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
Novelist/filmmaker Bruce Wagner skews the classic George Cukor film The Women in this digital video effort adapted from a section of his novel I'm Losing You (which was also made into a feature film). Using a video diary format, the director focuses on three women desperate to become filmmakers. There is Phyllis (Beverly D'Angelo), an acid-tongued independent producer with a penchant for pharmaceutical drugs, who shops around her highly troubled new film project and decides to keep a journal to record its progress. Sara (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) is a casting director stuck in a failing marriage who writes personal letters to her blind baby boy and confides in friend Holly Hunter about her need to get back on her feet. And Gina ($Portia de Rossi) is a delusional actress/masseuse who steals the energies of her rich celebrity clientele and believes that TV producer Darren Star has stolen her ideas and is determined to seek retribution. Women in Film was shot by Russell Lee Fine, who transferred the video to a standard 35 mm format for release. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Beverly D'Angelo, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, (more)
After having received mediocre ratings for some time, this was the last season of Ally McBeal. Featuring actor and singer Jon Bon Jovi as Victor, Ally's newest boyfriend, this season gave Ally something she had always longed for -- a family. When Maddie Harrington (Hayden Panettiere) came to Ally's doorstep and informed Ally that she was a mother, the famously neurotic lawyer finally found something to focus on besides her own life. Though Ally had never gotten over Larry (Robert Downey Jr.), she was able to find some semblance of emotional gratification with her daughter. In the end, Ally decided to move to New York for Maddie's sake and leave the past five years of her life in Boston. Though some of the shows staple characters departed -- Ling (Lucy Liu) and John (Peter MacNicol) were the only regular cast members for part of the season -- everyone grew and, in general, became more mature versions of their former selves. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Greg Germann, (more)
