Sylvester Enzio Stallone was born July 6, 1946, in New York, NY. Because his parents' marriage was on the rocks, Stallone lived in foster homes until the age of 5. To add to the separation from his parents, his childhood in Hell's Kitchen was only tainted with loneliness and ridicule.

Children teased Stallone because of his Looney Tunes associated name, and his crooked eye, drooping lower lip and slurred speech (all caused by a forceps accident that severed a facial nerve during birth) added to the young boy being teased. At the age of five, Stallone returned to live with his parents and younger brother Frank, this time in Maryland. After the Stallones' divorce, the young Sly moved with his mother and her new husband, a pizza manufacturer, in Philadelphia. While Stallone's childhood was marked by loneliness and mockery, his adolescence was marked by delinquency. 

While studying at the American College in Switzerland on scholarship, he partook in drama studies at the college. Finally realizing what he was born to do, Stallone decided to pursue an acting career after receiving a standing ovation in his performance in Death of a Salesman.