This cutie has become a famous actress and wife of one of the most influential gay TV hosts

Her journey to fame is full of ups and downs. Her success is definitely a well-deserved one.

Born Amanda Lee Rogers in Horsham, Victoria, Australia, on January 31, 1937, she became widely popular as an actress, and then as the wife of iconic television host, Ellen DeGeneres.

According to Biography, Portia de Rossi was just 9 years old when her father passed away. Her mother struggled to raise her and her brother.

She turned to the entertainment industry as an 11-year-old girl looking making her career and support her family. She initially worked as a model and an actress in television commercials.

She changed her name to Portia de Rossi at the age of 15. She borrowed the name from a Shakespearian heroine from the play, The Merchant of Venice.

She chose her last name as 'de Rossi' in an attempt to sound more 'exotic.' It was also informed that she might have changed her name in order to cope with her struggle with her sexual identity.

She pursued law at the University of Melbourne, but she never completed it because she landed a role on the 1994 comedy film Sirens.

Soon other roles in movies like Too Something, 1995, and her breakthrough role in Ally McBeal followed. She took on the role of Nelle Porter from the second season of the show and starred opposite famous actress like Calista Flockhart.

De Rossi even bagged a Golden Satellite Award for her performance and was nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

After marrying filmmaker Mel Metcalfe from 1966 to 1999, de Ross went on to open up about her sexuality for the first time in 2005. Three years later, she got married to another iconic openly gay celebrity, DeGeneres.

Before the marriage, De Rossi had already been romantically linked to DeGeneres. The two had met on the set of Ally McBeal, the source informed.