When Sylvester Stallone was born, he had complications which led to a paralysis of the lower left side of his face, including parts of his tongue, lip, and chin. This is the reason for his look and manner of speaking. In his early years, he lived in an area of New York known as Hell's Kitchen where he moved from one foster home to another. He often received suspensions for his frequent fights, poor grades, and behavioural problems.

After attending college, Sylvester moved to New York to pursue an acting career. He tried out for nearly each and every casting call he could and contacted as many casting agents as he could find, without success. He came across a casting call for a soft-core pornography film and out of desperation he attended the casting call. For two days of filming, he received $200. Afterward, things went bad. He was evicted from his apartment due to his inability to pay the rent. He lived on the Streets with his dog but had to sell the dog for $25 because he was unable to feed it.

A few days later, Sylvester saw a boxing match between Mohammed Ali and Chuck Wepner and that gave him the inspiration to write the script for the famous movie, ROCKY which he wrote for 20 hours! He tried to sell it and got an offer for $125,000 for the script. However, he not only wanted to sell the script but he wanted to star in it as well. The studio he approached refused because of the way he looked and talked and they wanted a famous star. He was then offered $250,000 for the script and $350,000 but he refused. Eventually, he was offered $35,000 for the script and allowed to star in it. The movie won Best Picture, Best Directing, and Best Film Editing at the prestigious Oscar Awards. He was even nominated for BEST ACTOR! The Movie ROCKY was even inducted into the American National Film Registry as one of the greatest movies ever! From then, he went back to buy back the dog he had sold. The person he had sold the dog to didn’t want to sell it back to him at the price he offered. They began to bargain until finally, Sylvester bought the dog he had sold for $25 at $15,000.

Sylvester Stallone has gone on to being very successful in his movie career. This became possible because he refused to give up on his dream and remained positive. Never give up on your dreams! It is only a matter of time.

Source: The Positive Story. http://www.thepositivestory.info/2016/11/from-homelessness-to-stardom-inspiring.html