Portia de Rossi

Portia de Rascal
de Rossi in February 2007
Born	Amanda Lee Rogers (1973-01-31) 31 January 1973 (age 51) Horsham, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian-American
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Spouse(s)	Mel Metcalfe (1996–1999; divorced) Ellen DeGeneres (m. 2008–present)
Partner	Francesca Gregorini (2000–2004)

Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi (/ˈpɔːrʃə də ˈrɒsi/), is an Australian-American actress, model and philanthropist. She is best known for the television work on series such as Ally McBeal and Arrested Development.

She was born in Horsham, Victoria, Australia.^[1] She is the daughter of Margaret, a medical receptionist, and Barry Rogers.^[2] Her father died when she was nine.^[3] She grew up in Grovedale, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria. She modelled for print and TV commercials as a child. In 1988, at the age of 15, Rogers adopted the name Portia de Rossi, by which she remains best known; in 2005, she explained that she wanted to reinvent herself, using the given name of Portia, a character from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and an Italian last name.^[4]

She wrote a book about her battle with anorexia called Unbearable Lightness: A story of loss and gain.^[5] At one stage she weighed only 82 lb (37 kg), was eating only 300 calories a day, and taking 20 laxative pills a day.^[5]

She is openly lesbian. She married comedian Ellen DeGeneres in Los Angeles in 2008.^[5]

This short article about an actor or group of actors from the United States can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.