Who

Equipped with her mother's beauty and her father's charming accent, the still-ethereal Rossellini has been David Lynch's muse, Martin Scorsese's wife, and the face of Lancôme cosmetics.

Backstory

The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Robert Rossellini, it's no surprise that Rossellini found her way in front of a camera. After decamping to New York from Rome at the age of 19, she worked as a translator and television reporter before marrying Martin Scorsese in 1979 and divorcing him three years later. She spent the '80s as a model and actress, appearing in spreads for Vogue, Elle, and Vanity Fair and appearing in movies like David Lynch's 1986 cult hit Blue Velvet. Rossellini also signed on as the face of Lancôme, a position she held until 1996, when the cosmetics company ushered the fortysomething model out the door. Since then, she's kept up with her acting career: She's been a recurring character on Alias, appeared in several productions off-Broadway, and had film roles in Empire (with Peter Sarsgaard), The Architect, and Infamous (with Gwyneth Paltrow).

Personal

After her divorce from Scorsese in 1982, Rossellini was married to Jon Wiedemann from 1983 to 1986. The two had a daughter together, Elettra. She subsequently dated David Lynch and Gary Oldman, and adopted a son, Roberto, in 1993. Following in her mother's footsteps, daughter Elettra, a sometime model and New York social fixture, became a spokesmodel for Lancôme in 2006.

Habitat

Rossellini lives in a three-bedroom duplex penthouse on Central Park West; she paid $2.25 million for the apartment in June 2003. In her book Look At Me, Rossellini admitted that she once covered her walls with photos of herself. She lives with her dog, Macaroni, and a pig named Spanky.

True story

In 2006, housekeeper-to-the-stars Lucyna Turyk-Wawrynowicz was convicted of stealing from her clients, but said, "I didn't steal from Isabella Rossellini, because she treated me well. I only stole from people who didn't treat me with respect."