Isabella Rossellini Biography Italian actress, model, and director Isabella Rossellini has had a great deal of success in both the commercial realm and the avant-garde. To that end, she is best known for her work in Blue Velvet, Death Becomes Her, and Fearless.
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini was born June 18, 1952 in Rome, Italy. Born into entertainment royalty, Rossellini is the daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. Rossellini was subsequently raised between Rome, Santa Marinella, and Paris. From the age of thirteen on, Rossellini suffered from scoliosis. The condition meant that she had to undergo painful casts, surgery, and stretching for nearly two years. When Rossellini was nineteen, she entered Finch College. Concurrent with her education, she worked as a translator. She also worked sporadically on The Other Sunday with noted Italian actor Roberto Benigni, but it would not be until the late 70s that Rossellini would relocate to New York on a fulltime basis. At the age of twenty-eight, Rossellini began pursuing her modeling career with shots in the British and American Vogue. She worked with noted photographers Bruce Weber and Bill King. Later in her career, she worked with Annie Leibovitz, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, and others.
On the acting front, Rossellini made her onscreen debut in 1976 with a small part in Vincente Minnelli’s A Matter of Time. Rossellini shared the screen with Bergman (her mother), Liza Minnelli, and Charles Boyer. After several more roles, Rossellini skyrocketed into the limelight when she took the lead in David Lynch’s evocative and somewhat controversial Blue Velvet (1986). Rossellini costarred with Lynch’s go-to actors Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern. Dennis Hopper and Hope Lange turned in well-received performances as well. For her work, Rossellini earned an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Taking more commercial roles as well, Rossellini could be seen in 1989’s Cousins beside Ted Danson, Sean Young, William Petersen, and Lloyd Bridges. In 1990, Rossellini worked with Lynch again for Wild at Heart. This time around, she appeared with Nicolas Cage, Willem Dafoe, Crispin Glover, and Diane Ladd.
Rossellini received even more exposure when she appeared in the black comedy Death Becomes Her with Bruce Willis, Meryl Streep, and Goldie Hawn. And that exposure continued with a starring role opposite Jeff Bridges and Rosie Perez in Fearless. Others may recognize Rossellini for her work in the 1997 television mini-series The Odyssey with Armand Assante, Bernadette Peters, Eric Roberts, and Christopher Lee, as well as her more minor role in Merlin opposite Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, Miranda Richardson, and Martin Short. Most recently, she wrote, directed, produced, and starred in a Sundance original series entitled Green Porno. Outside of acting, she has also penned three books including Some of Me and In the name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits. In her personal life, Rossellini was married to Martin Scorsese from September 1979 to late 1982. She then married Jon Wiedemann in 1983. They had one daughter before divorcing in 1986. Since, she has been romantically linked to Mikhail Baryshnikov, frequent collaborator Lynch, Madonna, Gary Oldman, and Gregory Mosher. | 
