| Isabella Rossellini  AKA Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini
Born: 18-Jun-1952
Birthplace: Rome, Italy
Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Model Nationality: Italy
Executive summary: Blue Velvet, Big Night Isabella Rossellini was a child of cinema royalty. Her mother, actress Ingrid Bergman, starred in Casablanca, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Hitchcock's Spellbound. Her father, Roberto Rossellini, was an Italian screenwriter, director, and producer, whose most beloved films include Germania anno zero (Germany Year Zero) and Roma, città aperta (Open City). Born thirty minutes before her fraternal twin sister, Isabella grew to resemble her famous mother. She injured her back at the age of 13, and was completely bedridden for almost a year. She has also suffered from scoliosis (progressive curvature of the spine).
She began her career as a journalist for RAI Television in Italy, but was assigned purely fluff features and soon grew bored. She then appeared as a regular on an Italian sketch comedy show, where she met a photographer who convinced her she was more a model than a comedienne. But despite great success as a model, she eventually returned to acting.
Her first film was her mother's A Matter of Time, and she was first noticed by American audiences in White Nights with Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines. In her most famous role, she was beaten by Dennis Hopper and rescued by Kyle MacLachlan in David Lynch's masterpiece of small-town sadomasochism, Blue Velvet. She lived with Lynch for five years.
From 1982-96, she was the celebrity face of Lancôme cosmetics, but the company ended the arrangement, fearing that Rossellini was too old to be seen as attractive. She has continued making films, including Wild at Heart with Nicolas Cage, Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner, and Roger Dodger with Campbell Scott. She has also played the fierce aunt Katya on TV's Alias with Jennifer Garner. Father: Roberto Rossellini (film director, b. 1906, d. 1977 heart attack)
Mother: Ingrid Bergman (actress)
Sister: Pia Lindstrom (drama critic, half-sister)
Sister: Isotta Rosselini (twin, professor of Italian literature, Columbia University)
Brother: Renzo Rossellini (film producer)
Father: Lars Schmidt (stepfather, married Bergman in 1958, theatrical producer)
Husband: Martin Scorsese (film director, m. 1979, div. 1982)
Husband: Jonathan Wiedemann (model, m. 1983, div. 1986, one child)
Daughter: Elettra Rossellini (b. 1983, with Wiedemann, model)
Boyfriend: Mikhail Baryshnikov (dancer, dated mid-1980s)
Boyfriend: David Lynch (filmmaker, cohabited 1986-91)
Son: Roberto Rossellini (b. 1993, adopted)
Boyfriend: Gary Oldman (engaged Jul-1994, sep. 1996)
University: New School University
Risk Factors: Smoking
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Infamous (31-Aug-2006)
The Architect (2006)
Heights (24-Jan-2005)
Earthsea (13-Dec-2004)
The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea (Feb-2004)
King of the Corner (2004)
The Saddest Music in the World (31-Aug-2003)
The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story (24-May-2003)
Monte Walsh (17-Jan-2003)
Napoléon (17-Sep-2002)
Roger Dodger (9-May-2002)
Empire (Jan-2002)
The Sky Is Falling (26-May-2000)
Don Quixote (9-Apr-2000)
The Impostors (18-May-1998)
Merlin (26-Apr-1998)
Left Luggage (12-Feb-1998)
The Odyssey (18-May-1997)
Crime of the Century (14-Sep-1996)
The Funeral (8-Sep-1996)
Big Night (24-Jan-1996)
Immortal Beloved (16-Dec-1994)
Wyatt Earp (24-Jun-1994)
Fearless (15-Oct-1993)
The Innocent (16-Sep-1993)
Death Becomes Her (31-Jul-1992)
Wild at Heart (17-Aug-1990)
Red Riding Hood (15-Mar-1989)
Cousins (10-Feb-1989)
Zelly and Me (15-Apr-1988)
Siesta (Nov-1987)
Tough Guys Don't Dance (12-Sep-1987)
Blue Velvet (19-Sep-1986)
White Nights (22-Nov-1985)
A Matter of Time (31-Oct-1976)
Author of books:
Some of Me (1997, memoir)
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