Comedienne

America’s queen of comedy, Rosie O’Donnell, who turned her hand to acting and singing, is now set to become America’s new talk show host. 

The brash New Yorker will host a show for Warner Brothers Television this summer, mixing stand-up comics and shtick with celebrity interviews and music acts. 

O’Donnell, who spent a lot of time in Belfast growing up, said she didn’t have an act when she began to do her standup routine at the ago of 17. “I talked about my family, and my father’s from Ireland,” she said. “That sort of became the basis for my stand-up routine.” 

Her success led to increasing exposure, and soon viewers were watching her on VH-1, where she produced and hosted the show Stand Up Spotlight. She was nominated for an Emmy for her work. 

She burst onto the acting scene with the movie A League of Their Own, and suddenly her career took a different turn. Sleepless in Seattle, Another Stakeout and The Flintstones followed, and O’Donnell then landed the part of Rizzo in the Broadway production of Grease. 

Her latest movie is Beautiful Girls, in which she stars with Uma Thurman, and she has just completed work on Harriet the Spy. 

O’Donnell is proud of her Irish heritage. “When I see other people with Claddagh rings, it’s like the club,” she quipped.