Portia de Rossi

Born Amanda Lee Rogers in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 31, 1973, Portia de Rossi adopted her professional name at 15 in a move to reinvent herself -- with a nod to William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice." She worked as a model before acting and acquired an American accent while building her résumé in Los Angeles.

De Rossi rose to prominence internationally as ambitious blond attorney Nelle Porter on "Ally McBeal" (1998-2002). Later, she nailed the part of Jason Bateman's self-absorbed twin sister Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the critically acclaimed comedy "Arrested Development" and stepped into the iconic shoes of Lily Munster for the reimagined Munsters drama Mockingbird Lane (2012).

De Rossi has also taken on the role of an intelligent woman forced to work for her flighty sister in "The Smart One," a sitcom executive-produced by comedian and talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres.

Filmography