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Sofia Coppola

Sofia Carmina Coppola (born May 14, 1971) is an American film director, actress, producer and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. She is the third female director, and only American woman, to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing, the other two being Lina Wertmüller and Jane Campion.

Biography

Early life

Coppola was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of set decorator/artist Eleanor (née Neil) and director Francis Ford Coppola (Godfather and Apocalypse Now), granddaughter of the late composer Carmine Coppola, sister of Roman Coppola and the late Gian-Carlo Coppola, niece of Talia Shire and a cousin of Nicolas Cage, Jason Schwartzman and Robert Carmine. She attended Mills College and the California Institute of the Arts, and interned with Chanel when she was 15. After graduating, Coppola started a clothing line called Milkfed that is sold exclusively in Japan.

Career

Coppola began her career as an infant making several background appearances in her father's films. The most well-known of these early roles is her appearance in The Godfather as the baby boy in the christening scene. She is also featured in her father's film The Outsiders in a scene where Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, and Ralph Macchio are eating at a Dairy Queen before the famous burning church scene.

Frankenweenie (1984) was the first film she performed in that was not associated with her father. However, it often goes unnoticed due to her stage-name "Domino" which she adopted at the time because she thought it was glamorous, while still being quite ridiculous.

In 1989, a short film entitled Life Without Zoe was released as part of a 3-part anthology film, New York Stories. It was written by Sofia Coppola and her father, Francis Ford Coppola (who also directed the film).

Role in The Godfather Part III

Her best known role is Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III (1990), a role for which she was cast at the last minute after Winona Ryder fell ill. This heavily criticized performance (for which she received the award of "Worst New Star" in the 1990 Golden Raspberry Awards) practically ended her acting career, save for appearances in the independent film Inside Monkey Zetterland (1992) and in the background of films by her friends and family. In 1999, she appeared as Saché in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999). She has since been quoted as saying she wasn't hurt by the criticism from her role in The Godfather Part III because she never especially wanted an acting career.

Music video appearances

She can also be seen in several music videos from the 1990s, appearing briefly in Madonna's video for "Deeper and Deeper" in 1992 and went on to play a gymnast in the 1997 video for "Elektrobank" by the Chemical Brothers, which was directed by her ex-husband Spike Jonze.

Directing career

Coppola is now better known as a successful film director. Her first three films were Lick the Star (1998), The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Lost in Translation (2003). Lost in Translation won the Academy Award for original screenplay and three Golden Globe Awards including Best Picture. With her Oscar nomination for Best Director (for Lost in Translation), Coppola became the third female director, and only American woman (so far), to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing. Her win for best original screenplay made her a third-generation Oscar winner. In 2004, Coppola was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Coppola's most recent film is the biopic Marie Antoinette, adapted from the biography by British historian Lady Antonia Fraser. Kirsten Dunst plays the title character who marries King Louis XVI, played by Jason Schwartzman, Coppola's cousin. It débuted at the Cannes Film Festival where, despite boos in the audience, it received a standing ovation. Critics were divided.

Role as a Pop Culture Icon

Coppola has often been lauded as a pop culture icon within the indie music/film communities, in Paris and Tokyo especially. Her fashion sense was always apparent, and as a child she stayed in the wardrobe department of her father's films. Later, in high school, she would intern with Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel. In 2002, fashion designer Marc Jacobs handpicked the actress/director to be the face of his house's fragrance. The campaign involved photographs of the Academy Award winner shot by photographer Juergen Teller in his chic signature grainy style.

In the mid-1990s, she and best friend Zoe Cassavetes helmed the short-lived series Hi Octane on Comedy Central. The show was a virtual who's-who of underground music, with frequent guests like Donovan Leitch, Mike Watt, Thurston Moore, Beck, and model-actress Jenny Shimizu (whose contribution to the show was educating viewers on the proper way to repair a transmission on a vehicle). Coppola has distinct tastes in indie music and style, which came together in a culturally controversial way in her soundtrack choices for Marie Antoinette.

1990s

The '90s proved to be an extremely productive time in Coppola's life. At the beginning of the decade, she was often featured in girl-centric magazines like Seventeen and YM. In 1998, she co-founded the clothing line Milkfed in Japan with friend Stephanie Hayman in cooperation with Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. The end of the decade marked her directorial debut.

Personal life

Coppola married director Spike Jonze in 1999 after being friends for nearly ten years; they were divorced in 2003. In the past, Sofia has been romantically linked to Keanu Reeves, Red Hot Chili Peppers singer Anthony Kiedis, and director Quentin Tarantino.

In Paris, France on Tuesday, 28 November 2006, Coppola gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Romy, who is named in honor of her brother Roman. The child's father is Thomas Mars, of the French rock band Phoenix, whom she met during the development of the Virgin Suicides soundtrack. Mars is the singer of the song Playground Love under the pseudonym Gordon Tracks. Mars made a cameo appearance with his band in Coppola's 2006 film Marie Antoinette in which the band plays for the queen in the Petit Trianon.

Filmography

Director

Films

Year	Film	Oscars		BAFTA		Golden Globe
Year	Film	Nominations	Wins	Nominations	Wins	Nominations	Wins
1996	'Bed,Bath and Beyond'
1998	Lick the Star
1999	The Virgin Suicides
2003	Lost in Translation	4	1	8	3	5	3
2006	Marie Antoinette	1	1	3

Music videos

Shine by Walt Mink (1993)
This Here Giraffe by The Flaming Lips (1996)
Playground Love by Air (2000)
City Girl by Kevin Shields (2003)
I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself by The White Stripes (2003)

Actress

Films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1972	The Godfather	Michael Francis Rizzi	(uncredited)
1974	The Godfather: Part II	Child on steamship	(uncredited)
1983	The Outsiders	Little Girl	Credited as 'Domino'
1983	Rumble Fish	Donna
1984	Frankenweenie	Anne Chambers
1984	The Cotton Club	Child in Street
1986	Peggy Sue Got Married	Nancy Kelcher
1987	Anna	Noodle
1990	The Godfather: Part III	Mary Corleone
1992	Inside Monkey Zetterland	Cindy
1999	Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace	Saché
2001	CQ	Enzo's Mistress