Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946, in New York City) is an iconic American actor and filmmaker whose films have grossed over $7.5 billion worldwide, making him one of only two actors (alongside Harrison Ford) to star in a box-office No. 1 film across six consecutive decades. After struggling in the 1970s, he achieved breakthrough success in 1976 by writing and starring as boxer Rocky Balboa in Rocky, earning Academy Award nominations for both Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. He became a dominant action star in the 1980s and 1990s with the Rambo franchise and hits like Cliffhanger and Demolition Man, famously rivaling Arnold Schwarzenegger. Stallone revived his career with Rocky Balboa (2006), the Expendables franchise, and especially Creed (2015), where his portrayal of an aging Rocky earned him a Golden Globe and a third Oscar nomination—40 years after his first for the same role. Beyond action, he explored comedy and drama, notably gaining weight for his role in Cop Land (1997), and currently stars in the TV series Tulsa King (2022–present). Considered a defining icon of action cinema, he is also a painter, art collector, and fitness author, with early roots in Hell's Kitchen, born to an Italian immigrant father and an American mother.