Martin Scorsese finds inspiration for his children.
The Oscar-winning director has a career spanning 50 years and over 20 films, with three daughters, Cathy, Domenica and Francesca. His girls were exposed to the film industry from an early age, and his youngest daughter urged him to produce the Academy Award-winning film Hugo.
“Being a father at a later age is different from when you had two other daughters when you were in your 20s and 30s. If you’re in your 60s and you’re with your kids every day, then you’re dealing with the hearts of your kids, so that opens up your child again,” he told Parade magazine. “You’re starting to play kids fantasy, so you’re creating even more crazy stories and suddenly you’re making this film! She’s a lifesaver!”
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Having welcomed each daughter with different wives, Scorsese serves as a guide to children who hold careers in the film and television industry. Despite the 33-year age gap between his eldest son and youngest daughter, the brothers are in good condition and are seen together on the red carpet supporting his father.
“I like being around them. I learned a lot from it,” Scorsese told GQ.
So who is Martin Scorsese’s daughter? Find out more about Cathy, Domenica and Francesca.
Kathy Scorsese, 59
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Legendary film producer and his first wife, Laline Marie Brennan, welcomed her daughter, Cathy, on December 7, 1965.
Cathy was exposed to the film industry from an early age. Scorsese brought her to the opening night screening for his film “Mean Streets” at the New York Film Festival when she was eight years old. After the show, when her father asked what she thought of the film, she asked him how they made the film’s blood look so realistic. Her curiosity about details has transformed into a decades-long career working in props.
In her mid-twenties, she studied under prop master Jim Mazzola, promoted education on the use of theatre firearms, and became a member of the Motion Picture Studio Mechanics Union, IATSE Local 52 in New York. Her career includes working on sets such as Soprano, Casino, Dead, Boardwalk Empire.
She also tried her hand in acting, made a cameo as Dolores in the King of Comedy (1982), and played Piscano’s daughter at the casino (1995).
Domenica Cameron Scorses, 49
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After Scorsese and Brennan divorced, the Flower Moon producer murderer continued to marry journalist Julia Cameron. Within a year of tying the knot, they welcomed their daughter Domenica on September 6, 1976.
Their daughters grew up in a creative environment. Cameron praised her in her 2013 book, The Artist’s Way for Parents: Raish Creative Children.
Domenica’s artistic upbringing paved the way for a career in show business. She studied filmmaking at Wesleyan University and Trinity College in Dublin, where she wrote and directed her first play. She produced her first short film, “The Little God,” in 2001, and won the Torch Light Short Film Award. After hitting a stumbling block in one of her passion projects in 2007, she became a 2016 feature film, almost a Paris director.
“If there’s one piece of advice I have for an aspiring filmmaker, it’s this. Make something. Something is more important than all the reasons why you make something. That’s a lesson I learned how to do it.”
She also has credits for her work in front of the camera. She starred in films such as Cape Fear (1991), The Age of Innocence (1993), and The Lurker (2019), and won the lead role of off-roadway bride Tina in the interactive comedy Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding (2000).
As for her personal life, Domenica married her husband, Tony Frenzel, at a Chicago ceremony in November 2011.
Francescas Corsese, 25
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Scorsese and his fifth and present wife, Helen Morris, welcomed their daughter, Francesca, on November 16, 1999.
As a child, Francesca was immersed in filmmaking and served as an inspiration for her career.
“I mean, I actually grew up on movie sets. It was literally my life, and I thought life was like always pretending,” she told the Hollywood Reporter. “I have so many memories. I mean, my dad thought I was on a prop plane from an aviator and on a real plane, so turbulence began. And now I’m afraid of the plane. I can’t fly when I was three years old.
She graduated from NYU’s Tissue School of Arts, which is also her father’s alma mater, and premiered the directorial debut Fish from the water in June 2023.
She was also comfortable in front of the lens, playing Britney Orton on HBO’s We Are Who Are, appearing in several of her father’s projects, including Departed, Aviator and Boardwalk Empire.
“He’s the best teacher, guide and overall mentor. He’s also literally my best friend. I’ll tell him everything,” she said of her father.
When the father-daughter duo is not working, they can be seen wandering together and making viral tiktok videos. Scorsese first appeared in her Tiktok in April 2021 and made several cameos, including in October 2023 when Francesca quized at Modern Lang.
The father-daughter duo’s latest collaboration was in the 2024 Super Bowl commercial Squarespace commercial. Francesca served as behind the scenes creative director, gaining Scorsese’s supervision process from start to finish.
