Biography for
Rosie O'Donnell More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

21 March 1962, Commack, Long Island, New York, USA

Birth Name

Roseann O'Donnell

Nickname

Dolly
Ro

Height

5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Mini Biography

Rosie O'Donnell was born into an Irish family in Commack, Long Island. She was in the middle of 5 children. Her mother died when she was ten. She said that she watched TV nearly 24 hours a day. When she was 18, she dropped out of college and went on to do shows like "Gimme a Break!" (1981), and she produced and hosted "Stand-Up Spotlight" (1988). Now, she works on her own down-to-earth syndicated show: "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" (1996).

IMDb Mini Biography By:

Trivia

Used to work in the catalog department at Sears. Her job was to attach the orders to the catalogs, dump the catalogs in the correct bins, and then fetch the orders for the customers.

Has said that she will never have biological children because of a family history of alcoholism and cancer. She plans to adopt more children, and is also becoming a certified foster parent (as of December 1999).

Voted most popular in her high school class.

Has a very big toy collection, especially McDonald's Happy Meal toys.

Started out doing stand-up comedy.

Her role-models are Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler.

Best friends with Madonna.

Big Savage Garden fan.

Big Tom Cruise fan.

Was a VH-1 VeeJay.

Is allergic to cats and horses.

Dropped out of Boston University after one year. Dropped out of Dickinson College (Carlisle, Pennsylvania) as well.

Father was born in Belfast, N. Ireland.

Adopted third child, son Blake Christopher (b. November 1999). [5 December 1999]

Won $20,000 on "Star Search" (1983).

Appeared as a lifeline on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (1999/I), correctly answering the question, and helping the contestant win $32,000. She later invited the contestant onto her show, and gave him a week-long trip to London, England, UK.

Fell and broke her right hand. [March 2000]

Has a chain of roses tattoo on her ankle.

She refuses to sign autographs for adults.

Anjelica Huston wanted her to play the lead in the film Agnes Browne (1999) but she turned it down because the offer came shortly after the shootings at Columbine High-School and O'Donnell felt that she was too emotional to do a film at that time.

Voted high school homecoming queen.

Is a big New York Jets fan.

Attended Sawmill Junior High School in Commack, New York.

Rosie's father, Edward, was a spy-camera engineer for a defense corporation.

A TV special she co-hosted on Nickelodeon, "Nick News Special Edition: My Family is Different", logged some 100,000 e-mails and calls in protest about its gay-parenting content, before the show even aired 18 June 2002. The campaign was reportedly organized by the Traditional Values Coalition. Linda Ellerbee hosted and produced the show.

4 children - Parker Jaren O'Donnell (adopted) born 25 May 1995; Chelsea Belle O'Donnell (adopted) born 20 Sept 1997; Blake Christopher O'Donnell (adopted) born 5 Dec 1999; Vivienne Rose O'Donnell born 29 Nov 2002 to Rosie's partner, Kelli O'Donnell, and weighed 6lbs 6 oz.

Once owned and lived in the late Helen Hayes's former home in Nyack, New York.

Took the role in Exit to Eden (1994) after learning that Sharon Stone had turned it down.

Attended Commack High School South, the same high school as sportscaster Bob Costas.

Born on the same day as actor Matthew Broderick.

She is a big fan of the Harry Potter book series, and even offered to play "Molly Weasley" in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) for free.

Auditioned for role of Elaine on "Seinfeld" (1990).

Is a third cousin to Bridget Moynahan on her father's side, a fact that Rosie O'Donnell did not know until Bridget was a guest on "The View" (1997).

In 2006, she donated $5,700,000 to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts including Renaissance Village (a temporary shelter for Katrina victims), day care centers, a rehabilitation center in San Antonio, Texas, and a Habitat for Humanity subdivision in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Is good friends with Penny Marshall.

Stated on "The View" (1997) that she keeps her Emmy Awards in storage, and when queried by Elisabeth Hasselbeck, confirmed that she lets her kids paint them.

She once sued KRSK-FM, a Portland, Oregon, radio station. She was the subject of scathing editorials in Portland as a result of her court action. KRSK had given itself the nickname "Rosie 105", a reference to Portland's nickname, "the Rose City". O'Donnell claimed that she owned the name Rosie, and that the station was trying to cash in on her celebrity nickname. The court found in favor of the radio station.

Personal Quotes

Unfortunately in the gay community, oftentimes people that get the most attention are the most flamboyant and loud. And that's not to dismiss them, because drag queens and, you know, leather motorcycle women, they have their place in the gay community as well. But they're not -- they don't define the gay community by any stretch of the imagination.

Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America.

[Talking about actress Lindsay Lohan]: "Lindsay's behavior on her latest film Georgia Rule (2007) was unacceptable. It's not like she was doing Dumb & Dumber 2. It's a Jane Fonda movie! Be early! I saw Lohan stumbling around a club drunk once and her mother was going, 'She's all right!' I can say this from experience: it's hard to be famous, and she's not doing it well at this point. But she'll get into rehab, take care of the eating disorder, and be all better in two years and have a huge comeback".

Where Are They Now

(September 2007) Release of her book, "Celebrity Detox".

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