Isabella Rossellini to Receive EFA Lifetime Achievement Award

Isabella Rossellini will be honoured during the upcoming European Film Awards with a lifetime achievement award celebrating her body of work as an actor and filmmaker.

The Italian model and movie star, who is the daughter of Swedish actor Ingrid Bergman and Italian director Roberto Rossellini, made her acting debut in 1979 in the Taviani brothers’ film “Il Prato” before breaking out internationally in David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” in 1986, followed by prominent roles in films such as Taylor Hackford’s “White Nights,” Robert Zemeckis’s “Death Becomes Her,” and Peter Weir’s “Fearless,” to name a few.

Rossellini, who is 72, has more recently resurfaced as standout character actress, with meaty parts in Alice Rohrwacher “La Chimera,” alongside Josh O’ Connor, “Spaceman” with Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan, and Edward Berger’s soon-to-be-released “Conclave” in which she plays a scene-stealing nun.

A longtime resident of Long Island, where she lives on a farm, Rossellini has a master’s degree in animal behaviour and conservation from Hunter College in New York City which served her well when she  stepped behind the camera herself for “Green Porno,” “Seduce Me,” and “Mammas,” a series of funny shorts exploring the sex lives of animals. She has also toured in over 50 cities on three different continents with her theatrical monologues on the links between humans and animals.

Announcing the award, the European Film Academy said the honor “serves as a reminder of the depth and breadth of talent that continues to shape the landscape of world cinema.”

The 37th European Film Awards, Europe’s equivalent of the Oscars, will take place in Lucerne, Switzerland, on December 7.