Portia de Rossi Biography And Filmography:

A gorgeous, glamorous-looking blonde actress with distinct eyebrows, Portia de Rossi first caught viewers' attention portraying an innocent young teenager who poses as a nude art model in "Sirens" (1994). After moving to the United States from her native Melbourne, Australia, Portia de Rossi instantly found a role as the love interest of star Eric Schaeffer in the television comedy "Too Something" (1995), and was later hired for one season on "Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher" (1996).

After a co-starring role as a drug addict in the independent film "The Woman in the Moon" (1995), de Rossi landed her first high profile role as a sorority sister in "Scream 2" (1997) with Courtney Cox and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The actress then got her break-out role when she joined the ensemble cast of the hit Fox comedy "Ally McBeal" (1998) starring Calista Flockhart. As Nell Porter, de Rossi added a combination of glamour and hot sex appeal to the smash hit comedy.

During and after filming "Ally McBeal", Portia de Rossi worked in numerous feature films like the romantic drama "Girl" (1988) with Tara Reid and Selma Blair, where a straight-A teen explores Seattle's rock scene. Next was a starring role in the comedy "The Invisibles: (1999), where a couple escapes to her Parisian flat for a private detox, and dark word games, sex, fantasy and pop tarts. More comedy followed for de Rossi with the comedy "American Intellectuals" (1999), and then the horror thriller "Stigmata" (1999) starring Patricia Arquette, where a priest from the Vatican is sent in to investigate claims that a small town in Brazil has a church where statues bleed from the eyes.

Portia de Rossi then took on her highest profile movie role to date starring alongside Christian Slater in the crime comedy "Who Is Cletis Tout?" (2001), a comedy about mistaken identities, and a hit man who sees everything in terms of the movies and a twenty year old diamond heist. She then starred in the little-seen comedy "Two Girls From Lemoore" (2003) starring alongside Terri Hatcher, where a pair of female best friends head to Hollywood to realize their dreams of fame and fortune, finding the going tougher than they ever imagined. 

She then starred with Melanie Griffith and Dennis Hopper in the biographical drama "The Night We Called It a Day" (2003), based on the true events surrounding Frank Sinatra's tour of Australia. When Sinatra calls a local reporter a "two-bit hooker", every union in the country black-lists the star until he issues an apology.

Portia de Rossi the ventured back to the horror thriller with the movie "Cursed" (2005) about a werewolf loose in Los Angeles that changes the lives of three young adults, who, after being mauled by the beast, learn they must kill their attacker if they hope to change their fate to avoid becoming werewolves too. It was a low-budget, low class movie that was starting to define de Rossi as a B-list utility player. But that was all about to change with her move to series television.

In 2003, de Rossi was hired and cast in 53 episodes of the smash hit "Arrested Development" (2003-2006) playing the role of Lindsay Bluth Funke. The all-star ensemble cast consisted of Jason Bateman, Michael Cera , Jeffrey Tambor and narrated by Ron Howard. The cult hit revolved around Michael Bluth, a widower with a 13-year-old son, named George-Michael, who is forced to keep his large and dysfunctional family together after his father is arrested for shifty accounting practices at the family-owned conglomerate and the Bluth family assets are frozen, making each member of the eccentric family panic. While "Arrested Development" never developed a large audience, it was loved and adored by it's small but loyal fan base of fanatics.

Once "Arrested Development" was cancelled, Portia de Rossi jumped to another television seriel with "Nip/Tuck" (2003), where having reached the zenith of his success, a straight-laced plastic surgeon begins to witness the crumbling of his dreams and the decay of his perfect life, as he juggles a sex-addicted business partner, adulterous wife, sexually confused adolescent son, and the myriad bizarre and increasingly sinister clients to whom he caters.

De Rossi the joined with her old friends for the big-screen movie version of "Arrested Development" (2009), based on the television series about family dysfunction, brother and sister relationships, crooked businessmen, and dumb blondes. She wrapped her year in the television movie "Butch And Fay" (2009), a sitcom about an actor and an actress who marry to preserve their careers.

But perhaps on of the highest profile roles she has ever played is that of real-life gay lover to Ellen Degeneres. De Rossi's private life became more public when she entered into the relationship with tabloid media and Hollywood press hounding her on her affair. Degeneres and de Rossi never denied the rumors, in fact, in 2008 announced they had intentions of getting married now that the California laws had been changed to allow gay marriage.