The Coppola Family: All About the Film Dynasty Including Sofia Coppola and Nicolas Cage

The Coppola family has a long legacy of filmmaking — including legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, his sister Talia Shire, his three children Gian-Carlo, Roman and Sofia Coppola, granddaughter Gia Coppola and nephews Nicolas Cage and Jason Schwartzman.

Francis is widely hailed as one of the greatest movie directors of the last century, directing iconic films ranging from The Godfather franchise to The Outsiders. He has won several Academy Awards, three Golden Globes and two Palme d’Or awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

His children all followed in his footsteps, cultivating careers in film. Francis' eldest son Gian-Carlo died in 1986 at age 22 but had already amassed some film credits — Gian-Carlo's daughter Gia has also become a filmmaker. Roman is a director and owner of the production company his father started, American Zoetrope. Sofia has written and directed movies like Marie Antoinette, Lost in Translation and Priscilla, a 2023 Elvis Presley biopic based on Priscilla Presley’s memoir Elvis and Me.

There are even more film stars in the Coppola family: actors Nicolas and Jason are both Francis’ nephews. Nicolas has won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe, having starred in movies like Moonstruck, Leaving Las Vegas, the National Treasure franchise and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Jason has appeared in films like Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Francis’ sister, Talia Shire, rose to fame as Adrian Balboa in the Rocky movies and as Connie Corleone in The Godfather trilogy. Her sons are Jason, actor and musician Robert Schwartzman and screenwriter Matthew Shire.

Here's everything to know about the Coppola family.

Francis Ford Coppola

Francis was born on April 7, 1939, to parents Italia and Carmine Coppola.

His father, Carmine, was an award-winning composer and musician who eventually contributed music to many of Francis’ films, including The Godfather trilogy. Carmine won an Oscar for Part II and was nominated for Part III. Italia was a lyricist who collaborated with her husband on many songs; she also appeared as an extra in Francis’ films and published a cookbook. Francis has an older brother, author and academic August Coppola, and a younger sister, actor Talia.

Francis’ first major studio release, You’re a Big Boy Now (1966), was originally a film school project that got picked up by Warner Bros. The film earned supporting actress Geraldine Page Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Four years later, in 1970, Francis won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the war movie Patton.

He released The Godfather in 1972, followed by its sequels, The Godfather Part II in 1974 and The Godfather Part III in 1990. Francis also directed cinematic mainstays like Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders and Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He even gave his nephew Nicolas one of his earliest roles in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986).

Currently, Francis is working on Megalopolis, which stars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LaBeouf, nephew Jason Schwartzman and sister Talia Shire.

In his personal life, Francis wed writer and documentarian Eleanor Neil in 1963. They have three children: Gian-Carlo, Roman and Sofia.

Talia Shire

Francis’ sister, Talia Shire (née Coppola), was born on April 25, 1946. She appeared in movies as early as 1968, but she truly rose to fame with her portrayals of Connie Corleone in The Godfather and Adrian Balboa in the Rocky movies. Both roles earned her Oscar nods: She was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Godfather Part II in 1974 and Best Actress for Rocky in 1976.

Talia was married to composer David Shire from 1970 to 1980, and they had a son, screenwriter and producer Matthew Shire, in 1975. She married her second husband, producer Jack Schwartzman, in 1980. The couple welcomed two sons — Jason and Robert — before Jack died of cancer in 1994.

Jason and Robert are both actors and musicians. Robert is known for The Virgin Suicides (1999), The Princess Diaries (2001) and as the frontman of the band Rooney.

Sofia Coppola

Sofia Coppola, Francis’ youngest child, has become one of the most prominent film directors of her generation.

Sofia made her Hollywood debut as an infant in The Godfather and went on to have small roles in more of her father’s movies like The Outsiders, Peggy Sue Got Married and Rumble Fish.

In The Godfather Part III, Sofia portrayed Michael Corleone’s daughter, Mary Corleone. Her performance wasn’t well received, but as she told The New York Times in 2020, the negativity didn’t discourage her moviemaking aspirations. "It was embarrassing to be thrown out to the public in that kind of way," she said. "But it wasn’t my dream to be an actress, so I wasn’t crushed."

Sofia made her feature directorial debut in 1999 with The Virgin Suicides, starring Kirsten Dunst and Kathleen Turner. Her next project, Lost in Translation with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, premiered in 2003. It was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards and made Sofia an Oscar winner for Best Original Screenplay. She was the third-ever woman to be nominated for Best Director.

Her follow-up was the 2006 biopic Marie Antoinette, in which she cast her cousin Jason as Louis XVI opposite Dunst’s Marie. Sofia has since directed The Bling Ring, On the Rocks and the 2023 Elvis Presley biopic Priscilla.

Sofia was married to director Spike Jonze from 1999 to 2003 and then briefly dated director Quentin Tarantino until beginning a relationship with the band Phoenix’s frontman Thomas Mars in 2006. Sofia and Mars wed in 2011 at her family’s estate in Italy after having two daughters: Romy Mars, born Nov. 28, 2006, and Cosima Mars, born May 18, 2010.

In May 2024, Francis brought Sofia's teenage daughter, Romy, to the Cannes premiere of his film Megalopolis. The pair walked the red carpet together before she helped him to his seat inside the theater.

Roman Coppola

Francis’ second son, Roman Coppola, was born on April 22, 1965. He’s a director and screenwriter who got his start working on his father’s films like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Jack and The Rainmaker. He also collaborated with his sister Sofia on Marie Antoinette and The Virgin Suicides and with director Wes Anderson on the screenplays for The Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, Isle of Dogs and The French Dispatch.

Roman has directed two feature films, CQ (2001) and A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charles Swan III (2012). As a music video director, Roman has worked with The Strokes, Daft Punk, Green Day and his brother-in-law’s band Phoenix, among many others.

In 2007, he became co-owner of American Zoetrope, the production company his father founded with George Lucas.

He’s married to musician and writer Jennifer Furches. According to The New Yorker, they have three children: Pascal, Marcello and Alessandro.

Nicolas Cage

The son of August Coppola and Joy Vogelsang, Nicolas Cage was born on Jan. 7, 1964, and began acting when he was 18 with a minor role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

He went on to star in films like National Treasure, Face/Off, Moonstruck and Raising Arizona. Nicolas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Adaptation and won Best Actor for Leaving Las Vegas in 1996. In the 2022 film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Cage played a version of himself as a struggling actor opposite Pedro Pascal.

The actor has been married five times and has three children. Nicolas married actor Patricia Arquette in 1995 after meeting her in 1987 and proposing to her on the spot. They divorced in 2001. He married Lisa Marie Presley in 2002 but filed for divorce three months later. Nicolas met his third wife, Alice Kim, in 2004 when she was working at a Los Angeles restaurant, and the pair married two months later. They welcomed their son Kal-El in 2005 and divorced in 2016. In 2019, he married makeup artist Erika Koike, but Nicolas filed for divorce four days later, claiming that Koike had withheld important information, including about other romantic partners.

Nicolas married wife Riko Shibata in Las Vegas in 2021. “I'm really happily married," Cage told the Los Angeles Times the next year. "I know five is a lot, but I think I got it right this time." They welcomed daughter August Francesca in 2022.

He also has a son, Weston, born in 1990 to his then-girlfriend Christina Fulton. Weston has since made Nicolas a grandfather. In 2015, the actor told PEOPLE he loved “every second” of this new role in his family.

Jason Schwartzman

The son of Talia and Jack Schwartzman, Jason Schwartzman was born on June 26, 1980. He made his film debut in Wes Anderson’s 2008 film Rushmore and has collaborated with Anderson on seven more films, including The Darjeeling Limited, which he co-wrote with Anderson and his cousin Roman. Most recently, Jason appeared in Anderson’s Asteroid City with Johansson and Tom Hanks.

Jason worked with his cousin Sofia on Marie Antoinette and with his brother Matthew on the Amazon Prime Video series Mozart in the Jungle. He wrote, directed and produced episodes of the show, while Matthew was an executive story editor and screenwriter.

In addition to acting, writing and directing, he is also a musician. He was a member of the band Phantom Planet and has released music under his solo project Coconut Records.

Jason is married to clothing designer Brady Cunningham. They have two daughters: Marlowe Rivers and Una.

Gia Coppola

When Gian-Carlo Coppola died in 1986, his fiancée Jacqui Getty (born Jacqui de la Fontaine) was pregnant with their daughter, Gian-Carla “Gia” Coppola. Gia was born on Jan. 1, 1987.

Before Gia became involved in the family business, Francis’ 1996 film Jack was dedicated to her. As a teenager, she worked on the sets of her aunt Sofia’s Somewhere and her grandfather’s Twixt. She got her solo start directing short films and has gone on to direct two feature films. Palo Alto (2013) starred Emma Roberts and James Franco and was based on Franco’s short story collection of the same name. In 2020, she premiered Mainstream, starring Maya Hawke and Andrew Garfield.

Following the family tradition, Gia has cast family members in her movies. Her aunt Talia appeared in Palo Alto, and her cousin Jason appeared in Mainstream.