Meet Francis Ford Coppola's 3 Showbiz-Bound Children, Including One Who Died Tragically at 22 ...Saudi Arabia

Francis Ford Coppola has made some of America's most classic films, from Apocalypse Now and The Conversation, to one of the greatest film series ever made, The Godfather trilogy. He’s inarguably one of cinema's most influential directors, and over his career, he’s won a total of five Academy Awards, six Golden Globes and two Palme d'Or prizes from the Cannes Film Festival. Not too shabby!

Coppola's latest film is Megalopolis, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2024. This was a deeply personal passion project that he financed himself, using money earned from the Coppola wine business—he even sold off part of the winery to do so.

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In August 2025, Coppola was admitted to a hospital in Rome for a heart procedure. He reassured fans that he was OK. “Da Dada (what my kids call me) is fine, taking an opportunity while in Rome to do the update of my 30-year-old afib procedure with its inventor, a great Italian doctor — Dr. Andrea Natalie,” he said in an Instagram post.

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The extended Coppola family is pretty big, and the family tree reads like a Hollywood directory. It seems like just about every Coppola is involved in the film or entertainment industry in some way, and that includes Francis Ford Coppola's own children. They’ve all followed in dad's filmmaking footsteps.

Related: Francis Ford Coppola’s Net Worth Is Staggering, but What Is His Fancy Winery Really Worth?

Here's everything you need to know about Francis Ford Coppola's three children:

How many children does Francis Ford Coppola have?

Francis Ford Coppola has three children with his late wife Eleanor Neil, a documentary filmmaker who died in 2024 at age 87. 

The 85-year-old director has sons Gian-Carlo (who died in 1986 at age 22) and Roman (aged 59), as well as daughter Sofia (aged 53). Francis also has three grandchildren: Gia through his late son Gian-Carlo, and Romy and Cosima through his daughter Sofia. 

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All three kids grew up on movie sets and appeared in their dad's films as babies and children. They’ve been steeped in the industry their whole lives, so they naturally gravitated toward careers in entertainment, doing what they know best. 

Related: ‘The Godfather’ Turns 53! See Throwback Photos of the Cast Then and Now

Who are Francis Ford Coppola's children?

Let's meet the three Coppola siblings, each with their own unique path through the entertainment world.

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Gian-Carlo Coppola

Gian-Carlo seemed destined for a great career behind the camera. As a little kid, he had a tiny uncredited role in The Godfather.

Gian-Carlo was following in Francis's footsteps and learning the family business. He helped produce his dad's movies The Outsiders and Rumble Fish. 

But in 1986, when Gian-Carlo was just 22 years old, he died in a tragic boating accident. While riding in a speedboat, he was struck by a tow rope and killed. 

The loss was absolutely devastating for the Coppola family. But Gian-Carlo's filmmaking legacy lives on through his daughter, Gia Coppola. She’s directed films like Palo Alto and The Last Showgirl. 

Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Roman Coppola

Roman is Francis's middle child and he’s also involved in the film industry. Early on, he played a young Sonny Corleone in The Godfather Part II. Behind the camera, he’s worked as second unit director on several of his father's films including Bram Stoker's Dracula, Jack, and The Rainmaker. In 2001, he made his own directorial debut with the film CQ. Recently, Roman worked as second unit director with his father again, on the epic Megalopolis.

But Roman really found his niche when, like his cousin Jason Schwartzman, he started working closely with Wes Anderson. Roman has co-written several of Anderson’s films, including the screenplay for Moonrise Kingdom, which was nominated for Best Original Screenplay in 2013. He also did some voice acting parts for the animated films Fantastic Mr. Fox and Isle of Dogs.

Theo Wargo/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images

Sofia Coppola

Like her brothers, Sofia was getting small acting parts in her father’s films starting from a very early age. The most infamous of these was also her biggest early career disaster. When she was 18, her dad cast her as Mary Corleone in The Godfather Part III. The performance was pretty much universally panned by critics and audiences, and many people thought Sofia got the role solely because she was Francis's daughter. However, Sofia pivoted to working behind the camera, where she seems to have discovered her true talent.

As she told the New York Times: “It was embarrassing to be thrown out to the public in that kind of way. But it wasn’t my dream to be an actress, so I wasn’t crushed. I had other interests. It didn’t destroy me.” 

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The first feature she directed was The Virgin Suicides in 1999. She followed that in 2003 with Lost in Translation, which got her an Oscar nomination for Best Director, and she took home the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. She was actually the first American woman to win in that category. She has since directed six other films including Marie Antoinette, The Bling Ring, and Priscilla (about Elvis Presley's wife).

In 2011, Sofia married Thomas Mars, of the band Phoenix. They have two daughters: Romy and Cosima. Romy has already started following the family tradition with her own film career, appearing in her grandfather's Megalopolis and the FX series The English Teacher.

Related: Francis Ford Coppola Breaks Silence After Being Hospitalized in Italy

Who is Francis Ford Coppola's Wife?

Francis Ford Coppola was married to Eleanor Neil Coppola. When they met in 1962, Eleanor was working as an assistant art director on Francis's early film Dementia 13. They were married the next year, and they stayed together for over 60 years, until her death in 2024.

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Eleanor was a filmmaker herself. In her documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, she documented the chaotic making of Apocalypse Now, and shows just how insane and difficult that production was. Sofia called it “One of the best films on the creative process.” Eleanor also directed the films Paris Can Wait and Love Is Love Is Love.

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