Background

Ethnicity: Sharon Stone has English, German, Scottish, Irish, and Scots-Irish/Northern Irish ancestry.

Sharon Stone was born on March 10, 1958, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, the United States, to Dorothy Marie (née Lawson; b. 1933), an accountant, and Joseph William Stone II (1930-2009), a tool and die, manufacturer and factory worker. She was the second of four children. She has an older brother, Michael (b. 1951), a younger sister, Kelly (b. 1961), and a younger brother, Patrick (b. 1965).

Sharon Stone was a fast developer. She was able to walk and talk by her first birthday. From a very early age, Stone says, she wasn’t like other kids - she was more mature, less child-like. It’s a quality she believes that even those closest to her had trouble reconciling. “I think it was just very alarming for my mother to be talking to a very short, tiny, little adult, who was having structured, thoughtful, wise conversation,” Stone says.

As a child, she mounted plays in her parents' garage to entertain the neighbors and used her beauty pageant money to hire an acting coach to help her hone her craft.

Education

Stone seemed so different from other children that her mother actually took her for testing when she was 4-years-old to help figure out why. Stone had an exceptionally high IQ.

The next year, at age 5, Stone entered second grade. While she could keep up academically, she didn’t fit in socially or emotionally with her older classmates. Stone went back to first grade but continued to excel enough to attract the attention of the high IQ society Mensa.

“By the time we’re in fourth grade... Mensa came into the school and picked a bunch of us out and put us from fourth, fifth and sixth [grades] into these programs,” Stone says.

As an elementary grade student at Brookhauser Elementary in the Saegertown Schools, Sharon was one of seven students chosen based on individually administered intelligence exams to enter a gifted program. That 1966-67 school year was the first time gifted programs were offered to rural elementary school students in Northwest Pennsylvania. To qualify, students had to possess an IQ in the upper 3%. Sharon surpassed that 130 IQ threshold with an IQ that placed her in the upper one half of one percent, above 150 IQ.

In 1975, she graduated from the Saegertown High School in Saegertown, Pennsylvania. After graduating from high school, by which time she had started to land the top prize in beauty pageants, Sharon won a writing scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. There she majored in creative writing and fine arts, but her real love was acting. Soon she decided to pursue a modeling career in New York. Inspired by Hillary Clinton, Stone went back to Edinboro University to complete her degree in 2016.

Career

While attending Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Stone won the title of Miss Crawford County, Pennsylvania and was a candidate for Miss Pennsylvania. One of the pageant judges told her to quit school and move to New York City to become a fashion model, where she signed with the Ford agency. By the late 1970s, Stone was a highly sought-after model, appearing in both print and television ads nationwide.

Stone decided to branch out into acting in the 1980s, making a number of television and movie appearances throughout the decade. In 1980, Stone made her screen debut as the "pretty girl on train" in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories. She played the memorable role of Blake Chandler in the 1984 Golden Globe-nominated comedy, Irreconcilable Differences. She also earned laughs in the popular comedy film, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987).

Her breakthrough film role came in 1990 with the Philip K. Dick action thriller, Total Recall. Stone played Lori, the gorgeous but deadly wife of Douglas Quaid (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger). The film did well with fans, grossing more than $100 million at U.S. box offices. In an effort to promote the film, Stone also appeared that year in a Playboy magazine spread. Her photoshoot earned her a spot on the magazine's "Top 25 Sexiest Stars of the Century" list.

In 1992, Stone landed the unforgettable role of a bisexual murder suspect in the blockbuster film Basic Instinct. Stone sparked controversy for a particular scene in the film, which required her to cross and uncross her legs in a way which revealed she was not wearing underwear. While Stone initially claimed she was not aware of the level of nudity that would be revealed in the film, she later recanted.

The film was a blockbuster hit and earned Stone Golden Globe and Saturn award nominations for her performance. She also landed on People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" list shortly after the film's release.

Subsequent films, including Silver (1993) and The Specialist (1994), did not fare as well with critics or fans. The lull in her career led some to claim that her success had more to do with her simmering sexuality than her acting. But Stone proved the critics wrong in 1995 with Martin Scorsese's Casino. The film won Stone a Golden Globe as well as an Academy Award nomination and put Stone back in the limelight.

Following the win, she took on a number of dramatic roles including The Quick and the Dead (1995) and Last Dance (1996). She finished the decade with a number of uneven films, including Sphere in 1998 and Gloria in 1999, but received praise for her comedic performance in The Muse that same year.

In 2000, she starred in the Emmy Award-winning TV film, If These Walls Could Talk 2, which was broadcast on HBO. The film revolves around the lives of different lesbian couples. She next played an exotic dancer alongside Billy Connolly in the little-seen comedy Beautiful Jo (also 2000).

In the early 2000s, Stone attempted a return to the mainstream with roles in the films Cold Creek Manor (2003), with Dennis Quaid, and Catwoman (2004), with Halle Berry. In 2005, she appeared as Dr. Georgia Keller on the television sitcom, Will & Grace. The series was based on the relationship between the two characters, William Truman and Grace Adler. In 2006, she reprised her role as Catherine Tramell in the film Basic Instinct 2, which was a sequel to the previously released film, Basic Instinct. The film was slammed by film critics.

Stone appeared in Nick Cassavetes's crime drama Alpha Dog (2006), opposite Bruce Willis, playing Olivia Mazursky, the mother of a real-life murder victim; she wore a fatsuit for the role. Stone took on the role of a clinically depressed woman in the independent drama When a Man Falls in the Forest (2007), premiered in competition at the 2007 Berlin Film Festival where it was nominated for the Golden Bear.

She took on the leading female role in the French action sequel Largo Winch II as a United Nations investigator named Diane Francken. Her first theatrical-released production since 2007, the film premiered on February 16, 2011, in France, where it opened in second place at the box office.

In the biographical drama Lovelace (2013), Stone obtained the role of the mother of porn actress Linda Lovelace (played by Amanda Seyfried). The film, covering Lovelace's life from age 20 to 32, had its world premiere at Sundance and opened in North American selected theaters.

In 2014, Stone headlined the action drama series Agent X, which aired only for one season on the TNT channel. Her role was Natalie Maccabee, America's first female Vice President who takes the office after the death of her Senator husband.

She starred as an adoptive mother in the independent drama Mothers and Daughters, as part of an ensemble cast, consisting of Susan Sarandon, Selma Blair, Mira Sorvino, and Courteney Cox. The film was released on May 6, 2016, for digital markets and received largely mixed reviews. Also in 2016, she played a "lineman widow" and the "alcoholic mom" of a crew member of high-wire workers hit by a deadly storm in the action film Life on the Line, co-starring John Travolta, Kate Bosworth, Devon Sawa, and Gil Bellows. She was part of the ensemble cast of the biographical comedy The Disaster Artist (2017), directed, produced by, and starring James Franco.

In January 2019, it was announced that Stone will star in the upcoming Netflix drama series Ratched.

Achievements

• 

  Throughout her career, Stone has received several awards for her work in film, including one Emmy Award, one Golden Globe Award, two MTV Movie Awards, and one Satellite Award.
  
  In 1995, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in 2005, she was named Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
  
  For her leading roles in erotic and adult-themed feature films such as Basic Instinct, Sliver, and The Specialist, she created a "tough-talking, no-underwear, voyeuristic, cool-as-ice, sex symbol" status during most of the 1990s. Stone has appeared in the covers and photo session of over 300 celebrity and fashion magazines throughout her four-decade acting career.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Deadly Blessing

    (In this terrifying tale from director Wes Craven (Scream,...)

    1981
  • Year of the Gun

    (In this gripping political thriller set in 1970s Italy, a...)

    1991
  • Diabolique

    (In this diabolical suspense thriller directed by Jeremiah...)

    1996
  • Irreconcilable Differences

    (A bittersweet comedy about a bright young couple who marr...)

    1984
  • Stardust Memories

    (In this insightful and witty satire, Woody Allen portrays...)

    1980
  • Broken Flowers

    (When a mysterious pink letter informs Don Johnston (Murra...)

    2004
  • King Solomon's Mines

    (Fortune hunter Allan Quatermain teams up with a resourcef...)

    1985
  • Fading Gigolo

    (Murray (Woody Allen) talks his friend Fioravante (John Tu...)

    2013
  • The Muse

    (When Steven (Albert Brooks) turns to the services of a Mu...)

    1999
  • Alpha Dog

    (When one drug dealer crosses another, a hasty kidnapping ...)

    2006
  • Catwoman

    (A woman endowed with the speed, reflexes, and senses of a...)

    2004
  • A Different Loyalty

    (War reporter and former British intelligence officer and ...)

    2004
  • Life on the Line

    (In this tense thriller starring John Travolta and Kate Bo...)

    2015
  • $5.00 A Day

    (Christopher Walken is hilarious as Nat, an eccentric con-...)

    2008
  • The Disaster Artist

    (The true-story of aspiring filmmaker and infamous Hollywo...)

    2017
  • Casino

    (Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone and Joe Pesci star in direct...)

    1995
  • Gloria

    (Sharon Stone stars in the gritty tale of an ex-mob mistre...)

    1999
  • Picking Up The Pieces

    (A small New Mexican village discovers a severed hand that...)

    2000
  • Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold

    (A mysterious murder leads a professor and his daughter to...)

    1986
  • Year of Getting to Know Us

    (Having grown up with wacky, dysfunctional parents, New Yo...)

    2008
  • Running Wild

    (Following the untimely death of her husband, widower Stel...)

    2017
  • Above the Law

    (A dedicated Chicago police detective becomes drawn into a...)

    1988
  • When a Man Falls in the Forest

    (When a lonely housewife (Sharon Stone) faces the reality ...)

    2007
  • Scissors

    (A woman trying to recover from a sexual attack is locked ...)

    1991
  • Border Run

    (An American reporter searches for her missing brother ami...)

    2012
  • Intersection

    (Separated from his beautiful but aloof wife, Vincent has ...)

    1994
  • Action Jackson

    (Vengence drives a tough Detroit cop to stay on the trail ...)

    1988
  • Sliver

    (When Carly (Stone) moves into one of New York's most excl...)

    1993
  • Streets of Blood

    (While investigating the "accidental" death of his partner...)

    2009
  • He Said, She Said

    (Dan (Kevin Bacon) and Lorie (Elizabeth Perkins) are journ...)

    1991
  • The Quick And The Dead

    (Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman star in this updated Americ...)

    1995
  • Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol

    (A new batch of civilian volunteers joins the new Citizens...)

    1987
  • The End of the Affair

    (From the acclaimed director of The Crying Game and Interv...)

    1982
  • The Mighty

    (With his loving and supportive mother (Stone), 13-year-ol...)

    1998
  • Calendar Girl Murders

    (Millionaire Richard Trainor is celebrating the fact that ...)

    1984
  • All I Wish

    (An aspiring fashion designer struggles to find success an...)

    2017
  • Mothers and Daughters

    (Photographer Rigby Gray captures uplifting stories of mot...)

    2016
  • Total Recall

    (An advertisement, Call Rekall, where we make the impossib...)

    1990
  • Diary of a Hitman

    (A hired killer struggles with his conscience when asked t...)

    1991
  • Antz

    (No picnic will ever be the same when DreamWorks Animation...)

    1998
  • Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction

    (In London, Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) once again fi...)

    2006
  • Cold Creek Manor

    (A family relocates to a dilapidated house in the country ...)

    2003
  • Bobby

    ("Bobby" re-imagines one of the most explosively tragic ni...)

    2006
  • Tears In The Rain

    (Sharon Stone stars in this gripping tale of a woman looki...)

    1988
  • Basic Instinct

    (Michael Douglas stars as Nick Curran, a tough but vulnera...)

    1992
  • Simpatico

    (Two men were once the best of friends - training thorough...)

    1999
  • Lovelace

    (Follows the life of reluctant porn star Linda Lovelace.)

    2013
  • Sphere

    (Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson star ...)

    1988

• TV series

  • Agent X

    (In times of crisis, when law and government aren't in a p...)

    2015
  • War and Remembrance

    (The television mini-series continues the story of the ext...)

    1988

Religion

Stone had a brief foray into the Church of Scientology, but when Richard Gere introduced her to The Dalai Lama, she converted to Buddhism.

She makes it clear, however, that she still believes in God-but she clarifies, not the Buddha as God. Buddhism, she says, is more of a way of living life than it is a belief in a deity. She described her spirituality when she said, "I’m religious. Probably, to a lot of people’s thoughts, I’m extremely religious. My practice is Buddhism, but I believe in God... I’ve really given up my life to God and I know that’s why I’m OK and at peace."

Stone believes in karma, a concept in several eastern traditions relating to cause and effect. Stone’s interpretation of karmic law got her into a little bit of a public relations mess in 2008. After a massive earthquake in China that year which killed 68,000 people, Stone publicly pontificated that maybe it was bad karma being visited on the people of China for that country’s policies toward the Buddhist state of Tibet. She said: "I am not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else... And this earthquake and all that stuff happened, and I thought ‘is that karma-when you’re not nice and then the bad things happen to you."

Politics

Stone is a long-time supporter of the Democrats, having donated nearly $45,000 to politicians and special interest groups associated with that party.

During Barack Obama’s reelection campaign she said her “support for him has never wavered.” And for those who may have missed her endorsement, she wore around an Obama purse in 2012. He was also a supporter of Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential elections.

Views

In March 2006, Stone traveled to Israel to promote peace in the Middle East through a press conference with Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres. In 2013, she referred to Peres as her "mentor". On October 23, 2013, Stone received the Peace Summit Award for her work with HIV/AIDS sufferers.

In 2015, Stone was guest of honor at the Pilosio Building Peace Award in Milan. She began an impromptu auction on stage in front of a crowd of CEOs from the construction industry and other dignitaries. She gained enough pledges to build 28 schools in Africa.

She passionately kissed fan Joni Rimm for charity after she paid $50,000 for it. She auctioned the kiss in aid of Project Angel Food, a Los Angeles charity providing meals for homeless people. Sharon Stone is also a gay rights activist.

In January 2005, she was widely criticized for soliciting pledge to raise $1 million for mosquito nets for Tanzania at the African poverty panel held at World Economic Forum in Davos. Even, UNICEF wasn’t impressed with the conversion of the panel into a fundraiser. At the event, she could only raise $250,000, which forced UNICEF to pay remaining $750,000 that led to the diversion of funds from other important projects. Also, the pledged mosquito nets weren’t delivered to the needy and some of them emerged as wedding dresses on the black market.

Quotations: "Any man in Hollywood will meet me if I want that. No, make that any man anywhere."

"If you have a vagina and an attitude in this town, then that's a lethal combination."

"Women might be able to fake orgasms. But men can fake whole relationships."

"I believe that if you truly, truly love your children, you need to supply condoms in a place in your home, at a quantity that makes it a non-judgmental situation for them to have them... If they want to make water balloons out of them, great. If they want to carry them so they feel tough, great. If they want to give them to their friends, even better."

"The villain is like a cobra. They watch, they watch, they watch. And then they strike."

"I will not work in any state that holds or is actively creating laws to legally support discrimination against American citizens whether due to their race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, nor where those laws are passed or approved by the government of said state."

"We have leaders and people who are trying to be leaders who are running campaigns based on fear, and that's a contagion. It's horrible. Holocausts have occurred when that fire catches loose."

Personality

Sharon Stone considers herself a bookworm. She stated, that she reads three books a week and even more when she travels.

The scene in 1992’s Basic Instinct where Stone uncrosses and crosses her legs is one of the most infamous in movie history, but in a 2006 interview, she claimed that the nudity was filmed without her knowledge and consent. Stone said that that the movie’s director Paul Verhoeven asked her to remove her white underwear only because it was reflecting the light, reassuring her that only shadow would be visible.

Stone has said that it wasn’t until she first saw the film in a screening room with a test audience that she realized that her leg-crossing scene involved nudity. On viewing the scene she slapped Verhoeven in the face and left the room, although the director has always strongly denied Stone’s claims, saying that she was fully aware of what would be involved.

Stone's former housekeeper Socorro Del Carmen Membreno pleaded not guilty to grand theft of $300,000 worth of jewelry and other valuables from Stone's Los Angeles home two months earlier. In June, the former housekeeper was sentenced to 16 months in prison after she plead no contest to taking items from Ms. Stone. Judge Victoria Chavez ordered Socorro Del Carmen Membrano to pay Stone $50,000 in restitution after it was found that the maid had taken jewelry, handbags, and other items from the home. Among the items taken were dozens of evening gowns worth over $20,000.

In 2015, when she was 57 years old, Stone posed naked for the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar magazine. In an interview that featured in the same issue, Stone was quoted as saying: “at a certain point you start asking yourself, what really is sexy? It’s not just the elevation of your boobs, it’s being present and having fun and liking yourself enough to like the person that’s with you.”

Sharon was granted a restraining order against Agostino P'omata, who allegedly had made threats of violence against her.

Physical Characteristics: Stone was hospitalized on September 29, 2001, for a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which was diagnosed as a vertebral artery dissection rather than the more common ruptured aneurysm, and treated with an endovascular coil embolization.

She is allergic to caffeine. She also suffers from diabetes and asthma. The scar on her neck is from a childhood accident. She was riding a horse and she ran right into a clothesline and it ripped her neck open. She tends to cover it with clothing whenever she can.

After hitting the 40s, Sharon Stone decided to focus more on her fitness regime and disciplined diet plan to ensure that she would look great even in her advancing age. She credits her youthful figure to the total body stretches which she regularly performs at the 24-Hour Fitness Gym. She also relies on strength training to tone her body.

She loves yoga for its ability to elongate her muscles and dance for the fun cardio it provides. She also loves to go to Pilates and Barre classes. Sharon tries to make sure that she is working out for 45 minutes to 1 hour about 3 to 4 days every week.

The changes in diet plan include focussing on a low carb diet. She has completely given up hard alcohol and instead fuels up with cleansing and detoxifying teas. She has also decreased her consumption of dairy products. However, she has decided against eliminating any nutrient group from her diet. She still enjoys steak, ribeyes, porterhouse, and New York strip. But she makes sure that she is eating everything in moderation.

Interests

• baking

• Politicians

  Hillary Clinton

• Writers

  Educated by Tara Westover

• Artists

  George Hurrell

• Sport & Clubs

  baseball, Dodgers

• Music & Bands

  Alicia Keys

Connections

Stone married producer Michael Greenburg in 1984. The couple divorced three years later. In 1998 she married again, this time to San Francisco Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein. The couple adopted a son, Roan Joseph, before their divorce in 2004. Since then, Stone adopted two more sons: Laird Vonne (2005) and Quinn Kelly (2006).

Father:

Joseph William Stone II

Joseph worked as a tool and die manufacturer for most of his life in Pennsylvania, where most of his children were born and grew up. He remained married to Sharon’s mother, Dorothy Marie, until his death in 2009, which resulted from cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

Mother:

Dorothy Marie Stone

Dorothy Marie raised four children that she had with Joseph William. Aside from being a homemaker during Sharon’s childhood, she also worked on the side as an accountant. After her husband’s death, Dorothy moved to Los Angeles to be closer to her famous daughter and grandchildren.

colleague:

Laurence Fishburne III

Brother:

Michael Stone

Inspired by his sister’s success, he tried to get into the film industry and even scored a role in The Quick and the Dead (1995) with his sister’s help. However, becoming an actor didn’t work out for Michael and he got addicted to drugs. Fortunately, he was able to overcome his addiction, but his destructive tendencies were inherited by his son Colin. Sharon’s nephew passed away in 2014 at the age of 22 from drug overdose. It’s unknown whether Michael has any more children.

He is a singer and has his own band Stone poet.

Sister:

Kelly Stone

Brother:

Patrick Stone

ex-spouse:

Michael Greenburg

Sharon met her first husband in 1984 on the set of a television show he was producing and they married that same year. Greenburg produced one more film with Stone in 1986. They separated just three years after getting married but finalized their divorce only in 1990. They had no children together.

ex-spouse:

Phil Bronstein

Stone married Bronstein on Valentine’s Day in 1998. Their wedding was attended by many celebrities, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Melanie Griffith. The couple adopted a son in 2000. Phil stuck with Sharon when she was going through health issues, but filed for a divorce in 2003. Just five years later, he won full custody of their son, Roan Joseph.

Son:

Roan Joseph Bronstein

Although Roan’s father obtained full custody of him in 2008, he remained close with his mother. Sharon’s oldest son even decided to follow her career path and has starred in a film What About Love alongside his famous mother.

Son:

Laird Vonne Stone

The famous actress adopted Laird in 2005. He was joined by his two other brothers in 2017 to present Sharon with the Mother of the Year Award.

Son:

Quinn Kelly Stone

colleague:

Kevin Bacon

colleague:

Danny Glover

colleague:

Jennifer Lopez

colleague:

Sylvester Stallone

colleague:

Olivia Wilde

colleague:

Amanda Seyfried

colleague:

Shia LaBeouf

colleague:

Demi Moore

colleague:

Peter Sarsgaard

colleague:

James Franco

colleague:

Sofía Vergara

colleague:

Kate Bosworth

colleague:

Selma Blair

References

• Sharon Stone