Isabella Rossellini, former supermodel, stages play about sex lives of animals

Internationally renowned supermodel and actress Isabella Rossellini is bringing her one-woman show Green Porno to Vancouver's PuSh festival, educating audiences about the sex lives of animals.

"For basically just being a pet lover, I became more interested in biology and zoology and conservation, and so lately I went back to university to study ethology, which is animal behaviour in particular," Rossellini told The Early Edition's Rick Cluff.

The focus of her one-woman show is reproduction, Rossellini said.

"It's very comical the way they reproduce. Most of the time people don't think about it, and they think it must be like us — mom and dad and baby. But not at all — sometimes the babies kill each other, sometimes they kill and eat the parents, sometimes the parents eat the babies," she said.

The show has led to a new career for Rossellini who is now in her 60s.

​"It was a wonderful way to semi-retire from being an actress and a model. I'm very grateful to my curiosity and the wish to go back to university, otherwise I would just home waiting for somebody to call me and offer me a job," she said.

"I opened up an entire new career for me, which was a surprise for me. I didn't expect it."

Rossellini is in Vancouver on April 25 to perform Green Porno, co-presented by the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and the Italian Cultural Centre at the Playhouse.

To hear the full interview with Isabella Rossellini, listen to the audio labelled: Isabella Rossellini stars in one woman show about animal sex.