PORTIA DE ROSSI (Portia Lee James DeGeneres) was born Amanda Lee Rogers on January 31, 1973 in Australia. She adopted the name Portia de Rossi when she was 15, intending to reinvent herself using the name of a character from a Shakespeare play and an Italian last name.
After playing in an Australian movie called Sirens in 1994, she moved to Los Angeles and filled guest roles on some TV shows. She then landed a role in Scream 2, and joined the main cast of Ally McBeal in 1998. She is also known for her sitcom roles on Arrested Development and Better Off Ted.
Portia was married to Mel Metcalfe from 1996 to 1999. From 2000 to 2004, she dated singer Francesca Gregorini but declined to publicly discuss her sexual orientation at that time. She opened up publicly in 2005 while dating Ellen DeGeneres, who she married in 2008.
