Portia de Rossi Movies
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 (1994). de Rossi relocated to Los Angeles and appeared on TV sitcoms Too Something (1995) and Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher (1996), as well as in the blockbuster horror sequel Scream 2 (1997) as one of the terrorized sorority sisters.After a starring role in the TV crime movie Perfect Assassins (1998), de Rossi joined Ally McBeal in its second season as icy legal hotshot Nelle. Infuriating Calista Flockhart's Ally and enthralling Peter MacNicol's Cage, Nelle swiftly shook up the series' bizarre office politics; de Rossi's burgeoning fame became somewhat of the proverbial burden as well as blessing when her decreasing weight, like Flockhart's, became the subject of press speculation in 2000. Continuing to act in films as well as on TV, de Rossi played a small part in the supernatural horror story Stigmata (1999) and starred as a junkie in the indie drama The Invisibles (1999).
After the 2002 demise of Ally McBeal, de Rossi wasted little time in attaching herself to another edgy and successful project. Another critically-acclaimed Fox show, the ensemble sitcom Arrested Development cast the actress as the self-righteous twin sister of Jason Bateman's Michael Bluth, the only sane member of an affluent and eccentric California family. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Australian filmmaker Paul Goldman directs the comedy The Night We Called It a Day, based on the actual events during Frank Sinatra's 1974 tour stop in Sydney. Joel Edgerton plays Rod Blue, a long-haired rock promoter in Australia during the '70s. He hopes to save his floundering career by spending all his money booking Frank Sinatra (Dennis Hopper). But when Sinatra arrives with his girlfriend Barbara Marx (Melanie Griffith), he insults the locals by calling reporter Hilary Hunter (Portia de Rossi) "a two-dollar whore." Union leader and future Australian prime minister Bob Hawke (David Field) tries to cancel the tour unless he apologizes, and it's up to Rod and his assistant Audrey (Rose Byrne) to step in and save the tour. Tom Burlinson performs Sinatra's vocal parts. The Night We Called It a Day was shown at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dennis Hopper, Melanie Griffith, (more)
- 1997
Ally McBeal, despite low expectations from the network, proved to be a highly successful endeavor from writer/producer David E. Kelley. The notoriously tiny Calista Flockhart's neurotic portrayal of Ally fueled the show for five seasons, though it could not have lasted nearly as long without the insights of its eccentric supporting cast. Unique for its forays into the surreal, Ally McBeal as a show is as conflicted as its starring character. Half feministic endeavor, half a frustratingly traditional portrayal of lovelorn women, Ally McBeal danced precariously between law dramas of a more serious nature and Bridget Jones-esque "chick-shows." The series centered around the life of Ally McBeal, the quintessential "little girl lost," who, after graduating with a law degree from Harvard University, found herself in a law firm populated by an extraordinarily unconventional staff, including but not limited to Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows), her high school sweetheart. The show's premise allowed for quite a bit of creative freedom, and most episodes switched seamlessly from the thought-provoking (modern gender issues and sexual boundaries) to the absurd (remote control toilet flushers and pet frogs). Ally's quest for love and emotional fulfillment made for the heart of the series, along with the dark undertone of her often-questionable sanity. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
