[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/498c465fa447cf2325ee5fe1e1e8c1ef.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Film/JudgeDredd He is the law.]]]]

->''"[[Film/RockyII Yo, Adrian! I did it!]]"''

Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6, 1946), nicknamed "Sly", is an American actor, director, producer, screenwriter and [[IWasYoungAndNeededTheMoney former porn actor]].

One of the biggest box office draws in the world from the 1970s to the 1990s, Stallone is an icon of machismo and Hollywood [[ActionGenre action]] heroism. He is by far one of the most iconic action heroes ever, alongside box-office rival Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger. While not a very large man (standing at about 5'9 and weighing 180-ish in his prime), his MrFanservice musculature is the result of hard work with weight training and nutritional supplements (such as [[http://www.examiner.com/celebrity-fitness-and-health-in-national/expendables-star-sylvester-stallone-ripped-to-shreds-at-64-stunning-video HGH and testosterone]]). His identifiable "marble-mouth" voice is the result of complications during birth and having little feeling on one side of his face. Despite being known better for his action movies, Stallone was different from his contemporaries in one important way: [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct he was a legitimately good actor]], being compared to Creator/MarlonBrando by no less than Creator/RogerEbert, and has received [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] nominations twice for playing [[Film/{{Rocky}} the same character]] [[Film/Creed2015 40 years apart]].

He has played two characters who have become a part of the American [[PersonAsVerb cultural lexicon]]: [[Franchise/{{Rocky}} Rocky Balboa]], the underdog boxer who overcame odds to fight for love and glory, and [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} John Rambo]], a courageous soldier who specialized in violent rescue and revenge missions (often [[OneManArmy all on his own]]). He has also been a driving force behind the camera for the majority of his movies, having written the original story and screenplay for the first ''Rocky'' and writing and directing most of its sequels.

In the late '90s, Stallone started to struggle with a series of {{Box Office Bomb}}s as he found that the public was slowly losing interest in [[StrictlyFormula the "Stallone style" of films]]. As a result, he decided to go into more character-piece films, where he was praised for expanding his range and acknowledging his advancing age. This led into him reviving his ''Rocky'' and ''Rambo'' franchises, with the two restoring confidence that he can still be an action hero and do character pieces at the same time. He reprised his role as Rocky in the SpinOff film ''Film/{{Creed|2015}}'' along with its [[Film/CreedII first sequel]]; he reprised his role as Rambo for what seems to be the character's last time on the silver screen in ''Film/RamboLastBlood'', and also voiced a video game version of Rambo as a GuestFighter in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11''.

Among his more recent successes are ''Film/TheExpendables'' and its sequels, which gathered [[AllStarCast an impressive group of past and present action stars]], including Creator/JasonStatham, Creator/DolphLundgren, Creator/BruceWillis, Creator/JetLi, Creator/MickeyRourke, Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme, Creator/ChuckNorris, Creator/MelGibson, Creator/WesleySnipes, Creator/HarrisonFord and Creator/AntonioBanderas.

The first ''Rocky'' film was inducted into the National Film Registry as well as having its film props placed in the Smithsonian Museum. Stallone's use of the front entrance to the Philadelphia Museum of Art in an iconic scene led the area to be nicknamed "the Rocky Steps". Philadelphia has a statue of his Rocky character placed permanently near the museum, on the right side before the steps.

He currently stars in the Paramount+ series ''Series/TulsaKing'' (his first major TV series), which premiered on November 13, 2022.
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!!Selected Works
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Antz}}'' as Weaver
* ''Film/{{Assassins}}'' as Robert Rath
* ''Film/BulletToTheHead'' as Jimmy Bobo
* ''Film/{{Cliffhanger}}'' as Gabe Walker
* ''Film/{{Cobra}}'' as Lieutenant Marion "Cobra" Cobretti
* ''Film/CopLand'' as Freddy Heflin
* ''Film/{{Daylight}}'' as Kit Latura
* ''Film/DeathRace2000'' as "Machine Gun" Joe Viterbo
* ''Film/DemolitionMan'' as John Spartan
* ''Film/{{Driven}}'' as Joe Tanto
* ''Film/EscapePlan'' as Ray Breslin
** ''Film/EscapePlan2Hades''
** ''Film/EscapePlanTheExtractors''
* ''Film/EscapeToVictory'' as Robert Hatch
* ''Film/TheExpendables'' as Barney Ross
** ''Film/TheExpendables2''
** ''Film/TheExpendables3''
** ''Film/{{Expend4bles}}''
* ''Film/FarewellMyLovely''
* ''Film/{{FIST}}'' as Johnny Kovak
* ''Film/GetCarter2000'' as Jack Carter
* ''Film/GrudgeMatch'' as Henry "Razor" Sharp
* ''Film/JudgeDredd'' as Judge Joseph Dredd
* ''Film/LockUp'' as Frank Leone
* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse as Stakar Ogord
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2''
** ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol3''
* ''Film/{{Nighthawks}}'' as Deke [=DaSliva=]
* ''Film/{{Oscar|1991}}'' (1991) as Angelo “Snaps” Provolone
* ''Film/OverTheTop'' as Lincoln Hawk
* ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' series as [[Characters/RamboJohnRambo John James Rambo]]
** ''Film/FirstBlood''
** ''Film/RamboFirstBloodPartII''
** ''Film/RamboIII''
** ''Film/RamboIV''
** ''Film/RamboLastBlood''
** ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' (DLC)
* ''WesternAnimation/RatchetAndClank2016'' as Victor von Ion
* ''Film/ReachMe'' as Gerald
* ''Film/{{Rhinestone}}'' as Nick Martinelli
* ''Franchise/{{Rocky}}'' series as Rocky Balboa
** ''Film/{{Rocky}}''
** ''Film/RockyII''
** ''Film/RockyIII''
** ''Film/RockyIV''
** ''Film/RockyV''
** ''Film/RockyBalboa''
** ''Film/{{Creed|2015}}''
** ''Film/CreedII''
* ''Film/{{Samaritan}}'' as Samaritan
* ''Film/Shade2003'' as Dean 'The Dean' Stevens
* ''Film/TheSpecialist'' as Ray Quick
* ''Film/SpyKids3DGameOver'' as the Toymaker
* ''Film/StayingAlive'' (Director only, with a blink-and-miss it cameo)
* ''Film/StopOrMyMomWillShoot'' as Sgt. Joe Bomowoski
* ''Film/TheSuicideSquad'' as King Shark (voice)
* ''Film/TangoAndCash'' as Raymond "Ray" Tango
* ''[[Film/{{Taxi}} Taxi 3]]'' as an American secret agent
* ''Series/TulsaKing'' as Dwight "The General" Manfredi
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->[[Film/FirstBlood "It's over!"\\
"Nothing is over!"]]