Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Stallone is one of the most iconic and successful actors in Hollywood. After starting out as a struggling actor, Stallone won critical acclaim 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. Rocky is portrayed as an underdog boxer who fights numerous brutal opponents, and wins the world heavyweight championship twice. In 1977, Stallone was the third actor in cinema to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. Stallone's film Rocky was inducted into the National Film Registry, and had its props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. Stallone's 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 character Rocky placed permanently near the museum, and he was voted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Stallone's recent work includes the successful action film Creed, the spin-off films First Blood and Rocky Creed, and the 2017 biographical drama Creed. He has also starred in the action films Tango and Cash, Cliffhanger, the better received Demolition Man, and The Specialist. Stallone is currently in production on the action film Escape Plan, and is set to star in the sequel, Escape Plan 2, in 2019. Stallone is also set to voice the lead character in the upcoming animated film Creed II.