Voice for Equality: Portia de Rossi

Portia de Rossi 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 Fox Television's critically acclaimed, Emmy-winning series, Arrested Development. She currently portrays Veronica Palmer on the ABC sitcom Better Off Ted and will reprise her Lindsay Bluth Fünke character in the 2010 film adaptation of Arrested Development. Other film and TV credits include: Veronica's Closet, The Twilight Zone, Nip/Tuck, Scream 2, Stigmata, and Cursed. Learn more here.

Ms. de Rossi was famously married on August 16, 2008 to talk show host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres. She changed her name at a young age from Mandy Lee Rogers:

In retrospect, I think it was largely due to my struggle about being gay. Everything just didn’t fit, and I was trying to find things I could identify myself with, and it started with my name. I picked Portia because I was a Shakespeare fan (Portia is the character in The Merchant of Venice who comes to the rescue of Antonio and Bassanio in their time of need). De Rossi because I was Australian and I thought that an exotic Italian name would somehow suit me more than Mandy Rogers. When you live in Australia, Europe is so far away and so fascinating, so stylish and cultured and sophisticated.

It was announced on October 14, 2009 that Portia de Rossi will be a participant in the Love Unites Shepard Fairey Equality Project, a new marriage equality advocacy project for which more than 80 celebrities will be signing their names to a Shepard Fairey print titled Defend Equality - Love Unites. Fairey, whose Obama Hope print became the iconic emblem of President Obama’s 2008 campaign, was approached by FAIR, an LGBT grassroots marriage equality organization, to commission an image that would help unite and inspire the marriage equality movement. “I am proud to contribute the Defend Equality Love Unites image to the fight for marriage equality, and commend FAIR for putting this image to good use." The signed prints will be sold in online auctions starting in November 2009, with the official launch event being held at the Andaz West Hollywood hotel on November 12th. VIP tickets for the event are $100. [Link]

Freedom to Marry salutes Portia DeRossi as a Voice for Equality! See other Voices for Equality here.

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