Robert Schwartzman was born on 24th December 1982 to parents, actress Talia Shire and producer Jack Schwartzman, in Los Angeles California. He was born into one of the film industry's most famous families, including uncle Francis Ford Coppola, cousin Nicolas Cage, cousin Sofia Coppola, (former) cousin-in-law Spike Jonze and brother Jason Schwartzman. His father was of Polish Jewish descent and his mother is of Italian ancestry. Robert was featured in his cousin Sofia Coppola's first short film Lick the Star (1998), and played Paul Baldino in her directorial debut The Virgin Suicides (1999). His breakthrough performance, however, came from playing the role of Michael Moscovitz in Disney's The Princess Diaries (2001), winning the role due to his musical ability. The movie also featured a scene with a section from the song "Blueside" that Robert wrote and is a real song for his band Rooney, and is set to be Rooney's first single. During post-production of The Princess Diaries (2001), he decided to changed his name to Robert Cage in honor of his talented actor cousin Nicolas Cage, but the change could not take effect as promotional material had already been finalized, so the name Robert Schwartzman remained. Since 2002, Robert has taken time out from acting, and has focused on his music with his band Rooney, where he is the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has also taken another name change to Robert Carmine, in honor of his grandfather Carmine Coppola who was a music composer, and also to divide himself from his acting career and musical career. Rooney are set to release their debut self-titled album in May 2003.