Isabella Rossellini

Birthday: 18 June 1952, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Birth Name: Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini

Height: 173 cm

Isabella Rossellini, the Italian actress and model who has made her home in America since 1979 and holds dual Italian and American citizenship, was born cinema royalty when she made her debut on June 18, 1952 in Rome. She is the daughter of two legends, three-time Oscar-winning Swedish-born actress Ingrid Bergman and neo-realist master Italian director Roberto Rossellini. She was also the third wife of Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese from 1979 to 1982 and the partner of legendary director David Lynch.She made her movie debut in Vincente Minnelli's A Matter of Time (1976), which starred her mother. She then made a couple of Italian pictures and worked as an American correspondent for Italian television network RAI before appearing in Taylor Hackford's Cold War drama White Nights (1985) in 1985. She followed that up with her most memorable role, as the abused chanteuse in Lynch's masterpiece Blue Velvet (1986), she earned an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. She then went on to win a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her performance as Lisle, the mysterious socialite, forever in her youth in Death Becomes Her (1992). In 1997, she was nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for a guest appearance on Chicago Hope (1994). Show less «

There's nothing wrong with modeling, except that it doesn't last. I had the stereotype most people h...Show more »

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. Show less «

There is no question for me about the Electra complex. You know, exaggerated love of the father - I ...Show more »

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. Show less «

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...Show more »

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. Show less «

If you go to a therapist, they say, 'Are you sure? How do you feel about your wrinkles?' And I say, ...Show more »

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. Show less «

Often people who are against homosexuality attribute it to upbringing or culture and say that in nat...Show more »

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. Show less «

[on her one-woman show] I came up with the idea of 'Green Porno'', and the funny name came about bec...Show more »

[on her one-woman show] I came up with the idea of 'Green Porno'', and the funny name came about because they had all these shows called 'Green Homes', 'Green Transportation' - all about environmental ways to live. So I said, as a joke, "Well, we don't have Green Porno", and the name stuck for better or for worse. It was very catchy, but we thought we could never find a sponsor. Some people are intimidated by it and they don't come. We tried to change it but it was too late. It was too catchy. Everything I do now is called 'Green Porno'. Show less «

When I was hot as a model, I always knew my entire schedule for the next eight months in advance, ev...Show more »

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! Show less «

[on the Internet] The web is a double-edged sword. It has a huge potential for distributing content,...Show more »

[on the Internet] The web is a double-edged sword. It has a huge potential for distributing content, creating contacts. There are a lot of advantages. The problem is that money is spent on technologies, not on content. Show less «

Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini's FILMOGRAPHY

Isabella Rossellini'S roles

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