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6
Awards
Isabella Rossellini, born in Rome in 1952 to Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, debuted on film in A Matter of Time 1976. She starred in Blue Velvet 1986 and Death Becomes Her 1992, winning a Saturn Award. She also became the face of Lancôme and returned as a brand ambassador at 63.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Isabella Rossellini — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Isabella Rossellini by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Isabella Rossellini — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Isabella Rossellini was born on June 18, 1952, in Rome, Italy, to Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini. She grew up surrounded by cinema royalty, alongside her twin sister Isotta and half-siblings. At age 11, she underwent surgery to correct scoliosis and spent a year in a body cast. She attended Finch College and later earned a master’s degree in Animal Behavior and Conservation from Hunter College in 2019.
Rossellini made her film debut in Vincente Minnelli’s A Matter of Time 1976, acting alongside her mother. She then worked as a correspondent for Italian television before being discovered as a model by photographer Bruce Weber. Her breakout role came in 1986 as Dorothy Vallens in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, for which she won an Independent Spirit Award. She later won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for Death Becomes Her 1992. She was nominated for an Emmy for her guest role on Chicago Hope 1997 and continued acting in films like The Saddest Music in the World 2003. She also directed the short film series Green Porno.
Rossellini married director Martin Scorsese in 1979; they divorced in 1982. She then married Jon Wiedemann in 1983, with whom she had daughter Elettra; they divorced in 1986. She was engaged to David Lynch from 1986 to 1990 and later dated Gary Oldman. She maintains a home in Bellport, Long Island, New York. Her children include Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann and Roberto Rossellini.
Isabella Rossellini carved her own path in film and fashion despite being the daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. She received the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. Her return to Lancôme at age 63 made headlines. She works to preserve her parents’ film legacy through archival projects. People still talk about her haunting performance in Blue Velvet and her enduring elegance.
Browse the complete filmography of Isabella Rossellini — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
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Every award, honor, and recognition received by Isabella Rossellini — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
Isabella Rossellini's bibliography — every authored, edited, and co-written book, ranked by edition count.
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A wall of memorable lines from Isabella Rossellini — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
If You Go to a Therapist, They Say, ‘Are You Sure? How Do You Feel About Your Wrinkles?’ and I Say, ‘I Don’t Know, Because I Don’t Really See Them.’ I See My Hands, but I Don’t See My Face, so It’s Not a Torment. I Only See It for Five Minutes in the Morning When I Brush My Teeth! When You Read Women’s Magazines You Always Read About This Drama of Getting Old, About Anti Aging Cream and Plastic Surgery and Whatever Else. but I Think If You’re Independent, Like I Have Grown to Be, It’s Welcome.
When I Was Hot as a Model, I Always Knew My Entire Schedule for the Next Eight Months in Advance, Every Moment Was Planned and Filled. and This Lasted for 10 Years!
There Is No Question for Me About the Electra Complex. You Know, Exaggerated Love of the Father I Have It, or Some Version. I Loved My Mother, but I Was My Dad’s Girl.
There’s Nothing Wrong with Modeling, Except That It Doesn’t Last. I Had the Stereotype Most People Have, That It’s Stupid, but It Wasn’t Stupid at All. I Loved Spending a Day with Richard Avedon. People Who Are so Artistic, so Intelligent You Are Interpreting What They Are Trying to Express. You Have Taken a Trip into This Brain, You Are a Tourist in This Fantastically Interesting Brain. People Always Say to Me That I Do Such Strange Films, but It’s Not That I’m Looking for Something so Different Necessarily, It’s Simply That I Meet a Person Who Strikes Me as Intelligent and Interesting and I Want to Take a Trip into Their Brain.
I Like to See a Film Where I Don’t Need to Look at the Titles to Know Who Did It, Where One Image Is Enough to Say This Is David Lynch, This Is Alfred Hitchcock, This Is Spike Lee.
Often People Who Are Against Homosexuality Attribute It to Upbringing or Culture and Say That in Nature It Doesn’t Exist. but It Does Exist in Nature and We Don’t Really Know Why It Exists. but Maybe It’s Simply That We Have Attributed the Act of Sex Just for Reproduction, but That It Also Has Other Goals Social Goals, Hierarchy, Bonding, Family Like It Is for Us, Really. None of Us Only Mate or Make Love to Reproduce.
Entering a Party by Yourself Is the Worst, Because the Most Aggressive, Boring Person, They Isolate You and Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk. It’s so Nice to Go with Somebody.
Little-known facts about Isabella Rossellini — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
In the 1990s, Rossellini dated Gary Oldman. He postponed their planned wedding to enter rehab for substance abuse, then called off the engagement after meeting another woman there.
In 1983, Time magazine reported Rossellini’s modeling salary of a then $9,000 a day.
Rossellini earned an MA in Animal Behavior and Conservation from Hunter College in New York in May of 2019.
She suffered from scoliosis and underwent surgery to correct it. She was in a body cast for a year.
Fluent in Italian, French and English.
Considers her time with ex-boyfriend David Lynch as her most significant relationship.
Says her feminine style has been influenced by Georgia O’Keeffe and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Virtually identical to her mother Ingrid Bergman, she had few opportunities to portray her in biographical films. One occasion was a spoof of Ilsa Lund in an episode of Tales from the Crypt, and she wrote and starred in My Dad Is 100 Years Old 2005 portraying her mother.
Is an avid dog lover and helps train puppies for the blind.
In the Tales from the Crypt episode You, Murderer 1995, she spoofs her mother’s Casablanca image.
Was engaged to director David Lynch from 1986 to 1990.
Her favorite film of her mother is Notorious 1946. Her favorite films of her father made without her mother are The Taking of Power by Louis XIV 1966 and The Flowers of St. Francis 1950.
Appeared in photographs for Madonna’s coffee table book Sex.
Her brother Roberto Rossellini was engaged to Princess Caroline of Monaco in the 1980s.
Former model, most notably for Lancome, and former journalist for Italian television.
She is 34 minutes older than twin sister Isotta.
Has worked to preserve the films of her parents through archival work and biographical pieces.
Is a huge fan of Buster Keaton and Charles Chaplin.
In 1991 she was scheduled to play Emilia Gould in David Lean’s adaptation of Nostromo, but Lean’s death ended the production.
Discovered by photographer friend Bruce Weber who kick-started her modeling career.
Her father was Italian from Rome, with roots in Tuscany and Veneto. Her mother was Swedish, born in Stockholm to a Swedish father and German mother.
Published an autobiography called Some of Me.
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history #84 in 1995.
Will narrate Guy Maddin’s silent film Brand Upon the Brain as part of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s New Music Festival.
Maintains a home in the village of Bellport, Long Island, New York.
Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world in 1990 and 1991.
She was a model for Lancome for many years starting at age 28.
Just finished another series of Green Porno short films for the Sundance Channel.
President of the Un Certain Regard jury at the 68th Cannes International Film Festival in 2015.
President of the Official Competition jury at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in 2011.
Starring on Broadway in The Stendahl Syndrome.
Winnipeg, Canada – filming Guy Maddin’s The Saddest Music in the World 2003.
In 1982, she became the exclusive spokesmodel for Lancome. She was dropped in her early 40s but returned after 23 years at age 63.
Weighed 6 lbs 15 oz at birth according to a Time magazine birth announcement.
Born on the same day as actress Carol Kane.
Born at 6:07 pm CET.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Isabella Rossellini.
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