# Sharon Stone
**Sharon Stone** is an American actress and painter, born in 1958, who became one of the leading screen stars of the early 1990s with *Total Recall* (1990) and *Basic Instinct* (1992) and earned an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe win for Martin Scorsese's *Casino* (1995).[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) • [2](https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/sharon-stone/) A brain hemorrhage and stroke in 2001 interrupted the trajectory of her film career, and in the 2020s she has worked mainly as a painter while continuing to take acting roles.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | Sharon Yvonne Stone, 1958, Meadville, Pennsylvania[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) |
| Start in film | Non-speaking role as an extra in Woody Allen's *Stardust Memories* (1980), after a modeling career with the Ford agency[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art) • [1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) |
| Breakthrough | *Total Recall* (1990), which grossed more than $100 million at US box offices, followed by *Basic Instinct* (1992)[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) |
| Peak recognition | *Casino* (1995): Golden Globe winner, Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama; Academy Award nominee for Best Actress[2](https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/sharon-stone/) • [4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1996) |
| 2001 stroke | A brain hemorrhage two weeks after 9/11; she says she had about a 1-to-5% chance of survival[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art) • [5](https://apnews.com/article/9df0b3d3c0a398e8f27fbef98b4518b7) |
| Painting career | Started with a paint-by-numbers set during the pandemic; solo exhibitions include *Shedding* (Los Angeles), *Welcome to My Garden* (Greenwich, Connecticut), and *Totem* (Berlin, 2024)[5](https://apnews.com/article/9df0b3d3c0a398e8f27fbef98b4518b7) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art) |
| Advocacy | AIDS, human rights, and gay rights activist; co-founded Planet Hope, an organization that helps the homeless, with her younger sister Kelly[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/stone-sharon-1958) |
## Early life and start in the business
Stone grew up in rural Pennsylvania in a working-class family. Her parents, Dorothy and Joseph, had hard childhoods of their own; she has described her father as living in a barn from the age of four and her mother as given away at nine to work as a housekeeper, laundress, and cook. She has said the family ate what her father hunted and grew their own food.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art) She won a scholarship to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania at age 15, studying creative writing and fine arts, and later returned to the university at 58, in 2016, to finish the degree.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/11/sharon-stone-interview-stardom-family-secrets-sexual-abuse-comeback-after-stroke)
Her route into show business ran through beauty pageants and modeling. After winning a Pennsylvania pageant, she moved to New York, signed with the Ford agency, and by the late 1970s was appearing in print and television advertisements nationwide.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) • [8](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/sharon-stone-interview-i-was-a-bookworm-i-used-my-intelligence-to-be-sexy-9338267.html) In 1980 she stood in line to be an extra in [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen)'s *Stardust Memories* and got the non-speaking role of "pretty girl on train". She has said she gave up painting for modeling because it paid better; she was offered jobs at $5,000 a day, against the $25 she charged as a teenager for paintings she made to put herself through school.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art)
## From the 1980s to *Basic Instinct*
Through the 1980s she worked mostly in television and B movies, with episodes of *TJ Hooker* and *Magnum, P.I.*, a Golden Globe-nominated role as Blake Chandler in *Irreconcilable Differences* (1984), and *Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol* (1987).[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) • [8](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/sharon-stone-interview-i-was-a-bookworm-i-used-my-intelligence-to-be-sexy-9338267.html)
**Breakthrough.** Her film career turned in 1990 with [Paul Verhoeven](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-verhoeven)'s *Total Recall*, in which she played Lori, the wife of [Arnold Schwarzenegger](https://www.edgepedia.org/arnold-schwarzenegger)'s hero Douglas Quaid. The film grossed more than $100 million at US box offices, and that year Stone also appeared in a *Playboy* spread, which she later credited as the thing that sent her career "into the stratosphere".[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) • [8](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/sharon-stone-interview-i-was-a-bookworm-i-used-my-intelligence-to-be-sexy-9338267.html) Two years later she worked with Verhoeven again as [Catherine Tramell](https://www.edgepedia.org/catherine-tramell), the murder suspect of *Basic Instinct* (1992). The film was a blockbuster, earned her a Golden Globe nomination, and provoked lasting controversy over the interrogation scene in which her character crossed and uncrossed her legs.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) • [2](https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/sharon-stone/)
Subsequent films, including *Sliver* (1993) and *The Specialist* (1994), fared less well with critics and audiences.[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) Stone has also described the working conditions around *Sliver*: in 2024 she publicly named producer [Robert Evans](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-evans) as the studio figure who advised her to have sex with her co-lead [William Baldwin](https://www.edgepedia.org/william-baldwin), on the theory that it would improve his performance.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art)
## *Casino* and the peak of her acting career
In 1995 Stone played Ginger McKenna, a high-priced call girl who marries [Robert De Niro](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-de-niro)'s casino operator Sam "Ace" Rothstein, in Martin Scorsese's *Casino*, opposite De Niro and [Joe Pesci](https://www.edgepedia.org/joe-pesci). Critics at the time and since have treated her performance as the film's strongest; Roger Ebert's review called her call girl "her best performance", and one later retrospective describes her as "the moral center" of the picture.[9](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/casino-1995) • [10](https://www.perisphere.org/2025/12/14/nervous-in-the-desert-elizabeth-street-alienation-in-martin-scorseses-casino/) Stone herself has said De Niro told her his performance depended on hers, and she names the role as the one of which she is most proud.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art)
The role brought the highest honors of her career: a Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama, and a nomination for the [Academy Award for Best Actress](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-award-for-best-actress) at the 1996 ceremony, where [Susan Sarandon](https://www.edgepedia.org/susan-sarandon) won for *Dead Man Walking*.[2](https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/sharon-stone/) • [4](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1996) Over her career the Golden Globes database records four nominations and one win, with the other nominations for *Basic Instinct* (1993), *The Mighty* (1999), and *The Muse* (2000).[2](https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/sharon-stone/)
## After *Casino*: the stroke and its aftermath
The acting work she wanted did not follow the *Casino* nomination. Stone has said she was shocked not to keep working at that level, and she has attributed part of her later absence from Hollywood to the 2001 stroke, caused by a brain hemorrhage, which she suffered two weeks after the [September 11 attacks](https://www.edgepedia.org/september-11-attacks).[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art) In her own account, she had about a 1-to-5% chance of survival, lost money while hospitalized, and lost custody of her son Roan in the 2004 divorce from [Phil Bronstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/phil-bronstein); she says that the stroke and the film controversies played a significant role in that custody loss.[5](https://apnews.com/article/9df0b3d3c0a398e8f27fbef98b4518b7) • [7](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/11/sharon-stone-interview-stardom-family-secrets-sexual-abuse-comeback-after-stroke) She describes living with a serious brain seizure condition, a disability she hid for years because she feared it would end her career.[5](https://apnews.com/article/9df0b3d3c0a398e8f27fbef98b4518b7)
She continued to work in film and television after 2001, including *Catwoman* (2004), [Jim Jarmusch](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-jarmusch)'s *Broken Flowers* (2005), *Basic Instinct 2* (2006), [Steven Soderbergh](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-soderbergh)'s series *Mosaic* (2017–2018), and *Ratched* (2020).[1](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone) • [2](https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/sharon-stone/) In 2025 she appeared as the villain in *Nobody 2*, throwing knives and delivering kill orders opposite [Bob Odenkirk](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-odenkirk)'s suburban-dad assassin.[11](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/08/10/sharon-stone-fashion-nobody-2/) Asked in 2026 how she got her career back, she answered simply, "I didn't."[12](https://au.variety.com/2026/film/features/sharon-stone-interview-sydney-sweeney-pay-sex-psychos-40470/)
## Painting
Stone's painting began, in her telling, with her aunt Vonne in her Pennsylvania childhood and resumed during the pandemic, when a friend sent her a paint-by-numbers set. Frustrated with staying inside the printed lines, she moved quickly to large abstract works in acrylic on canvas, up to 6 by 8 feet, and by 2024 she reported painting as much as 17 hours a day.[5](https://apnews.com/article/9df0b3d3c0a398e8f27fbef98b4518b7) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art)
Her exhibitions include *Shedding* at the Allouche Gallery in Los Angeles, her first solo show; *Welcome to My Garden*, the East Coast premiere at the C. Parker Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut, with 19 works on view from October 2023 to January 2024; and *Totem* at Galerie Deschler in Berlin in 2024.[13](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/03/27/sharon-stone-interview-solo-exhibition-allouche-gallery) • [14](https://cparkergallery.com/usr/documents/exhibitions/press_release_url/12/sharon-stone-s-east-coast-premiere-of-her-art.pdf) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art) She prices some paintings at $40,000 each, has cited influences including Joan Miró, Monet, and Kandinsky, and has said she declined offers from galleries that wanted prints of her face.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art)
## Advocacy and writing
Stone has been an AIDS, human rights, and gay rights activist, appeared in the 2000 television film *If These Walls Could Talk 2*, and with her sister Kelly co-founded Planet Hope, an organization that helps the homeless.[6](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/stone-sharon-1958) Her memoir *The Beauty of Living Twice*, about her upbringing and her recovery from the stroke, has been sold in 22 countries, and she has been writing a novel.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art)
## References
1. [Sharon Stone Biography, Biography.com](https://www.biography.com/actors/sharon-stone)
2. [Sharon Stone, Golden Globes Awards Database](https://www.goldenglobes.com/person/sharon-stone/)
3. [Stuart Jeffries (2024). "'We don't need more small-penis energy'… Sharon Stone on why she swapped acting for art", The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/mar/19/sharon-stone-interview-why-she-swapped-acting-for-art)
4. [The 68th Academy Awards, Oscars.org](https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1996)
5. [Sharon Stone says health issues slowed her acting career so she's expressing herself through paint, AP News (2023)](https://apnews.com/article/9df0b3d3c0a398e8f27fbef98b4518b7)
6. [Stone, Sharon (1958–), Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/stone-sharon-1958)
7. ["'I was too good': Sharon Stone on stardom, family secrets, sexual abuse – and her comeback after a stroke", The Guardian (2025)](https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/aug/11/sharon-stone-interview-stardom-family-secrets-sexual-abuse-comeback-after-stroke)
8. [Sharon Stone interview: "I was a bookworm. I used my intelligence to be sexy", The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/sharon-stone-interview-i-was-a-bookworm-i-used-my-intelligence-to-be-sexy-9338267.html)
9. [Casino movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/casino-1995)
10. [NERVOUS IN THE DESERT: Elizabeth Street alienation in Martin Scorsese's Casino, Perisphere (2025)](https://www.perisphere.org/2025/12/14/nervous-in-the-desert-elizabeth-street-alienation-in-martin-scorseses-casino/)
11. [Sharon Stone still refuses to behave for Hollywood, The Washington Post (2025)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/movies/2025/08/10/sharon-stone-fashion-nobody-2/)
12. ["'People Are Still Terrified of Me': Sharon Stone on Thriving for 46 Years in Hollywood", Variety Australia (2026)](https://au.variety.com/2026/film/features/sharon-stone-interview-sydney-sweeney-pay-sex-psychos-40470/)
13. [Sharon Stone on her debut gallery exhibition in Los Angeles, The Art Newspaper (2023)](https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2023/03/27/sharon-stone-interview-solo-exhibition-allouche-gallery)
14. [Sharon Stone's East Coast premiere of her art, C. Parker Gallery press release](https://cparkergallery.com/usr/documents/exhibitions/press_release_url/12/sharon-stone-s-east-coast-premiere-of-her-art.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames Sm to Su*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 20, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license