Actors - Sofia Coppola

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	Actors - Sofia Coppola

Sofia Carmina Coppola (born May 14, 1971 in New York City) is the first American female to be nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Director category and is an Academy Award winning writer. She is the daughter of Italian American director Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola, who is of Irish and English descent. She was married to director Spike Jonze on June 26, 1999 but on December 5, 2003 amid rumors of her infidelity during long stints of living on her own in New York City, Coppola filed for divorce citing "irreconcilable differences". She is niece to Oscar-nominated actress Talia Shire and cousin to Nicolas Cage, Jason Schwartzman and Robert Schwartzman.

She attended Mills College and CalArts.

Career

Coppola's career in film began early, as she appeared as an infant or a child extra in several of her father's films. The best known of these roles is her appearance in The Godfather
as the baby boy in the christening scene.

Anna
(1987) performed that was not associated with her father. However, her best known role is Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III
(1990), a role into which she was cast at the last minute after Winona Ryder fell ill. This heavily criticized performance effectively ended her acting career, except for an appearance in the independent film Inside Monkey Zetterland
(1992), and a bit part in The Phantom Menace (1999).

Coppola is now better known as a successful film director. She has directed three films: Lick the Star
(1996) The Virgin Suicides (1999) and Lost in Translation (2003). The latter 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 only the third woman (and the first American woman) to receive an Oscar nomination for film direction. She lost to Peter Jackson (director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy).

Coppola's forthcoming film is a biopic of Marie Antoinette adapted from the biography by British historian Lady Antonia Fraser. Kirsten Dunst is set to play the lead role, and Coppola has controversially cast her cousin Jason Schwartzman as Marie-Antoinette's husband, King Louis XVI.

Criticism

The most common criticism of Coppola is that her career has only been possible due to the nepotism of her father. In addition to her much-derided performance in the final Godfather film, some critics have called her directorial skills over-rated, and argue that without her father's connections she would never have achieved her current fame. Her supporters respond that the general critical acclaim that greeted her two major films indicates she has talent regardless of how the films were produced.

Filmography

Director

Marie-Antoinette
(2006)
Lost in Translation (2003)
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Lick the Star
(1998, short)

Actress

CQ
(2001)
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
The Godfather: Part III (1990)
Peggy Sue Got Married
(1986)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
The Godfather
(1972)

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