Life has come full circle for Rosie O'Donnell. The little girl who sang to a wooden spoon in her bedroom and survived early tragedy is now today's hottest star of TV talk shows. She has fame, fortune, family, and her future looks very rosy indeed. From her beginnings on the eighties stand-up circuit and her break on Star Search, Rosie plowed a steady path for herself - to Standup Spotlight, to the big-screen hit A League of Their Own (1992), and currently to her own star.

Vehicle, The Rosie O'Donnell Show. Born into a middle-class family, she has always been fascinated by show business. According to her sister, Maureen, Rosie was "equal parts tomboy, cutup, and dreamer." At the age of ten, her mother died of cancer. Her father, physically and emotionally withdrawn from his children, was heavily involved in secretly developing satellites to spy on the Soviet Union. As a result, the five O'Donnell children raised themselves, with a lot of.

Help from television. The set was on twenty-four hours a day and transformed Rosie into the self-proclaimed "Queen of All Trivia." Rosie retreated with her hopes and dreams into a showbiz fantasy world. She cut classes frequently to sneak home to the TV, once faking mono for a week just to watch a wedding on Ryan's Hope. As an adolescent, the stars she most adored were Bette Midler and Barbra Streisand. She later said that having Bette on her talk show was "a dream come.

True." Her unabashed delight at meeting other performers on her show is real and unrehearsed. She had to have Tony Bennett on twice, because the first time she was too nervous to say much of anything. Through her great connections (and onscreen begging) Rosie has showcased most of Hollywood's A list. And because she quickly puts them at ease, she has already provoked some classic television moments. She once compared tattoos with Cher and showed that she knew the lyrics.

To Cher's songs better than Cher did. Rosie O'Donnell: Her True Story offers an intimate look at the woman who has reinvigorated daytime television.