Sophia Loren's Kids: Meet Carlo Ponti Jr. and Edoardo Ponti

Sophia Loren has been blowing fans away with her incredible acting skills for decades, but the iconic performer had the loving support of her two sons, Carlo Ponti Jr. and Edoardo Ponti, along the way. Now that the Two Women star’s children are adults, they’ve grown up to be just as successful.

Sophia started her family two years after tying the knot with her husband, Carlo Ponti, in 1966. The Marriage Italian Style actress welcomed their eldest child, Carlo Jr., in 1968. Sophia and the late film producer’s youngest son, Edoardo, arrived five years later in 1973.

Even though Sophia was cementing her status as a star of Hollywood’s Golden Age at the time she welcomed her children, nothing was going to keep the legend from being the most dedicated mom. At the time she got pregnant with Carlo Jr., any “concern for [her] career evaporated,” Sophia wrote in her 1984 book Women And Beauty.

“Nothing mattered to me but my baby,” she sweetly penned. “If necessary, I would have given up my work to have a child. If this means I am not modern, then I am not modern. I believe an infant needs to be with its mother as much as possible.”

The Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow star said those feelings intensified the moment her first child arrived. “You may have guessed by now that I believe that motherhood is the greatest role of my life,” she wrote in her memoir. “Nothing, not even winning an Oscar, can compete with the pleasure and sense of accomplishment it has given me.”

Sophia believes that “all women feel an instinctive urge” to start a family one day, but some “may use this desire creatively in their work or by living lives devoted to ideas,” she explained. “For me, nothing could substitute for motherhood.”

Since Carlo Jr. and Eduardo have grown up, they’ve followed in their mom’s epic Hollywood footsteps. Because Sophia has had plenty of opportunities to collaborate with her talented children, she’s developed quite the bond with her sons — especially Eduardo, who directed her latest film The Life Ahead.

“He knows me so well,” the Houseboat star exclusively gushed to Closer in October 2020. “He knows every inch of my face, my heart, my soul.”

Scroll through the gallery to learn all about Sophia’s sons!

Carlo Ponti Jr.

Born on December 29, 1968, Sophia and Carlo’s eldest son is best known for being an Italian orchestra conductor. Although Carlo Jr. was born in Switzerland, he now resides in the United States.

According to reports, Carlo Jr. worked at the Conductor’s Institute in Connecticut from 1994 to 1996. After moving to Los Angeles from 1997 to 1999, he then relocated to Austria in 1999 to further his musical studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, which he graduated from in 2001.

Carlo Jr. is quite prosperous as he was the associate conductor of the Russian National Orchestra from 2000 to 2018. He also worked as the music director and principal conductor of California’s San Bernardino Symphony for 12 years until 2013.

That same year, he founded the Los Angeles Virtuosi Orchestra, where he now works as the artistic and music director. Before he started his work as a musician, Carlo Jr. appeared as an actor in the 1970 film Sunflower.

Aside from his professional life, Carlo Jr. is the proud dad of his two children. The handsome hunk shares his kids with his longtime wife, Andrea Meszaros Ponti, whom he married in 2004.

Edoardo Ponti

Sophia’s second child, Edoardo — who arrived on January 6, 1973 — followed his mom into the Hollywood spotlight as he became a film creator. Eduardo is a director and writer, who is known for 2002’s Between Strangers, 2012’s The Nightshift Belongs to the Stars and 2014’s Human Voice. In 2015, Edoardo worked with his mom when he produced the video documentary titled Sophia Loren on A Special Day. He most recently directed Sophia’s latest film, The Life Ahead, which premiered on Netflix in November 2020.

Although Edoardo is usually behind the camera, he has appeared in a few films. According to IMDb, he acted in 1984’s Qualcosa di biondo and 2013’s The Girl from Nagasaki. When he’s not working, Edoardo is the loving dad of his two kids, Lucia and Leonardo. The proud father shares his kiddos with his wife and NCIS alum, Sasha Alexander, with whom he tied the knot in 2007.

Looking back on his exciting childhood, Edoardo praised his mom for taking a step back from her Hollywood career to focus on her kids. Despite her superstar status, Edoardo said their mom was extremely devoted to their family.

“She was always with us. Even if she might’ve felt inside, you know, ‘I’m not spending enough time with you because I’m working, I’m off to a set,'” he told Today in January 2021. “But the truth is, when she came back home from that set, she was extremely present with us.”

Sophia noted she chose to retreat from the limelight during that time because nothing was more important than motherhood. “At a certain moment in life, you have to do what your body feels like doing. And you cannot be a machine,” she explained to host Hoda Kotb. “So when I started to have children, I really started to talk to myself and to say, ‘You have a family already, you have two children, you like to see them growing.’ I was very happy to have done it.”