Why Arrested Development Star Portia De Rossi Disappeared From Hollywood

Several "Arrested Development" actors have become quite successful after the show ended. Folks like Jason Bateman, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, and David Cross have appeared in a great many roles to various degrees of success. Jessica Walter further established herself as a bona fide comedy legend on "Archer" before her tragic death in 2021. The person who narrated the show — some guy called Ron Howard — has apparently done OK for himself too, all things considered.   

Portia de Rossi, on the other hand, is an exception to the rule. Despite her obvious talent and charisma, the reliably hilarious actress who played the important "Arrested Development" main character Lindsay Bluth-Fünke isn't what you'd call a household Hollywood name these days. In fact, after the show's fifth and final season ended in 2019, she really hasn't done all that much ... when it comes to acting, at least. So, why did de Rossi effectively disappear from Hollywood?

The biggest thing a casual fan likely knows about Portia de Rossi's recent years are the developments in her personal life, which is understandable seeing as her partner is even more famous than she is. De Rossi is married to comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, and was a fairly common guest on the latter's "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" over the years. The pair married in 2008 and is still together. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, de Rossi described the start of the relationship, which was comparatively slow because of their radically different life circumstances:

"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. 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."

Despite her initial reservations, however, de Rossi ultimately decided to reach out. DeGeneres was initially surprised, but it's pretty safe to say that the two soon worked things out. As de Rossi told Oprah: 

"I felt this overwhelming connection with her, and I just didn't want to miss out on that. The love overcame the fear."

Portia de Rossi is unlikely to return to Hollywood in an acting capacity, and is quite open about being a retired actor. A lot of her reasons for leaving the profession behind her came to light during a May 2018 appearance on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." There, DeGeneres discussed her wife's dislike of the publicity circuit, which she said actually prompted de Rossi to walk away from Hollywood:

"You aren't a big fan of doing press and talk shows. She really doesn't. That's why she actually quit acting. You decided you didn't want to do anything more with acting and you got off of 'Scandal.'"

De Rossi chimed in and revealed that there was also another factor that affected her departure from acting: She felt that she was getting to a point where Hollywood wouldn't offer her great roles, reflecting the oft-voiced (and, sadly, often warranted) concerns of actresses who feel that the roles stop coming — or interesting ones, anyway — once they reach a certain age.

"I was approaching 45 and I just kind of ... was wondering is there something that I could tackle now that I've never done before that would be really challenging and different. I kind of knew what acting would look like for me for the next 10, 20 years, so I decided to quit and start a business."

Another interesting fact that emerged from that 2018 interview was that Portia de Rossi's Hollywood departure actually came later than planned. She had already arranged her exit from the ABC political drama "Scandal" (in which she played Elizabeth North) in 2017 when "Arrested Development" creator Mitch Hurwitz convinced her to return for one more victory lap, using a curious tactic:

"I called Mitch Hurwitz, who's the creator of 'Arrested Development' and I said, 'If there is a season 5, I won't be doing it because I quit acting. And he seemed really understanding and he totally got it. We had a great conversation, and then he wrote me into five episodes. Don't know how it happened, but yes, I am on season 5."

Given her positive experiences with the show, it's understandable that de Rossi ultimately decided to stay in the cast of "Arrested Development" season 5. In a 2010 interview with Marie Claire, she explained that she cherished the role of Lindsay because her acting talent, not her looks, were at the forefront while filming the show:  

"What I looked like was so secondary and not important compared to how funny I was or how well I was doing as an actress in that role. And that's a huge thing ... what you look like is so unimportant compared to what you think and what you do and who you are."

Portia de Rossi wasn't kidding when she said she wanted to focus on new things. In 2018, the former actress launched an art print company, General Public. The company's business model is to work with a curated group of artists, whose selected works General Public reproduces and sells at a far lower price point than fine art tends to be associated with. In an interview with Santa Barbara Magazine, de Rossi explained that the company's business model is to bridge the gap between cheap art print posters and prohibitively expensive one-of-a-kind art works, thus giving the art-loving public access to impressive artworks at a comparatively low cost.

"There's a huge gap in the market between fine art and decorative art. If you're buying art on a budget, you just end up with black squiggles on a piece of paper. People know good art and composition, truly, but they don't trust their instincts. And almost all original art is still very expensive. The whole market can be very difficult."

Instead of flat and textureless poster printing, de Rossi's General Public uses a 3D printing technology to create so-called Synograph copies of the artist roster's paintings, paying the original artist royalties for every piece sold. The ability to compensate the original artist well, de Rossi told Haute Living, is a crucial part of her mission. 

"We believe a painting is good because it's good. Not because it's rare. In short, I don't want to cut out the middle man (GP is a kind of middle man), I want to change the system to benefit the artist rather than the gallerist."

Though Portia de Rossi and Ellen Degeneres remain happily married, their lives have been in some turmoil in recent years. In 2020, DeGeneres' career was derailed by multiple allegations of bullying and toxic behavior toward her employees and other people, which eventually led to the end of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." This, understandably, has taken a toll on the couple's public visibility, especially since de Rossi was a common guest on the show. 

In 2024, de Rossi took another step further away from Hollywood. After Donald Trump won the 2024 Presidential election, she and DeGeneres left the U.S. entirely and moved to the Cotswolds area in the United Kingdom. This move happened in the wake of DeGeneres' perhaps accurately titled "Ellen's Last Stand ... Up" tour, where she announced that her September 24, 2024 Netflix stand-up special "Ellen DeGeneres: For Your Approval" would be her final showbiz appearance. 

As such, this announcement and their relocation to the other side of the Atlantic seems to imply that both de Rossi and DeGeneres are now fully retired from the entertainment industry and are content to live a comparatively quiet life. With her new British life and business ventures keeping her busy, don't expect de Rossi to make her grand Hollywood comeback any time soon.