Portia de Rossi

A willowy blonde with a deft touch in comic roles, Portia de Rossi excelled at presenting the highs and lows of wealthy and powerful women in such television series as "Ally McBeal" (Fox, 1997-2002) and "Arrested Development" (Fox, 2003-06). A former child model, she endured personal hardships regarding her weight and self-esteem while making her way into acting; supporting parts in minor television series preceded her star-making turn as a steely lawyer on "McBeal." De Rossi showed a lighter side as the flighty Lindsay Bluth-Fünke on "Development" before returning to a variation of her iron mistress persona on the short-lived cult favorite "Better Off Ted" (ABC, 2009-2010) and moving into no-nonsense drama with a supporting role in Shonda Rhimes' "Scandal" (ABC 2012- ). Despite the success of these performances, she was best known to the general public as the spouse of talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, but her onscreen talent made her a favorite among comedy fans of all stripes.