Sylvester Stallone

Early life

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone was born in the Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, in New York City on July 6, 1946, the elder son of celebrity astrologer and women's professional wrestling promoter Jacqueline "Jackie" Stallone (née Labofish; 1921–2020) and hairdresser Francesco "Frank" Stallone Sr. (1919–2011), who opened up and ran a group of hair salons in Maryland and was an avid polo player. His mother was an American from Washington, D.C., with Breton French and Ukrainian Jewish ancestry, while his father was an Italian immigrant from Gioia del Colle who moved to the U.S. in the 1930s. His younger brother is actor and musician Frank Stallone. Many biographies of Stallone indicate that his birth name is "Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone" and his mother explained in an interview that she originally named him "Tyrone" because she admired the actor Tyrone Power, but Stallone's father changed it to "Sylvester". His nickname as a child was "Binky" but he chose to go by the nickname of Mike/Michael after schoolmates began calling him "Stinky". His middle name "Gardenzio" is an alteration of the Italian given name "Gaudenzio" and he usually shortened it to "Enzio".

Complications during Stallone's birth forced his mother's obstetricians to use two pairs of forceps while delivering him, accidentally severing a nerve in the process. This caused paralysis of the lower left side of his face (including parts of his lip, tongue, and chin) which gave him his signature snarling look and slurred speech. As a result, he was bullied in his childhood, with which he coped by getting into bodybuilding and acting. A guidance counselor once told Stallone's mother: "Your son is suited to run a sorting machine or to be an assistant electrician, primarily in the area of elevator operations"; nevertheless, Sylvester aspired to be an actor and a screenwriter.

Stallone spent part of his infancy in foster and boarding care, rejoining and moving back with his family to Maryland when he was five. In the early 1950s, his father moved the family to his mother's native Washington, D.C. to open a beauty school. In 1954, his mother opened a women's gym called Barbella's. He initially stayed with his father following his parents' divorce when he was 11, but joined his remarried mother in Philadelphia when he was 15.

At one point, Stallone was voted "Most Likely to End Up in the Electric Chair" in high school; nevertheless, Stallone attended Notre Dame Academy and Abraham Lincoln High School in Philadelphia, and Charlotte Hall Military Academy in Charlotte Hall, Maryland, prior to attending Miami Dade College. He spent two years, from September 1965 to June 1967, at the American College of Switzerland. He returned to the United States to study as a drama major at the University of Miami, from 1967 to 1969, but did not graduate. Decades later, after Stallone's request that his acting and life experiences be accepted in exchange for his remaining needed college credits to graduate, he was granted a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree by the University of Miami in 1998.

Film and stage career

1968–1976: Early roles to breakthrough

Until 1969, he appeared on the stage under the name Mike Stallone; in 1970, he started using the stage name Sylvester E. Stallone. While attending the University of Miami, Stallone had a role in the drama That Nice Boy (aka The Square Root), filmed in 1968. Moreover, he and John Herzfeld worked together in 1969 on a low-budget self-produced film called "Horses".

Stallone had his first starring role in the softcore pornography feature film The Party at Kitty and Stud's (1970). He was paid US$200 for two days' work. Stallone later explained that he had done the film out of desperation after being evicted from his apartment and finding himself homeless for several days. He has also said that he slept three weeks in the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City prior to seeing a casting notice for the film. In the actor's words, "it was either do that movie or rob someone, because I was at the end – the very end – of my rope". The film was released several years later as Italian Stallion, in order to cash in on Stallone's newfound fame (the new title was taken from Stallone's nickname since Rocky). Stallone also starred in the erotic off-Broadway stage play Score which ran for 23 performances at the Martinique Theatre from October 28 to November 15, 1971, and was later made into the 1974 film Score by Radley Metzger.

After moving to New York City, Stallone shared an apartment with his girlfriend, Sasha Czack, an aspiring actress who supported them by working as a waitress. Stallone took odd jobs around this time, including being a cleaner at a zoo, and a theater usher; he was fired from the latter for scalping tickets. He furthered his writing skills by frequenting a local library, and became interested in the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

In 1972, Stallone was on the verge of giving up on having an acting career; in what he later described as a low point, he tried and failed to get a job as an extra in The Godfather. Instead, he was relegated to a background role in another Hollywood hit, What's Up, Doc?, starring Barbra Streisand. Stallone is hardly visible in his two appearances.

Stallone happened to be acting in a play that a friend invited him to partake in, and an agent in attendance thought that Stallone fit the role of Stanley, a main character in The Lords of Flatbush, which had a start-stop schedule from 1972 to 1974 over budget issues. Stallone, around mid-1973, achieved his first proper starring role, in the independent film No Place to Hide, playing a man who is associated with a New York–based urban terrorist movement, with a jewelry-seller as his love interest. The film was re-cut and retitled Rebel years later, this second version featuring Stallone as its star. In 1990, this film was re-edited with outtakes from the original film and newly shot matching footage, then redubbed – in the style of Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? – into a parody of itself titled A Man Called... Rainbo.

1978–1989: Subsequent success

Stallone made his directorial debut and starred in the 1978 film Paradise Alley, a family drama in which he played one of three brothers who get involved in professional wrestling. That same year, he starred in Norman Jewison's F.I.S.T., a social drama in which he plays a warehouse worker, very loosely modeled on James Hoffa, who becomes involved in labor union leadership. In 1979, he wrote, directed (replacing John G. Avildsen), and starred in Rocky II. The sequel became a major success, grossing US$200 million.

In 1981, he starred alongside Michael Caine and soccer star Pelé in Escape to Victory, a sports drama in which he plays a prisoner of war involved in a Nazi propaganda soccer game. That same year, he starred in the thriller Nighthawks, in which he plays a New York city cop who plays a cat-and-mouse game with a foreign terrorist, played by Rutger Hauer.

In 1982, Stallone starred as Vietnam veteran John Rambo, a former Green Beret, in the action film First Blood, an adaptation of the eponymous novel by David Morell, though the script was significantly altered by Stallone during the film's production, which was both a critical and box-office success. Critics praised Stallone's performance, saying he made Rambo seem human, as opposed to the way he is portrayed in the book of the same name. It launched the Rambo franchise. That year Rocky III was released in which Stallone wrote, directed, and starred. The second sequel became a box-office success. In preparation for these roles, Stallone embarked upon a vigorous training regimen, which often meant six days a week in the gym and further sit-ups in the evenings. Stallone claims to have reduced his body fat percentage to his all-time low of 2.8% for Rocky III.

In 1983, he directed Staying Alive, the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta. This was the only film Stallone directed that he did not star in. Staying Alive was universally panned by film critics. Despite being a critical failure, Staying Alive was a commercial success. The film opened with the biggest weekend for a musical film ever (at the time) with a gross of $12,146,143 from 1,660 screens. Overall, the film grossed nearly $65 million in the US box office against its $22 million budget. Worldwide it grossed $127 million. Though the US box-office intake was significantly less than the $139.5 million earned by Saturday Night Fever, the film nevertheless ranked in the top ten most financially successful films of 1983.

1990–1999: Career fluctuations

Stallone began the 1990s starring in the fifth installment of the Rocky franchise, Rocky V. This film brought back the first film's director, John G. Avildsen, and was intended to be the final installment in the series at the time. It was considered a box-office disappointment and received negative reviews.

Stallone next appeared in John Landis' period comedy Oscar which was both a critical and box-office failure. In 1992, he appeared in Roger Spottiswoode's action comedy Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot which was also both a critical and box-office disaster. Stallone signed onto the film based on rumors that Schwarzenegger was interested in the lead. Schwarzenegger said that, knowing the script's quality was poor, he publicly faked interest in starring for producers to lure Stallone.

In 1993, he made a comeback with Renny Harlin's action thriller Cliffhanger, which was a success in the US, grossing US$84 million, and worldwide, grossing US$171 million. Later that year, he starred in the futuristic action film Demolition Man directed by Marco Brambilla, co-starring Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 60% based on 42 reviews, with an average rating of 5.43/10. The site's consensus reads: "A better-than-average sci-fi shoot-em-up with a satirical undercurrent, Demolition Man is bolstered by strong performances by Stallone, Snipes, and Bullock." The film debuted at No. 1 at the box office. Demolition Man grossed $58,055,768 by the end of its box-office run in North America and $159,055,768 worldwide.

His string of hits continued with 1994's The Specialist co-starring Sharon Stone and directed by Luis Llosa, which opened in the U.S. on October 7. While the critical reception was overwhelmingly negative, the film was a commercial success. In its opening weekend it made $14,317,765 and ended up making back its budget with $57,362,582 at the domestic box office while making another $113,000,000 overseas, giving it a worldwide gross of $170,362,582.

In 1995, he played the title character (from the British comic book 2000 AD) in the science fiction action film Judge Dredd. His overseas box-office appeal saved the domestic box-office disappointment of Judge Dredd, which cost almost US$100 million and barely made its budget back, with a worldwide tally of US$113 million. Despite the film's poor box-office performance, Stallone signed a three-picture deal with Universal Pictures for $60 million, making him the second star after Jim Carrey to receive $20 million per film. The deal expired in February 2000 without him making any films, however, so he received no payment.

2000–2005: Declining years

In 2000, Stallone starred in the thriller Get Carter, a remake of the 1971 British film of the same name, but the film was poorly received by both critics and audiences. Stallone's career declined considerably after his subsequent films Driven (2001), Avenging Angelo (2002) and D-Tox (2002) were also critical and commercial failures.

In 2003, he played a villainous role in the third installment of the Spy Kids series: Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, which was a huge box-office success (almost US$200 million worldwide). Stallone also had a cameo appearance in the 2003 French film Taxi 3 as a passenger. Also that year, Stallone started to regain prominence for his supporting role in the neo-noir crime drama Shade which was only released in a limited fashion but was praised by critics. He was also attached to star and direct a film tentatively titled Rampart Scandal, which was to be about the murder of rappers Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. and the surrounding Los Angeles Police Department corruption scandal. It was later titled Notorious but was shelved.

In 2005, alongside Sugar Ray Leonard, he was the co-presenter of the NBC reality television boxing competition series The Contender. That same year he also made a guest appearance in two episodes of the television series Las Vegas. That year, Stallone also inducted professional wrestling icon Hulk Hogan, who appeared in Rocky III as a wrestler named Thunderlips, into the WWE Hall of Fame; Stallone was also the person who offered Hogan the cameo in Rocky III. In August, Stallone released his book Sly Moves which claimed to be a guide to fitness and nutrition as well as a candid insight into his life and works from his own perspective. The book also contained many photographs of Stallone throughout the years as well as pictures of him performing exercises.

2006–present: franchise films

After a three-year hiatus from films, Stallone had a comeback in 2006 with the sixth installment of the Rocky series, Rocky Balboa, which was a critical and commercial hit. After the critical and box-office failure of the previous installment Rocky V, Stallone had decided to write, direct and star in a sixth installment which would be a more appropriate climax to the series. The total domestic box office came to US$70.3 million (and US$155.7 million worldwide). The budget of the film was only US$24 million. His performance in Rocky Balboa has been praised and garnered mostly positive reviews. That year, the development Death Wish remake began, when Stallone announced that he would be directing and starring in a remake of the 1974 film. Stallone said, "Instead of the Charles Bronson character being an architect, my version would have him as a very good cop who had incredible success without ever using his gun. So when the attack on his family happens, he's really thrown into a moral dilemma in proceeding to carry out his revenge." He later told the publication that he was no longer involved. In a 2009 interview with MTV, though, Stallone stated that he was again considering the project. However the role went to Bruce Willis, with Eli Roth as director.

Stallone partnered with a beverage company producing an upscale bottled water brand called Sly Water.

In 2006, Stallone expressed his desire to direct a film about Musa Dagh, adapted by Franz Werfel's novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh, detailing the genocide of its Armenian community in 1915.

In 2008, Stallone reprised his other famous role in the fourth installment of the Rambo franchise, titled simply Rambo (John Rambo in some countries where the first film was titled Rambo). The film opened in 2,751 theaters on January 25, 2008, grossing US$6,490,000 on its opening day and US$18,200,000 over its opening weekend. Its box office was US$113,244,290 worldwide with a budget of US$50 million.

In July 2009, Stallone made a cameo appearance in the Bollywood film Kambakkht Ishq, where he played himself.

It was announced on December 7, 2010, that Stallone was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in the non-participant category.

Multiple tasks in media

In 1977, for the first Rocky, Stallone became the third man in history to receive the two nominations for best actor and best screenplay, after Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles. Stallone is known for his recurring roles as Rocky Balboa, John Rambo, and Barney Ross. Stallone wrote and starred in all of six Rocky films, while directing four of the sequels. Stallone starred in and co-wrote the five films of the Rambo franchise and also directed the fourth one. Stallone wrote, directed, and took the lead role in the first installment of The Expendables films. Stallone directed, wrote, and starred in Paradise Alley. John Travolta starred in Staying Alive, a sequel of Saturday Night Fever, which Stallone wrote and directed. Stallone wrote and starred in Cobra, and Driven. Stallone co-wrote and starred in F.I.S.T., Rhinestone, Over the Top, Cliffhanger, and Creed II.

Asked in February 2008 which of the icons (Rocky or Rambo) he would rather be remembered for, Stallone said "it's a tough one, but Rocky is my first baby, so Rocky." He also stated that Rocky could be interpreted as the "conscious" and Rambo as the "unconscious" of the same character.

Stallone has occasionally sung in his films. He sang "Too Close to Paradise" for Paradise Alley (1978), with the music provided by Bill Conti (who also collaborated with Stallone in prior years, having recorded the famous "Gonna Fly Now" theme for his Academy Award-nominated film, Rocky (1976) which was a U.S. No. 1 hit). In Rocky III (1982), Stallone (as Rocky Balboa) sang "Take Me Back" to his on-screen wife, Adrian (Talia Shire), as they lay in bed. The song was first performed by singer and younger brother, Frank, who had a small role in the original Rocky. For Rhinestone (1984), Stallone sang such songs as "Drinkenstein" as well as duets with his co-star, and actual country music star, Dolly Parton. He also performed two songs when he guest-starred on The Muppet Show in the 1980s, at the height of his career. The last time Stallone sang in a film was in Grudge Match (2013) when he and Robert De Niro performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" together.

Personal life

Marriages and children

Stallone has been married three times. He has two sons from his first marriage and three daughters from his third marriage.

At age 28, on December 28, 1974, he married Sasha Czack. They had two sons, Sage Moonblood Stallone (1976–2012), who died of heart disease at age 36, and Seargeoh (b. 1979), who was diagnosed with autism at an early age. Seargeoh also made a cameo as Rocky Balboa's son in Rocky II as an infant. The couple divorced on February 14, 1985.

Stallone married model and actress Brigitte Nielsen on December 15, 1985, in Beverly Hills, California. The marriage lasted two years and the subsequent divorce was highly publicized by the tabloid press.

In 1988, Stallone met model Jennifer Flavin and they were in a relationship until 1994, when Stallone told her he was having a child with model Janice Dickinson. After the February 1994 birth, DNA tests confirmed he was not the father and Stallone ended his engagement to Dickinson. After a brief 1995 engagement with model Angie Everhart, he and Flavin rekindled their relationship.

In May 1997, Stallone and Jennifer Flavin married. The couple has three daughters, Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet. His daughters were chosen to share the role of Golden Globe Ambassador at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. On August 19, 2022, Palm Beach County records showed that after 25 years of marriage, Jennifer Flavin had filed for "dissolution of marriage and other relief". On September 23, 2022, the couple reconciled.

Family and friends

Stallone maintains a relationship with his brother Frank who contributed the theme songs to Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Staying Alive. In 1983, Frank's song "Far from Over", for Staying Alive, reached the #10 U.S. hit. Frank appears in minor roles, bit parts, and provides music in many films starring Sylvester, most notably in the Rocky films, where Frank played a street corner singer and contributed songs. Stallone's 48-year-old half-sister, Toni Ann Filiti, died of lung cancer on August 26, 2012. Stallone was a close friend of Joe Spinell, but they had a falling out during the shooting of their final collaboration, Nighthawks, in 1981, and Spinell died in 1989.

Injuries

Known for physically demanding roles and his willingness to do the majority of his own stunts, Stallone has suffered various injuries during his acting career. During the filming of Escape to Victory, he broke a finger trying to save a penalty kick against Pelé. For a scene in Rocky IV, he told Dolph Lundgren, "Punch me as hard as you can in the chest." He later said, "Next thing I know, I was in intensive care at St. John's Hospital for four days. It's stupid!" While filming a fight scene with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin for The Expendables, he broke his neck and required the insertion of a metal plate.

Legal issues

In February 2001, an exotic dancer named Margie Carr filed a lawsuit against Stallone, accusing him of rape while at a Santa Monica fitness center where they both worked out on February 26, 2000. A lawyer for Stallone denied the claim, saying she sold the story to Globe the month before the lawsuit.

In 2007, customs officials in Australia discovered 48 vials of the synthetic human growth hormone Jintropin in Stallone's luggage. In a court hearing on May 15, he pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing a controlled substance.

In 2013, it was reported that Stallone paid a $2 million lump-sum settlement alongside a monthly amount and a trust for psychiatric and medical expenses to his half-sister Toni-Ann Filiti in 1987. Filiti threatened to file a lawsuit accusing him of abuse. Representatives for Stallone and Filiti's mother Jacqueline Stallone denied the allegations, accusing Filiti of blackmailing him and being a drug addict. However, Filiti's son, Edd Filiti, supported the claims, saying his mother "screamed about" abuse at the hands of her half-brother "over and over," before her death in 2012.

In 2016, a report from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was published stating that Stallone was accused of sexual assault by a 16-year-old girl while he was shooting a film in Las Vegas in 1986. The teen reportedly said that Stallone, then 40, forced her into a threesome with his bodyguard. A representative for Stallone denied the allegation. Stallone's ex-wife, Brigitte Nielsen, later came to his defense, saying that she was with him at the time of the alleged assault. Stallone's Over the Top costar David Mendenhall also defended Stallone, denying claims that he introduced Stallone to the girl in question.

In November 2017, a woman accused Stallone of sexually assaulting her at his Santa Monica office in the early 1990s. Stallone denied the claim. His attorney revealed the accuser filed a report after an entertainment website declined to pick up the story. Stallone's attorneys also stated that while the actor had a consensual relationship with the accuser in 1987, they had two witnesses who refuted the claims. In June 2018, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office confirmed an investigation, stating that the Santa Monica Police Department had presented a sex crimes case against Stallone to a special prosecution task force for review. In October 2018, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office made the decision not to charge Stallone for the alleged assault, as no witnesses corroborated the allegations. Stallone in turn filed a police report regarding her lying on an official document.

Religious views

Stallone was baptized and raised a devout Catholic but stopped going to church as his acting career progressed. He rediscovered his childhood faith when his daughter was born ill in 1996, and he again became a strict Catholic by late 2006. The same year, he was interviewed by Pat Robertson from the Christian Broadcasting Network's 700 Club. He stated that he spent much of his previous time in Hollywood "losing his way" because temptation abounded, but later put things "in God's hands". However, he told GQ magazine in 2010, "I'm pretty spiritual; I believe a lot in the spirit of man. I'm certainly not an atheist ... I was baptized Catholic, but I don't belong to a structured church. I have no opposition to it. I think there's great nuggets of knowledge in there, some wonderful rules to live by. Then the flip side is the amount of agony that's caused." As of 2023, Stallone is a churchgoing Catholic again.

Politics

Stallone has supported several Republican politicians but does not identify as a member of the Republican Party. He has also donated to the Democratic National Committee and to Democrats, including Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd. He is a staunch advocate of gun control despite his otherwise conservative views, and has been described as "the most anti-gun celebrity in Hollywood". In 1994, Stallone donated $1,000 to Republican Congressman Rick Santorum's Senate campaign. In 2008, Stallone endorsed John McCain for that year's presidential election. In 2015, upon the advice of a Vedic scholar, Stallone performed a Hindu Tithi Shradh ritual (done for those who died by accident or murder) at Haridwar for his son Sage.

Stallone expresses support for recognition of the Armenian genocide. He attended the 2017 film premiere for The Promise, a movie set during the genocide.

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Stallone described Donald Trump as a "Dickensian character" and "larger than life" but did not endorse Trump or anyone else in the Republican primaries. That same year, he declined an offer to become Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, citing a desire to work on issues related to veterans. In 2023, Stallone donated $11,600 to independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema's re-election campaign in Arizona. Later that year, he and his family spent time with Pope Francis in a private meeting at the Vatican. After Trump's win in the 2024 election, Stallone attended an event at Mar-a-Lago. During a speech, Stallone praised Trump as a "mythical character" and the "second George Washington". He also compared him to his character Rocky Balboa.

On January 16, 2025, it was announced by Trump that Stallone would serve in a new role as a Special Ambassador to Hollywood, sharing the role with fellow actors Jon Voight and Mel Gibson. Trump stated that he wants these actors to make Hollywood "stronger than ever before" by bringing back business lost to "foreign countries".

Acting credits and accolades

Over the course of his career Stallone has received a Golden Globe Award from three nominations, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a People's Choice Award, and international prizes from the César Awards, David di Donatello, and the Venice International Film Festival, as well as nominations for three Academy Awards and two BAFTA Awards.

Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1984)

International Boxing Hall of Fame (Class of 2010)

Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for Creed (2016)

Heart of Hollywood Award from the Board of Governors of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (2016)