Ellen Degeneres & Portia de Rossi's Photos

While there are some who will only ever know Portia De Rossi as Ellen DeGeneres' wife, to reduce her to that would be to reduce what more than likely made her Ellen's wife in the first place. A gifted actress with Quartz-like comic timing, she is by all accounts the antithesis of the roles that have made her famous. Not an ice queen, not tightly wound, not blithely vapid, she is instead always described as warm and sensitive. I first noticed her years before Ellen become America's favorite lesbian, before “Ally McBeal” and before “Arrested Development,” back in that quirky little surprisingly Sapphic charmer called “Sirens.” If you've never seen it, then you've never seen Elle Macpherson and fellow female cohorts caress every every inch of Portia's body. Yeah, you're going to want to rent that.

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Portia's new role as yet another aggressive, power-suited professional in “Better of Ted” once again shows off her impeccable comic chops. Her Veronica is a walking, talking sensitivity trainer's nightmare. Her role in the new series also has shone a welcome light on her and her relationship to a vast audience. Through it all she has displayed an effortless grace in handled both living in Ellen's shadow and being half of what is arguably the world's most famous gay couple. Together, they give America a face to gay marriage and demystify what a few fear so irrationally. The simple act of them loving each other so openly and talking about their lives so casually is at once wonderfully subversive and totally normal. Each time Portia goes on The Tonight Show, each time she talks to Newsweek or The Los Angeles Times, each time she is appears together with her wife she reinforces the simple fact that love is love. So then to deny her that love begins to seem unspeakably cruel. And that right there, that's how you change hearts and minds. Happy weekend, all.

The Beverly Hills home of Ellen DeGeneres, where she married Portia De Rossi.

Marriage is another recent addition to Ellen's life. She started dating actress Portia de Rossi in 2004, and they married in August 2008. Portia joined Ellen at the O magazine cover shoot, and Oprah says their love for each other was written all over their faces. "When Portia first walked into the room, I have to tell you, your face lit up," Oprah says. "It was just so sweet."

"I feel very fortunate," Ellen says. "I feel really, really lucky that I found that connection."

Portia says she knew Ellen was the woman for her the first time they laid eyes on each other. "It took me three years to actually tell her how I felt about her, because I was on Ally McBeal at that time and I was not living as an openly gay person," she says. "I was closeted and very, very afraid that if I talked about being gay it would be the end of my career. So I wasn't about to then date the most famous lesbian in the world.

Eventually, Portia faced her fears head-on."I felt this overwhelming connection with her, and I just didn't want to miss out on that," she says. "The love overcame the fear."

Ellen says before they started dating, she had no idea that Portia had feelings for her. "I didn't know until we got together, when she finally told me how she was feeling."