site to spotlight items of interest to her. By late 2008, she took another stab at TV when she tried to launch a variety show called Rosie Live, but it proved unsuccessful. In 2009, she announced a setback in her personal life when she shared the news that she and Carpenter were splitting up. She also turned her attention back to hosting a talk show that same year, only this time in a new forum: Rosie Radio debuted on Sirius XM in November 2009, proving a good chatterbox can remain quiet for only so long.… Expand