She also has guest starred in the sitcoms Friends and 30 Rock as well as the dramas Alias and The Blacklist. 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 four other siblings from her father's two other marriages: Romano who died at age nine , Renzo, Gil, and Raffaella.
Rossellini was raised in Rome, as well as in Santa Marinella and Paris. She underwent an operation for appendicitis at the age of five. However, she decided not to stay full-time in New York until her marriage to Martin Scorsese — , whom she met when she interviewed him for RAI.
In March , an exhibition dedicated to photographs of her, called Portrait of a Woman , was held at the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris. In October , Rossellini modelled for Madonna 's controversial book Sex. Rossellini also appeared in Madonna's music video for her successful Top 5 hit song " Erotica ", released in autumn Rossellini was the inaugural brand ambassador for the Italian Silversea Cruises company in , and she appeared in print ads and on their website.
Barbara Muckermann, the senior vice-president of worldwide marketing and communications in , said at the time of the announcement, "Isabella is the ideal personification of Silversea's exclusive standard of elegance, glamour and sophistication.
Rossellini made her film debut with a brief appearance as a nun opposite her mother in the film A Matter of Time. Following her mother's death in , Rossellini was cast in her first American film, White Nights This was followed by her notable role as the tortured nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet , in which she also contributed her own singing.
