Culture / Society

Happy Birthday, Isabella Rossellini! 20 photos from the glamorous archive of the Swedish-Italian beauty

By Marley Marius

Photo: Getty

The Renaissance woman celebrated her birthday over the weekend, here Vogue explores some of her most memorable moments

Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini is many things—a model, actress, philanthropist, educator, accidental farm-life influencer—to say nothing of being the daughter of two icons: the actress Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini. Born in Rome in 1952 with her fraternal twin sister, Ingrid (known as Isotta), Rossellini made her first film appearance opposite her mother in A Matter of Time (1976), before going on to projects like White Nights (1985), Blue Velvet, (1986), Cousins (1989), Death Becomes Her (1992), Fearless (1993), and, decades later, a memorable arc on 30 Rock as Jack Donaghy’s first wife, Bianca. She’s also enjoyed a long association with the fashion and beauty worlds, covering Vogue in the 1980s and serving for years as a “spokesmodel” for Lancôme.

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As she celebrates her 70th birthday, we look back at Rossellini’s long and glamorous life in the spotlight—and eagerly await all she still has to come.

1
Ingrid Bergman with twin daughters 1953

Photo: Getty

1953

As an infant in Rome with her mother, Ingrid Bergman; her twin sister, Isotta (center); and their older brother, Roberto.

2
Isabella Rossellini on holiday in the Italian Alps.

Photo: Getty

1958

On holiday in the Italian Alps.

3
Isabella Rossellini Taking a stroll with Ingrid Bergman in Rome at age 13.

Photo: Getty

1966

Isabella Rossellini Taking a stroll with Ingrid Bergman in Rome at age 13.

4
Isabella Rossellini with her mother and siblings

Photo: Getty

1967

With her mother and siblings (including half-sister Pia Lindstrom, at far right) at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York, where Bergman was starring in Eugene O’Neill’s More Stately Mansions.

5
Isabelle Rossellini at 19, on the set of her father’s historical drama Blaise Pascal.

Photo: Getty

1971

At 19, on the set of her father’s historical drama Blaise Pascal.

6
Isabella Rossellini with Martin Scorsese

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1979

With Martin Scorsese, her husband from 1979 to 1982.

7
Isabelle Rossellini in her second movie

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1979

Rather menacingly playing the flute in her second film, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s The Meadow.

8
Isabella Rosselini models in New York

Photo: Getty

1980

Pictured here in New York, Rossellini was about 28 when her modeling career began. It saw her work with the likes of Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Peter Lindbergh, Norman Parkinson, Francesco Scavullo, Annie Leibovitz, and Robert Mapplethorpe.

9
Isabella Rossellini in Puerto Rico, filming an advertisement for Lancôme.

Photo: Getty

1983

Isabella Rossellini in Puerto Rico, filming an advertisement for Lancôme.

10

Photo: Getty

1983

In another spot for Lancôme. Rossellini was a spokesperson for the company from 1982 to 1996, and then again 20 years later.

11
Isabelle Rossellini in Blue Velvet

Photo: Getty

1986

With Kyle MacLachlan on the set of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet.

12

1987

With Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann, Rossellini’s daughter from her second marriage. (She also has a son, Roberto, born in 1993.)

13
Isabelle Rossellini

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1988

Attending the ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas with David Lynch, her partner for several years.

14
Isabella Rossellini

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1989

Chatting with Mikhail Baryshnikov—her co-star in 1985’s White Nights—at a party for the Broadway play Metamorphosis.

15
Isabella Rossellini in Cousins

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1989

Appearing opposite Ted Danson in the romantic comedy Cousins.

16
Isabella Rossellini

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1991

Greeting a fan at a performance of Lisa-Maria Radano’s play Brooklyn Laundry—starring Glenn Close, Laura Dern, Woody Harrelson, and Carrie Hamilton—in Los Angeles.

17
As Lisle von Rhuman in Robert Zemeckis’s Death Becomes Her.

Photo: Courtesy Everett Collection

1992

As Lisle von Rhuman in Robert Zemeckis’s Death Becomes Her.

18
Isabella Rossellini

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1994

On a visit to Germany.

19
Isabella Rossellini cameo in Friends

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1996

Making a cameo in an episode of Friends (“The One with Frank Jr.”).

20
Isabella Rossellini

Photo: Getty

1996

In more spiffy suiting at a fundraiser in New York.