Portia de Rossi
Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American retired actress. She played Nelle Porter on the American drama series Ally McBeal (1998–2002), for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award, Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the American television sitcom Arrested Development (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019), and Elizabeth North on the American political thriller series Scandal (2014–2017).[1][2][3][4] She is the founder and CEO of the art company General Public.[5]
Portia de Rossi
Portia Lee James DeGeneres
- Australia
- United States
Actress
1994–2019
-
Mel Metcalfe(m. 1996; div. 1999)
She also portrayed Olivia Lord on the American television drama series Nip/Tuck (2007–2009) and Veronica Palmer on the American television sitcom Better Off Ted (2009–2010). De Rossi is married to comedian, actress, and television host Ellen DeGeneres.
Early life[edit]
Portia de Rossi was born Amanda Lee Rogers in Horsham, Victoria, Australia,[6] the daughter of Margaret, a medical receptionist, and Barry Rogers.[7] Her father died when she was nine years old.[8] She grew up in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, and modelled for print and some TV commercials as a child. In 1988, at age 15, she adopted the name Portia de Rossi. In 2005, she said that she had done so to reinvent herself, using the given name of Portia, a character from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and an Italian last name. She was educated at Geelong Grammar School, Melbourne Girls Grammar and the University of Melbourne, where she studied law.[9]
Philanthropy[edit]
De Rossi supports a variety of charitable organizations, including Locks of Love, a group that provides human hair wigs for children with alopecia and other medical conditions that cause hair loss.[30]
She has also supported fundraising efforts for FXB International,[31] an African AIDS relief organization, and The Art of Elysium,[32] an art foundation for terminally ill children. De Rossi also supports Alley Cat Allies,[33] an organization dedicated to protecting and improving the lives of cats.[34] De Rossi and DeGeneres are supporters of The Gentle Barn,[35] a California sanctuary for abused animals.