He does oil paintings in his spare time and considers Leonardo Da Vinci his personal hero.
He sued writer Peter ‘Taki’ Theodoracopulos and the British magazine The Spectator in 1991 for suggesting he acted in a cowardly and hypocritical way when he ‘ducked the Vietnam War.’
When he was 15, his classmates voted him the one "Most Likely To End Up In The Electric Chair."
He was listed as one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1976" in John Willis’ Screen World.
He is a cousin of Paul Dion Monte, the fashion designer.
His Miami 24,000-square-feet villa and three guesthouses sold for $20–24 million.
He dislikes his first name Sylvester, and prefers himself to be called "Sly".
He reportedly dumped girlfriend Angie Everhart via fax.
In 2001, he was sued by Margie Carr, who contends that he tried to force her to have physical relations with him last year at a Santa Monica Gym.
Stallone is reportedly always approachable, except while he is eating. He dislikes being disturbed then.
The Rambo and Rocky franchises have earned over two billion dollars around the world.
While he was a boxing teacher, he had Prince Paul of Ethiopia as a student.
He is a part owner of the movie-themed chain of restaurants – Planet Hollywood.
His artistic inclinations are evident in the fact that he had written the Rocky script in longhand.
Stallone’s mother is a fan of Jackie Chan. And Chan and Stallone are good friends.
The Child in Trouble
Sylvester Enzio Stallone was born in July 6, 1946, in Hell’s Kitchen, an area west of The Times Square in New York. His father was Frank Stallone, a Sicilian immigrant, who owned a chain of beauty salons. His mother was Jacqueline Stallone, an aspiring dancer, astrologer, and women’s wrestling promoter. By the time he was two, his parent’s relationship was under a considerable amount of stress.
To add to the strained relationship of his parents, his childhood in Hell’s Kitchen was tainted with loneliness and ridicule. Children teased Sylvester because of his name and associated him with Looney Tunes, the cat called Sylvester in the Warner Brother’s cartoons. He was also ridiculed for his facial features : his distinctly noticeable crooked eyes, drooping lower lip, and slurred speech (all caused by a forceps accident that severed a facial nerve during his birth) caused the young boy to be the subject of many jokes. To compound these defects, Sylvester was a homely, sickly child who once suffered from rickets.
His parents had been constantly at war and struggled to support young Sylvester and his younger brother Frank (who is a B-movie actor). Sylvester spent most of his first five years in the care of foster homes. He lived with a family friend in Queens, meeting his parents only on weekends. Stallone has said that his interest in acting came from his attempts to get attention and affection from strangers who tried to raise him. When he was five, the Stallones moved to Silver Spring, Maryland. But once again they spent their time bickering and largely ignored their children. The constant quarrelling eventually led to the inevitable separation of his parents for good.
The Troubled Child
In 1957, after his parents’ divorce, Sylvester remained with his stern father. But at the age of 15, he moved in with his mother and her new husband, a pizza manufacturer, in Philadelphia. While his childhood was marked by mockery, his adolescence was marked by delinquency. The actor’s teen years proved even more traumatic than his childhood. Sylvester seemed willing to do just about anything for attention however negative. His being different from others caused him to develop a complex that got him into trouble several times. His behavioral problems caused him to be expelled out of several schools. He finally ended up studying at Devereaux Manor, a private school for troubled youths in nearby Berwyn, Pennsylvania.
While at Devereaux, he developed a passion for lifting weights and developing his body. He had a love for action from a very young age and had immersed himself in the fantasy world of comic books. He broke almost 11 bones trying to mimic his heroes’ feats. Now, at Devereaux, he found an outlet for his aggression in sports. He took up fencing, football, and the discus. He always imagined himself as an underdog, an ordinary individual achieving extraordinary heights, an attitude that finally made him a star.
Glimpse of the Future
His poor academic performances had left him few options. He was too young to enlist in the navy and his grades were not very impressive although he was on outstanding athlete, but he had inherited some coifing abilities from his father so he finally decided to enroll in beauty school. He quickly discovered his natural skill for coifing but did not feel that this was something that he would like to do for his whole life and so with his athletic abilities, he succeeded in earning a scholarship to the American College in Switzerland. While in Switzerland, he started taking drama classes, supported by his earnings as a teacher for girls’ physical education classes. He was convinced that acting was his true calling after he received a standing ovation for his performance in a student production of Death of a Salesman.
Stallone returned to the States and enrolled in the drama department at the University of Miami. Unfortunately, his teachers tried to discourage him from aspiring to be an actor. He was not deterred. He was just three credits away from completing his degree when he dropped out and headed to New York to launch his acting career.
SYLVESTER STALLONE (1946)
Sylvester Stallone is one of Hollywood’s best action heroes.
Apart from the fact that he is an Oscar-winning actor, he is also an accomplished scriptwriter and an accomplished director.
Moreover, he is also a skilled painter whose neo-expressionist paintings are admired and respected in the art world.
He attributes his success to his constant confrontations with adversity with hard work and dedication like his alter ego Rocky Balboa, whose story he wrote himself.
A man of dogged determination and infinite patience, he has survived and shone in Hollywood and has no plans of retiring in the near future.
July 6, 1946
Sylvester Stallone was born.
1957
His parents got divorced.
1961
Moved to Philadelphia to live with his mother.
1969
Dropped out of college and moved to New York.
1970
Made his debut with the movie No Place to Hide.
1971
Got a small role in Woody Allen’s Bananas.
1973
Appeared in the TV series Kojak.
1974
Married Sasha Czack and appeared in The Lords of Flatbush.
1976
Acted in his landmark movie Rocky.
1978
Acted in the critically acclaimed movie F.I.S.T.
1979
Made Rocky II.
1980
Made another landmark movie Rambo: First Blood.
1983
Made the sequel to Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive.
1985
Divorced Sasha Czack and married Brigitte Nielsen.
1986
Acted in the movie Cobra.
1987
Divorced Brigitte Nielsen.
1991
Tried his hand at comedy with Oscar.
1993
Acted in the hit movie Demolition Man co-starring Wesley Snipes.
1997
Appeared in Copland in a role different from his action image.
Married Jennifer Flarin.
2000
Acted in the movie Get Carter.
2001
Made the racecar movie Driven.
1970
No Place to Hide
Italian Stallion
1971
Bananas
1974
The Prisoner of the Second Avenue
The Lords of Flatbush
1975
Rebel
Farewell, My Lovely
Death Race 2000
Capone
1976
Rocky
Cannonball
1978
Paradise Alley
F.I.S.T.
1979
Rocky II
1981
Escape to Victory
Nighthawks
1982
Rocky III
First Blood
1984
Rhinestone
1985
Rocky IV
Rambo : First Blood II
1986
Cobra
1987
Over the Top
1988
Rambo II
1989
Tango & Cash
1990
Rocky V
1991
Oscar
1992
Stop ! Or My Mom Will Shoot
1993
Demolition Man
Cliffhanger
1994
The Specialist
1995
Judge Dredd
Assassins
1996
Daylight
1997
Copland
Burn Hollywood Burn
The Good Life
1998
Antz
2000
Get Carter
2001
Avenging Angelo
Eye See You
Driven
WRITER
1974
The Lords of Flatbush
1976
Rocky
1978
Paradise Alley
1979
Rocky II
1982
Rambo : First Blood
Rocky III
1983
Staying Alive
1984
Rhinestone
1985
Rambo : First Blood II
Rocky IV
1986
Cobra
1987
Over the Top
1988
Rambo III
1990
Rocky V
1993
Cliffhanger
DIRECTOR
1978
Paradise Alley
1979
Rocky II
1982
Rocky III
1983
Staying Alive
1985
Rocky IV
• I’m not handsome in the classical sense. The eyes droop, the mouth is crooked, the teeth aren’t straight, the voice sounds like a Mafiosi pallbearer, but somehow it all works.
• Once in one’s life, for one mortal moment, one must make a grab for immortality; if not, one has not lived.
• That’s what Rocky is all about : pride, reputation, and not being another bum in the neighborhood.
• The Bible is action-packed. The Koran is action-packed. Even Buddha had a few moments of suspense in his life. Yet, when we make action movies now, we are considered moneymaking machines with no esoteric worth…I tend to think of action movies as exuberant morality plays in which good triumphs over evil.
• Real love is when you become selfless and you are more concerned about your mate’s or children’s egos than your own. You’re now a giver instead of a taker.
• I think that gravity sets into everything, including careers, but pendulums do swing and mountains do become valleys after a while…if you keep on walking.
• I take rejection as someone blowing a bugle in my ear to wake me up and get going, rather than retreat.
• It would be great to be able to pass on to someone all of the successes, the failures, and the knowledge that one has had. To help someone, avoid all the fire, pain and anxiety would be wonderful.
1976
David di Donatello Award for Best Actor : Rocky
1977
Oscar Award for best scriptwriter : Rocky
Oscar Award for best actor : Rocky
Golden Globe Award for best Actor : Rocky
Golden Globe Award for best script : Rocky
