Isabella Rossellini

Actresses

Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (born June 18, 1952) is an Italian-American actress, author, philanthropist, and model. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, she made her film debut in Vincente Minnelli’s A Matter of Time (1976), with Liza Minnelli, Bergman, and Charles Boyer. Other early films include Paolo & Vittorio Taviani’s The Meadow (1979), with Michele Placido and Saverio Marconi; In the Pope’s Eye (1980), with Renzo Arbore (who also directed), Roberto Benigni, and Andy Luotto; and Taylor Hackford’s White Nights (1985), with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Jerzy Skolimowski, Geraldine Page, and Helen Mirren.

Rossellini gained international fame with her role in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), with Kyle MacLachlan, Dennis Hopper, Laura Dern, Hope Lange, Dean Stockwell, George Dickerson, Priscilla Pointer, Frances Bay, Brad Dourif, and Jack Nance. Other films in the 1980s include Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987), with Ryan O’Neal, Debra Sandlund, and Wings Hauser; Siesta (1987), with Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Grace Jones, Julian Sands, and Alexei Sayle; Zelly and Me (1988), with Glynis Johns, Alexandra Johnes, and Joe Morton; and Joel Schumacher’s Cousins (1989), with Ted Danson, Sean Young, William Petersen, Keith Coogan, Lloyd Bridges, and Norma Aleandro.

Films in the 1990s include Lynch’s Wild at Heart (1990), with Nicolas Cage, Dern, Diane Ladd, Willem Dafoe, Harry Dean Stanton, Crispin Glover, and John Lurie; Robert Zemeckis’s Death Becomes Her (1992), with Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, and Goldie Hawn; John Schlesinger’s The Innocent (1993), with Anthony Hopkins and Campbell Scott; Peter Weir’s Fearless (1993), with Jeff Bridges, Rosie Perez, Tom Hulce, John Turturro, and John de Lancie; Lawrence Kasdan’s Wyatt Earp (1994), with Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Mark Harmon, Michael Madsen, Bill Pullman, Dennis Quaid, Tom Sizemore, JoBeth Williams, Mare Winningham, and Jim Caviezel; and Bernard Rose’s Immortal Beloved (1994), with Gary Oldman, Jeroen Krabbé, Johanna ter Steege, and Valeria Golino.

Films in the mid to late 1990s include Big Night (1996), with Stanley Tucci (who also co-directed with Scott), Minnie Driver, Ian Holm, Allison Janney, and Tony Shalhoub; Abel Ferrara’s The Funeral (1996), with Christopher Walken, Chris Penn, Annabella Sciorra, Vincent Gallo, Benicio del Toro, and Gretchen Mol; and The Imposters (1998), with Oliver Platt, Tucci (who also directed), Alfred Molina, Shalhoub, Elizabeth Bracco, Steve Buscemi, Billy Connolly, Allan Corduner, Hope Davis, Richard Jenkins, and Lili Taylor.

Films in the 2000s include Empire (2002), with John Leguizamo, Peter Sarsgaard, Denise Richards, Delilah Cotto, and Sonia Braga; Roger Dodger (2003), with Scott, Jesse Eisenberg, Elizabeth Berkley, and Jennifer Beals; Guy Maddin’s The Saddest Music in the World (2003), with Mark McKinney, Maria de Medeiros, David Fox, Ross McMillan, and Louis Negin; King of the Corner (2004), Peter Riegert (who also directed), Bogosian, Eli Wallach, Beverly D’Angelo, and Rita Moreno; Chris Terrio’s Heights (2005), with Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Jesse Bradford, John Light, Eric Bogosian, and George Segal; and The Feast of the Goat (2005), with Thomas Milan, Paul Freeman, and Stephanie Leonidas.

Films in the mid to late 2000s include Douglas McGrath’s Infamous (2006), with Toby Jones,
Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Peter Bogdanovich, Jeff Daniels, Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow, Juliet Stevenson, Sigourney Weaver, and Lee Pace; The Architect (2006), with Anthony LaPaglia, Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere, Sebastian Stan, and Walton Goggins; Griffin Dunne’s The Accidental Husband (2008), with Uma Thurman, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Colin Firth, and Sam Shepard; James Gray’s Two Lovers (2009), with Joaquin Phoenix, Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Elias Koteas, and Moni Moshonov; and the animated film My Dog Tulip (2009), with the voices of Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave, Brian Murray, Paul Hecht, and Euan Morton.

Films in the 2010s include Late Bloomers (2011), with William Hurt, Doreen Mantle, Kate Ashfield, Aidan McArdle, Arta Dobroshi, Luke Treadaway, Leslie Phillips, Hugo Speer, Joanna Lumley, and Simon Callow; Maddin’s Keyhole (2012), with Jason Patric, Udo Kier, Kevin McDonald, and Brooke Palsson; Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy (2014), with Jake Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, and Sarah Gadon; David O. Russell’s Joy (2015), with Jennifer Lawrence, Robert De Niro, Édgar Ramírez, Diane Ladd, Virginia Madsen, and Bradley Cooper; Brad Bird’s animated film Incredibles 2 (2018), with the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson, Huckleberry Milner, Bob Odenkirk, Catherine Keener, and Jonathan Banks; and Vita & Virginia (2019), with Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki, Rupert Penry-Jones, Peter Ferdinando, Gethin Anthony, Emerald Fennell, Adam Gillen, Karla Crome, Rory Fleck Byrne, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.

Rossellini was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Miniseries or TV movie for Mark Rydell’s Crime of the Century (1996), with Stephen Rea, J.T. Walsh, Michael Moriarty, Bert Remsen, and David Paymer. Other TV movies include Ivory Hunters (1990), with John Lithgow and James Earl Jones; Lies of the Twins (1991), with Aiden Quinn, Iman, Claudia Christian, and Richard Harrison; Peter Yates’s Don Quixote (2000), with Lithgow, Bob Hoskins, Vanessa Williams, Lambert Wilson, Amelia Warner, Tony Haygarth, Peter Eyre, James Purefoy, and Trevor Peacock; Monte Walsh (2003), with Tom Selleck, Keith Carradine, Barry Corbin, John Michael Higgins, William Sanderson, and Wallace Shawn; Infected (2006), with Maxim Roy, Gil Bellows, and Judd Nelson; and Filthy Gorgeous (2006), with Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

Miniseries include The Odyssey (1997), with Armand Assante, Greta Scacchi, Irene Papas, Bernadette Peters, Eric Roberts, Geraldine Chaplin, Christopher Lee, and Vanessa Williams; Steve Barron’s Merlin (1998), with Sam Neill, Helena Bonham Carter, John Gielgud, Rutger Hauer, Miranda Richardson, Martin Short, Billie Whitelaw, and Lena Headey; Napoléon (2002), with Christian Clavier, John Malkovich, Gérard Depardieu, and Julian Sands; Earthsea (2004), with Shawn Ashmore, Kristin Kreuk, Danny Glover, Sebastian Roché, and Chris Gauthier; and Domina (2021), with Kasia Smutniak, Nadia Parkes, and Liam Cunningham.

Each review will be linked to the title below.

(*seen originally in theaters)

(**seen rereleased in theaters)

  • A Matter of Time (1976) – directed by Vincente Minnelli
  • The Meadow (1979) – directed by Paolo & Vittorio Taviani
  • In the Pope’s Eye (1980) – directed by Renzo Arbore
  • White Nights (1985) – directed by Taylor Hackford
  • Blue Velvet (1986) – directed by David Lynch
  • Dark Eyes (1987) – directed by Nikita Mikhalkov – uncredited
  • Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1987) – directed by Norman Mailer
  • Siesta (1987) – directed by Mary Lambert
  • Red Riding Hood (1988) – directed by Adam Brooks
  • Zelly and Me (1988) directed by Tina Rathborne
  • Cousins (1989) – directed by Joel Schumacher
  • Wild at Heart (1990) – directed by David Lynch
  • Ivory Hunters (1990) – directed by Joseph Sargent
  • Gallant Ladies (1990) – directed by Jean-Charles Tacchella
  • Lies of the Twins (1991) – directed by Tim Hunter – TV movie
  • The Siege of Venice (1991) – directed by Giorgio Ferrara
  • Death Becomes Her (1992) – directed by Robert Zemeckis
  • The Innocent (1993) – directed by John Schlesinger
  • Fearless (1993) – directed by Peter Weir
  • Wyatt Earp (1994) – directed by Lawrence Kasdan
  • The Gift (1994) – directed by Laura Dern – TV short
  • Immortal Beloved (1994) – directed by Bernard Rose
  • Tails and Delight (1995) – directed by Luciano De Crescenzo
  • Big Night (1996) – directed by Campbell Scott & Stanley Tucci
  • The Funeral (1996) – directed by Abel Ferrara
  • Crime of the Century (1996) – directed by Mark Rydell – TV movie
  • The Odyssey (1997) – directed by Andrey Konchalovskiy – miniseries
  • Left Luggage (1998) – directed by Jeroen Krabbé
  • Merlin (1998) – directed by Steve Barron – miniseries
  • The Impostors (1998) – directed by Stanley Tucci
  • Don Quixote (2000) – directed by Peter Yates – TV movie
  • The Sky Is Falling (2000) – directed by Andrea & Antonio Frazzi
  • Roger Dodger (2002) – directed by Dylan Kidd
  • Napoléon (2002) – directed by Yves Simoneau – miniseries
  • Empire (2002) – directed by Franc. Reyes
  • Monte Walsh (2003) – directed by Simon Wincer – TV movie
  • The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story (2003) – directed by Peter Greenway
  • The Saddest Music in the World (2003) – directed by Guy Maddin
  • The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea (2004) – directed by Peter Greenway
  • King of the Corner (2004) – directed by Peter Riegert
  • The Stendhal Syndrome (2004) – directed by Leonard Foglia & David Smith
  • Earthsea (2005) – directed by Robert Lieberman – miniseries
  • Heights (2005) – directed by Chris Terrio
  • The Feast of the Goat (2005) – directed by Luis Llosa
  • A Life in Suitcases (2005) – directed by Peter Greenway
  • The Architect (2006) – directed by Matt Tauber
  • Infamous (2006) – directed by Douglas McGrath
  • Brand Upon the Brain! A Remembrance in 12 Chapters (2006) – directed by Guy Maddin
  • Filthy Gorgeous (2006) – directed by Robert Allan Ackerman – TV movie
  • The Accidental Husband (2008) – directed by Griffin Dunne
  • Green Porno (2008) – also director, writer – series of shorts – some co-directed with Jody Shapiro
  • Infected (2008) – directed by Adam Weissman – TV movie
  • Two Lovers (2009) – directed by James Gray
  • Send Me to the ‘Lectric Chair (2009) – directed by Guy Maddin – short
  • My Dog Tulip (2009) – directed by Paul & Sandra Fierlinger
  • Flat Love (2009) – directed by Andrés Sanz – short
  • The Phantom (2009) – directed by Paolo Barzman – miniseries
  • The Solitude of Prime Numbers (2010) – directed by Saverio Costanzo
  • Bon appétit! (2010) – also director – TV short
  • Late Bloomers (2011) – directed by Julie Gavras
  • Animals Distract Me (2011) – also director, co-writer – short
  • Chicken with Plums (2011) – directed by Marjane Satrapi
  • Keyhole (2012) – directed by Guy Maddin
  • The Dandelions (2012) – directed by Carine Tardieu
  • The Zigzag Kid (2012) – directed by Vincent Bal
  • Mammas (2013) – also director, writer – series
  • Enemy (2014) – directed by Denis Villeneuve
  • Joy (2015) – directed by David O. Russell
  • Closet Monster (2016) – directed by Stephen Dunn
  • Incredibles 2 (2018)* – directed by Brad Bird
  • Vita & Virginia (2019) – directed by Chanya Button
  • Preludio (2019) – directed by Stefania Rossella Grassi & Tommaso Scutari – short
  • The Rabbit Hunters (2020) – directed by Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, & Guy Maddin – short
  • Domina (2021) – directed by Simon Burke – miniseries