Sylvester Stallone

Did You Know?

• Stallone received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1984.
• He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2010.
• He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for Creed in 2016.

Early life

His mother had Breton French and Ukrainian Jewish ancestry; his father was an Italian immigrant from Gioia del Colle. His younger brother is actor and musician Frank Stallone. Many biographies indicate his birth name as Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone; his mother said she originally named him Tyrone after actor Tyrone Power, but his father changed it to Sylvester. His childhood nickname was Binky, but schoolmates called him Stinky, so he went by Mike or Michael.

His middle name Gardenzio is an alteration of Gaudenzio, and he usually shortened it to Enzio. Complications during birth caused nerve damage, resulting in paralysis of the lower left side of his face, giving him a snarling look and slurred speech. He was bullied as a child and coped by taking up bodybuilding and acting. A guidance counselor told his mother that her son was suited to run a sorting machine or be an assistant electrician, but Stallone aspired to be an actor and screenwriter.

He spent part of his infancy in foster and boarding care, then moved with his family to Maryland at age five. In the early 1950s, his father moved the family to Washington, D.C., to open a beauty school. In 1954, his mother opened a women's gym called Barbella's. After his parents divorced when he was 11, he stayed with his father, then joined his remarried mother in Philadelphia at age 15.

Film and stage career

Before 1970, he performed as Mike Stallone; that year he switched to Sylvester E. Stallone. While a student at the University of Miami, he acted in the 1968 drama That Nice Boy, also called The Square Root. In 1969, he co-produced the low-budget film Horses with John Herzfeld. His first lead role came in the 1970 softcore pornographic film The Party at Kitty and Stud's, earning pay for two days of work.

Stallone later said he took the job after being evicted and spending several days homeless, including three weeks sleeping in New York City's Port Authority Bus Terminal before spotting a casting call. He explained it was either make that movie or commit a crime, as he was at his absolute limit. The film was later retitled Italian Stallion to profit from his fame, borrowing the nickname he got from Rocky. He also appeared in the erotic off-Broadway play Score, which had 23 performances at the Martinique Theatre from late October to mid-November 1971, and was turned into a 1974 film.

After relocating to New York, he lived with girlfriend Sasha Czack, a waitress and aspiring actress. He supported himself with odd jobs like cleaning a zoo and ushering at a theater, where he was fired for scalping tickets. He spent time at a library to sharpen his writing skills and grew fascinated with Edgar Allan Poe. In 1972, near giving up on acting, he failed to land an extra role in The Godfather and instead took a barely visible background part in What's Up, Doc? with Barbra Streisand.

Multiple tasks in media

In 1977, Stallone joined Charlie Chaplin and Orson Welles as the only men to earn Oscar nominations for both acting and writing, thanks to the first Rocky film. He wrote and starred in every Rocky movie, directing four of them. He also starred in and co-wrote all five Rambo films, directing the fourth. Stallone wrote, directed, and played the lead in the first Expendables movie, and did the same for Paradise Alley.

He wrote and directed Staying Alive, the Saturday Night Fever sequel starring John Travolta. He wrote and starred in Cobra and Driven, and co-wrote and starred in F.I.S.T., Rhinestone, Over the Top, Cliffhanger, and Creed II. When asked in 2008 which of his two big characters he preferred, Stallone picked Rocky as his first baby, adding that Rocky was the conscious side and Rambo the unconscious of the same person. He has sung on screen a few times: "Too Close to Paradise" in Paradise Alley, "Take Me Back" in Rocky III, duets with Dolly Parton in Rhinestone, and a guest spot on The Muppet Show. His last film singing was in Grudge Match (2013), where he and Robert De Niro belted out "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Personal life

Sylvester Stallone has walked down the aisle three times. His first wedding was to Sasha Czack on December 28, 1974, when he was 28. The couple had two boys: Sage Moonblood Stallone, who passed away from heart disease at 36, and Seargeoh, born in 1979 and diagnosed with autism early in life. Seargeoh made a brief appearance as an infant in Rocky II.

Their marriage ended on Valentine's Day, 1985. Later that year, on December 15, Stallone married model and actress Brigitte Nielsen in Beverly Hills. That union lasted just two years, and the split was splashed across tabloids. In 1988, he started seeing model Jennifer Flavin.

Their relationship hit a rough patch in 1994 when Stallone told her he was expecting a child with model Janice Dickinson. DNA tests later proved he wasn't the father, so he called off that engagement. After a short-lived engagement to model Angie Everhart in 1995, Stallone and Flavin got back together and tied the knot in May 1997. They have three daughters: Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet.

In August 2022, Flavin filed for divorce after 25 years, but the pair reconciled the following month. Stallone stays close with his brother Frank, who wrote theme songs for Rambo: First Blood Part II and Staying Alive, and often pops up in small roles in Sylvester's movies. His half-sister, Toni Ann Filiti, died of lung cancer in 2012. He was also tight with actor Joe Spinell until a falling-out during the filming of Nighthawks in 1981.