Portia De Rossi

Portia De Rossi

(Amanda Lee Rogers)

Australian actress

Luxuriantly tressed blonde Portia de Rossi combined her former interest in the law with her subsequent acting career and achieved TV fame when she joined the cast of the Fox TV hit Ally McBeal in 1998. Born Mandy Rogers in Melbourne, Australia, de Rossi acted in TV commercials as a teen and modeled, but entered college to become a lawyer. She changed professions, however, when she was cast as one of the titular beauties tempting the wife of stuffy Hugh Grant in John Duigan's comedy Sirens.



Portia starred for four seasons as the ambitious "Nelle Porter" on FOX's award winning series "Ally McBeal." Unlike many actresses, Portia de Rossi did not intentionally pursue a career amidst the hype and glamour of the entertainment industry. Instead, she was pursued by it. Portia was enrolled in law school and well on her way to becoming an attorney in her native Australia when movie stardom beckoned. A local film producer asked Portia to audition for independent film that he was making before she finally agreed. When she finally did it, it confirmed the producer's intuition that Portia de Rossi had the makings of a star.



It turned out that the producer, John Duigan, was making a film called "Sirens" which co-starred Hugh Grant, Sam Neil, and Elle Macpherson, which went onto become an international and critical success.



Portia also starred in the mega-hit "Scream 2," the follow-up to the worldwide smash "Scream." Co-starring with Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette and other young Hollywood stars, Portia undergoes a metamorphosis as Murphy, a social-climbing sorority girl who, along with Rebecca Gayheart, recruit Sydney (Neve Campbell) to join their elite group. The native Australian, had to research her role extensively at UCLA, to learn what a typical American college girl was like.



Most recently she completed a feature films include "Women in Film," which is based on Bruce Wagner's book "I'm Losing You." Portia co-stars with Beverly D'Angelo and Marianne Jean Baptiste in this comedic look at three women in Hollywood. She spent the latter part of her summer hiatus in Canada shooting another film called "Cletis Tout." Portia plays the love interest to Christian Slater. The film also stars Tim Allen, Richard Dreyfuss and RuPaul. It is best described as a comedy with a crime element.



Portia also appeared in MGM's religious supernatural thriller "Stigmata," co-starring with Patricia Arquette and Gabriel Byrne. Other film credits include, "A Breed Apart" with Andrew McCarthy; "The Invisibles," a two-person film with Michael Goorjian and "American Intellectuals," an ensemble piece about a clique of upper class kids who experiment with smart drugs; and "Girl" a coming-of-ago with Dominique Swain, Summer Phoenix and Sean Patrick Flannery. The film centers around a girl's sexual awakening as she readies herself for college life. De Rossi plays her wilder, more experienced friend who helps her along the way.



Intelligent and beautiful, Portia seems destined for Hollywood stardom.



Source: biggeststars.com