Actor, director, screenwriter. Born Michael Sylvester Stallone, on July 6, 1946, in New York City. A product of a poor, broken home, he grew up in New York's rough Hell's Kitchen section, then in Silver Spring, Maryland, and a sleazy section of Philadelphia, spending several years at the homes of foster parents. He was booted out of 14 schools in 11 years but thanks to his muscular physique was able to attend the American College in Switzerland on an athletic scholarship. He also briefly attended the drama department at the University of Miami, where instructors discouraged him from entertaining any ideas of a future acting career. He tried his hand at a variety of jobs, including zoo attendant and pizza chef, and in 1970 worked as an usher at New York's Baronet movie theater. Still determined to become an actor, he appeared in the made off-Broadway drama "Score" and the porno movie Party at Kitty and Studs/The Italian Stallion (both 1970), and was able to land small parts in occasional films. In 1974 he played one of the leads in the low-budget New York-made film The Lords of Flatbush and in the following year played supporting roles in such Hollywood films as Farewell My Lovely, Capone, and Death Race 2000. Still he considered his career at a dead end. Nearly broke and his wife pregnant, he determined to create his own opportunity to become a star by writing his own screenplay. In three days he completed the first draft for Rocky, a story of a down-and-out boxer who triumphs against heavy odds. He sold the script to producers Irwin Winkler and Robert Chartoff for a relatively small sum of money but for a large share of the profits on the condition that he be assigned the starring role in the film. The film turned out to be the "sleeper" of 1976, winning the best picture Academy Award as well as the best director (John Avildsen) and best editing Oscars. Stallone, who was nominated for both best actor and best screenplay awards, won neither, but he became established "overnight" as a leading screen personality and stood to gain a great deal of money as his share of the profits of Rocky, which quickly became a solid box-office hit. Sly, as Stallone is known to his friends, went on to become one of Hollywood's most successful star-entrepreneurs, taking personal control of his movie vehicles, frequently writing or collaborating on their scripts, and occasionally directing them. He scored powerfully at the box office with four sequels to Rocky and with a reactionary three-movie saga depicting the incredible physical feats of a Vietnam vet named John Rambo, starting with First Blood (1982). Although many critics say he still can't act, and standup comics keep imitating his macho bluster and slurred speech, Stallone has persevered as a popular superstar. Other than the Rocky and Rambo series, however, his films sometimes fared only modestly at the box office. In the early 90's he attempted comedy films, with little success. His 1993 return (with Cliffhanger and Demolition Man) to the action genre he helped define put him back on a winning streak. Offscreen, he has displayed a gentle side, collecting art, painting in a surrealist style and giving freely of his time to charitable causes. Having divorced his wife, a fellow user at the Baronet, in 1985, after an 11-year union and two sons, he married that year Danish-born actress-model Brigette Nielsen. That marriage ended in 1988.
