De Rossi is married to comedian, actress, and television host Ellen DeGeneres. In , at age 15, she adopted the name Portia de Rossi. In , she said that she had done so to reinvent herself and sound more mature, using the given name of Portia , a character from William Shakespeare 's The Merchant of Venice , and an Italian last name.
De Rossi's first significant role was as a young and impressionable maid in the Australian film Sirens. Soon afterward, she moved to Los Angeles and won guest roles on several TV shows and a permanent role in Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher , before landing a part in the film Scream 2.
During her time in the United States, de Rossi worked to drop her Australian accent. De Rossi garnered international attention when she joined the main cast of Ally McBeal in , playing lawyer Nelle Porter. She remained with the show until its end in In , she starred in Who Is Cletis Tout? She next portrayed John F. Kennedy, Jr. Kennedy Jr. Story in In , she appeared in Better Off Ted cast member Malcolm Barrett 's music video for "Revenge of the Nerds", spoofing her character in a cameo alongside other cast members of the series.
In February , it was announced that ABC had ordered a pilot for a new drama series The Smart One , one of whose executive producers was Ellen DeGeneres, and which featured de Rossi in a leading role. The actress was to star as a "brilliant and successful woman who begrudgingly goes to work for her less-brainy but more popular sister — a former beauty queen, weather girl and now big-city Mayor. This fourth season consisted of 15 new episodes, which debuted on Netflix on 26 May Each episode focused on one particular character, with de Rossi's Lindsay featured in episode 3, "Indian Takers", and Episode 8, "Red Hairing", and also appearing in several other episodes of the season.
In April , in season six, de Rossi's character was killed off in a golf club attack. De Rossi herself made the decision to depart the series.
