But I don’t really see myself as a role model. I’m not a dictator, or someone who wants to be adored! – Isabella Rossellini
But my mother loved The Elephant Man, and my father gave David Lynch a scholarship to study in Rome. – Isabella Rossellini
I live in New York, and the only live animals you see are cockroaches, rats and pigeons, which I admire immensely. When I see an animal that thrives in the garbage, I feel relief; in our urban environment, other animals are dying out. – Isabella Rossellini
Animals are everywhere. Some are more romantic, like tigers and elephants and chimpanzees, and some are less romantic, like earthworms, but they are just as interesting. – Isabella Rossellini
Women who stay true to themselves are always more interesting and beautiful to me: women like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O’Keeffe and Anna Magnani – women who have style, chic, allure and elegance. They didn’t submit to any standard of beauty – they defined it. – Isabella Rossellini
I don’t look at ‘Vogue’ to ask what I’m going to wear. Because it’s something on a body too young. I have to look at the social pages to see women my age. To see how Amanda Burden is dressed and say, ‘Hmmm. Maybe I should try that.’ – Isabella Rossellini
I became an actress way into my 30s because I thought that I had to find my own way, and that’s why I worked so much in modelling, until I realised that the differences between acting and modelling weren’t that great. I always say that modelling is a little bit like being a silent actress. – Isabella Rossellini
I loved modeling. I absolutely loved it. I was so happy to get the cover of ‘Vogue’ – 23 times. I keep each copy. I made more money as a model than as an actress or as a filmmaker. In monetary terms, beauty pays more than anything. – Isabella Rossellini
It’s nice to go and be a guest on a television sitcom. It pays well; it’s easy because generally it’s a supporting role, so you go, you do two or three things, you’re in touch with people there. They’re widely popular, so they’re seen by many people. – Isabella Rossellini
Every time you work, it’s a new film, and generally when you work with auteurs, people that write and direct their films, there’s always an originality. – Isabella Rossellini
I have the most fun writing and directing. And I always choose myself as the lead actor. – Isabella Rossellini
As I grew older, I worked less as an actor and as a model, and I went back to what I had tried to do when I was young but wasn’t really available. I’m so glad now to be in my sixties and to be able to go back to school. – Isabella Rossellini
To be an icon is a big job – it’s beyond acting. And sometimes it pays, and sometimes it doesn’t. – Isabella Rossellini
When I was young, it was difficult to imagine entering a world where my parents succeeded so much and I could have risked failing. It would have felt much harder. – Isabella Rossellini
If we are completely honest with ourselves, everyone has a dark side to their personalities. – Isabella Rossellini
When I grew up in Italy in the 1950s, it was still very agricultural. Food was very important; produce was very important. Everyone made their own olive oil. It took me a long time after I moved here to understand that Americans are much further away from their food. – Isabella Rossellini
My films are comical films. They are made to laugh at. They are comical – and scientifically correct. – Isabella Rossellini
Food is a big part of my culture, so everyone knows how to cook. When I came to America and asked a babysitter to softboil an egg for my son and she didn’t know how, I was shocked. – Isabella Rossellini
My father’s films are often very slow for the modern audiences, which are used to a lot of editing. It’s the audience that watches the film instead of the director dictating the reaction he wants from you. – Isabella Rossellini
Although Dorothy in Blue Velvet was humiliated and hurt by men, basically I could react to how she felt. – Isabella Rossellini
I’ve always been interested in animal behavior, and I keep reading about it because it’s so surprising all the time – so many things are happening around us that we neglect to look at. Part of the passion I have for biology is based on this wonderment. – Isabella Rossellini
I didn’t want to become an actress because the competition with my mother would have been to much to live up to. – Isabella Rossellini
I graduated from Academy of Fashion and Costume Design in Rome. At first, I thought I was going to be a costume designer for films, and then I ended up working in fashion – not as a designer, but mostly as a model. – Isabella Rossellini
I don’t wear much makeup, except during work. I felt lucky to be chosen to be a model. I used to joke, ‘The next best thing to winning the lottery is having a beauty contract.’ – Isabella Rossellini
There is often a great disparity between a director’s personal style and the movies he makes. – Isabella Rossellini