Pudgy, junk-food loving Rosie O'Donnell made her name in comedy with her self-deprecating, semi-autobiographical feminist banter. She began developing her brazen, unabashed style while still a Long Island high school student and quit college at age 20, opting for the less than glamorous life of the stand-up circuit. Honing her craft further on the road, she went on to make her TV debut on "Star Search" in 1984, winning the syndicated show's comedy competition five times by decade's end. After making her series debut as Nell Carter's dental-hygienist neighbor on "Gimme a Break" (NBC) in 1986, O'Donnell unleashed her earthy humor and broadened her appeal as host (she also produced) of VH-1's "Stand Up Spotlight", which opened the door for her own series. Fox's short-lived black comedy "Stand By Your Man" (1992) cast her opposite Melissa Gilbert as two sisters living together while their husbands serve time for robbery. Though the delightful premise did not register with viewers, the show was an ideal vehicle for her, allowing her to improvise and perfect her scene-stealing prowess for the film career that would follow. 

O'Donnell's tomboy talents stood her in good stead for her feature debut as Doris Murphy, the third basewoman with the mouth of a truck driver, in Penny Marshall's "A League of Their Own" (1992), the first in a series of movies in which she managed to stand out regardless of the material's quality. After appearing as Meg Ryan's friend in "Sleepless in Seattle", she starred with Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez in "Another Stakeout" (both 1993), essaying a tough-talking district attorney who goes undercover to locate a missing witness. Her amusing battle of wits with Dreyfuss as each tried to outsmart the other helped elevate the film above run-of-the-mill sequel status. O'Donnell excelled as Betty Rubble in the popular live-action feature version of "The Flintstones" and was the only thing worth watching as an undercover cop in a resort catering to sexual fantasies in the misguided comedy "Exit to Eden" (both 1994). She then played a wisecracking doctor (portrayed as a teenager by Christina Ricci) in the female ensemble comedy "Now and Then" (1995), which she followed with another smart-mouthed character in the ensemble comedy "Beautiful Girls" (1996). 

Well on her way to major movie stardom, O'Donnell changed horses midstream. The defining moment of her life had been the death of her mother from cancer when she was 10, and she had assumed maternal responsibilities over her younger sisters and stayed on track despite the vacuum left by her mother's absence. Working 14-hour days while filming the children's movie "Harriet the Spy" (also 1996), she returned one day to her hotel room, and when her adopted son refused to come to her, going to the woman looking after him at the time, she called her agent and said, "I'm not doing any more movies." Instead, she embarked on a career as host (and executive producer) of her own syndicated daily talk-variety show "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" (1996- ). The highly-rated series was a distinct throwback to the daytime chat fests she had grown up watching (i.e., "The Merv Griffin Show", "The Mike Douglas Show"), in contrast to the tabloid travesties of hosts like Jerry Springer, Sally Jessy Raphael and Ricki Lake. O'Donnell garnered back-to-back Outstanding Talk Show Host Daytime Emmy Awards for her efforts. 

Initially, the writers wanted her to be the snappy, sharp-tongued woman she was on her 1995 HBO comedy special, but O'Donnell's golden rule--'Never say anything on the air that you wouldn't say to someone's face'--won out in the end, earning her the title 'Queen of Nice', originally bestowed on her by NEWSWEEK magazine. She charmed audiences with her warmth, wittiness and candor and shamelessly courted her own heroes like Bette Midler, Barbra Streisand, Elton John and Tom Cruise as celebrity guests, coming across as refreshingly starstruck as anyone watching at home. O'Donnell had realized a lifelong dream when she starred as Rizzo in the 1994 Broadway revival of "Grease", and her enthusiastic use of her show to promote the theater positively impacted ticket sales for productions like "The Lion King", "Ragtime" and "Titanic" and led to her hosting the 1997 and 1998 Tony Awards. A warrior in the front lines against breast cancer, she is, above all, a tireless advocate for kids, privately conceding "I'm like Schindler at the end of that movie: 'If I could just save one more.'" Indeed, her commitment to children led to her publically disclosing her homosexuality spurred on by a Florida law that does not allow gay men or lesbians to adopt. 

Credit: biggeststars.com