Although by his account, 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). More recently, 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. His latest credits include the animated adventure flick Ratchet & Clank (2016) and the sci-fi adventure film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) 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.
