Romy Mars Parents: From Sofia Coppola’s Films to Thomas Mars’ Music

Romy Mars is the daughter of Oscar-winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola and French musician Thomas Mars, the lead singer of Phoenix. She is their eldest child and the older sister of Cosima, growing up with family connections to cinema, music and fashion while her parents largely kept their daughters’ childhood away from public attention.

One memorable exception came in February 2020, when Romy joined her mother at the Marc Jacobs Fall 2020 runway show during New York Fashion Week. She was 13 at the time, making the appearance an unusual glimpse of the mother-daughter pair together at a major fashion event.

That outing remains part of Romy’s early public story, but the ages in the original coverage are historical. Born on November 28, 2006, Romy is 19 as of October 2026 and will celebrate her 20th birthday in November.

Who Are Romy Mars’ Mother and Father?

Romy’s mother, Sofia Coppola, is an American writer and director whose films include The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation. Her career has given her an identity as a filmmaker in her own right, alongside her place within the wider Coppola family.

Sofia made her feature directing debut with The Virgin Suicides, adapting Jeffrey Eugenides’ novel. The film introduced audiences to an approach to storytelling that would become closely associated with her subsequent work.

Her second feature, Lost in Translation, became a major professional milestone. Released in 2003 and starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, it earned Sofia the Academy Award for Original Screenplay at the 2004 ceremony.

That distinction is useful when describing Romy’s mother. Sofia’s Oscar was awarded for her screenplay, recognizing the writing behind a film she also directed.

For Romy, however, Sofia is also a parent whose working life involves the demands of making films. Public appearances offer only brief glimpses of that family relationship, rather than a complete picture of their everyday routines.

Sofia has spoken about the organization involved in combining filmmaking with motherhood. That practical side of parenting is less visible than premieres and award ceremonies, but it forms part of her account of raising two daughters while maintaining a creative career.

Romy’s father, Thomas Mars, is best known as Phoenix’s lead vocalist. The French band’s international success gives Romy a second direct connection to a major creative industry.

Phoenix won Best Alternative Music Album for Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix at the 2010 Grammy Awards. The achievement places Thomas’ professional background alongside Sofia’s filmmaking success without suggesting that the two careers follow the same path.

A touring musician’s work and a director’s work involve different schedules, collaborators and creative processes. Romy’s parents therefore represent two distinct professional worlds, even though music and cinema frequently intersect.

Thomas performs under the surname Mars, while his family surname is Croquet. This explains why Romy appears in coverage under variations including Romy Mars and Romy Croquet.

Those versions refer to the same person. They reflect the naming used within a family whose members also have recognizable professional identities.

Sofia and Thomas married on August 27, 2011, in Bernalda, Italy. Their daughters were already part of the family by then, with Romy born in 2006 and Cosima arriving in 2010.

The wedding location also connected the occasion with Sofia’s family history. Bernalda is associated with the Italian roots of the Coppola family, giving the celebration a significance beyond being a destination wedding.

Romy’s maternal grandparents are filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola and Eleanor Coppola. Through Sofia, she belongs to a family whose work spans several generations of filmmaking.

Still, her grandparents’ achievements should not obscure the straightforward answer to the question about her parents. Sofia Coppola is her mother, and Thomas Mars is her father.

Romy’s immediate family brings together an accomplished filmmaker, a successful musician and two daughters whose childhood was largely kept outside the daily celebrity spotlight. That combination explains much of the interest surrounding her background.

It also provides context for Romy’s developing creative interests. Having parents in artistic professions makes those fields familiar, although her own choices and work need to be considered individually.

Romy’s Childhood, Sister and Memorable Fashion Week Appearance

Romy is the older of Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars’ two daughters. Her younger sister, Cosima, was born in 2010, making the sisters approximately three and a half years apart.

The original report about the Marc Jacobs show described Romy as 13 and Cosima as nine. Those ages were accurate to the period being covered, rather than a description of the sisters today.

At the time, the article emphasized that the children did not frequently accompany their parents to public events. That made Romy’s appearance with Sofia more notable than an ordinary front-row photograph.

The pair attended the Marc Jacobs Fall 2020 runway presentation on February 12, 2020. Although the collection carried a fall label, the show took place in February, following the fashion calendar’s practice of presenting collections ahead of their retail season.

Sofia wore a black-and-white striped sweater, while Romy chose an oversized blue sweater with delicate silver necklaces. Their outfits gave the photographs a relaxed feel despite the high-profile setting.

The appeal of the images was partly their simplicity. Rather than a formal film premiere or an awards appearance, they showed a mother and daughter attending a fashion presentation together.

The evening also included a surprise runway appearance by Miley Cyrus. Her participation became a major talking point from the show and placed Romy’s outing within an event attracting attention well beyond the fashion audience.

Cyrus wore a black bra top and coordinating trousers, accessorized with long gloves and a zebra-print jacket. That detail belongs to the history of the show, while Romy and Sofia’s attendance remains the relevant family moment.

Their presence also fits Sofia’s established relationship with fashion. Marc Jacobs has been part of her wider creative circle, making the event a natural setting for an occasional public appearance with her daughter.

Later in 2020, Romy appeared in a campaign for Heaven by Marc Jacobs. That was a separate professional appearance, rather than the same event as the February runway show.

The distinction matters because photographs and fashion coverage from that year are sometimes grouped together. Attending a presentation with her mother and participating in a campaign were different moments in Romy’s early visibility.

As she grew older, Romy also began exploring music. A later interview described Sofia sharing her daughter’s songwriting recordings with musician Claud, including a song Romy had made with her father.

That account offers a concrete example of both parents being involved in her creative development. Thomas participated in making music with her, while Sofia helped introduce the work to another artist.

It does not mean Romy’s career can be explained entirely through her parents. Their experience and connections form part of her circumstances, while the songs and performances themselves are her work to develop.

The family’s earlier preference for privacy also needs to be understood in its proper context. Reports describing Romy as rarely photographed referred to particular stages of her childhood, not a permanent decision that she would never appear publicly.

A child accompanying a parent to an event and a young adult choosing creative projects are different stages of life. Romy’s public profile has changed as she has grown, making older descriptions less useful when repeated without dates.

The February 2020 photographs captured one moment in that progression: a 13-year-old Romy spending an evening with her mother at a fashion show. They remain a recognizable family memory, rather than a current account of her age or activities.

For readers searching for Romy Mars’ parents, the essential facts are clear. She is Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars’ eldest daughter, Cosima’s older sister, and a member of a family with deep connections to film and music.

Her background helps explain the attention she receives, but it also contains an ordinary family relationship beneath the famous names. The runway outing showed that side of the story particularly well: a mother and daughter sharing an evening together before Romy began making more public choices of her own.