Editing Rosie O'Donnell (section)

===1979–1995: Stand-up and early work===
O'Donnell toured as a stand-up comedian in clubs from 1979 to 1984.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20061111045509/http://www.eonline.com/celebrities/profile/index.jsp?uuid=c967a0ca-63f1-4edb-b3c6-ec4bdbbc0c4a Rosie O'Donnell profile], ''E! Online''</ref> She got her first big break on ''[[Star Search]]'', explaining on ''[[Larry King Live]]'':<ref>{{cite news|title=Highlights of Interviews With Rosie O'Donnell|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0203/16/lklw.00.html|work=[[Larry King Live]]|publisher=CNN|access-date=February 15, 2014|date=March 16, 2002}}</ref>

{{blockquote|I was 20 years old, and I was at a comedy club in [[Long Island]]. This woman came over to me and she said, I think you're funny. Can you give me your number? My dad is [[Ed McMahon]]. I was like, yeah, right. I gave her my father's phone number. I was living at home, I'm like, whatever. And about three days later, the talent booker from ''Star Search'' called and said, we're going to fly you out to L.A. ... I won, like, five weeks in a row. And it gave me national exposure.}}
[[File:RosieODonnell.jpg|thumb|left|O'Donnell at the 1992 [[Emmy Awards]]]]

After this success, she moved on to television sitcoms, making her series debut as [[Gimme a Break#Main characters|Nell Harper]]'s neighbor on ''[[Gimme a Break!]]'' in 1986.<ref name=PeopleBio/> In 1988, she joined music video station [[VH1]]'s lineup of [[VJ (media personality)|veejays]].<ref name=PeopleBio/> She started hosting a series for VH1, ''Stand-up Spotlight'', a showcase for up-and-coming comedians.<ref name=PeopleBio/> In 1992, she starred in ''[[Stand By Your Man (TV series)|Stand By Your Man]]'', a [[Fox Network]] sitcom co-starring [[Melissa Gilbert]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Peterson|first=Bettelou|title=Gilbert, O'Donnell were in 'Stand by Your Man'|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19930224&id=lLYiAAAAIBAJ&pg=1567,5604853|access-date=February 18, 2014|newspaper=[[The Beaver County Times]]|date=February 24, 1993}}</ref> The show bombed, just as O'Donnell's film career took off. O'Donnell made her feature film debut in ''[[A League of Their Own]]'' (1992) alongside [[Tom Hanks]], [[Geena Davis]], and [[Madonna]], the latter of whom became a lifelong friend.<ref name="actors" /><ref>{{cite web |last1=Papa |first1=Rocco |title=The Truth Behind Madonna And Rosie O'Donnell's Friendship |url=https://www.thethings.com/the-truth-behind-madonna-and-rosie-odonnells-friendship/ |website=The Things |date=September 4, 2023 |access-date=12 August 2024}}</ref> She was originally considered for the role of Mary Sanderson in Disney's ''[[Hocus Pocus (1993 film)|Hocus Pocus]]'', but it was ultimately given to [[Kathy Najimy]]. O'Donnell claimed on her blog that she turned down the offer to work with [[Bette Midler]] because she refused to portray a frightening evil witch. Throughout her career, she has taken on an eclectic range of roles: she appeared in ''[[Sleepless in Seattle]]'' as [[Meg Ryan]]'s character's best friend; as [[Betty Rubble]] in the [[The Flintstones (film)|live-action film adaptation]] of ''[[The Flintstones]]'' with [[John Goodman]], [[Elizabeth Perkins]], and [[Rick Moranis]]; as one of [[Timothy Hutton]]'s co-stars in ''[[Beautiful Girls (film)|Beautiful Girls]]''; as a federal agent comedically paired with [[Dan Aykroyd]] in ''[[Exit to Eden (film)|Exit to Eden]]''; as the voice of a tomboyish female gorilla named Terk in [[Disney]]'s ''[[Tarzan (1999 film)|Tarzan]]'';{{cn|date=April 2025}} and as a baseball-loving nun in [[M. Night Shyamalan]]'s ''[[Wide Awake (1998 film)|Wide Awake]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/032098wide-film-review.html |title='Wide Awake': Squeaky Clean and Relentlessly Coy |work=The New York Times |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=March 20, 1998 |access-date=April 22, 2025}}</ref>

O'Donnell was considered for the role of [[Elaine Benes]] on ''Seinfeld''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=January 1, 2022 |title=Seinfeld: The Actresses Who Almost Played Elaine Benes |url=https://screenrant.com/seinfeld-elaine-actors-almost-cast-played/ |access-date=April 26, 2022 |website=ScreenRant |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102164934/https://screenrant.com/seinfeld-elaine-actors-almost-cast-played/ |archive-date=January 2, 2022 |url-status=live}}</ref>