Portia de Rossi
| Portia de Rossi | |
|---|---|
 de Rossi in February 2007 |
|
| Born | Amanda Lee Rogers January 31, 1973 Horsham, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Actress, comedienne |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Spouse | Mel Metcalfe (1996–1999) Ellen DeGeneres (2008–present) |
Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; January 31, 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi (
/ˈpɔərʃə də ˈrɒsi/), is an Australian-American actress, best known for her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development.[1][2] She also portrayed Veronica Palmer on the ABC sitcom Better Off Ted and Olivia Lord on Nip/Tuck.
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[edit] Early life
Born Amanda Lee Rogers in Horsham, Victoria, Australia,[citation needed] she is the daughter of Margaret, a medical receptionist, and Barry Rogers.[3] Her father died when she was nine.[4] She was raised in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong in Victoria, Australia. As a child, she modeled for print and TV commercials. She adopted the name Portia de Rossi at the age of 15, stating in 2005 that she had intended to reinvent herself, using the given name of Portia, a character from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and an Italian last name.[5]
[edit] Career
Her first significant role was playing a young and impressionable model in the Australian 1994 film Sirens. Soon afterwards she moved to Los Angeles and had guest roles on several TV shows, and a permanent role in Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher, before landing a role in the film Scream 2. During this time in the United States, de Rossi worked diligently to replace her native Australian accent with her current General American one.[6]
She attracted international attention when she joined the main cast of the Ally McBeal TV series in 1998, playing lawyer Nelle Porter. She remained with the show until its end in 2002. In 2001, she starred in Who Is Cletis Tout? with Christian Slater.
From 2003–2006, de Rossi starred as Lindsay Bluth Fünke on Fox Television's critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning series Arrested Development.
She also portrayed John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, in the made for TV movie America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story in 2003. In 2005 she portrayed a fortune-teller named Zela in the Wes Craven thriller Cursed. From 2007–2008, de Rossi appeared in Nip/Tuck's fifth season as Julia McNamara's girlfriend Olivia Lord.
In 2009 and 2010, de Rossi played the high-strung, oversexual, and controlling Veronica Palmer on the ABC show Better Off Ted. De Rossi will reprise her role as Lindsay Bluth Fünke in 2012's film adaptation of Arrested Development.[7] In 2011 she appeared in Better Off Ted cast member Malcolm Barrett's music video for "Revenge of the Nerds", spoofing her character Veronica in a cameo (alongside other cast members of the cancelled series).[8]
She ranked 69th in Stuff's 100 Sexiest Women, 31 in Femme Fatales' Sexiest Women of 2003 list, 24 in Maxim's 100 Sexiest Women List in 2004, and in late 2006, the magazine Blender listed her as one of the hottest women of film and TV.[9] In May 2007, she was featured as one of 100 Most Beautiful in a People magazine special edition. TV Guide included her and Ellen DeGeneres in their Power A-List couples in 2007.
In February 2012 it was announced that ABC had picked up new drama series The Smart One, executive produced by Ellen DeGeneres which would feature Portia de Rossi in a leading role. The actress will star as a "brilliant and successful woman who begrudgingly goes to work for her less-brainy but more popular sister - a former beauty queen, weather girl and now big-city Mayor." [10]
[edit] Personal life
de Rossi was married to documentary film-maker Mel Metcalfe from 1996 to 1999, initially part of a plan to get a green card, but she didn't go through with it. She said that "it just obviously wasn't right for me".[5] In a 2010 interview on Good Morning America, she explained that as a young actress, she was fearful of being exposed as a lesbian.[11]
From 2000 to 2004, de Rossi dated singer Francesca Gregorini, the daughter of Barbara Bach and the stepdaughter of Ringo Starr. She said that most of her family and Ally McBeal castmates didn't know she was a lesbian until tabloid pictures of the couple were published.[5] She declined to publicly discuss the relationship or her sexual orientation at the time.
de Rossi and Gregorini broke up in late 2004 because de Rossi began dating Ellen DeGeneres, whom she met backstage at an awards show.[12] In 2005, she opened up publicly about her sexual orientation in interviews with Details and The Advocate. She became engaged when DeGeneres proposed with a 3-carat diamond ring.[13] They were married at their Beverly Hills home on August 16, 2008, witnessed by their mothers and 19 other guests.[13] On August 6, 2010, Portia filed a petition to legally change her name to Portia Lee James DeGeneres.[14] The petition was granted on 23 September 2010.[15] She became a US citizen in September 2011.[16]
De Rossi struggled with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa for four years while filming Ally McBeal.[12][17]
In 2010 de Rossi published the autobiography Unbearable Lightness which talks about the turmoil that she has experienced in her life, including suffering from anorexia nervosa and being misdiagnosed with lupus.[18][19][20] To promote the book, she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[19]
[edit] Philanthropy
Portia de Rossi supports a variety of charitable organizations, including Locks of Love, a group that provides human hair wigs (made from donated ponytails) either free of charge or on a sliding scale based on their own guidelines [21][22][23][24] for kids with alopecia and other medical conditions that cause hair loss.[25] She has also supported fundraising efforts for FXB International,[26] an African AIDS relief organisation, and The Art of Elysium,[27] an art foundation for terminally ill children. An avid animal lover, de Rossi also supports Alley Cat Allies,[28] an organisation dedicated to protecting and improving the lives of cats.[29]
[edit] Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Sirens | Giddy | |
| 1995 | The Woman in the Moon | Shauna | |
| 1995– 1996 |
Too Something | Maria Hunter | TV series (22 episodes) |
| 1996– 1997 |
Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher | Elana Lewis | TV series (22 episodes) |
| 1997 | Veronica's Closet | Carolyn | TV series (1 episode: Veronica's First Date) |
| 1997 | Scream 2 | Sorority Sister Murphy | |
| 1998 | Astoria | TV movie | |
| 1998 | Girl | Carla Sparrow | |
| 1998 | A Breed Apart | Lana Collins | TV movie |
| 1998– 2002 |
Ally McBeal | Nelle Porter | TV series (89 episodes) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1999) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2000—2001) |
| 1999 | The Invisibles | Joy | |
| 1999 | American Intellectuals | Sarah | |
| 1999 | Stigmata | Jennifer Kelliho | |
| 1999 | Ally | Nell Porter | TV series (12 episodes) Ally McBeal spin-off |
| 2001 | Women in Film | Gina | |
| 2001 | Who Is Cletis Tout? | Tess Tobias | |
| 2002 | The Glow | Jackie Lawrence | TV movie |
| 2002 | The Twilight Zone | Laurel Janus | TV series (1 episode: Dead Man's Eyes) |
| 2003 | Two Girls from Leemore | ||
| 2003 | America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story | Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy | TV movie |
| 2003 | Mister Sterling | Lauren Barnes | TV series (2 episodes) |
| 2003 | I Witness | Emily Thompson | |
| 2003 | The Night We Called It a Day | Hilary Hunter | |
| 2003– 2006 |
Arrested Development | Lindsay Bluth Fünke | TV series (53 episodes) TV Land Award for Future Classic (2003) Satellite Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (2005) Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Comedy or Musical (2004) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005—2006) |
| 2004 | Dead & Breakfast | Kelly | |
| 2005 | Cursed | Zela | |
| 2007– 2009 |
Nip/Tuck | Olivia Lord | TV series (10 episodes) |
| 2009 | The Shift | Denise Moore | [30] |
| 2009– 2010 |
Better off Ted | Veronica Palmer | TV series (26 episodes) |
[edit] References
- ^ "Celebrity Bios: Portia de Rossi". Us Magazine. http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-bios/portia-de-rossi. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
- ^ "Geelong's Portia Marries Ellen". Geelong Advertiser. 18 August 2008. http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/08/18/17323_news.html. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
- ^ "Portia de Rossi profile". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/91/Portia-de-Rossi.html. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "Portia de Rossi on Ellen". Youtube.com. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTw1MoscAk4&feature=related. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
- ^ a b c Michele Kort (13 September 2005). "Portia heart and soul". The Advocate. http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20090223013952/http://www.advocate.com/issue_story_ektid20037.asp.
- ^ "The Very Private Portia". The Age (Melbourne). 10 May 2010. http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/05/07/1052280317160.html.
- ^ Arrested Development (2012 IMDb film profile)
- ^ "Better Off Ted cast reunites for Malcolm Barrett's hip-hop video". Zap2It.com. http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2011/07/better-off-ted-cast-reunites-for-malcolm-barretts-hip-hop-video.html. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
- ^ Errico, Mike (02/01/2007). "Hottest Women of ... Film and TV!". http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=2464&src=blender_ed.
- ^ "ABC to air Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi's "The Smart One"". Unreality TV. 06 February 2012. http://spoilerville.unrealitytv.com/abc-to-air-ellen-degeneres-and-portia-de-rossis-the-smart-one/. Retrieved 06 February 2012.
- ^ Olivia Katrandjian (3 November 2010). "Portia de Rossi: 'I Would Starve Myself Daily'". ABC News. http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/portia-de-rossi-reveals-depths-eating-disorders-book/story?id=12033594. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ a b Van Meter, Jonathan. "Disappearing Act: How did Portia de Rossi withstand the pressures of Hollywood.". Vogue. Archived from the original on 1 April 2006. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-15043182_ITM. Retrieved 22 March 2009.
- ^ a b Singh, Anita (18 August 2008). "Television presenter Ellen DeGeneres marries lesbian lover Portia de Rossi". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2580530/Television-presenter-Ellen-DeGeneres-marries-lesbian-lover-Portia-de-Rossi.html. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ TMZ Staff. "Portia to Ellen: I Want to Be a DeGeneres!". TMZ. http://www.tmz.com/2010/08/09/ellen-degeneres-portia-de-rossi-name-change-petition-married-gay-marriage. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
- ^ "Portia de Rossi takes wife Ellen DeGeneres' name". USA Today. 23 September 2010. http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2010-09-23-derossi-name-change_N.htm.
- ^ Portia Becomes a U.S. Citizen!
- ^ Freydkin, Donna (13 November 2007). "Portia de Rossi nips at new TV challenges". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-11-12-portia-de-rossi_N.htm.
- ^ de Rossi, Portia (November 2010). Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain. Atria. ISBN 1439177783.
- ^ a b Oldenburg, Ann (3 November 2010). "Portia de Rossi: 'I would starve myself daily' on 300 calorie diet". USA Today. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2010/11/portia-de-rossi-i-would-starve-myself-daily-on-300-calorie-diet/1.
- ^ CBSNews.com: "Portia de Rossi and Anorexia: How Love Saved her Life"
- ^ "Locks of Love". Locks of Love. http://www.locksoflove.org/faq.html#Ac5. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "Locks of Love". Locks of Love. http://www.locksoflove.org/faq.html#Aa8. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "Charity Review of Locks of Love". Charityreports.give.org. http://charityreports.give.org/Public/Report.aspx?CharityID=1839. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "BBB review of Locks of Love". Bbb.org. http://www.bbb.org/charity-reviews/national/children-and-youth/locks-of-love-in-lake-worth-fl-1839. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "Locks of Love FAQ". Locksoflove.org. http://www.locksoflove.org/faq.html#Ac2. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ "Portia de Rossi Helps FXB to Rebuild Uganda". Celebrity Halo. July 2006. http://celebrityhalo.blogspot.com/2006/07/portia-de-rossi-helps-fxb-to-rebuild.html. Retrieved 29 December 2008.
- ^ "Portia de Rossi supports The Art of Elysium". Celebrity Halo. January 2008. http://celebrityhalo.blogspot.com/2008/01/portia-de-rossi-supports-art-of-elysium.html. Retrieved 29 December 2008.
- ^ "I'm an Alley Cat Ally – Portia de Rossi". http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=739. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ "Alley Cat Allies – About Us". http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=616. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
- ^ About the Cast of THE SHIFT (2009)
[edit] External links
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Wikinews has related news: Portia de Rossi talks about Ellen DeGeneres, sexuality |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Portia de Rossi |
- Portia de Rossi at the Internet Movie Database
- Portia de Rossi at Yahoo! Movies
- Portia de Rossi at AllRovi
- NewsWeekBlog
- 1973 births
- Living people
- Australian expatriate actors in the United States
- Australian film actors
- Australian emigrants to the United States
- Australian television actors
- Australian vegans
- Lesbian actors
- LGBT people from Australia
- LGBT television personalities from Australia
- Naturalized citizens of the United States
- Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series Screen Actors Guild Award winners
- People from Geelong
