# Sylvester Stallone

Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, July 6, 1946) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer and artist.After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, he won his first critical acclaim as an actor for his co-starring role as Stanley Rosiello in The Lords of Flatbush.Stallone mostly only found gradual work as an extra or side character in films with a sizeable budget until he achieved his greatest critical and commercial success as an actor, starting in 1976 with his self-created role as the boxer Rocky Balboa, in the first film of the successful Rocky series (1976–2018). In the films, Rocky is portrayed as an underdog boxer that fights numerous brutal opponents, and wins the world heavyweight championship twice. The last two entries in the series are Creed and Creed II, that serve as spin-off films focusing on Adonis "Donnie" Creed, the son of the ill-fated boxer Apollo Creed, to whom the long retired Rocky is a mentor.