Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer best known for creating and starring in the Rocky and Rambo film series. Born Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone on July 6, 1946, in New York City, he studied drama and worked through small film roles before becoming internationally known in the mid-1970s. His early screen appearances included The Lords of Flatbush, but his decisive breakthrough came when he wrote and starred in Rocky, the 1976 boxing drama about Philadelphia fighter Rocky Balboa.

Rocky became both a commercial success and an Academy Award-winning best picture. Stallone's work on the film brought him Academy Award nominations for acting and original screenplay, an unusual achievement that immediately linked him with the character he had created. He returned to Rocky Balboa repeatedly as writer, director, and actor in sequels including Rocky II, Rocky III, Rocky IV, Rocky V, and Rocky Balboa. Decades later, he reprised the role in Creed and Creed II, with Creed earning him renewed critical attention, a Golden Globe Award, and another Academy Award nomination for supporting actor.

Stallone also created one of modern action cinema's defining characters with John Rambo, first played in First Blood in 1982. The character returned in Rambo: First Blood Part II, Rambo III, Rambo, and Rambo: Last Blood. Alongside those franchises, Stallone became one of Hollywood's major action stars of the 1980s and 1990s through films such as Cobra, Tango & Cash, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man, The Specialist, Assassins, and Daylight. He also took occasional roles outside straightforward action, including the comedy Oscar and the crime drama Cop Land, in which he played a small-town sheriff opposite a large ensemble cast.