Isabella Rossellini

Renowned for her heritage - she was the daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini - and her modeling career, Isabella Rossellini segued into acting in the mid-1980s, which yielded memorable performances in films and television projects like "Blue Velvet" (1987), "Wild at Heart" (1990) and "Big Night" (1996). She made her debut opposite her mother in 1976's "A Matter of Time," but did not land a significant role until David Lynch cast her in his groundbreaking "Blue Velvet." Her heartbreaking performance, simultaneously pitiable and alluring, led to similar roles in films like "Death Becomes Her" (1992), but she displayed a knack for comedy in "The Imposters" (1998) and grittier fare in "Crime of the Century" (HBO, 1996), among many others. An author, activist and the head of her own cosmetics label, she also enjoyed an intriguing side career as a filmmaker with "My Dad is 100 Years Old" (2006), which paid tribute to her father, and the short film series "Green Porno" (2008). For three decades, she remained an emblem of class and free-spiritedness in world cinema, as well as reminding cinema lovers of her mother, with a similar ethereal beauty.