Sylvester Stallone - Essay Example

His mother, Jackie Stallone, was of two origins. She was half-Russian and half French. He has a younger brother, Frank Stallone and both were both named after their paternal grandfather. Since his baptism, he has been a Catholic. During his childhood, he suffered a lot from his parents’ hostility. His parents were so hostile that their relationship ended in a divorce in 1957. This led to Sylvester moving to Philadelphia with his mother and a foster father. Due to environmental and social changes, Sylvester suffered academic and emotional changes.

He became very troubled in school and this led to his expulsion in most of the schools that he joined. His mother enrolled him to a special high school for the troubled and mischievous youth. While at Philadelphia, he spent most of his time at foster care but this changed after joining Devereaux High School where he joined the gym class and started lifting weights (Sanford, Carl and Howard 15). After his graduation, he won an athletic scholarship program at an American College located in Switzerland.

He became a coach of a girls’ athletic club and after a short time gained interest in drama. He starred in of the school productions in the college. This motivated him to join the world of drama and he could not wait to go back to the United States of America where he joined the University of Miami and studied drama. It is in 1969 when he decided to pursue his dream in drama and acting. He went back to New York where he had to work in different low paying workplaces to make ends meet. He became an usher at a New York theatre and worked part time jobs at the Central Park Zoo.

He made his first appearance in the film industry after acting a soft-core porn film by the name ‘A party at kitty studs’. He frequently auditioned and soon became famous in the industry due to his role as a tough person in most films paralyzed (Sanford, Carl and Howard 12). However, the industry became more competitive and he became discouraged after being turned down for the film ‘The Godfather’ in 1971. This led to Sylvester turning his attention to writing screenplays and it bore fruit in 1973 after he starred in the movie Rebel.

Sylvester’s first major role in the film industry was in 1976 after he wrote the movie’s script. A fight between Chuck Wepner and Muhammad Ali form, which he wrote the script, had motivated him (Dunn). He wanted to play the role himself and after a long struggle with producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler, he was assigned the role. The film became very successful and was nominated for best actor and best original screenplay at the Academy Awards. Stallone earned lots of profits from this film.

In 1982, he had the role of writing and directing Rocky II that became a major success after grossing over $200 million. This became the turning point for his career in the film industry. All the films he directed from this point on gained lots of money irrespective of the presence of critics to his films (Celebrity Net Worth). These films include Rambo, The specialist, Cash, Tango, Cobra, Demolition Man among others (Stallone 15). The new millennium did not pose a good start to Sylvester’s career since the movies that he stared in or produced did not sell as expected.

However, a re-production of Rambo in 2008 and later The Expendables made him rise in chats at the film