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 anonymous roles is her appearance in The Godfather as the baby boy in the christening scene.

Anna (1987) was the first film in which she 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 (for which she received the award of "Worst New Star" in the 1990 Golden Raspberry Awards) effectively ended her acting career, except for an appearance in the independent film Inside Monkey Zetterland (1992), and a bit part in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999). She played a gymnast in the video for "Elektrobank" by the Chemical Brothers.

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 next film was the biopic Marie-Antoinette, adapted from the biography by British historian Lady Antonia Fraser. Kirsten Dunst plays the title role and Coppola cousin Jason Schwartzman plays Antoinette's husband, King Louis XVI.

--Wikipedia