Biography for
Isabella Rossellini More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

18 June 1952, Rome, Italy

Birth Name

Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini

Height

5' 8" (1.73 m)

Spouse

Jon Wiedemann	(1983 - 1986) (divorced) 1 child
Martin Scorsese	(29 September 1979 - November 1982) (divorced)

Trivia

In the "Tales from the Crypt" (1989) episode "You, Murderer", she spoofs her mother's Casablanca (1942) image.

Half-sister of Pia Lindström.

Born at 6:07pm-CET.

Twin sister of Isotta Rossellini, who is an adjunct professor of Italian Renaissance literature at New York University (as of 2006). Sister of Renzo Rossellini.

Dated Gary Oldman (1994)

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world. [1991]

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world [1990]

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#84). [1995]

Maintains a home in the village of Bellport, New York.

Was scheduled to appear in the David Lean-directed "Nostromo" in 1991, before Lean died, and the production came to a halt.

She suffered from scoliosis (progressive curvature of the spine) and underwent surgery to correct it. She was in a body cast for a year.

Virtually identical to her mother, Ingrid Bergman, but surprisingly was never given the opportunity to portray her mother in a biographical film. The closest she came was with an eerily accurate spoof of Ilsa Lund in an episode of "Tales from the Crypt" (1989).

Has a daughter, Elettra (b. 1983), and an adopted son called Roberto (b. 1993) named after her father.

Published an autobiography called "Some of me".

Measurements: 35 1/2-29-36 (1994 measures), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

Fluent in Italian, French and English.

Former model.

Sister of Renzo Rossellini and Roberto Ingmar Rosselini. Twin sister of Isotta Rossellini.

She is 34 minutes older than twin sister Isotta.

She is of Italian and Swedish descent.

Isabella is daughter of the two legends Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman.

Was engaged to director David Lynch from 1986 to 1990.

Her favorite Hollywood-film that her mother made is Notorious (1946). Her favorite film of her father, made without her mother, is La prise de pouvoir par Louis XIV (1966) (TV) and Francesco, giullare di Dio (1950).

Appeared in photographs for Madonna's coffee table book "Sex".

Her daughter Elettra Wiedemann is now the spokesmodel for Lacome Cosmetics, the company that "let her go" because of her age after she represented them for many years.

In 1983, Time magazine reported Rossellini's modeling salary of a then $9,000 a day.

Is an avid dog lover and helps train puppies for the blind.

Is a huge fan of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.

Aunt of Tommaso Rossellini.

Personal Quotes

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.

[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.

Where Are They Now

(March 2003) Winnipeg, Canada - filming Guy Maddin's The Saddest Music in the World (2003).

(February 2004) Starring on Broadway in The Stendahl Syndrome.

(January 2008) Will narrate Guy Maddin's silent film "Brand Upon the Brain" as part of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's New Music Festival at the Winnipeg Centennial Concert Hall in February. The New Music Festival runs Feb. 2-8 in Winnipeg.

(January 2009) Just finished another series of Green Porno short films for the Sundance Channel.

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