Sharon Yvonne Stone was born on March 10, 1958, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a factory worker. She won a scholarship to Edinboro University of Pennsylvania at the age of fifteen, where she studied creative writing and fine arts. After graduating, the Miss Pennsylvania beauty pageant winner moved to New York to pursue modeling, signing with the Ford Agency. By the late 1970s, she was a highly sought-after model, appearing in print and television advertisements across the country.

In the 1980s, Stone shifted her focus to acting, landing roles in television and film throughout the decade. She played the memorable role of Blake Chandler in the 1984 Golden Globe-nominated comedy Irreconcilable Differences and earned laughs in Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol in 1987. Her breakthrough film role came in 1990 with the Philip K. Dick action thriller Total Recall, in which she played Laurie, the gorgeous but deadly wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Douglas Quaid.

The film was a commercial success, grossing more than one hundred million dollars at the U. S. box office. That same year, Stone appeared in a famous magazine spread that earned her a spot on the publication’s list of the top twenty-five sexiest stars of the century.

In 1992, Stone landed the role that would define her career: the bisexual murder suspect in the blockbuster film Basic Instinct. The film sparked controversy over a particular scene in which Stone crossed and uncrossed her legs, revealing that she was not wearing underwear. Stone initially claimed she was unaware of the level of nudity that would be revealed in the film, but she later recanted that statement. Basic Instinct was a major hit, and Stone earned Golden Globe and Saturn Award nominations for her performance.

Shortly after the film’s release, she also appeared on People magazine’s list of the fifty most beautiful people. The films that followed, including Sliver in 1993 and The Specialist in 1994, did not fare well with critics or audiences. The lull in her career led some to claim that her success had more to do with her on-screen sexuality than her acting ability. Stone proved the critics wrong in 1995 with Martin Scorsese’s Casino.

Her performance won her a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination, putting her back in the spotlight. Following that success, Stone took on a number of dramatic roles, including The Quick and the Dead in 1995 and Last Dance in 1996. She finished the decade with a series of uneven films, including Sphere in 1998 and Gloria in 1999, but received praise for her comedic performance in The Muse that same year. After a brief recovery, she returned to the big screen in 2004 as a co-star in Catwoman alongside Halle Berry and Benjamin Bratt.

In later years, Stone appeared in several smaller independent films, including Broken Flowers with Bill Murray and Bobby, written by actor Emilio Estevez. In 2020, she appeared in the television series Ratched. Stone also faced serious health problems. In 2001, a severe headache turned into a brain hemorrhage.

Her personal life saw its own trials. She married producer Michael Greenberg in 1984, and the couple divorced three years later. In 1998, she married again, this time to San Francisco Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein. The couple adopted a son, Roane Joseph, before their divorce in 2004.

Since then, Stone adopted two more sons, Laird Vaughn in 2005 and Quinn Kelly in 2006.