Isabella Fogliazza, known professionally as Isabella Ferrari, was born in Ponte Dell'Olio. She made her acting debut in 1982 with the film "Sapore di Mare" directed by Carlo Vanzina, and in 1983 in "Sapore di Mare 2". This marked the beginning of her career, which saw her participate in many cult comedies of the 80s, including "Appuntamento a Liverpool", "Chewingum", and "Il Ragazzo del Poni Express".
In 1989, she starred in the film "Willi Signori e Vengo da lontano" directed by Francesco Nuti, and in 1995, she worked on "Cronaca di un amore violato" directed by Giacomo Battiato, inspired by the book by Anna Maria Pellegrino "Diario di uno stupratore". The following year, she worked with Sergio Castellitto in "Hotel di Paura".
In 1997, she was engaged by a French production in Alexandre Arcady's film "K". An important period in her artistic career was represented by "Romanzo di un Giovane Povero" with Alberto Sordi and directed by Ettore Scola, for which she won the Coppa Volpi Award (Venice International Film Festival) for best supporting actress.
Throughout the years, she participated as a protagonist in the television series "Distretto di Polizia", where she played the police commissioner Giovanna Scalise, directed by her husband Renato De Maria and Antonello Grimaldi, and then the mini-series "Liberi di Giocare", beside Pierfrancesco Favino.
In 2005, she was the protagonist in the movie "Amatemi" by Renato de Maria and "Arrivederci Amore ciao" by Michele Soavi. She starred in the film "Vite Sospese" by Marco Turco, "Il Seme della Discordia" by Pappi Corsicato, "Saturno Contro" and "Un giorno Perfetto" by Ferzan Ozpetek, for which she won the Pasinetti Award for the best actress.
In 2006, she was in theaters with "Due Partite" by Cristina Comencini and "Il Catalogo" with Ennio Fantastichini, by Jean Claude Carriere and directed by Valerio Binasco. She participated in the show "Anestesia Totale" with Marco Travaglio and always with the latter, she went on stage in Italian theaters with "È Stato la Mafia". She had a cameo in the movie "To Rome with Love" by Woody Allen.
In 2010, she returned to television with the Italian-German miniseries "Nel Bianco" based on the novel by Ken Follett and in the tv-film "Storia di Laura" by Andrea Porporati.
In 2013, she was directed by Paolo Sorrentino in the Oscar-winning film "The Great Beauty". She also appeared in Antonio Morabito's movie "Il Venditore di Medicine" and in the following year, she was one of the protagonists in Renato de Maria's movie "La Vita Oscena", presented at the International Venice Film Festival in the Horizons category.
In 2017, she worked again with Ferzan Ozpetek in "Napoli Velata", and then appeared in "In Viaggio con Adele" by Alessandro Capitani and "Euphoria" by Valeria Golino.
From 2018-2020, she was in the Netflix series "Baby" directed by Andrea De Sica, Anna Negri and Letizia Lamartire. She also appeared in "Sotto I l Sole di Riccione" by Antonio Usbergo and Niccolò Celaia.
In 2022, she appeared in "La Mia Ombra è Tua" by Eugenio Cappuccio, "Sotto I l Sole di Amalfi" by Martina Pastori and Renato de Maria's movie "Rapiniamo I l Duce".
In 2023, she worked on the tv series "Alfonso" by Eros Puglielli.
