Rossellini was born in Rome, the daughter of Swedish actressIngrid Bergman, who was of Swedish and German descent, and Italian directorRoberto Rossellini, who was born inRome from a family originally fromPisa,Tuscany. She has three siblings from her mother: her fraternal twin sister Isotta Ingrid Rossellini, who is anadjunct professor ofItalian literature, a brother, Robertino Ingmar Rossellini;[3] and a half-sister,Pia Lindström, who formerly worked on television and is from her mother's first marriage withPetter Lindström. She has four other siblings from her father's two other marriages: Romano (who died at age nine), Renzo, Gil, and Raffaella.[4] Growing up, she received "a liberalCatholic education".[5]
Isabella (right) with twin sister Isotta, brother Robertino and their mother Ingrid Bergman on the filming set ofThe Visit
Rossellini was raised in Rome, as well as inSanta Marinella and Paris. She underwent an operation for appendicitis at the age of five.[6] At 11, she was diagnosed withscoliosis.[7] To correct it, she had to undergo an 18-month ordeal of painful stretchings, body casts and surgery on her spine using pieces of one of her shin bones.[citation needed] Consequently, she has incision scars on her back and shin.
At 19, she went toNew York City, where she attendedFinch College, while working as a translator and as a television reporter forRAI.[8] She also appeared intermittently onL'altra Domenica (The Other Sunday), a TV show featuringRoberto Benigni. However, she decided not to stay full-time in New York until her marriage toMartin Scorsese (1979–1982), whom she met when she interviewed him for RAI.[9]
Rossellini's modeling career led her into the world ofcosmetics, when she became the exclusive spokesmodel for the French cosmetics brandLancôme in 1982, replacingNancy Dutiel in the United States andCarol Alt in Europe. At Lancôme, in 1990, she was involved in product development for the fragrance Trésor. In 1996, when she was 43, she was removed as the face of Lancôme for being "too old". In 2016, at the age of 63, she was rehired by Lancôme's new female CEO, Francoise Lehmann, as a global brand ambassador for the company.[10]
In October 1992, Rossellini modelled forMadonna's controversial bookSex. Rossellini also appeared in Madonna's music video for her successful Top 5 hit song "Erotica", released in autumn 1992.[11]
Rossellini was the inaugural brand ambassador for the ItalianSilversea Cruises company in 2004, and she appeared in print ads and on their website. Barbara Muckermann, the senior vice-president of worldwide marketing and communications in 2004, said at the time of the announcement, "Isabella is the ideal personification of Silversea's exclusive standard of elegance, glamour and sophistication."[12][13]
Rossellini made her film debut with a brief appearance as a nun opposite her mother in the 1976 filmA Matter of Time. Her first role was the 1979 filmIl Prato, and then in 1980 she appeared inRenzo Arbore's filmIl pap'occhio with her then husbandMartin Scorsese.
In 2003, Rossellini was a recurring character on the television seriesAlias. In that same year, she also appeared in theCanadian filmThe Saddest Music in the World, directed byGuy Maddin. In 2004, she played the High Priestess Thar in theSci-Fi Channel miniseriesLegend of Earthsea, and the director Robert Lieberman stated that Rossellini "brings a very big persona to the screen. She carries a great deal of beauty. We needed someone who had a feeling of authority to be this kind of mother superior type and at the same time not be totally dour and unattractive."[14]
In 2006, Rossellini appeared in several television documentaries. First, she narrated a two-hour television special on Italy for theDiscovery Channel'sDiscovery Atlas series. Then, alongsideSegway PT inventorDean Kamen, she spoke about her past and current activities on an episode ofIconoclasts, a series that featured on theSundance Channel (known as SundanceTV from 2014 onwards), an independent film network founded by film industry veteranRobert Redford.[15] The Sundance Channel then purchased the 2006 Guy Maddin-directed short filmMy Dad Is 100 Years Old,[16] a tribute that Rossellini created for her father. In the film, she played almost every role, includingFederico Fellini,Alfred Hitchcock and her mother,Ingrid Bergman. Rossellini's twin sister, Isotta Ingrid,[17] criticized the short film, calling it an "inappropriate" tribute.[18]
In 2007, Rossellini guest starred on two episodes of the television show30 Rock, playingAlec Baldwin's character's ex-wife.[19] Around the same time, Rossellini enrolled atNew York University where she undertook an undergraduate degree in Art and Environmental Studies, and then pursued with a master's degree atHunter College in New York to study animal behavior.[20] Then the Sundance Channel commissioned her to contribute a short-film project to the environmental programThe Green.[16] Rossellini explained in a 2013 interview:
They contacted me again when they had allocated some money to experiment in making a web series. At first, I thought I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to write and then thought it might be really fun to do little short films about animals. This is how the first three episodes ofGreen Porno came about. When I showed them the pilot, Sundance commissioned eight more. It was a huge hit![16]
Debuting in 2008, the first series ofGreen Porno had over 4 million views onYouTube and two further seasons were produced; there are 18 episodes in the series. Rossellini worked with a small budget forGreen Porno and she was responsible for the scripts, helped to design the creatures, directed the episodes, and is the primary actor in the series. In each of the episodes, she acts out the mating rituals and reproductive behaviour of various animals while commentary is played.[21]
Green Porno was followed by two other animal-themed television productions:Seduce Me: The Spawn of Green Porno andMammas.Seduce Me: The Spawn of Green Porno is a five-episode online series that was premiered in mid-2010 and explores the topic of animal courtship. As withGreen Porno, Rossellini wrote, directed and acted in the series; she is also a producer of the series. Rossellini explained in 2010, "I always wanted to make films about animals – there's not an enormous audience, but there's an enormous audience for sex."[22]
Mammas debuted in the United States on 12 May 2013, Mother's Day weekend there, and is a celebration of the maternal aspects of the animal world. Rossellini is again the primary actor and plays the maternal versions of animals such as spiders and hamsters.[23] Rossellini explained in a 2013 interview part of the research process forMammas: "First of all it's about diversity. When talking about motherhood, I would find examples of ten different species that either don't get pregnant in the belly but in the mouth or back. Or species that abandon their children all-together so that I don't tell ten stories that are too similar."[16]
After the completion of herGreen Porno productions, Rossellini acted in the filmEnemy, withJake Gyllenhaal, which was shown at the 2013Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Rossellini praised the film during a TIFF interview: "I love the subtlety of the film. It reminded me of Kafka. It's very metaphysical, but yet it's also a solid thriller. It made me leap up out of my seat at the end." Rossellini also played the silent film actorRudolph Valentino's mother[24] inVlad Kozlov'sSilent Life, a feature-length version of the director's silent, black-and-white short filmDaydreams of Rudolph Valentino.[25] Kozlov's film was due for release in 2012, but, as of February 2014, the film has not been officially released.[26]
The distribution rights to a documentary starring Rossellini,A Season with Isabella Rossellini, were secured by Escapade Media in September 2025. The documentary, directed by Marian Lacombe, sees Rossellini reflecting on her life as a celebrated model as well as her colorful life.[33]
Rossellini's friend,Carole Bouquet, also a model who later became an actress, suggested thatGreen Porno could be transformed into a lecture format with a longer duration. Bouquet then introduced Rossellini to the French filmmaker and screenwriter,Jean-Claude Carrière, and they created a 70-minute-long monologue that expands upon theGreen Porno films. The structure of the performance is in accordance with the types of reproductive systems:
Some animals reproduce with male and female; some animals change sex – they start female and they end male or vice-versa. Some fish do that. Some animals are hermaphrodites – they don't need anybody, they have both vaginas and penises. Then we have animals that don't need sex at all, they just clone themselves.[21]
In the live show, Rossellini explores the topics of homosexuality ("I think society has made the mistake of seeing the act of making love or mating as an act of reproduction, when actually it is used for other things, too. Animals use it for social events, bonding, solving conflict and so on.") and maternal instincts, and has explained that her research has influenced her perspective on societal notions of beauty: "If you look at nature, there is no perfection. Everything is always evolving and adapting according to whatever the environmental pressure. The more diversity there is, the more things are going to survive."[21]
Rossellini debuted the live version ofGreen Porno at theAdelaide Festival of Arts on 15 March 2014 and was warmly received by the audience. The show was the first of the 2014 program to sell out.[35] Much of the production and backstage documentary footage was shot and directed by her nephew, Tommaso Rossellini.
Rossellini's "smallest circus in the world", a stage play exploring the ability of animals to think, was premiered in May 2018, at the Jerome Robbins Theater of the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The play "addresses the scientific discoveries about animal minds, intelligence, and emotions. Joined onstage by various animals portrayed by Pan, her trained dog, Rossellini transforms herself intoAristotle,Descartes,B.F. Skinner,Charles Darwin, and more, to deliver a vivid monologue about the brilliance of the animal kingdom".[36]
Rossellini performed "Link Link Circus" (as in Ring Ring) as a benefit for The Gateway Performing Arts Center of Suffolk County, inBellport, New York, the south shore Long Island village where she is a local organic farmer. "Link Link Circus" is performed by Rossellini in a black and red ringmaster's tailcoat, with the assistance of her dog, Peter Pan, who performs a few tricks and is costumed as other animals including a chicken and a dinosaur. In addition to Rossellini and Pan, the production includes puppets, handled by puppeteer Schuyler Beeman, and still photos, home movies, animation and excerpts from her "Green Porno" film series projected on a large screen behind the set decorated with Rossellini's childhood toys, including a marionette stage and a toy upright piano, which Rossellini plays in the show. The set was designed by Andy Byers, who is also the costume designer and composer for the show. In promoting the show, which was performed twice at The Gateway, Rossellini appeared in Long Island'sNewsday.[37] Proceeds from The Gateway production of "Link Link Circus" also benefited The Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center, a non-profit located near Rossellini's Bellport home inPatchogue, New York.
Rossellini is set to premiere a new one-woman show in March 2026. The show is expected to blend performance, personal storytelling, and reflections on art, nature, and identity.[39]
Rossellini holds dual Italian and United States citizenship.[12][48] She speaks Italian, French and English fluently.[49] She is a naturalized American citizen.
Rossellini married filmmakerMartin Scorsese in 1979.[50] After she and Scorsese divorced in 1982, Rossellini was married to Jon Wiedemann from 1983 to 1986.[51] Rossellini has a daughter,Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann[13] (born 1983), and an adopted son, Roberto (born 1993).
FilmmakerDavid Lynch and Rossellini were a couple from 1986 to 1991. She was also engaged to actorGary Oldman from 1994 to 1996.[52]
She has always lived near her twin sister Isotta Ingrid,[17] while growing up in Rome or residing inNew York City.
Rossellini raises and trains futureguide dogs for the Guide Dog Foundation.[53]
In the name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits: Remembering Roberto Rossellini (2006)
My Chickens and I (2018)
The third title was published as a written tribute alongside the short film,My Dad Is 100 Years Old, and used the script from the short film as its basis.[88] To accompany the third series ofGreen Porno, Rossellini produced a multimedia collection that contains a book and DVD, both of which give additional information for the series' third season. These were released in 2008. Further backstage material was released filmed by her nephew, Tommaso.[89]
^MacNab, Geoffrey (6 September 2004)."Like Father..."Guardian Unlimited. London.Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved29 January 2007.
^abc"Isabella Rossellini (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors.Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved1 October 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
Rossellini, Isabella (2002).Looking at Me: On Pictures and Photographers. Munich: Schirmer Art.ISBN3-8296-0057-7.
Rossellini, Isabella (2006).In the Name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits: Remembering Roberto Rossellini. London:Haus Publishing.ISBN1-904950-91-4.
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