Rossellini is the daughter of
Swedish actress
Ingrid Bergman and the
Italian director
Roberto Rossellini. She has three siblings from her mother: her
twin sister
Isotta Ingrid Rossellini, who is an adjunct
professor of
Italian literature; a brother, Roberto Ingmar Rossellini, who works in
finance; and a half-sister,
Pia Lindström, who formerly worked on television and is from her mother's first marriage. She also has four other siblings from her father's two other marriages: Romano (died at age 9), Renzo, Gil, and Raffaella.
Rossellini was born and raised in
Rome, Santa Marinella, and
Paris. At the age of 13, she was diagnosed with
scoliosis. In order to correct it, Isabella had to undergo an 18 month ordeal of painful stretchings, body casts, surgery on her spine using pieces of one of her shin bones (used to add supports for the individual vertebrae without risking foreign body rejection issues), and a recovery from that surgery. Consequently, she has permanent incision scars on her back and shin. Incidentally, her daughter,
Elettra, also developed scoliosis when she was a child.
At the age of 19, she came to New York, where she worked as a translator and a
RAI television reporter. She also appeared intermittently on
Roberto Benigni's Italian comedy show, "The Other Sunday." However, she did not decide to stay full time in New York until her marriage to
Martin Scorsese (1979–1982). After her marriage to Scorsese, she married Jon Wiedemann (1983–1986), a German model (now a Microsoft executive), and gave birth to a daughter,
Elettra. Later, she dated
David Lynch, Gary Oldman, and
Gregory Mosher.
At the age of 28, her modeling career began, when she was photographed by
Bruce Weber for
British Vogue and by Bill King for American
Vogue. During her career, she has also worked with many other renowned photographers, including
Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Peter Lindbergh, Norman Parkinson, Eve Arnold, Francesco Scavullo, Annie Leibovitz, and
Robert Mapplethorpe. Her image has appeared on such magazines as
Marie Claire,
Harper's Bazaar,
Vanity Fair, and
ELLE. Furthermore, in March
1988, an exhibition dedicated to photographs of her, called
Portrait of a Woman, was held at the
Musee d'Art Moderne in
Paris.
Rossellini's modeling career led her into the world of
cosmetics, when she became the exclusive spokesmodel for the international cosmetics brand
Lancôme in 1982, replacing
Nancy Dutiel in the United States and
Carol Alt in Europe. While there, in
1990, she was involved in product development for Lancôme's fragrance Trésor. Later, in
1995, she worked with the Coty Group and developed her own brand of cosmetics, Isabella Rossellini's Manifesto. However, in 1996, after 14 years with the company, she was infamously removed as the face of Lancôme for being "too old", since she was in her 40s at the time.
Rossellini made her film debut with a brief appearance as a nun opposite her mother in the
1976 film
A Matter of Time. However, she did not truly begin acting until the
1979 film
Il Prato. She did not become successful with acting until after her mother's death in 1982, when she was cast in her first American film,
White Nights (
1985). Nonetheless, she is probably best known for her pivotal role as the nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens in
David Lynch's Blue Velvet. Some other notable film
roles include her work in
Cousins,
Death Becomes Her,
Immortal Beloved, and
Fearless.
Beginning in
2003 Rossellini had a recurring role on the television series,
Alias. In that same year, she also appeared in the
Canadian film
The Saddest Music in the World directed by
Guy Maddin. In
2004 she played as the High Priestess Thar in the
Sci Fi Channel miniseries
Legend of Earthsea. In addition, she acted in an Off-Broadway production of
The Stendhal Syndrome. Furthermore, she became an ambassador for the Silversea Cruise Line, which has her appearing in print ads and on their website.
In
2006, Rossellini was on television for several documentaries. First, she narrated a two-hour television special on
Italy for the
Discovery Channel's Discovery Atlas series, in order to show a glimpse of present-day Italy. In addition, on an episode of the
Sundance Channel series
Iconoclasts, which also featured the
Segway PT inventor
Dean Kamen, she told about her past and what activities she is currently involved in. In
2007, Rossellini guest starred on two episodes of the television show
30 Rock, playing
Alec Baldwin's ex-wife.
Rossellini received a 1987
Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her role in
Blue Velvet. In 1997, she received two notable award nominations. She received a
Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for her role in
Crime of the Century and an
Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her work on the television series
Chicago Hope.
Outside of acting, modeling, and cosmetics, Rossellini is involved in conservation efforts. She is a board member of the Wildlife Conservation Network. In addition, she is the president and director of the Howard Gilman Foundation, a leading institution focused on the preservation of wildlife, arts, photography and dance. In fact, Disney gave $100,000 to her to help with her conservation efforts in those two organizations. She has also helped with the Central Park Conservancy. Furthermore, Rossellini is considered a major benefactor of the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society of
Bellport, Long Island, where she is a part-time resident.
Rossellini is also involved in training guide dogs for the blind. In addition, she is a former trustee of the
George Eastman House and a 1997
George Eastman Award honoree for her support of film preservation. She is also a National Ambassador for the U.S. Fund for
UNICEF.
Rossellini has written three books. In
1997, her self-described fictional memoir,
Some of Me, was published. In
2002, she released her second book,
Looking at Me (on pictures and photographers). In
2006, In the name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits: Remembering Roberto Rossellini was published and was accompanied by the Guy Maddin-directed short film
My Dad Is 100 Years Old (both the film and the book are tributes to her father). In the film, she played almost every role, including
David Selznick, Alfred Hitchcock, and her mother
Ingrid Bergman.
rss feed