Bio
Portia de Rossi is an Australian actress best known for being a series regular on the television shows Ally McBeal, Arrested Development and Better Off Ted.
She was born in Melbourne, Victoria and grew up in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong. As a child she modelled for print and television commercials. She took the name Portia de Rossi at the age of 15.
De Rossi, who was once married for two years to documentary filmmaker Mel Metcalfe, is openly lesbian. From 2000 to 2004, de Rossi dated singer Francesca Gregorini, daughter of actress Barbara Bach and stepchild of Ringo Starr.
During this period, she dodged media questions about her sexual orientation or the relationship and was rarely pictured with Gregorini in public.
In a September 2005 interview years later with The Advocate, de Rossi said most of her family and Ally castmates learned she was gay through tabloid pictures of de Rossi and Gregorini in 2001.
The couple broke up in late 2004 as de Rossi began dating comedian Ellen DeGeneres.
In 2005, de Rossi officially came out in various magazine interviews.
Television
Aside from her lead roles in Ally McBeal and Arrested Development, de Rossi has had recurring roles on the following programmes:
Too Something
Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher
Ally (an 11-episode, 30-minute version of Ally McBeal with previously unseen footage)
Mister Sterling
De Rossi has had guest appearances on Veronica's Closet and The Twilight Zone, and appeared in the following made-for-TV movies:
Astoria (1998)
Perfect Assassins (1998)
The Glow (2002)
America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story (2003)
Film
Although better known for her work in television, de Rossi has also appeared in the following feature films to date:
Sirens (1994)
The Woman in the Moon (1995)
Scream 2 (1997)
Girl (1998)
The Invisibles (1999)
American Intellectuals (1999)
Stigmata (1999)
Women in Film (2001)
Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001)
Two Girls from Lemoore (2003)
I Witness (2003)
The Night We Called It a Day (2003)
Dead & Breakfast (2004)
Cursed (2005)