(She writes of her mother, her father, her famous nude sce...)
She writes of her mother, her father, her famous nude scene in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. And she conducts intimate and extended dialogues with her beloved dead parents.
(Mixed in with these public images are pictures of Rossell...)
Mixed in with these public images are pictures of Rossellini in private, with her children, her dog Macaroni, and her pig Spanky. Irresistibly charming, intelligent yet whimsical, Looking At Me proves the perfect complement to Rossellini herself.
(A surreal combination of gangster film and haunted house ...)
A surreal combination of gangster film and haunted house film, which draws on Homer's Odyssey as well, Keyhole tells the story of a Ulysses Pick (Patric), who returns to his home and embarks on an odyssey through the house, one room at a time.
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is an Italian actress, filmmaker, author and model. She is best known for her roles in such films as Blue Velvet (1986) and Death Becomes Her (1992).
Background
Ethnicity:
Her mother was of Swedish and German descent, while her father was Italian.
Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini was born on June 18, 1952, in Rome, Italy. The child of celebrity parents Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, she grew up scrutinized by photographers and journalists.
Education
Rossellini attended Finch College for a year from 1971. She was also educated at New School for Social Research, as well as at the Academy of Fashion and Costume in Rome.
In 2007, she started attending Hunter College in New York to study animal behavior.
In 2016, Rossellini received an honorary doctorate by the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Rossellini's career began at 19, she worked as a translator and a RAI (Radiotelevisione italiana) television reporter. At that time, she appeared on the show L'altra Domenica (Another Side of Sunday).
Her modeling career began in 1980, she was photographed by Bruce Weber for British Vogue and by Bill King for American Vogue. Rossellini has also worked with many other renowned photographers. The exhibition of her photos "Portrait of a Woman" was held at the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris in March 1988.
Rossellini also worked as the exclusive spokesmodel for the international cosmetics brand Lancôme in 1982. There, she was involved in product development for the fragrance Trésor. When Rossellini was 44, she was removed as the face of Lancôme for being "too old".
In October 1992, Rossellini modelled for Madonna's coffee table book titled Sex. Rossellini also appeared in several Madonna's music videos.
Rossellini's first role was in the 1979 film Il Prato. The next year she appeared in film Il pap'occhio. Her first American film was in White Nights (1985). Next came her notable role as the nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens in film Blue Velvet, in which she also contributed her own singing. Rossellini's other film roles during this period include her work in Cousins (1989), Death Becomes Her (1992), Fearless, and Immortal Beloved (1994). Two years later she appeared in one episode of the TV series Friends called "The One With Frank Jr."
In 2003, Rossellini appeared on the television series Alias. That same year, she also played in film The Saddest Music in the World. The next year she played the High Priestess Thar in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Legend of Earthsea.
In 2006, Rossellini narrated a two-hour television special on Italy for the Discovery Channel's Discovery Atlas series, as well as a series that featured on the Sundance Channel (known as SundanceTV from 2014 onwards). That same year The Sundance Channel purchased Rossellini's 2006 Guy Maddin-directed short film My Dad Is 100 Years Old - film that she created for her father. In the film, Rossellini played almost every role, except Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, and her mother Ingrid Bergman.
Mammas debuted in the United States on 12 May 2013, Mother's Day weekend, and is a celebration of the maternal aspects of the animal world. Rossellini is the primary actress there and plays the maternal versions of animals such as spiders and hamsters.
Rossellini acted in the film Enemy, which was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). She also played silent film actor Rudolph Valentino's mother in Vlad Kozlov's Silent Life, a feature-length version of the director’s silent, black-and-white short film Daydreams of Rudolph Valentino. Kozlov's film was due for release in 2012, but, as of February 2014, the film has not been officially released.
Rossellini was the President of the Jury for the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in 2011. In April 2015 she was announced as the President of the Jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
In addition, Rossellini is the author of the autobiography Some of Me, in which she reflects on both her private and public lives. In her book, Rossellini responds to some of the public’s questions about her famous parents, she also describes her own romantic relationships with ex-husband Martin Scorsese. The author discusses attitudes toward her various movie roles, including the disturbing portrayal of Dorothy, a victimized nightclub singer in the surreal Blue Velvet. Other aspects of Rossellini’s life are touched upon as well.
(American neo-noir mystery film, written and directed by D...)
1986
Politics
Rossellini is involved in conservation efforts, as well as in training guide dogs for the blind.
Views
Quotations:
"True elegance for me is the manifestation of an independent mind."
"Women who stay true to themselves are always more interesting and beautiful to me: women like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe and Anna Magnani - women who have style, chic, allure and elegance. They didn't submit to any standard of beauty - they defined it."
"If we are completely honest with ourselves, everyone has a dark side to their personalities."
"I've always been interested in animal behavior, and I keep reading about it because it's so surprising all the time - so many things are happening around us that we neglect to look at. Part of the passion I have for biology is based on this wonderment."
"One of the great issues in biology is the origin of altruism - of why you would do something for someone else that could hurt you - and Darwin posited that it might be rooted in maternal instinct, in sacrificing yourself for your children."
"I didn't want to become an actress because the competition with my mother would have been to much to live up to."
"But I don't really see myself as a role model. I'm not a dictator, or someone who wants to be adored!"
Membership
Rossellini is a member of the Screen Actor’s Guild. She is the president and director of the Howard Gilman Foundation. She has also been a board member of the Wildlife Conservation Network. Rossellini is a major benefactor of the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society of Bellport, Long Island, where she is a part-time resident.
Personality
Freedom is the key to Rossellini's personality. She loves travel, adventure, variety and meeting new people, and she longs to experience all of life. She also loves to be involved in several things at the same time as long as she is not tied down to any one area. Change is constant in her world, requiring adaptability and courage. With her upbeat and often inspiring personality, Rossellini makes friends easily and attracts people from all walks of life. She has a way with words and an uncanny ability to motivate others.
Physical Characteristics:
Rossellini's height is 1.73 m.
Quotes from others about the person
"It may have been a gracious acceptance of the inevitable. [Rossellini] is that rarest of creatures, the celebrity child of celebrities who seems to contain her parents’ legacy while not being overwhelmed by it." - Rebecca Mead
Interests
animal welfare, environmental protection
Connections
Rossellini was married to Martin Scorsese from 1979 to 1982. After her marriage to Scorsese ended, she married Jon Wiedemann (1983–1986), a Harvard-educated former fashion model from Texas (now a Microsoft design manager). Later, she dated David Lynch, Gary Oldman and Gregory Mosher.
She has a daughter, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann (born 1983) and an adopted son, Roberto Rossellini (born 1993).
She has always lived near her twin sister Isotta Ingrid, while growing up in Rome, Italy or residing in New York City, US. Because of this, her twin sister's children Tommaso and Francesca grew up closely with their cousins Elettra and Roberto.
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