Isabella Rossellini

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for others of the same surname see Rossellini
Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini, 1990.
Birth name Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini
Born June 18, 1952 (age 54)
Rome, Italy
Spouse(s) Martin Scorsese (1979-1982)
Jon Wiedemann (1983-1986)

Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born June 18, 1952 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian-Swedish actress, filmmaker, author, philanthropist, and former supermodel. She is also the daughter of the 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.[1]

Isabella Rossellini has a daughter, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann (born 1983), and an adopted son, Roberto (born 1993).[2] [3]

Contents

[edit] Biography

Isabella Rossellini was born and raised in Rome and Paris. At the age of 14, she was diagnosed with scoliosis and had to remain in a full body cast for a year after surgery. 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 Duteil 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.

Isabella Rossellini (bookcover for Some of Me).
Enlarge
Isabella Rossellini (bookcover for Some of Me).

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."

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 history and about her current life. [4]

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 [5]. 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.[6][7] In fact, Disney gave $100,000 to her to help with her conservation efforts in those two organizations.[8] She has also helped with the Central Park Conservancy [9].

Rossellini is also involved in training guide dogs for the blind. [10][11] 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. [12]

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.

[edit] Trivia

  • She closely resembles her mother and performed an eerily accurate parody of Bergman's character Ilsa Lund from Casablanca in a Robert Zemeckis-directed episode of Tales from the Crypt called "You, Murderer." In this episode, she plays the scheming wife of a Humphrey Bogart character. This episode is best known for the fact that Humphrey Bogart and Alfred Hitchcock were digitally inserted using old video clips and CGI.
  • In 1997, Isabella provided voice acting for the video game Ceremony of Innocence, together with Paul McGann and Ben Kingsley.
  • In an episode of the The Simpsons where Homer was selling Springfield's maps for celebrities' homes, she was the only actual celebrity listed, since all of the other people listed were regular characters of the show.
  • She was mentioned during the description of an alien in the Tool song "Rosetta Stoned" on the album 10,000 Days.
  • She appeared in Madonna's infamous 1992 book Sex.

[edit] Selected filmography

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

Rossellini, Isabella (1997). Some of Me. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679452-52-4.

Rossellini, Isabella (2002). Looking at Me (on pictures and photographers). Munich: Schirmer Art. ISBN 3-829600-57-7.

Rossellini, Isabella (2006). In the Name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits, Remembering Roberto Rossellini. London: Haus Publishing. ISBN 1-904950-91-4.

[edit] External links

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