Rosie O’Donnell was born into an Irish-American family in Commack, Long Island. She is the middle of 5 children, and is the daughter of Roseann Teresa (Murtha) and Edward Joseph O’Donnell, an electrical engineer for the defense industry. 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).