Sharon Stone

Stone met television producer Michael Greenburg on the set of the television film The Vegas Strip War in 1984, and they married later that year. Greenburg later served as a line producer on her film Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold. The couple separated in the late 1980s, and their divorce was finalized in 1990. Stone was later engaged to producer William J. MacDonald, whom she met on the set of Sliver in 1993, and to assistant director Bob Wagner during the filming of The Quick and the Dead in 1994.

On February 14, 1998, Stone married Phil Bronstein, executive editor of The San Francisco Examiner and later the San Francisco Chronicle. The couple adopted a son, Roan, in 2000. Bronstein filed for divorce in 2003, and the separation was finalized in 2004. Stone subsequently adopted two more sons, Laird in 2005 and Quinn in 2006.

In September 2001, Stone was hospitalized after suffering a subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a vertebral artery dissection. She underwent an endovascular coil embolization procedure and required a prolonged recovery period. Stone later discussed the severe financial and professional consequences of the event, explaining that she was forced to rebuild both her personal assets and her career after an extended absence from the screen.

Sharon Vonne Stone was born on March 10, 1958, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, to Dorothy Marie, an accountant, and Joseph William Stone II, a tool and die manufacturer. Academically gifted from a young age, she entered second grade at age five and was admitted to Edinboro State College on a creative writing scholarship at age 15. She later graduated from Saegertown High School in 1975 before returning to complete her college degree at Edinboro University in 2016.

While attending college, Stone won the title of Miss Crawford County and competed for Miss Pennsylvania in 1976. Encouraged by pageant judges to pursue modeling, she moved to New Jersey and signed with the Ford Modeling Agency in New York City in 1977. She worked in television commercials and print campaigns for brands such as Revlon's Charlie perfume, Clairol, and Maybelline. After modeling in Milan and Paris, Stone chose to leave fashion behind and pursue a career in acting.

Stone made her screen debut as an extra in Woody Allen's comedy-drama Stardust Memories (1980) and secured her first speaking role in Wes Craven's horror film Deadly Blessing (1981). Throughout the 1980s, she appeared in television series such as Remington Steele, Magnum, P.I., and War and Remembrance, as well as feature films including Irreconcilable Differences (1984), King Solomon's Mines (1985), and Above the Law (1988).

Her career breakthrough came in 1990 when director Paul Verhoeven cast her alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in the science-fiction action film Total Recall, where she played the duplicitous Lori Quaid. The film's box-office success gave Stone major industry momentum, leading to a prolific slate of roles over the following year.

Stone achieved global stardom in 1992 when she reunited with Verhoeven to play Catherine Tramell in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct. Her portrayal of a seductive crime novelist and suspect captivated international audiences, making the film one of the highest-grossing releases of the decade. The performance brought Stone widespread media attention, MTV Movie Awards, and her first Golden Globe Award nomination.

Following Basic Instinct, Stone established herself as a top-billed Hollywood leading lady with roles in thrillers such as Sliver (1993) and The Specialist (1994) opposite Sylvester Stallone.

Later in 1995, Stone earned the strongest critical acclaim of her career for Martin Scorsese's crime epic Casino. Playing Ginger McKenna, the troubled and manipulative wife of casino manager Sam Rothstein (Robert De Niro), Stone won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In 1995, she was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Stone continued working across a variety of genres through the late 1990s. She provided voice work for the animated film Antz (1998), earned another Golden Globe nomination for the drama The Mighty (1998), starred in the science-fiction thriller Sphere (1998), and earned a Golden Globe nomination for the comedy The Muse (1999).

Stone earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series in 2004 for her guest appearance on The Practice. She took roles in independent films such as Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers (2005), which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, Nick Cassavetes's Alpha Dog (2006), and Emilio Estevez's ensemble drama Bobby (2006).

Her television work continued with Steven Soderbergh's mystery series Mosaic (2018), which earned her a Satellite Award, and Ryan Murphy's Netflix drama Ratched (2020). She also appeared in Martin Scorsese's pseudo-documentary Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story (2019) and was cast in the third season of the HBO series Euphoria.

Outside of acting, Stone developed a career as an abstract painter, setting up a working studio in California and staging solo gallery exhibitions, including Welcome to My Garden at the C. Parker Gallery in Connecticut. In 2021, she published a memoir titled The Beauty of Living Twice.

Stone has dedicated significant effort to philanthropic causes, most notably HIV/AIDS awareness and research. She has served as an ambassador and honorary chair for amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, hosting charity auctions and raising millions of dollars for global health initiatives. In recognition of her advocacy, she received the Peace Summit Award in 2013.

Her international contributions have also included fundraising for school construction in Africa and promoting Middle Eastern peace initiatives. In France, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in 2005 and promoted to Commander in 2021. In 2024, Stone was named to the BBC 100 Women list.