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Isabella Rossellini

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Isabella Rossellini is an award-winning and multifaceted artist who made her cinematic debut in 1979 in Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s The Meadow. Since then she has appeared in numerous other films including Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, White Nights, Cousins, Death Becomes Her, Fearless, Big Night and Joy.

Rossellini was most recently seen in Spaceman, Problemista, Silent Life and La Chimera. She also voiced a character in Oscar® nominee Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and appeared in Cat Person, based on the short story in The New Yorker. Rossellini’s recent work for television includes HBO’s “Julia,” Sky TV’s “Master of Photography” and Hulu’s “Shut Eye.” Her additional small-screen credits include appearances on “The Blacklist,” “Treme,” “The Phantom,” “30 Rock,” “Alias,” “Napoleon,” “Merlin,” “Chicago Hope” and “Crime of the Century.”

In addition to being a successful television actress and filmmaker, Rossellini has a keen interest in animals and wildlife conservation. Her award-winning shorts Green Porno, Seduce Me and Mammas offer comical and scientifically insightful studies of animal behavior.

Rossellini’s numerous honors include an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead and the Women in Film Courage Award, as well as Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. In 2010 she was honored at the Savannah Film Festival for Outstanding Achievement in Cinema and in 2013 she was awarded the Berlinale Camera at the Berlin Film Festival.

In 2022 she toured her one-woman show “Darwin’s Smile,” which reconciled two worlds that are often at opposite ends of the spectrum: art and science. Rossellini explored how empathy, which is at the foundation of acting, is also necessary for studies of animal behavior (ethology). This unique show is both a lesson on evolution and acting. In her usual comical tones, Rossellini demonstrates how acting can be used to understand the mysterious nature of animals and their emotions.

Rossellini previously toured her theatrical show “Link Link Circus,” which deals with animals’ behavior and cognition. Over the course of the performance, Rossellini transforms herself into Aristotle, Descartes, a medieval theologian, B.F. Skinner and Charles Darwin, while discussing the essence of human beings and what distinguishes us from the “brutes.” Darwin, in his theory of evolution, linked humans to non-humans, demonstrating that there is a continuum between animals and humans. For some, this idea is still offensive. While physical continuity is more accepted, cognitive continuity has been mostly rejected.

Rossellini has written numerous books including Some of Me and In the Name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits: Remembering Roberto Rossellini. Her latest book, My Chickens and I, was released by Abrams in 2018. In 2016 Rossellini returned to Lancôme as one of their new spokespeople, three decades after she was first hired by the beauty brand. Rossellini is currently completing her master’s degree in Animal Behavior and Conservation at Hunter College in New York City. She previously received a PhD Honoris Causa from the Science Faculty at the University of Quebec at Montreal.

Isabella Rossellini runs an organic farm in Brookhaven in association with the Peconic Land Trust and the Post-Morrow Foundation. She is a mother of two and currently resides in Bellport, Long Island.

Press release from Fosforo Press.

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