Sofia Coppola

In 1992, Sofia Coppola met her future husband, director Spike Jonze. The couple got married in 1999 following many years of dating. After a few years, they divorced in 2003.

After this, Coppola met musician Thomas Mars during a soundtrack recording of ‘The Virgin Suicides.’ Their first child, daughter Romy Croquet, was born in November 2006.

Coppola gave birth to their second child, daughter Cosima Croquet, in 2010. The same year, she, along with her partner and two daughters, moved from Paris to New York City.

Sofia Carmina Coppola was born on May 14, 1971 in New York City to director Francis Ford Coppola and his set decorator wife Eleanor Coppola. She is the sister of the filmmaker and entrepreneur Roman Coppola and the late film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola who lost his life in a speedboating accident in 1986.

Her mother is of British ancestry while her father is of Italian descent. Her cousins are the artistes Jason Schwartzman, Robert Schwartzman, Christopher Coppola, Nicolas Cage and Marc Coppola. She is the niece of actress Talia Shire, Jack Schwartzman, August Coppola and David Shire. Her grandparents were Italia Coppola and Carmine Coppola. Her great grandfather was the musician Francesco Pennino.

Sofia Coppola's acting career, marked by criticisms of nepotism, started when she was just an infant. She appeared in seven of her father's movies as a baby. She first appeared as the infant Michael Francis Rizzi in ‘The Godfather’ and later had roles in ‘The Godfather Part II’ as well as ‘The Godfather Part III’.

In the 1980s, Coppola acted in the films ‘The Outsiders’, ‘Rumble Fish’, ‘The Cotton Club’ and ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’, all of which were directed by her father. During this time, she also performed in Walt Disney’s short flick ‘Frankenweenie’.

She was raised in a farm in Rutherford, a rural area in Napa Valley of California. She attended St. Helena High School and graduated from there in 1989.

Sofia Coppola began modelling in the early 1990s and was often featured in magazines like ‘Seventeen’ and ‘YM.’ In the year 1992, she had a role in the independent flick ‘Inside Monkey Zetterland’.

In the mid-1990s, she, along with her best friend Zoe Cassavetes, started the Comedy Central series ‘Hi Octane.’ However, it was cancelled after four episodes.

Coppola also appeared in a number of music videos in the 1990s. These included Sonic Youth's "Mildred Pierce", The Black Crowes' "Sometimes Salvation", The Chemical Brothers' "Elektrobank" and Madonna's "Deeper and Deeper".

In the year 1998, she came up with her first short film ‘Lick the Star’ that went on to be played several times on the Independent Film Channel.

In 1999, she wrote and directed her breakthrough project ‘The Virgin Suicides’. Based on the 1993 best-selling novel of the same name by author Jeffrey Eugenides, this flick tells the story of the lives of five teenage sisters belonging to a middle-class suburb in the 1970s. Coppola also played Saché in the opera ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’ the same year.

In 2003, Sofia Coppola wrote and directed ‘Lost in Translation’. Often regarded as one of the best movies of the 2000s, this romantic comedy drama flick features Bill Murray as the aging actor Bob Harris who befriends a college graduate named Charlotte (played by Scarlett Johansson) in a Tokyo hotel. The movie made Coppola the third lady to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. It also fetched her three Golden Globe Awards.

The filmmaker also earned much fame for her movie ‘The Bling Ring’. Based on real life incidents, the movie centres on the “Bling Ring”—a group of California teenagers who burgled the houses of many celebrities over 2008 and 2009. The house used in the shooting of this movie belonged to Paris Hilton, who also had a cameo role in it. Other actors in the film included Emma Watson, Leslie Mann, and Claire Julien.

In 2017, Coppola’s film ‘The Beguiled’ was released. A remake of the 1971 eponymous Western flick, this film features Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning. The film premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, where the American filmmaker became the second lady as well as the first American one to win the Best Director award.