Coppola Family Guide: From Sofia Coppola to Nicolas Cage (2025)

The Coppola family has long been Hollywood royalty — and their generation-spanning talent means that’s not likely to change soon.The famous lineage began with Carmine Coppola, who was an orchestra conductor and Oscar-winning film composer. Carmine and his wife, Italia Pennino, shared three children: August Floyd Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola and Talia Shire.All three siblings went on to welcome their own famous kids. August, who died in 2009, was the father of three children, including actor Nicolas Cage. Francis and wife Eleanor Neil welcomed Gian-Carlo, Roman and Sofia Coppola in 1963, 1965 and 1971, respectively. Shire and late husband Jack Schwartzman shared sons Jason and Robert Schwartzman.Across the board, the brood has become one of the most decorated families in the film industry. Carmine and Italia’s descendants have received a total of 23 Academy Award nominations and have won a total of nine, including best picture, best director, best actor, best original screenplay, best adapted screenplay and best original score.Keep scrolling to learn more about the Coppola family:

Francis is widely hailed as one of the greatest film directors of all time. He’s helmed several Oscar-nominated films, including The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders, Bram Stoker's Dracula and more. While working on The Godfather, Francis enlisted the help of his parents to create the score for the film. He scored his first Academy Award in 1970 for best original screenplay for Patton. He also won several Oscars for The Godfather and The Godfather Part II.

Francis married Neil in 1963, and the pair share sons Gian-Carlo and Roman and daughter Sofia. Gian-Carlo died in a boating accident in 1986 at age 22.

Shire, an actress, is best known for her roles as Connie Corleone in The Godfather trilogy and Adrian Balboa in the Rocky franchise. Shire received Oscar nominations for her work in both projects.

Talia was married to composer David Shire from 1970 to 1980. They welcomed a son, screenwriter and producer Matthew Shire, in 1975, before their split. Talia moved on with Jack and expanded their family with sons Jason and Robert before Jack died of cancer in 1994 at age 61.

Francis’ daughter followed in her dad’s footsteps, becoming a prominent director and screenwriter. Before finding her passion behind the camera, Sofia had small roles in her father’s films, making her onscreen debut in The Godfather before appearing in The Outsiders, Peggy Sue Got Married and Rumble Fish.

In 1999, Sofia made her directorial debut with The Virgin Suicides. A few years later, Sofia helmed Lost in Translation, which earned her Oscar nominations for best director and best picture. She ultimately took home the award for best original screenplay. Sofia has also directed Marie Antoinette, The Bling Ring, Priscilla and more.

Sofia was previously married to director Spike Jonze from 1999 to 2003. She found love again with Phoenix frontman Thomas Mars. The couple welcomed daughters Romy and Cosima in 2006 and 2010, respectively.

Like his father and sister, Roman also became a director. Throughout his career, he’s worked alongside Francis and Sofia on their projects. On his own, Roman directed 2001’s CQ and 2012’s A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III. He has also directed music videos for The Strokes, Daft Punk, Green Day and Phoenix. In 2007, Roman became president of his dad and George Lucas’ film production company, American Zoetrope.

Roman is married to voice actress Jennifer Furches, with whom he shares three children.

Cage is the youngest son of August. He made his film debut in 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High and went on to star in projects including National Treasure, Face/Off, Moonstruck and Raising Arizona. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his work in 2002’s Adaptation and won best actor for 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas.

As Cage began to make a name for himself in Hollywood, he decided not to use his family’s last name professionally.

“[I wanted to show] that I had something, and it wasn’t simply because I was born into a Coppola family,” he told GQ of his name change in March 2022. “It was because I thought I had a unique way of feeling things and looking at things.”

Cage has been married five times and has three children. He was previously married to Patricia Arquette, Lisa Marie Presley, Alice Kim and Erika Koike. He shares son Weston with ex Christina Fulton, son Kal-El with Kim and daughter August Francesca with fifth wife Riko Shibata.

Talia’s eldest son made his film debut in Wes Anderson’s 2008 film, Rushmore. He’s since collaborated with Anderson several more times on films including The Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch and Asteroid City. Jason has also appeared in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Bored to Death and more. In addition to acting, Jason is also a musician. He was the drummer for the band Phantom Planet from 1994 to 2003.

Jason is married to designer Brady Cunningham. They share daughters Marlowe Rivers and Una.

Jason’s brother, who also goes by the name Robert Carmine, has also dabbled in acting. He made his film debut in 1999’s The Virgin Suicides but is best known for playing Michael Moscovitz in The Princess Diaries. He has also fronted the band Rooney since 1999. (The group made a cameo appearance on a 2004 episode of The O.C.)

Later in his career, Robert took up directing. He’s worked on projects including Dreamland, The Unicorn, The Argument, Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary and The Good Half. In 2013, he cowrote the score for his cousin Gia’s film Palo Alto.

Gia (born Gian-Carla) is the daughter of Jacqui Getty and the late Gian-Carlo, the latter of whom died while Jacqui was pregnant with Gia. Gia made her directorial debut in 2013 with the film Palo Alto (which had a score cowritten by her cousin Robert). Since then she’s worked on several other projects including directing music videos for Carly Rae Jepsen and the 2020 film Mainstream.

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