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
This independent drama about rock stars, models and the drugs they share was shown as part of the "American Spectrum" series at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Jude (Michael Goorjian) is a rock star whose heroin habit has become too much for his bandmates; while on a European tour, they send him to a detox center in Paris to dry out. Jude escapes from detox faster than you can say "Kurt Cobain" and passes out on a sidestreet, where he's found by Joy (Portia de Rossi), a model who's also addicted to heroin. Joy takes Jude back to her flat, where they hide out from the world (where a reward has been posted for Jude's return) and debate the pros and cons of getting off junk. The Invisibles features a score by former Camper Van Beethoven member Jonathan Segel, who also plays the apparition of John Lennon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael A. Goorjian, Portia de Rossi, (more)
As Ally McBeal (Calista Flockhart) fumbles toward 30, her life becomes more tumultuous than one would have believed possible. What started out as an eccentric fantasy life in the first season has begun to swing sharply toward deeper, darker psychological troubles. Ironically, as Ally considers taking antidepressants to suppress her frequent trips into her imagination, Billy (Gil Bellows) begins to have his own hallucinations. Though the office thinks that Billy's chauvinistic behavior, newly bleached hair, and entourage of female assistants are merely his reaction to his recent divorce from Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith), they turn out to be the results of a fatal brain tumor. Billy's death leaves the firm reeling, and provides a wealth of opening and closing doors for its occupants. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Calista Flockhart, Courtney Thorne-Smith, (more)
Stigmata is a supernatural suspense story about good, evil, and faith. Frankie Paige (Patricia Arquette) is a hair stylist in her mid-20s who has no strong religious convictions until odd things start happening to her after she's given a rosary by her mother: she begins speaking with another person's voice; unknown and unseen forces start to attack her; and she develops stigmata, bleeding wounds that spontaneously appear on her wrists, feet, and side, as Christ was wounded at Calvary. Some people believe that a holy miracle has been visited on Frankie, though no one can say why. A Cardinal from the Vatican (Jonathan Pryce) sends a priest, Father Andrew Kiernan (Gabriel Byrne), to investigate Frankie and her condition; after getting a first-hand look, Father Andrew finds himself less concerned with whether Frankie's wounds are a legitimate miracle and more concerned with saving her life. Billy Corgan, leader of the rock group The Smashing Pumpkins, composed the score for Stigmata in collaboration with keyboardist Mike Garson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, (more)
