Portia de Rossi, born Amanda Lee Rogers on January 31, 1973, is an Australian actress who is best known for her role as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series "Ally McBeal", and as Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the television series "Arrested Development".
Born in Melbourne, Victoria, de Rossi was raised in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong. As a child she modeled for print and TV commercials. She took the name Portia de Rossi at a young age: “When I was 15, I changed it legally. In retrospect, I think it was largely due to my struggle about being gay. Everything just didn’t fit, and I was trying to find things I could identify myself with, and it started with my name. I picked Portia because I was a Shakespeare fan (Portia is the character in The Merchant of Venice). De Rossi because I was Australian and I thought that an exotic Italian name would somehow suit me more than Amanda Rogers. When you live in Australia, Europe is so far away and so fascinating, so stylish and cultured and sophisticated.”
An extremely gifted student, she left the lecture theaters of the University of Melbourne Law school to pursue an acting career. She supports Locks of Love, a group that makes wigs for children with medical hair loss.
De Rossi, who was married for two years to documentary filmmaker Mel Metcalfe (to get a green card), is now openly gay. From 2000 to 2004, de Rossi dated singer Francesca Gregorini, daughter of actress Barbara Bach and stepchild of Ringo Starr. Portia dodged media questions about her sexual orientation and the relationship during this period. Portia was rarely pictured with Gregorini in public.
In a September 2005 magazine interview with The Advocate, de Rossi said that most of her family and Ally McBeal cast mates learned she was gay because of tabloid pictures of de Rossi and Gregorini in 2001. The couple broke up in late 2004 as de Rossi began dating comedienne Ellen DeGeneres. In 2005, de Rossi officially came out and opened up about being gay in interviews with Details and The Advocate.
Portia de Rossi was named number 64 in Stuff's 100 Sexiest Women, 31 in Femme Fatales' Sexiest Women of 2003 list, 24 in Maxims 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.
Portia de Rossi is also a recovering anorexic whose low weight was 82lbs for her five foot seven height. Photos from her in this time are often seen on pro-ana websites. Wikipedia
