Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Stallone (born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, July 6, 1946) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, he won his first critical acclaim as an actor for his co-starring role as Stanley Rosiello in The Lords of Flatbush.
He subsequently found gradual work as an extra or side character in films with a sizable budget until he achieved his greatest critical and commercial success as an actor and screenwriter, starting in 1976 with his role as boxer Rocky Balboa, in the first film of the successful Rocky series (1976–present), for which he also wrote the screenplays. In the films, Rocky is portrayed as an underdog boxer who fights numerous brutal opponents, and wins the world heavyweight championship twice.
In 1977, he was the third actor in cinema to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. His film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry, and had its props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. His use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps. Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky placed permanently near the museum, and he was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Up until 1982, his films were not big box office successes unless they were Rocky sequels, and none received the critical acclaim achieved with the first Rocky. This changed with the successful action film First Blood in which he portrayed the PTSD-plagued soldier John Rambo. Originally an adaptation of the eponymous novel by David Morell, First Blood’s script was significantly altered by Stallone during the film’s production. He would play the role in a total of five Rambo films (1982–2019). From the mid-1980s through to the late 1990s, he would go on to become one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors of that era by appearing in a slew of commercially successful action films which were however generally panned by critics. These include Cobra, Tango and Cash, Cliffhanger, the better received Demolition Man, and The Specialist.
He declined in popularity in the early 2000s but rebounded back to prominence in 2006 with a sixth installment in the Rocky series and 2008 with a fourth in the Rambo series. In the 2010s, he launched The Expendables films series (2010–2014), in which he played the lead as the mercenary Barney Ross. In 2013, he starred in the successful Escape Plan, and acted in its sequels. In 2015, he returned to the Rocky series with Creed, that serve as spin-off films focusing on Adonis "Donnie" Creed played by Michael B. Jordan, the son of the ill-fated boxer Apollo Creed, to whom the long-retired Rocky is a mentor. Reprising the role brought him praise, and his first Golden Globe award for the first Creed, as well as a third Oscar nomination, having been first nominated for the same role 40 years prior.
He subsequently found gradual work as an extra or side character in films with a sizable budget until he achieved his greatest critical and commercial success as an actor and screenwriter, starting in 1976 with his role as boxer Rocky Balboa, in the first film of the successful Rocky series (1976–present), for which he also wrote the screenplays. In the films, Rocky is portrayed as an underdog boxer who fights numerous brutal opponents, and wins the world heavyweight championship twice.
In 1977, he was the third actor in cinema to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. His film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry, and had its props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. His use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Rocky series led the area to be nicknamed the Rocky Steps. Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky placed permanently near the museum, and he was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Up until 1982, his films were not big box office successes unless they were Rocky sequels, and none received the critical acclaim achieved with the first Rocky. This changed with the successful action film First Blood in which he portrayed the PTSD-plagued soldier John Rambo. Originally an adaptation of the eponymous novel by David Morell, First Blood’s script was significantly altered by Stallone during the film’s production. He would play the role in a total of five Rambo films (1982–2019). From the mid-1980s through to the late 1990s, he would go on to become one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors of that era by appearing in a slew of commercially successful action films which were however generally panned by critics. These include Cobra, Tango and Cash, Cliffhanger, the better received Demolition Man, and The Specialist.
He declined in popularity in the early 2000s but rebounded back to prominence in 2006 with a sixth installment in the Rocky series and 2008 with a fourth in the Rambo series. In the 2010s, he launched The Expendables films series (2010–2014), in which he played the lead as the mercenary Barney Ross. In 2013, he starred in the successful Escape Plan, and acted in its sequels. In 2015, he returned to the Rocky series with Creed, that serve as spin-off films focusing on Adonis "Donnie" Creed played by Michael B. Jordan, the son of the ill-fated boxer Apollo Creed, to whom the long-retired Rocky is a mentor. Reprising the role brought him praise, and his first Golden Globe award for the first Creed, as well as a third Oscar nomination, having been first nominated for the same role 40 years prior.
Known for
The Epiphany
Lost on a Mountain in Maine
Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons
Sly
Expend4bles
Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Arnold
The Randall Scandal: Love, Loathing, and Vanderpump
The Family Stallone
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3
Jean-Claude van Damme: Karate King
Creed III
Il était une fois Champs-Élysées
Tulsa King
Stasera c’è Cattelan su Raidue
MVP
Sherri
Samaritan
The Making of 'Rocky vs. Drago'
The Suicide Squad
Stallone: Frank, That Is
Marvel Studios Legends
40 Years of Rocky: The Birth of a Classic
One Night: Joshua vs. Ruiz
Rallying Cry
Rambo: Last Blood
The Kelly Clarkson Show
Escape Plan: The Extractors
I Am Durán
The Gangster, the Cop, the Devil
Stallone, profession héros
Backtrace
Creed II
Escape Plan 2: Hades
Death Wish
John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs
Animal Crackers
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
John Travolta, le miraculé d'Hollywood
Ultimate Beastmaster
This Is Us
Ratchet & Clank
Creed
From Rocky to Creed: The Legacy Continues
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
The Making of The Expendables 3
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
The Expendables 3
The Director's Chair
Reach Me
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
And the Oscar Goes To...
Grudge Match
Homefront
Escape Plan
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
Milius
Bullet to the Head
Gods of War: Assembling Earth's Mightiest Anti-Heroes
The Expendables 2
Plaga zombie: zona mutante: revolución tóxica
Final Cut: Ladies and Gentlemen
The Rocky Saga: Going the Distance
The Real Rocky
Zookeeper
From the Ashes: Post-Production and Release of 'The Expendables'
Inferno: The Making of 'The Expendables'
The Expendables
Rambo: To Hell and Back - Director's Production Diary
30 for 30
Live from Studio Five
Kambakkht Ishq
Bigger Stronger Faster*
Rambo
Ecki's World
The Graham Norton Show
Rocky Balboa
Ali's Dozen
The Opponents
Made in Hollywood
Hogan Knows Best
The Contender
Las Vegas
Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over
Celebrities Uncensored
Shade
Taxi 3
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Iron and Beyond
Liberty's Kids
Avenging Angelo
Pet Star
Afganistan: Land in Crisis
E! Live from the Red Carpet
D-Tox
Raw Iron: The Making of 'Pumping Iron'
Driven
CyberWorld
The Early Show
The Very Best of the Muppet Show: Volume 2
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn
Beckmann
Junket Whore
Antz
Jackie Chan: My Story
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies
An Alan Smithee Film: Burn, Hollywood, Burn
Cop Land
The View
Men in Black
Taff
Daylight
E! True Hollywood Story
A Century of Science Fiction
Assassins
Judge Dredd
Your Studio and You
The Specialist
Inside the Actors Studio
Demolition Man
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Cliffhanger
GMTV
HBO First Look
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot
Two Rooms: A Tribute to Elton John & Bernie Taupin
Oscar
Rocky V
Night of 100 Stars III
Stern TV
Tango & Cash
Lock Up
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
Rambo III
Over the Top
Mike Tyson vs Trevor Berbick
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years
Cobra
Rocky IV
Rambo: First Blood Part II
Heart of a Champion: The Ray Mancini Story
Terror in the Aisles
Rhinestone
Electric Blue Special: Nude Celebrity Special
Staying Alive
First Blood
Rocky III
Champs-Elysées
Entertainment Tonight
Escape to Victory
Nighthawks
Wetten, dass..?
Rocky II
Paradise Alley
F.I.S.T.
Auf los geht's los
Rocky
The Muppet Show
Cannonball
Saturday Night Live
Farewell, My Lovely
Mandingo
Death Race 2000
Capone
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
No Place to Hide
The Lords of Flatbush
Kojak
Police Story
What's Up, Doc?
Klute
Bananas
The Sidelong Glances of a Pigeon Kicker
Lovers and Other Strangers
M*A*S*H
The Party at Kitty and Stud's
Downhill Racer
The Square Root
The Mike Douglas Show
The Oscars
Acting
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
—
Lincoln Hawk (archive footage) (uncredited)