Portia de Rossi has decided to put her acting career behind her and delve into the world of art. Portia says she is retiring from acting to pursue a career in art which she studied when she was in college.
De Rossi, who is best known for her roles in Arrested Development, Scandal , and Ally McBeal announced on her wife, Ellen DeGeneres’ show, The Ellen Show , that she is retiring from acting and ready for a new challenge, says OK Magazine .
Portia says she left the hit show Scandal (which just aired its series finale) as she approached her 45th birthday.
“I was just kind of wondering is there something that I could tackle now that I’ve never done before that would be really challenging and different.”
For now, the last place her fans can see her on the small screen is on the fifth season of Arrested Development , but that marks the end of her acting career.
“Once a Bluth, always a Bluth.”
De Rossi says her foray into the art world started with her company General Public which she hopes will bring more people to art.
De Rossi said she launched her art publishing company to bring high-quality prints to everyone.
“And I’ve always been interested in business, so I thought I’d start an art curation and publishing company, which I call General Public, and we print paintings basically. Rather than the traditional flat print, we print with all the texture and articulation in the original painting, so it’s actually really hard to tell the difference.”
Ellen De Generes says she so proud of Portia for starting out on a whole new career at this time in her life and putting acting behind her.
“I just think it’s amazing, too, because all you’ve ever known your entire life is acting, that’s all you’ve known, and you took a chance, and you decided ‘I’m gonna try a whole new thing that I’ve never done.’”
And Portia wants her fans to know that this isn’t a vanity project, because she is very hands-on, devoting the same kind of time and energy expended on her acting career. General Public has a very active Instagram page where Portia walks fans through the kind of work she is doing and the variety of art available.
De Rossi posted a cover of French Architectural Digest that showed her work as part of a room design, showing that even if you can’t own an original, you can own an appreciate a high-quality art print.
