Portia De Rossi

Born: January 31 1973
WhereL Geelong, Australia

The one-time law student made her screen debut alongside Hugh Grant in the romantic comedy Sirens.

Raised by her medical receptionist mother after her father died when she was nine, she took up modelling when she was eleven.

(she changed her name from Mandy Rogers when she was 15 to boost her career - "it was the most courageous thing I've ever done").

After leaving high school, she went on to study law at the University of Melbourne.

However, she was spotted by a casting director in a commercial and successfully auditioned for the the role of Giddy in 1994's Sirens.

Several unmemorable roles followed until Wes Craven cast her as Murphy in the spoof horror sequel Scream 2 in 1997.

The following year she played the ice queen Nelle Porter in the top-rating American sitcom Ally McBeal.

Back on the big screen she starred in the 1999 comedy drama The Invisibles and alongside Gabriel Byrne in the religious horror yarn Stigmata.

In 2001, she co-starred with Richard Dreyfuss and Tim Allen in Who Is Cletis Tout and alongside Dennis Hopper and Melanie Griffith in The Night We Called It A Day.

Recent work includes the part of Zela in Wes Craven's werewolf chiller Cursed.