Stallone maintained his iconic roles in Rocky Balboa (2006) and Rambo (2008) before initiating The Expendables film series (2010–present), where he portrayed the mercenary Barney Ross. In 2013, he featured in the successful film Escape Plan and its subsequent sequels. He revisited the Rocky character in 2015 with Creed, where a retired Rocky serves as a mentor to Donnie Creed, the son of his former rival Apollo Creed. This film earned Stallone significant acclaim, resulting in his first Golden Globe Award and a third Academy Award nomination, having previously been nominated for the same role four decades earlier. Since 2022, he has been starring in the Paramount+ crime series Tulsa King. Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone was born on July 6, 1946, in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan, New York City. He is the elder son of Jacqueline “Jackie” Stallone, a promoter of women’s professional wrestling, and Francesco “Frank” Stallone Sr., a hairdresser. His mother, an American from Washington, D.C., had Breton French and Ukrainian Jewish roots, while his father was an Italian immigrant from Gioia del Colle who arrived in the United States during the 1930s. His younger brother is actor and musician Frank Stallone. Many biographies state that Stallone’s birth name is “Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone.” His mother revealed in an interview that she initially named him “Tyrone” in honor of the actor Tyrone Power, but his father later changed it to “Sylvester.” As a child, he was nicknamed “Binky,” but he opted to go by Mike/Michael after his classmates began calling him “Stinky.” His middle name “Gardenzio” is a variation of the Italian name “Gaudenzio,” which he often shortens to “Enzio.”Complications during Stallone’s birth necessitated the use of two pairs of forceps by his mother’s obstetricians, which inadvertently severed a nerve. This incident resulted in paralysis on the lower left side of his face, affecting his lip, tongue, and chin, and contributing to his distinctive snarling appearance and slurred speech. Consequently, he faced bullying during his childhood, which he managed by engaging in bodybuilding and pursuing acting. For a portion of his early years, he was placed in foster and boarding care, reuniting with his family in Maryland at the age of five. In the early 1950s, his father relocated the family to Washington, D.C., his mother’s hometown, to establish a beauty school. In 1954, his mother launched a women’s gym named Barbella’s. Following his parents’ divorce when he was 11, he initially lived with his father but moved to Philadelphia to live with his remarried mother at the age of 15.
