Isabella Rossellini

Actress, model and farmer

“I’ve never done the Pirelli Calendar, so I was waiting… and finally they asked!”

Isabella Rossellini has spent nearly half a century in front of the camera, posing for photographic greats from Richard Avedon to Helmut Newton, as well as acting in films by legendary directors such as David Lynch. The Italian/American star had, however, never appeared in the Pirelli Calendar, so she was delighted to get a call-up for the 2026 edition. Photographer Sølve Sundsbø, whom Rossellini had long admired but never worked with, chose ‘nature’ as the theme for her shoot, surrounding her with flowers…

“I felt like Mae West. Around me there were six very young, handsome boys holding the flowers, creating this illusion of being in nature. In fact, it was very artificial, but the result looks very natural, as if I was in a garden peeking through some flowers”

Today, nature is a big part of Rossellini’s life. In 2013, she founded a 28-acre farm in Long Island, New York, where she grows vegetables, keeps chickens, ducks, sheep and goats and produces eggs, wool and honey. It reminds her of Italy, she says, where the connection between food and agriculture is closer, recreating “this direct contact you have with the food you eat, with the flowers you have at home”.

“I prefer the countryside to the city. I find cities fascinating because there are museums and lectures and you run into many friends, but they’re also chaotic and I find myself, instead of doing what I want, responding to the solicitation, so then you don’t really do what you want to do. I feel like I’m responding instead of being”

Farm life is a far cry from Rossellini’s childhood in Rome. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian neorealist director Roberto Rossellini, she first found fame through modelling, becoming the face of Lancôme in 1982. On screen, her film career took off with her role in Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986). Throughout her life, Rossellini has relished interpreting the visions of the photographers and directors she works with – “If their mind is fascinating and they’re talented people, it's a fantastic afternoon or an hour or a month that you spend with them” – and likens modelling to acting without words.

“The illusion is that words convey emotion, but they don’t. What conveys emotion is the tone. I can say, ‘Hello, how are you?’ and make it sound hostile. I can say, ‘Hello, how are you?’ and be warm. It’s not the words but the emotion that gives meaning, so when you model, it’s still acting; you recall a feeling. And the more you do it, the simpler it becomes, the faster it becomes”

At the age of 43, Rossellini’s contract with Lancôme was cancelled. She was told she was too old. She found herself at a crossroads, a single mother with two children and little work.

“It’s not that I didn’t get depressed, I got depressed. But then I went back to university and got my master’s degree in the science of animal behaviour and conservation and opened a farm. So that was a very happy moment because life is full of interesting things and if one goes away, you can find another one”

These days, the projects are back. Twenty years on, Lancôme did an about turn and invited her to model for them again. And in the past few years, she’s won acclaim for performances in several films including 2024’s Conclave, for which she was nominated for an Oscar, and has more lined up. She is also enjoying the lightness that comes with life’s later years.

“You hear all your life, ‘Oh, you’re going to get old, you’re going to get a disease, nobody wants to see you.’ What they don’t tell you is that you acquire a certain freedom. There are fewer responsibilities and more and more you can do what you like. For me, it was curiosity. I work because I’m curious about work and I enjoy working and I also enjoy making money, but I don’t have to, and that’s the great freedom”