Date of birth 6 July 1946 Birth place New York, New York, USA Birth name Sylvester Enzio Stallone Nickname Sly, Italian Stallion, Michael (as a teenager) Height 5' 10" (1.78 m)   Sylvester is an American Academy Award-nominated film actor, director, producer, and screenwriter.

Stallone was born in New York City, New York to Frank Stallone Sr., a beautician, and Jacqueline "Jackie" Labofish, an astrologer. Stallone's father was an immigrant from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily while his mother is American; one of his maternal great-grandmothers, Rosa Rabinovich, was from Odessa, Ukraine. At fifteen, his classmates voted him the one "most likely to end up in the electric chair". In the 1960s, Stallone attended the University of Miami for three years. He came within a few credit hours of graduation, before he decided to drop out and pursue an acting career. After Stallone's request that his acting and life experiences be accepted in exchange for his remaining credits, he was granted a Bachelors of Fine Arts (BFA) degree by the President of the University of Miami in 1999.

Stallone's career began with an appearance in a soft-core pornographic film called Party at Kitty and Stud's. The film was originally hard core and depicted sexual acts, but the film was re-cut in order to have scenes end just before any hard core action would take place. After Stallone's later success, the film was re-packaged as The Italian Stallion (a reference to Rocky Balboas nickname).

Stallone's first few film roles were minor, and included brief uncredited appearances in Woody Allen's Bananas (1971) as a subway thug, in the psychological thriller Klute (1971) as an extra dancing in a club, and in the Jack Lemmon vehicle The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) as a youth. In the latter film Jack Lemmon chases and tackles Stallone, thinking he is a pickpocket. He had his first starring role in the cult hit The Lords of Flatbush (1974). In 1975 he appeared in supporting roles in Farewell, My Lovely, Capone, and another cult hit Death Race 2000. He also made guest appearances on TV series such as Police Story and Kojak.

Stallone did not gain world-wide fame until his starring role in the smash hit Rocky (1976), awarded the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Sylvester Stallone became one of Hollywood's highest paid actors, usually playing monosyllablic, antisociety, underdog heroes. While Stallone has attempted to extend his range into film comedies and drama, his real box office success continues in action films.