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Sharon Stone was born on the 10th of March 1958, in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The second child of 4 (she has an older Michael, younger sister Kelly and younger brother Patrick) to parents Joseph and Dorothy Stone. Sharon’s mother wanted her brilliant child (Sharon is said to have an IQ of 154) to rise beyond the small-town, blue-collar fate of her and her husband, who were respectively a homemaker and Avon employee, and a factory worker.
Sharon did rise well above to the status of one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actresses and sex symbols, but not without some flops along the way.
Initially a creative writing student at Edinboro State University in Pennsylvania, Sharon entered on scholarship and graduated with a fine arts degree. In addition to her passion for literature, she also loved classic film.
Her foray into acting went the beauty pageant route, after beauty pageant promoters discovered her. Sharon didn’t succeed as a beauty queen, so she tried modeling instead. She became a Ford model, which raised her recognition factor and gave her experience in front of the camera, but was not stimulating enough for the future MENSA member.
Sharon made her film debut as the pretty girl on a train in Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories (1980), and starred in movies not even worth mentioning, such as 1981’s Deadly Blessing, 1985’s King Solomon’s Mines and 1987’s Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol. She did, however, make audiences take notice with a bit part in Irreconcilable Differences, in 1984.
TV audiences may remember Sharon from several ’80s shows in which she appeared, such as Remington Steele, Magnum P.I. and T.J. Hooker. After more roles in Made-for-TV movies, Sharon was cast as Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “wife” in 1990’s Total Recall, which helped word of a new, sexy blonde actress get around Hollywood. Posing for Playboy in the early ’90s didn’t hurt her cause either.
It was her role as bisexual author Catherine Tramell opposite Michael Douglas in the 1992 film Basic Instinct that not only made ice picks and going commando famous, but also made Sharon Stone a sex symbol and Hollywood’s newest “it” girl.
The MTV Movie Awards named Sharon the Most Desirable Female and gave her the award for Best Female Performance in 1993, but despite the slew of films that Sharon starred in, maintaining her reputation in Hollywood was difficult.
With bombs such as 1993’s Sliver, 1994’s Intersection, and 1995’s The Quick and the Dead (which was made by her production company, Chaos), skeptics of Sharon’s talent had more ammunition.
But she bounced back in 1995, with her memorable role as Ginger the hustler in Casino, co-starring Robert De Niro. The Academy Awards honored Sharon with a Best Actress Nomination, and she won the Golden Globe and the Women in Film Crystal Award that same year.
With highs come the lows, marked by ill-advised choices such as 1996’s Diabolique and Last Dance, 1998’s Sphere and The Mighty, and 1999’s The Muse, Gloria, and Simpatico. Sharon’s ability to choose movies has been questioned - while her ability to deliver good performances remains intact.
Despite commercial highs and dips, Sharon has made a name for herself as a supporter of breast cancer research and is a gay-rights activist - she received a humanitarian award from the Human Rights Campaign, for her role in 2000’s If These Walls Could Talk 2, in which she played Ellen DeGeneres’ lesbian lover.
In real life, Sharon wakes up to husband Phil Bronstein, a newspaper editor who wed Sharon on Valentine’s Day, 1998. The couple adopted a baby boy together in 2000, named Roan Joseph Bronstein. This is the second marriage for Sharon, who was previously married to associate producer Michael Greenburg, from 1984 to 1987.
Sharon has already been romantically linked to singer Dwight Yoakam and actor/comedian Garry Shandling.
Thanks to the success of Basic Instinct, the sequel is ready to be shot, after going through several options for the male lead. We are certainly anticipating Sharon’s icy return.
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