Sylvester Stallone Biography

SYLVESTER STALLONE

Born in New York City, Sylvester Stallone first rose to fame with the movie Rocky (1976), which he starred in and wrote.

He's been quoted as saying, "I take offense to people writing off action films as some occupational hazard that actors must occasionally do so that they can be in something financially profitable, then do something 'serious,' Action films are a physical challenge and, because you don't have a great deal of dialogue, you have to become a partial mime to get things across."

You'd be right if you thought he was engaging in a little self-justification with these words on action flicks, particularly when his stab at other types of acting never paid off. Although with his performance in Copland, the action-master from Hell's Kitchen, New York, may have finally turned the corner on a new career. However, if your impression of Rocky is that he's as slow and ill-equipped to engage in a battle of wits as the boxer he played in those films, you'd be wrong.

Although by his account, Sylvester Stallone was expelled from 14 schools in 11 years, he still went to college in Switzerland on an athletics scholarship, then studied drama at the University of Miami. His first film role was in the porno flick A Party At Kitty and Stud's Place, after which he turned up briefly as the thug on a subway train in Woody Allen's Bananas. Broke and down on his luck, he reportedly wrote the script for Rocky in three days. "I'm astounded by people who take 18 years to write something," he once said. "That's how long it took that guy to write Madame Bovary. And was that ever on a bestseller list? No. It was a lousy book and it made a lousy movie."

Stallone's taste in literature aside, he wouldn't let go of the Rocky script until he was also allowed to star in the film and, as everyone knows, a star was born when it hit the movie houses in 1976. Stallone reprised the role for all five of the sequels. He's also lent his bad-ass movie persona to films like Judge Dredd (1995), Get Carter (2000), Rambo (2008), The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012) and Bullet to the Head (2013), in which he plays a hitman alongside Jason Momoa. He then starred in Reach Me (2014) and The Expendables 3 (2014).

In 2015, he starred in the Rocky spinoff Creed alongside Michael B. Jordan, for which he received his first Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actor. He also received an Academy Award nomination for the role.

Other credits include the animated adventure flick Ratchet & Clank (2016) and the sci-fi adventure films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) with Chris Pratt.

Stallone left his wife of 11 years and his two sons (his youngest son, Seargeoh, is autistic) to marry Brigitte Nielsen, a statuesque, athletic, Danish blonde who quickly drained his pocketbook and his patience. In 1997, Stallone married former model Jennifer Flavin, with whom he has three children. Surprisingly, beneath the palooka exterior lurks a painter, art collector, novelist and polo player.

Filmography (actor):

Sly (2023)
Expend4bles (2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
Samaritan (2022)
The Suicide Squad (2021)
Rambo: Last Blood (2019)
Escape Plane: The Extractors
Backtrace (2018)
Creed II (2018)
Escape Plan 2: Hades (2018)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Ratchet & Clank (2016)
Creed (2015)
The Expendables 3 (2014)
Reach Me (2014)
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon (2014)
Bullet to the Head (2013)
The Expendables 2 (2012)
Zookeeper (2011) (voice)
The Expendables (2010)
Rambo (2008)
Rocky Balboa (2006)
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over (2003)
Eye See You (2001)
Driven (2001)
Get Carter (2000)
Antz (1998)
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997)
Copland (1997)
Daylight (1996)
Firestorm (1996)
Assassins (1995)
Judge Dredd (1995)
The Specialist (1994)
Cliffhanger (1993)
Demolition Man (1993)
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot (1992)
Oscar (1991)
Rocky V (1990)
Lock Up (1989)
Tango & Cash (1989)
Rambo III (1988)
Over the Top (1987)
Cobra (1986)
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
Rocky IV (1985)
Rhinestone (1984)
Staying Alive (1983)
First Blood (1982)
Rocky III (1982)
Nighthawks (1981)
Victory (1981)
Rocky II (1979)
F.I.S.T. (1978)
Paradise Alley (1978)
Cannonball (1976)
Rocky (1976)
Capone (1975)
Death Race 2000 (1975)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Rebel (1975)
The Lords of Flatbush (1974)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1974)
Bananas (1971)
The Italian Stallion (1970)

Filmography (director):

The Expendables (2010)
Rambo (2008)
Rocky Balboa (2006)
Rocky IV (1985)
Staying Alive (1983)
Rocky III (1982)
Rocky II (1979)
Paradise Alley (1978)