| BIOGRAPHY
Screen siren, opinionated diva, and one of the few actresses
in Hollywood who can claim to be both a Paul Verhoeven muse and
a MENSA member, Sharon Stone is nothing if not a legend in her
own right. Beginning with her notorious disinclination to wear
underwear during a police interrogation in Basic Instinct, Stone
went on to become one of the most talked about actresses of the
'90s, earning both admiration and infamy for her on- and off-screen
personae.
Almost as famous as Stone's glamorous image are her working-class
roots. Born in the Northwest Pennsylvania town of Meadville on
March 10, 1958, Stone grew up a bookworm in a large family. Highly
intelligent in addition to being a local beauty pageant queen,
she won a scholarship to Pennsylvania's Edinboro University when
she was 15 years old. After studying creative writing and fine
arts, she decided to pursue a modeling career, and after moving
to New York, she signed on with the Eileen Ford agency. Stone
became a successful model by the late '70s, appearing in print
and television ads for Clairol, Revlon, and Diet Coke.
In 1980, Stone branched out into acting, making her screen debut
as the "pretty girl on train" in Woody Allen's Stardust
Memories. Following this role, she spent the '80s appearing in
one forgettable film after another, often cast as the stereotypical
blonde bimbo. She finally got a break in 1990, when she appeared
as Arnold Schwarzenegger's kickboxing secret-agent wife in Verhoeven's
Total Recall. Any recognition she gained for that role, however,
was more than eclipsed by the notoriety she earned for her starring
turn in her second Verhoeven feature, Basic Instinct. The 1992
film, in which Stone portrayed a bisexual author/sexual adventurer
who may or may not be a serial killer, did her a huge favor by
making her a star but also a sizable disservice by further typecasting
her in blonde seductress roles. Stone's subsequent effort, the
erotic thriller Sliver (1993), was an example of this: the actress
attracted notice less for her acting than for her willingness
to simulate masturbation. Her role in the following year's The
Specialist was also fairly limiting -- an action flick co-starring
Sylvester Stallone, it called for Stone to run around in a tight
dress in heels when she wasn't seducing various characters.
In 1995, Stone managed to break into the "serious actress"
arena with her performance in Martin Scorsese's Casino. Cast as
an ex-prostitute, she won an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe
for her work, as well as the general opinion that she was capable
of dramatic acting. Stone branched out further that same year
with The Quick and the Dead, a revisionist Western directed by
Sam Raimi in which she starred as a tough-talking, hard-drinking
broad bent on revenge. Unfortunately, the film was a relative
flop, as were here subsequent 1996 films, Diabolique, a remake
of the 1954 French film and Last Dance, a drama that featured
Stone as a woman on death row.
By this point winning more notice for her off-screen role as
an arbiter of fashion and old-school Hollywood glamour than for
her onscreen acting work, Stone next lent her voice to the animated
Antz in 1998. The film proved to be a success, unlike the actress's
other projects that year, the sci-fi thriller Sphere and The Mighty.
The latter film, which Stone produced as well as starred in, was
a heartfelt story about two adolescent misfits; although it did
win a number of positive reviews, audiences largely stayed away
from it. The same couldn't be said of Stone's next film, a 1999
remake of Gloria; not only did audiences stay away from it, critics
savaged it with vituperative glee.
Never one to let a bad review get her down, Stone soon rebounded,
receiving a more positive reception for her performance in The
Muse and then starring as Jeff Bridges' long-suffering wife in
Simpatico. If her roles in the years that followed weren't as
high profile, that's certainly not to say that they were any less
challenging. After taking a turn towards the small screen in the
lesbian-themed made-for-cable drama If These Walls Could Talk
2, Stone broke for comedy with Alfonso Arau's Picking Up the Pieces
and essayed the role of an unpredictable bad girl in Beautiful
Joe (all 2000). Having veered increasingly towards family-oriented
fare in recent years, the trend continued with vocal work for
Harold and the Purple Crayon. Of course, all was not child's play
in Stone's career, and with the release of Cold Creek Manor the
following year, audiences were indeed in for a frightful chill.
In 2004, Stone appeared opposite Halle Berry in the eagerly anticipated
Catwoman, and despite a confession that she was toning down her
oft cited diva-like ways after suffering a brain aneurysm in 2001,
rumors of outrageous behavior on the film's set continued to circulate.
By the time the film was released though, the only thing anyone
was talking about was its abysmal failure at the box office and
the nearly across-the-board negative reviews from critics.
|
FILMOGRAPHY
• Catwoman (2004)
• Cold Creek Manor (2003)
• Beautiful Joe (2000)
• If These Walls Could Talk 2 (2000)
• Gloria (1999)
• The Muse (1999)
• Simpatico (1999)
• Antz (1998)
• The Mighty (1998)
• Sphere (1998)
• Diabolique (1996)
• Last Dance (1996)
• Casino (1995)
• Intersection (1994)
• The Quick and the Dead (1994)
• The Specialist (1994)
• Tears in the Rain (1994)
• Last Action Hero (1993)
• Sliver (1993)
• Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (1993)
• Basic Instinct (1992)
• Diary of a Hitman (1992)
• He Said, She Said (1991)
• Scissors (1991)
• Year of the Gun (1991)
• Total Recall (1990)
• Beyond the Stars (1989)
• Blood and Sand (1989)
• Above the Law (1988)
• Action Jackson (1988)
• Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold (1987)
• Cold Steel (1987)
• Police Academy 4 - Citizens on Patrol (1987)
• King Solomon's Mines (1985)
• Irreconcilable Differences (1984)
• Bolero (1982)
• Deadly Blessing (1981)
• Stardust Memories (1980) |
