Portia de Rossi (born 31 January 1973) is an Australian actress, best known for her roles as lawyer Nelle Porter on the television series Ally McBeal and as Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the sitcom Arrested Development.
Her first significant role was playing a young and impressionable model in the Australian 1994 film Sirens. Soon afterwards Portia de Rossi moved to Los Angeles and had guest roles on several TV shows, and a permanent role in Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher, before landing a role in the film Scream 2. She attracted international attention when she joined the main cast of the Ally McBeal TV series in 1998 playing lawyer Nelle Porter. She remained with the show until its end in 2002.
Portia De Rossi was named number 67 in Stuff's 100 Sexiest Women, 31 in Femme Fatales' Sexiest Women of 2003 list, 24 in Maxim's 100 Sexiest Women List in 2004, and in late 2006, the magazine Blender listed her as one of the hottest women of film and TV. In May 2007, she was featured as one of 100 Most Beautiful in People Magazine special edition. TV Guide included Portia de Rossi and DeGeneres in their Power A-List couples in 2007.