Biography of Portia De RossiHailing from Melbourne, Australia, Portia -- whose real name is Amanda Lee Rogers -- was born on January 31, 1973. One of two children, she was raised solely by her mother following her dad's death when she was only 9.
Realizing that life could be short and unexpected, Portia (who changed her name at age 15) decided to make "every moment count" and threw herself into a variety of projects, most notably modeling and TV commercials.
portia de rossi in sirens
Although she seemed like a natural from the start, Portia had no interest in pursuing acting professionally. Instead, she enrolled herself into the University of Melbourne with the hopes of becoming a lawyer (and getting A's in the process).
A year into her studies, Portia was approached by a casting director who had seen some of her commercials and thought she would be perfect for Sirens, a 1994 Australian comedy starring Hugh Grant. Portia eventually got the part of a nude model.
"It kind of turned my life upside down," said Portia about landing the part. Indeed, it would soon alter her game plan forever.
While on a 1995 trip to Denver -- to attend the Telluride Film Festival -- Portia, on impulse, decided to switch her return ticket from Sydney to Los Angeles in the hopes of jump-starting her newly discovered passion. Though she lived a hand-to-mouth existence at first, she eventually settled in with her new boyfriend, documentary filmmaker Mel Metcalfe, and things soon took off.
portia de rossi on ally mcbeal
Portia appeared in several small pictures, including The Woman in the Moon (1995), the made-for-TV Perfect Assassins (1998), The Invisibles (1999), and American Intellectuals (1999), in addition to her small roles in Scream 2 (1997) and Stigmata (1999).
However, it was on the small screen that Portia got her big break in 1998. Having remembered her from Mixed Nuts, a 1996 pilot, David E. Kelley, creator of Ally McBeal, asked Portia to audition for the role of Nelle on the hit FOX series (the role had originally been offered to Vanessa Marcil, but she turned it down to do Beverly Hills, 90210).
For Portia, it was the role of a lifetime; she had been following Ally religiously since the show's 1997 debut. She won raves for her performance on Ally McBeal and even shared the 1999 SAG Award for "Best Ensemble in a Comedy" with her costars.
"She's very intelligent and that comes across in her acting," Kelley once remarked in singing Portia's praises.
portia de rossi on arrested development
Portia continued to appear on the big screen in small movies such as Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001), I Witness (2003) and The Night We Called It a Day (2003).
Although Ally went off the air in 2002 after a five-season run, it did not take long for Portia to find another TV role. In 2003, she accepted the part of Jason Bateman's sister Lindsay on the FOX series Arrested Development, for which she won a Golden Satellite Award as Best Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical in 2005. Her most recent film projects include Dead & Breakfast (2004) and Cursed (2005).
Portia is currently romantically involved with actress and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.
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