The Truth About Al Pacino's Kids

Throughout his lengthy Hollywood career, Al Pacino has been nominated for nine Academy Awards. He won once in '93, earning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Scent of a Woman. He may not have taken home his second trophy at the 2020 ceremony for his role in The Irishman, but it's an impressive number of nominations for an actor and a testament to the 79-year-old's success in the industry.

While his IMDb page spans decades and takes quite a while to scroll through, far less is known about Pacino's personal life. Sure, true fans can recount the women he's been romantically linked to, but what about his kids? Pacino has three children (who are technically all grown up now), but they're much more out of the spotlight. Although you don't see them popping up all the time like some celebrity offspring, that doesn't mean Pacino doesn't care about his kids. In fact, he's been open about just how much they've changed his perspective for the better.

Per E! News, Al Pacino had his first child, Julie Marie, with his ex, Jan Tarrant, in October 1989. In January 2001, Pacino's then-girlfriend actress Beverly D'Angelo gave birth to twins, Olivia Rose and Anton James. In an interview with The Guardian in April 2015, Pacino acknowledged shielding his family from the spotlight. "I haven't been in a grocery store or subway for years. It's hard for my children to go out publicly with me," he said. "Fame is different now than it was 20 years ago — I don't know what the hell it is now."

Instead of fame, Pacino is focused on righting wrongs from his childhood. He told The Guardian, "My parents divorced when I was two and my father wasn't in my life from then. I wanted to be different with my children. I wanted to be responsible to them, so I divide my time between two coasts." In September 2014, he shared a similar sentiment with the New Yorker, explaining, "I consciously knew that I didn't want to be like my dad. I wanted to be there." He said he wants to be part of his kids' lives, because "when I'm not, it's upsetting to me and to them. So that's part of the gestalt. And I get a lot from it. It takes you out of yourself."

While they've reached a solid co-parenting relationship now, the twins' mom Beverly D'Angelo told Closer Weekly in July 2017 that having kids with Al Pacino didn't exactly go as she planned. "After we'd known each other for three months, [Pacino] looked me in the eyes and said, 'I want you to be the mother of my children.' That's all I had to hear," she told the magazine. But after that, things definitely shifted, as she recalled, "I got pregnant at 48, delivered six weeks after I was 49, and by 51, I was looking at a landscape as a single parent." 

However, they've since worked through any drama. D'Angelo explained, "The key thing is creating a new history, and moving on from whatever dissolved that relationship to the new one of co-parenting." Instead of clinging to the past, she told Closer Weekly that she's focused on acceptance. "We all have a desire to change things that we don't like, but you can't change another person," she said. "You have to accept differences and all the things that led to a breakup in a way that allows you to move forward." From the sound of it, they've done exactly that.

Not all of the headlines surrounding Al Pacino's kids have been the most positive. His oldest daughter Julie had a run-in with the law in July 2011. She was arrested for driving under the influence, but later told the New York Post, "I never want it to happen again." In that same interview, she shared that her eyes are set on Hollywood, but not in the acting world like her famous father. Instead, she aspires to be a director, and already has several producer credits to her name. She also directed a short film called "Abracadabra" that screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010.

But just because Pacino is her dad, that doesn't mean the 30-year-old is looking for any handouts. Julie told the New York Post, "I was always raised with perspective, and my mom always kept me in check and made sure that I never felt entitled or that I deserved anything because of something that my father did." Of course, she still is very aware of her dad's fame, telling the Post she once made a parody movie for his birthday called Not Another Al Pacino Movie, which honestly sounds hilarious.

More than 15 years ago, Al Pacino moved to Beverly Hills in order to share custody of his twins. In a 2014 New Yorker profile, Pacino's home was described as having been "ceded to his kids," specifically the two younger ones who are now 19. The author describes the den as "a sort of Camp Pacino, overflowing with toys: a pinball machine, a drum kit, electric guitars, dolls, a mound of games, balls, rackets, and swimming gear crammed into baskets against the back wall." There was also a watercolor painted by his son by the fireplace. Pacino spends weekends with the twins, or at least he did at the time, since he joked that "their mother knows I'm a slacker at the homework."

Fatherhood has clearly taken over Pacino's life in a large way, but no, that's not a bad thing. "Kids changed my perspective. Before I had my three, I'd walk around in my own head, not noticing anything," he told The Guardian in April 2015. "Acting used to be everything; now, because of them, it's just a small part."