Despite the dizzying success as a model, the beauty of Italian descent faced ageism.

Isabella Rossellini is a vivid example of how one woman managed to realize herself and make a successful career, both in modeling and acting.

Now the "exchange of personnel" between these two worlds is already a familiar thing, but when Isabella began her journey, it was a wonder, and she can be called, if not a "pioneer", then one of the first who managed to repeatedly jump over this "springboard", and roundtrip.



Usually, models who decide to start an acting career are not taken seriously and believe that cinema for them is like a catwalk, another way to show off, so their roles, more often than not, end in just episodes, sometimes even without words.

Isabella Rossellini came to modeling from the cinema, but achieved great success both there and there. She went beyond the perception of representatives of the modeling business in the acting profession and was able to get the main roles from eminent directors, thereby breaking the conventional barriers that existed at that time.

Isabella grew up in the family of the Italian film director Roberto Rossellini and the Casablanca actress Ingrid Bergman. The creative profession was embedded in her DNA, and the world of cinema has haunted her since childhood.



At the age of 19, the girl moved to New York, where she entered Finch College. For some time she worked as a translator on television, but acting literally "followed her on the heels", and already in 1976 she made her debut in a big movie - Isabella, along with her mother, starred in the film "A Matter of Time".

Very quickly, just three years later, the girl got her first big leading role in the film "Glade". After a successful debut in Italian cinema, Isabella starred in the American film "White Nights", but her real success came after filming "Blue Velvet" by David Lynch.



In parallel with her acting career, Isabella got her first recognition in the modeling business. At the age of 28 (which seemed too late by model standards), the famous photographer Bruce Weber shot her for British Vogue.

The start in a modeling career for Rossellini was no less successful than in acting. This was followed by filming for the American edition of the same eminent magazine, and then an advertising contract, for an unimaginable two million dollars a year at that time, with the cosmetic brand Lancome.



It would seem that Isabella succeeds in everything that she would not undertake, and all her attempts are doomed in advance to success. But the so-called "luck", like everything in this life, cannot last forever, and after more than ten years of fruitful cooperation, Lancome informed Rossellini about the termination of the contract, and the reason for this was the age of the actress, who at that time was already over 40 ...

Now this story seems simply unthinkable, and representatives of the brand would immediately be sued for such a decision, but then, unfortunately, it was in the order of things, and Isabella Rossellini, perhaps, can be called one of the first who began to fight the notorious ageism.



After the termination of the advertising contract, Isabella did not become depressed and did not remain idle. She continued to act, began writing memoirs and even raised chickens on her own farm. But, as Rossellini herself admitted, in her heart she always wanted to return to modeling, and as it turned out, her dream was absolutely feasible, she just had to wait (by the way, she had to wait about 25 years).

Times have not just changed, but literally turned upside down, and model business these changes are particularly acute.In 2016 (when the models at the age were not fired by anyone, on the contrary, absolutely everyone tried to get them), representatives of Lancome called Isabella and offered to become the face of their cosmetic brand again. Rossellini agreed, and explained this by the fact that now Lancome is no longer the same as they were more than 20 years ago. Thus, she broke another template and stereotype, and showed that everything is possible and it is never too late to return to the modeling business.