Sofia Carmina Coppola was born May 14, 1971, in New York City, New York. The daughter of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, she entered the family business as an infant when she was called upon to appear in a pivotal scene in The Godfather. Her father later gave her token roles in a number of his hit films, including The Godfather: Part II, The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, and Peggy Sue Got Married. “My father just wanted to have his version of home movies,'' she explains.
sofia coppola stars in the godfather: part III
Sofia Coppola went from being a background performer to the star attraction in 1989 when her father cast her in the lead role in The Godfather: Part III. Having to carry a film for the first time in her career was a huge transition for the recent high school grad, and she struggled to live up to the level of excellence established in the first two films of the The Godfather trilogy. ''The critics tore me apart,'' she says. Luckily their negativity didn’t get her down. “Because I didn't want to be an actress, it didn't traumatize me,” she says. “It hurt me to be attacked by the press... but the scars were not permanent. It was painful, but it wasn't devastating."
sofia coppola tries to find herself
The negative press convinced Sofia Coppola to take her life in a different direction, and she briefly attended the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California, before dropping out to pursue a modeling career. She and her childhood friend, Stephanie Hayman, also began running their own cutting edge clothing label named Milk Fed. “I spent most of my 20s worrying about what it was I wanted to do and I tried many things,” she says. “I wanted to do something creative, but I didn't know what it would be.”
sofia coppola directs the virgin suicides
Sofia Coppola finally found her calling in 1998 when she was given the novel, The Virgin Suicides, by her close friend and Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore. “I loved how the book talked about something gone, whether it's an era or a person or innocence,” she says. In fact, Coppola loved it so much that she immediately began working on a film treatment even before she had secured the rights. Her gamble paid off, and one year later, the film made its big screen debut in selected cities across the U.S. Starring Josh Hartnett, Kirsten Dunst and James Woods, The Virgin Suicides became a critical darling among the highbrow set who perceived the film as being a generational statement about suburban life and sexual awakening. “After I saw the entire movie for the first time, I felt like I [had] my own voice outside such a loud family,” Coppola says. “That [was] a very big deal for me.”
sofia coppola wins an oscar for lost in translation
Sofia Coppola took several years off in between projects before returning in 2003 with Lost in Translation, a deliciously sparse film about an aging movie star who befriends a neglected newlywed during a trip to Tokyo. Starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, the critically acclaimed film raked in more than $106 million at the box office despite having a paltry budget of $4 million. It also earned Coppola her first Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay.
sofia coppola writes and directs marie antoinette
Sofia Coppola returned to the big screen again in 2006 with Marie Antoinette, a surprisingly hip biopic about France's iconic but ill-fated queen, complete with a rockin’ soundtrack featuring The Strokes and The Cure. Although reviews for the film were somewhat uneven, the lavish movie did manage to capture an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Costume Design. It also helped establish Coppola as one of American’s most accomplished female auteurs.
sofia coppola preps somewhere
Up next for Sofia Coppola is Somewhere, a comedy about a Hollywood actor who is forced to re-examine his life when his 11-year-old daughter surprises him with a visit. The film, which she is also writing, directing and producing, is scheduled to hit theaters everywhere in 2010.