Isabella Rossellini

Rossellini was born in Rome, the daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, who was of Swedish and German descent, and Italian director Roberto Rossellini, who was born in Rome from a family originally from Pisa, Tuscany. She has three siblings from her mother: her fraternal twin sister Isotta Rossellini, who is an adjunct professor of Italian literature; a brother, Robertino Ingmar Rossellini;[2] and a half-sister, Pia Lindström, who formerly worked on television and is from her mother's first marriage with Petter Lindström. She has four other siblings from her father's two other marriages: Romano (who died at age nine), Renzo, Gil, and Raffaella.[3] Growing up, she received "a liberal Catholic education".[4]

Rossellini was raised in Rome, as well as in Santa Marinella and Paris. She underwent an operation for appendicitis at the age of five.[5] At 11, she was diagnosed with scoliosis.[6] In order 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. Consequently, she has incision scars on her back and shin.

At 19, she went to New York City, where she attended Finch College, while working as a translator and a RAI television reporter.[7] She also appeared intermittently on L'altra Domenica (The Other Sunday), a TV show featuring Roberto Benigni. However, she decided not to stay full-time in New York until her marriage to Martin Scorsese (1979–1982), whom she met when she interviewed him for RAI.[8]

Rossellini has written three books, her self-described fictional memoir, Some of Me (1997), Looking at Me (2002), and In the name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits: Remembering Roberto Rossellini (2006). In the name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits: Remembering Roberto Rossellini 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.[27]

To accompany the third series of Green 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.[28]

In 2004, Rossellini acted in an Off-Broadway production of Terrence McNally's The Stendhal Syndrome, with Richard Thomas.[29]

Rossellini's friend, Carole Bouquet, also a model who later became an actress, suggested that Green 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 the Green 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.[19]

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."[19]

Rossellini debuted the live version of Green Porno at the Adelaide 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.[30] 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 into Aristotle, Descartes, F.S. Skinner, Charles Darwin, and more, to deliver a vivid monologue about the brilliance of the animal kingdom".[31]

Rossellini performed "Link Link Circus" (as in Ring Ring) as a benefit for The Gateway Performing Arts Center of Suffolk County, in Bellport, 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's Newsday.[32] 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 in Patchogue, New York.

Rossellini is involved in conservation efforts. She is the president and director of the Howard Gilman Foundation — a leading institution focused on the preservation of wildlife, arts, photography and dance[33] — and she has been a board member of the Wildlife Conservation Network.[34] She received US$100,000 from Disney to help with her conservation efforts in those two organizations.[35] She has also helped with the Central Park Conservancy,[36] and is a major benefactor of the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society in Bellport, Long Island, where she is a part-time resident.[37]

Rossellini is involved in training guide dogs for the blind.[38] She is a former trustee of the George Eastman House and a 1997 George Eastman Award honoree for her support of film preservation.[39] She is also a National Ambassador for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.[40]

Rossellini received a 1987 Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her role in Blue Velvet. In 1997, 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. Also in 1997, Rossellini was awarded The George Eastman Award.[41] In 1998, she received an Honourable Mention at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival for her role in the film Left Luggage.[42] In 2013, she was awarded with the Berlinale Camera at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.[43] In 2016, she was granted an honorary doctorate by the Université du Québec à Montréal.[44]

Rossellini with David Lynch at the Cannes Film Festival (1990)

Rossellini holds dual Italian and United States citizenship.[11][45]

She was married to filmmaker Martin Scorsese from 1979 to 1982.[46] After her marriage to Scorsese ended, she was married to Jon Wiedemann from 1983 to 1986.[47]

She has a daughter, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann[12] (born 1983) and an adopted son, Roberto Rossellini (born 1993).[48]

Rossellini was engaged to English actor Gary Oldman from 1994 to 1996.[49]

She has always lived near her twin sister Isotta Ingrid,[16] while growing up in Rome, Italy or residing in New York City.

• "Isabella Rossellini: Biography". Iconoclasts. Sundance Channel L.L.C. Archived from the original (Flash) on 29 January 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
• Rossellini, Isabella (1997). Some of Me. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-679-45252-4.
• Rossellini, Isabella (2002). Looking at Me: On Pictures and Photographers. Munich: Schirmer Art. ISBN 3-8296-0057-7.
• 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.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Isabella Rossellini.

• The Babelgum Metropolis Art Prize, of which Isabella Rossellini is the head judge.
• Isabella Rossellini at IMDb
• Isabella Rossellini at the TCM Movie Database
• Isabella Rossellini at Fashion Model Directory
• Isabella Rossellini at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Interview with Isabella Rossellini before the release of The Saddest Music in the World.
• Interview with Isabella Rossellini after 14 years with Lancôme
• Graham Fuller, "It's a family affair", The Guardian, 5 May 2007. (Interview with Isabella Rossellini about her career and her parent's legacy.)